Seabrook Island Artist Guild (SIAG) welcomes Peggy Howe
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
1:30 – 4:00 pm
The Lake House – Live Oak Hall
Born in New Rochelle, New York, Peggy spent an idyllic childhood in the nature surrounding the York River in Virginia. Before her senior year of high school, the family moved to northern Virginia. There she discovered The National Gallery of Art and began her first art classes. Peggy attended Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, majoring in studio art and art history. Professor Julien Binford introduced Peggy to drawing from life. The love of drawing from life has been her essential work ever since.
She earned her BA in 1968 and promptly started making a living teaching art in public schools. After teaching five years, she decided to “make the jump” and practice art full time. Peggy moved to Charleston in 1976. She was drawn to the city’s beauty, history, and size. The city had an encouraging portfolio of successful female artists and the oldest city art museum in our country, The Gibbes Museum of Art. There she taught classes for years. She rented an apartment on Chalmers Street in Charleston to serve as her home and studio and turned one room into a gallery of her work.
This exhibit space allowed Peggy to establish herself by displaying her figure drawings and paintings as well as watercolors of Charleston.
In 1980, she found a large historic warehouse on Hayne Street. There Peggy opened studio space for herself and other artists and remained there until 1989 when Hurricane Hugo destroyed the building. Seeking another studio space, she became a founding board member for Print Studio South, Inc. This allowed a place for a shared fine art printmaking studio and classes. The space eventually became Redux Contemporary Art Center on King Street.
Because of the hurricane she was able to secure an SBA disaster loan allowing her to build a studio wing onto her Mt. Pleasant residence. Peggy continues to draw, paint, teach, and host biweekly figure painting sessions in this remarkable studio.
Her beautiful work is included in many private, corporate and public collections. Some of the places where one can see her work is The Gibbes Museum of Art, The SC Arts Commission, the South Carolina State Museum, Hugo Museum, The City of Charleston, The City of North Charleston, and South Carolina Medical University.
Visitors are welcome to her studio at 1600 Home Farm Road, Mt. Pleasant, by appointment.
She can also be viewed during Charleston’s annual Spoleto Festival held in Marian Square at the Piccolo Spoleto Outdoor Art Exhibition, May 26-June 11, 2023.
For more information on the Guild’s events, workshops, and membership, visit www.seabrookislandartistguild.com
-Submitted by Bonnie Younginer, Seabrook Island Artist Guild
(Image credit: Peggy Howe)