​The Art Mecca of Charleston cordially invites you to experience the Vacation Collection. The Vacation Collection is an exhibition made up of pieces  from artists Nicki Peeples, Marie Carladous, Erika Allen, and Cara O’Leary. This collection was created as a way for our artists to display their latest works, including pieces inspired by the summer vacation season. Each of the artists is working within a different medium with varying subject matter, despite this each work allows the viewer to slip into a sense of nostalgia of the better days of a vacation long over or an entirely new experience of a wild and bustling lowcountry Summer complete with vivid sunsets and bustling shrimp boats. 

Nicki Peeples was born on the coast, raised in the midlands, and thus developed a love of South Carolina at young age. Her everyday surroundings helped Nicki to find her voice as an artist. As an artist Nicki enjoys painting figures, animals, landscapes and florals and in doing so stretching the boundaries with color and light.
 
Erika Allen discovered her love of art at a very young age, with her passions lying most intensely with nature. Erika has focused on creating paintings on reclaimed wood believing that there is a built in texture and life to this canvas even before you begin to paint on it. She combines this with a painting style that combines the dynamism of gestural painting and her tranquil fluid style that encapsulates the different sides of nature.
  
Cara O’Leary was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina and graduated from the College of Charleston in 2017 with a BA in Arts Management with minors in Art History and Studio Art. She is a relatively young artist who has drawn on her art as a way of self exploration working in a variety of mediums including oil, collage, and block prints prints. Though her medium may change O’Leary continues to utilize her coastal home as inspiration for her works. 

Born and raised in Nice, France Marie Carladous was drawn to photography from an early age when she discovered old film cameras in her grandparent’s house. Her photography covers a wide array of subjects, although her main focus is city scenes and the architectural landscape. Marie’s vision is very much based on her personal experience as a traveler picturing the city, in Charleston specifically she refers to herself as a “local foreigner”. She maintains the objectivity of a novice traveler but captures beauty and emotion that only a local could identify. 
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RSVP on our event page on Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/events/461992331294413/
The gallery will be serving complimentary drinks along with live music. This is a free event  open to the public from 6:30-8:30pm Friday, July 19th.