New gallery 1704Lincoln to launch with Cain Powers Sandoz exhibit

The new gallery 1704Lincoln opens its doors on Friday, May 6th with Cain Powers Sandoz, an exhibit featuring three well-established and widely collected Savannah painters: Betsy Cain, Blanche Powers, and Katherine Sandoz.

The space is owned by Powers, who used to have a working studio and gallery, Rosewood Contemporary Art, on Oglethorpe Avenue. I first met Blanche, by the way, back in 1995 when we were both working for Savannah Country Day School. I met Betsy in 1995 too, when she was visiting her good friend Joan Cobitz, my next door neighbor when I moved here. I probably first met Katherine a decade or so ago too.

"Cat-man-do" (cropped), Betsy Cain; "(vonnice series) winifred" (cropped), Katherine Sandoz; "Untitled (Spanish Moss Drawing 1105)", Blanche Powers

I have admired the work of all three artists for years and am proud to say that I own a three pieces by Betsy.

I’m anxious to see the gallery space — it’s an old commercial corner at Lincoln and 33rd that has a row of residences attached. Just a few years ago, the building was ramshackle and seemed on the verge of being lost. I believe it was saved by the Historic Savannah Foundation’s revolving fund (I’ll try to confirm that), before Powers took it over. It’s a lovely building now — in great shape, an asset to the neighborhood.

Betsy Cain has a show upcoming at the Telfair Museums’ Jepson Center; this might be the last significant exhibit of hers before the one at the museum. I’m anxious to see all three artists’ work.

Here’s the full press release:

Cain Powers Sandoz
Betsy Cain, Blanche Powers, and Katherine Sandoz
May 6th through June 25th
Opening reception May 6th, 6pm-9pm
Gallery hours: Wednesday-Friday 11am-5pm (during exhibitions)
Phone: 912 398 1676
1704Lincoln is pleased to announce its inaugural exhibition Cain Powers Sandoz , May 6th through June 25th. The opening reception will be Friday May 6th, from 6pm until 8pm. The three-person exhibition explores distinct responses to the coastal environment of southeast Georgia, while considering the investigative nature of the process of making art.
The show consist of paintings and drawings installed in the newly converted gallery space. The rehabilitated building (circa1900) is one of Savannah’s earliest apartment buildings. It was built to house people working for the railroad in the early 1900’s. The gallery space was originally a neighborhood corner store. It is located at the corner of Lincoln and 33rd.

About the works:
Betsy Cain
Painting means capturing an image on canvas, paper or any surface. The process of this “capturing” is where the magic lies. Betsy Cain likes to invoke images from random marks, squiggles and scratches, all signage from the hand and the body/mind. Shapes and lines suggest the world, the landscape, the interior. There is often a point where the resolution of an idea/image lingers, hovering before becoming known. Frequent trips to Ossabaw Island, and life on the marsh of Wilmington Island permeate Cain’s world and filter through her large abstract works.
Betsy now serves on the Culture Committee for the Ossabaw Island Foundation, where she works to sponsor Artists Retreats as part of their Visiting Artist Program, bringing new artists to experience the profound beauty of the island.

Betsy’s most recent exhibitions include “Physical/Metaphysical”, with Rocio Rodrigues and Don Cooper at the Lamar Dodd School of Art, the University of Georgia (Sept 2009), “unbound”, a solo exhibition at Robert Steele Gallery, Chelsea, New York City (April 2009) and “The Painter’s Reel”, recently on view at the Morris Museum of Art, in Augusta, after having traveled from the Macon Museum of Arts & Sciences to The Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, Georgia. Currently in a new studio at 2222 Bonaventure Road, Betsy is preparing for a solo exhibition at the Jepson Center for the Arts, Savannah, Georgia in September 2011.

Katherine Sandoz
Intrigued by the people and landscapes of Savannah and coastal Georgia, Katherine Sandoz paints daily in her studio in Vernonburg. Her work is fueled by her romance with the act of painting and inspired by her surroundings and the rich history and tradition of the Deep South. By painting and drawing these subjects, she hopes to preserve, catalog and celebrate the terrain of daily life.

The “vonnice” series depicts plants and animals that inhabit a garden, once the homestead of a southern woman, Vonnice, and her many sisters and daughters. The paint retells one version of an intriguing Vernonburg family story.

Sandoz’ work exhibits regionally, nationally and internationally. She also illustrates for various editorial and advertising clients. She blogs nearly as much as she paints regarding the same subjects: painting, art and daily life.

Blanche Powers
Spanish Moss is one of the defining characteristics of southeast Georgia. It is a strange flowering plant that suspends from live oaks and other large trees in humid coastal climates. It is classified as a flowering plant, although the flowers are minuscule.

After a nor’easter, which frequent the Southeast, the gray clumps litter the ground. Blanche Powers collects these clumps from her yard to use for her drawings. In the studio, clumps of moss are tossed onto cotton paper. Powers use spray paint to capture the form, then delicately redefines the pile, using Prismacolor pencil, fabricating an alternative place.
Blanche is the former director and owner of Rosewood Contemporary Art. Her work has been exhibited recently in New York, Atlanta, and Tallahassee.
Please contact the gallery for further information.