Park Circle Gallery to exhibit works by Kirsten Hoving and JD Clark with Mahmood Fazal

Concurrent exhibits on display throughout September

The City of North Charleston's Cultural Arts Department is pleased to announce that concurrent solo exhibitions of photo-based multimedia works by Kirsten Hoving (Charleston, SC) and mixed media works by JD Clark (Sullivans Island, SC) featuring Polaroid photographs by Mahmood Fazal (Charleston, SC) will be on display at Park Circle Gallery from September 4-28, 2024. The artists will host a free public reception at the gallery on Friday, September 6, from 5:00-7:00pm. Admission is free.

[Link]Visionary Fabrications - Photo-based Multimedia Works by Kirsten Hoving
In her exhibit Fabricated Visions, Charleston-based artist Kirsten Hoving presents a collection of evocative photographs on silk or plastic combined with secondary photographs or paper collage. In some works, the fabric is mounted at the top over a digital underprint on a panel to create free-flowing photographs that gently move with air currents or in response to the movements of viewers. In others, an image on clear plastic is stabilized on a transparent substrate that, in turn, is lifted over a secondary digital photograph or hand-made paper collage to create an unexpected three-dimensional effect. Hoving's combination of photographs with silk fabric, plastic, paper, and more creates mysterious images that allude to poems, myths, and transcendent experiences. Although her subjects are quietly commonplace - a ladder propped against an apple tree, a figure entering a doorway, a swimmer lifting an arm - she presents them in unusual ways that elevate them to poetic visions. "My materials and processes support the metaphors in my work," Hoving explains. "Silk and plastic, whether flowing or three-dimensional, provide the underpinning for imaginative musings and fabricated visions."

Kirsten Hoving is a photographer and multimedia artist whose art balances on the edge between fact and fiction. Over the last sixteen years she has shown her work in numerous galleries both locally and abroad and has published several books, including Svala's Saga, a project done in collaboration with photographer Emma Powell. With a PhD in Art History from Columbia University, Hoving had a long career as a professor and scholar of modern art, with books and articles on many topics, including Surrealist photography and the assemblages of Joseph Cornell. Those interests inform her creative practice. Learn more about the artist at www.kirstenhovingartworks.com.

[Link]From Corporate to Creative - Mixed Media Works by JD Clark featuring Polaroid Photographs by Mahmood Fazal
From Corporate to Creative is an exhibition featuring collaborative works that combine Polaroids taken by photographer Mahmood Fazal with sketches created by former corporate executive turned street artist, JD Clark. Each piece is a fun and nostalgic composition of imagineered art that draws interest and study, capturing scenes from the eyes of a person working the stables, fishing the docks, hitting the streets, hiking the trails, and experiencing the drama of American life at a visceral level. "It starts with a Polaroid," Clark explains. "Sometimes it's Mahmood's idea, sometimes it's mine, and other times it's mutual. The charcoal sketch begins on location where the Polaroid photograph was taken. Sometimes I complete the sketch in the studio with oil paint, pastel, or other media added to the charcoal." This collaboration originated as an effort to challenge one another's creativity and offered the artists an opportunity to both receive and provide constructive criticism of each other's work, resulting in more mutual value and personal satisfaction.

JD Clark grew up in lake country in the north central Midwest and Great Lakes. He retired from a 35-year business career in 2013 and began a new career as an artist in 2017. After making and selling art on the streets of Charleston, JD began selling direct to customers at Charleston's City Market in 2018 and hasn't looked back. His work has been shown at the Piccolo Spoleto juried art show, North Charleston Art Fest, and the Old Exchange Building. The Exchange Building continues to display his 2017 oil painting, Low Country Post Office. Mahmood Fazal is a photographer, illustrator, and former director of the Charleston Center for Photography. He was born in Lahore, Pakistan, and grew up in Kuwait before moving to the US for college. While growing up, he was inspired by his uncle who practiced photography as a hobby. That was when he picked up a camera and began his photography journey. Over the years, he has photographed weddings and families, done commercial photography, art reproduction, artistic photography, and photo illustration. See JD's work on Instagram at @JDC_artwrx and learn more about Mahmood at www.mahmoodfazal.com.

The Park Circle Gallery is located at 4820 Jenkins Avenue in North Charleston. Admission is free and free street parking is available on Jenkins Avenue in front of the gallery, as well as on the adjacent streets and in parking lots close by. Gallery hours are 11:00am-6:00pm Wednesday-Friday, and Noon-4:00pm on Saturday. For more information about PCG, call 843-637-3565 or email [email protected]. For information on other Cultural Arts programs and artist opportunities, visit the Arts & Culture section of the City's website.