Spartanburg artist Shannon Patrick was fascinated by the sights she saw in a visit to India, and she hopes to transport viewers there through the colors, light and shapes in her oil paintings and cyanotype prints in her exhibition, “Indian Rhapsody,” Dec. 3 through 28 in Gallery III of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg.
An artist’s reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 19, as part of Spartanburg ArtWalk. The reception and exhibition viewing are free and open to the public. The 15 pieces in the show will be offered for purchase with prices ranging from $250 to $7,500.
“Imagine all of your senses treated to the equivalent of an Indian feast,” Patrick says of the inspiration for her newest works. “I am interpreting my experiences in India to relive my awe at the beauty, mystery and loveliness. Watching monkeys playing in the trees, being both fascinated by, and a little afraid of, their unpredictability impressed me. The Taj Mahal that dissolves into the mist of distance, the many palaces, mosaics and geometric latticework, through which one looks out onto the world, and the peacocks. I fell in love with a country and hope to go back someday.”
The invitation to travel to India came thanks to the Wofford College network that included their Lifelong Learning Program, as the tour group was to be led by Prema Samhat, a native of New Delhi and the first lady of Wofford.
“I had long been a huge fan of Indian textiles, food and incense fragrances, and novels featuring India,” says Patrick, a native of Athens, Georgia who moved to Spartanburg in 1999. “My husband had been many times on business, but I had not. This was our big chance to see it together.”
The tour took them to Mumbai, Udaipur, Jaipur, Agra and New Delhi.
“There was very little time in our busy schedule to paint, yet plenty of time to capture many unique images with my camera,” Patrick, primarily a plein air painter. “This show is the expression of how I am affected by this ancient and mysterious land, which I find exotic and full of depth. I am so grateful to have had this unique experience.
“Through the paintings, I hope to transport the viewers from Spartanburg to India,” she adds. “I hope the colors, light and shapes speak to the viewers, and maybe inspire others to travel far. I hope others fondly remember their own trips and experiences. Travel is invaluable. Experiencing other lands and their people firsthand enriches our lives.”
She adds that from “fomenting of ideas and experiences and the creation of the art” took the full nine months from returning from India in February until the exhibition. “This work is more fanciful and intuitive than my usual, more realistic paintings, which largely feature marsh landscapes painted en plein air, or portraits of people in a landscape.”
Patrick, a graduate of the University of Georgia, was a textile designer before receiving a master’s in education from Converse University and going on to a career as an art teacher in Spartanburg. “Teaching what one loves to do can be a joy. I love working with clay, papier-mâché, photography and multimedia as well as painting in oil, my primary focus. Lately, I have been experimenting with Cyanotype printmaking.”
A member of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg since 2018, Patrick says she finds the group “vibrant and warm.” She adds, “I enjoy having the opportunity to show at ACS, and the opportunity to participate in the annual Juried Show.”