Thanks to a new website and an upcoming show at USC Beaufort’s Center for the Arts, the Lowcountry’s fiber arts community is enjoying a little well-deserved limelight lately.

Often overlooked, or not as well-known as other fine arts, fiber arts uses textiles such as fabric, yarn or other fibers and materials to create works of art.

 As artist Linda Sviland explains, some artists use the medium to create extraordinary handcrafted works that can either be displayed or even worn. Others use the medium to convey certain themes or messages often producing thought-provoking, sculptural-like works of art.

The next show at the Beaufort Art Association (BAA) Gallery will feature the work of Lowcountry artist Susan McCarthy.  The title of her show is “Isolation” and will run from Jan. 5 to Feb. 26, 2020. An artist’s reception will be held at the Gallery at 913 Bay Street in Beaufort on Friday, Jan. 8, from 5 – 8 pm.

McCarthy, who moved to Beaufort nine years ago, maintains a studio at Atelier on Bay.  She says her interest in art really started when she was young and lived in Pennsylvania close to Chadds Ford, the winter home of Andrew Wyeth.

Marianne Stillwagon is the featured artist for January at The Society of Bluffton Artists (SOBA) gallery in Old Town Bluffton. Her exhibit will run from Jan. 4-31. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

Stillwagon’s art reflects her love for two homes and two studios in New Hampshire and the Lowcountry.