Summering at the End of Empire

[John Folsom, photography on board with oil and wax medium. Image courtesy the artist.]

Inspired by remnants of the Gilded Age (not the most recent decades highlighted by Julia Reed during her SCAD Style 2010 talk, but the late 19th century period characterized by even grander houses), John Folsom's upcoming exhibition, Summering at the End of Empire, focuses on Cumberland Island with a nod to Longleaf pine forest preservation in South Georgia.

Shown above in one of Folsom's photographic paintings are the ruins of the Carnegie family's Dungeness obscured by Spanish moss and other elements of contemporary wilderness. (Click the image to enlarge and better see how the artist incorporates a grid into the work.) Begun by Thomas Carnegie and his wife Lucy in 1884, this mansion ultimately burned at the end of the 1950s.  Today the ruins are an iconic island site much like the wild horses that roam Cumberland. Another stately house built by Lucy Carnegie, the Georgian-style Plum Orchard, was donated to the National Park Foundation by the Carnegies in 1971.

Representing both new and past work, Summering at the End of Empire opens at the Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art on April 9 and continues through July 3. If you find yourself in the neighborhood, Folsom is scheduled give a talk and tour of the show on Thursday, June 9 at 7 p.m.