Press

The Post and Courier out of Charleston
Art for Children
By Wevonneda Minis (Contact)
Sunday, June 17, 2007

Images “Jungle Party” by Stacey Wyman- Posnett for “A is for Art,”
a new company created to provide art that children won’t outgrow.

Parents choosing artwork that youngsters can enjoy for years

Images more stylized than whimsical, colors more vibrant than pastel and subjects that inspire children to learn about the world around them reflect the growing trend in art for children.

There is definitely a shift in the type of framed art that parents are choosing for children's nurseries and bedrooms, says Missie Stevenson, a local artist and art teacher. More parents are buying paintings and prints that reflect the things their children are really learning about: not pretend things such as princesses or fairies, but real subject matter.

'They have an illustrative quality, almost like you would see in a children's book,' says Stevenson, who paints happy-looking sea turtles, manatees, sea life and frogs. Many of her pieces are painted in bright turquoises, blues and greens. While the colors are popular today, they also have an everlasting quality because they are found in nature.

Her work can be purchased at the Charleston Artist Guild Gallery on North Atlantic Wharf downtown. Smaller originals, designed to be hung in groups, start at $35, prints, $20.

At the Gibbes Museum of Art, Tate Nation's limitededition prints, which feature Charleston scenes and have a strong Caribbean influence, are the top sellers, says Marla Loftus, the museum's communications director.

Many adults purchase his originals for their rooms and prints or posters of them for children's rooms, says Nation, whose work was featured on the 2000 Piccolo Spoleto poster. Parents decorating their babies' and children's rooms are drawn to his offbeat interpretations of traditional subjects, as well as the bright colors.

While his works are not designed specifically for children, their faces light up when they see them, the artist says. 'I think that they see it as approachable. Children relate to it better than something more serious.'

Nation's work is featured at Shem Creek Art Gallery in Mount Pleasant, One of a Kind Art & Fine Craft Gallery downtown, Expressions Art and Framing on Daniel Island and www.tatenation.com. Posters start at $25, prints at $75 and originals at $750. Just as artists have noticed a rising preference toward