"Art has the ability to transcend us beyond the ordinary." This quote by Rosalyn Dexter in Chinese Whispers is the mantra of Beaufort Art Association's next featured artist, Tommie Carr Toner.

The act of creating with a palette knife brings joy to her heart and brings life to her easel as she applies layers of color creating bold textures on canvas .

Reared in a Navy family, she attained a sense of wandering and wondering throughout her youth. Tommie earned a BA from Florida State in Speech and Language Pathology, a Masters in Education from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and a Doctorate from the University of South Carolina with a focus on adult education and counseling. She taught for over 35 years in all levels of public education and ended her career as an administrator and clinical associate professor in the College of Education at USC-Columbia in 2001. Since that time she has made art her passion.

Extensive travel has impacted her view of the world, culture and art. She has studied at the Instituto de Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and taken classes with many nationally known and highly respected artists over the past 15 years.

Tommie enjoys learning various techniques and styles of painting and you will see several in her exhibit but the use of the palette knife will predominate.   She feels she is continuously exploring and changing under the influences of the impressionists.

Tommie splits her time between her home in Columbia and her retreat on Harbor Island. In addition to her membership in Beaufort Art Association, she is a member of the Trenholm Art Guild, Corley Mill Painters and About Face (Columbia Museum of Art).

Her work can be found in private collections throughout the US and Canada.

"From Dawn to Dusk" will feature primarily scenes of the Lowcountry and the sea. The exhibit will run from August 29 through October 29. The public is invited to the opening reception on Friday, September 2, 5pm - 7pm.