Karol Thompson will exhibit new works in graphite and pastels at the Charles Street Gallery in Beaufort from January 27 – February 18.

            A sixth generation Floridian now living in the Lowcountry, Karol has a PhD in Arts Education from Penn State and spent much of her career teaching Art and Humanities.

            “As far back as I can remember I was drawing,” she says. “I had meant to be an artist. I hadn’t meant to fall in love with teaching, but I did. That fact set the direction of my life.”

            Now retired from teaching and living in Habersham, Karol works in her studio daily. “My work is largely perceptual,” she says. “It is done directly from nature or from photographs taken from nature. I love the mystery of looking at a small flower up close or a great land/sea scape at a distance, then responding to each without actually knowing where I am going or how I am going to get there . . . The process is everything. In the ‘doing’ of the work I lose myself. It always seems impossible, in the beginning. Then, like the runner, I find my pace and my joy. In the end I realize that I have arrived at a place that I can reach in no other way.” 

            You’re invited to meet Karol Thompson and view her work at an opening reception on Friday, January 27 from 5:30 – 9 pm. The Charles Street Gallery is an established source for Lowcountry and international art, presented within a carefully renovated house surrounded by a lush garden in the middle of Beaufort’s historic district at 914 Charles St. 29902. 843-521-9054. www.thecharlesstreetgallery.com