By Luke Frazier
The Island News
If Cherimie Weatherford had her way, the hallways inside 1407 King Street in Beaufort would be talking. They would be chatting about the history of not just the county employees who worked inside this one story former county administrative building but abuzz with stories expressing the rich history of the community where it sits. This is the part of Beaufort where previously enslaved people settled and became homeowners during and following the Civil War.
Weatherford is the Executive Director of the Freedman Arts District, where this newly christened King Street Arts Center is the first piece of an evolving arts and culture campus in the city. She is clear about the ultimate purpose of their effort.
“We’re trying to encompass history, culture, art, creativity, and community all in one place,” Weatherford insisted. “Art is clearly a connector. It connects people, experiences, and memories.”
The public was recently welcomed inside the Center for a look at the main gallery and the nearly 20 working artist studios prior to the official grand opening. The hallways were overflowing with smiling faces and a palpable sense of free-form possibilities, excitement like the first day of school vibes. People wandered in and out of the big-windowed studios to chat with the beaming artists.
The realization of the King Street Arts Center itself came together rather quickly. Weatherford’s first visit to the building was in May and artists began moving in just three months later, a product of the full-steam-ahead determination of Weatherford and visionary philanthropist Dick Stewart, who is laser focused on what he envisions.
“A place where we can foster interactions across the generations and across the ethnicities and across the talent levels,” he declared, “So we can make it a vibrant, exciting arts destination.”
Stewart mentions Penland and Arrowmont schools as inspirations, two long-established immersive art institutions with fabulous reputations. He also sees growth coming in the next few years for the planned arts campus via adjacent property acquisition and creation of a black box theater and additional housing for teachers and students.
At this point Weatherford wants the public to be able to experience the Center for themselves and take some of this mojo home with them.
“I want them to walk out and feel inspired and creative and to [wonder] when was the last time they did something with their hands,” Weatherford said, “Sometimes you have to see it to be able to think you can do it too. And I think that’s going to make a difference.”
The difference for the artists themselves is evident as you wander through various studios.
The inaugural resident artists include plenty of oil and acrylic painters across genres, mixed-media mavens, jewelry and fiber makers, and practitioners in stained glass, wood design, blacksmithing, and even the literary arts, represented by the Pat Conroy Literary Center.
According to Weatherford, more than half of the artists are self-taught, including a painter named Aubrey, who goes by “Marsh Girl Art.” She offers deeply felt paintings that are textured to appear a few hundred years old. They are on wood boards with recycled frames picked up at thrift stores and yard sales.
“I originally was just inspired to paint my backyard for myself,” she shared, “And then it kind of went from there and I just kept painting. When I started selling pieces I just was blown away because I was just painting for myself.”
Meanwhile, what she has created for others are paintings of moody landscapes with deep light reflections and quietly radiant power. The addition of the work’s title written on burnt edge paper stuck between the frame and the surface adds drama. She credits Weatherford, Stewart and a Yemassee businesswoman named Charlotte Murray for encouraging her to join this community of artists at the Center.
“I feel like I’ve been handed such a huge gift, such a huge opportunity,” Aubrey marvels, “When I started [painting] in 2024, I didn’t really call myself an artist. … It was just something that I did for myself and something I found that was very healing for me.”
That sense of gratitude and wonder permeates all the artists spoken to recently.
Paxton Reed paints oil and acrylic Lowcountry scenes and is inspired by physically being in the middle of so much history around King Street.
“I am not a traditional artist [but] self-taught,” she points out, “Being around other artists and creative professionals, … it’s really nice to have that community to talk creatively and collaborate.”
Similarly, Hank Herring of Green Herring Art and Framing decided to bring his mixed media art and framing studios to King Street from downtown to be amid a variety of art styles.
“To me, it was important because with all the artists in here we’re able to present all these different concepts of art,” he stated, “And as I talk to [other artists] they’re so passionate about what they’re doing … once it all comes together, it’s amazing what the story will be.”
Anne McCall Wilson paints abstract canvases and lives nearby, which adds to her positive experience, so far. More importantly, it’s the sense of togetherness she finds.
“The community is fabulous,” she says with a big smile, “To be with other artists elevates my energy, elevates my work, and elevates my happiness.”
For Weatherford, it’s really all about adding to what Beaufort already has going on, so that the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
“I want all of the galleries to succeed,” she says passionately, “I want Beaufort to be an arts destination, not just King Street, and so I think that bringing more visibility to the arts and bringing more visibility to what Beaufort has to offer is going to raise the level of artists that we have.”
What the King Street Arts Center, and the larger Freedman Arts District, seems to have already accomplished is the production of a beautiful beehive of artistic expression and the flowering of positive stories. And that’s the kind of energy that’s worth talking about, both inside and outside the hallways at 1407 King Street.
Luke Frazier is a writer and award winning media producer who moved to the Lowcountry in 2024. He runs NOW Communications and can be reached at nowandfuturecomms@gmail.com.
