Daniel Island Garden & Art Tour

"Landscaping truly marries the vertical plane of a home with the horizontal plane," said Joe Gessner of Landplan Associates / Bohicket Nursery, who worked on the homes at 643 and 659 Island Park Drive. "The house looks the same all year long while the dynamic nature of the landscape evolves through many seasonal changes in color and texture."

Gessner has run his own business for 22 years and has created landscaping designs for more than 2,000 homes from 3,000 square feet to 20,000 square feet on both intimate size lots and large estates.­ Although he claims to not have a specific design agenda, his goal is to "marry the landscape to the home in conjunction with the owner’s program for outdoor living."

Another veteran landscape architect working on the Garden and Art Tour is Robert Chesnut, ASLA (American Society of Landscape Architects). A noted expert in the field, he is regularly featured in Southern Living and Traditional Home Magazine. Chesnut has lent his creative talents to the home at 651 Island Park Drive.

"I believe in integrating house and garden," said Chesnut, who has a private practice specializing in high-end landscaping. "Each person has their own style and different look. Mine has more formality and order to it."

The home Chesnut worked on also includes an outdoor entertaining area and fountain at the back of the property.

"I really try to bring in a lot of classic details reminiscent of Charleston gardens into my spaces," Chesnut added. "The sound and visual elements of water are both very important. I like to create ‘garden rooms’ outdoors because they are truly an extension of the house."

Hundreds are expected to make an appearance at the "nuptials." Trees and plants that is. Guests include the ever-popular Palmetto Tree, River Birch, Leland Cypress, Maple, Live Oak, and Magnolia. But it just wouldn’t be a celebration without one of the Lowcountry’s most famous couples, Confederate and Carolina Jasmine.

"Even though it is a tough time of year because certain plants are beginning to lose their leaves, you can still see seasonal color," added Gessner. "…Both of my projects feature extensive night lighting so the land can be appreciated both in the daytime and evening."

The Garden and Art Tour will spotlight five newly constructed homes in Daniel Island Park and will benefit the Lowcountry Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Organizers hope those who are used to the standard home tour will be pleasantly surprised by this one.

"Rather than doing a typical showhome tour, we wanted to create an event that represents the lifestyle and cultural aspects for which Charleston is renowned," said Carolyn Lancaster, Vice President of Marketing for The Daniel Island Company. "Daniel Island has been planned as a modern day extension of downtown Charleston. It features newer interpretations of the same great cornerstones of architecture, outdoor living and Lowcountry culture that make Charleston such a desirable place to live and visit."

At each house, expect a feast for the eyes both inside the home and out. The artwork of six talented women artists, whose work is featured in the Gibbes Museum of Art, will decorate the interiors of the unfurnished homes. Outside, innovative landscape and garden designs will serve as fresh venues for dining and entertaining ideas presented by local catering and entertaining professionals. Wine tastings, barbequing demonstrations, art classes, and even a children’s craft activity are all part of the event’s programs. Louise Thackeray, co-owner of The Charleston Flower Market, will also be on hand to provide holiday decorating ideas.

Although the Garden and Art Tour is a first for Daniel Island, organizers hope it becomes a tradition.

"We saw an opportunity do something similar to a ‘Parade of Homes’ but we wanted to make this different and special," said Julie Dombrowski, Communications Manager for The Daniel Island Company. "We hope to do it again because we think it’s a really unique way to benefit a charity and showcase our Daniel Island neighborhoods."

Dombrowski says the Komen Foundation will provide more than 100 volunteers to staff the three-week event. Contractors and landscapers were busy up until the last minute putting finishing touches on homes and gardens earlier this week. As in any courtship, first impressions are of the utmost importance. To Chesnut, the power of good landscaping should never be underestimated.

"It’s the magnet that catches your attention," he said, the passion for his field evident in his voice. "It can truly make the difference between your home selling or not selling, and can dramatically increase the value of the property."

Chesnut, Gessner and the other creative minds working on the Garden and Art Tour

are confident in the fruits of their labor and predict good curb appeal will in fact draw you in for more. Perhaps the ideas you absorb at the Garden and Art Tour will be just the "spice" you need to keep the relationship with your own house going strong, especially if you want to live there happily ever after.

"I think an event like this can really increase a sense of awareness," added Chesnut. "And show people how they can make their own homes more exciting."

So maybe it really will be like a wedding after all, where nature, structure and art come together to show the rest of us how it’s done. Be sure to mark your calendars for the Garden and Art Tour on Daniel Island, because true marital bliss is literally just around the corner.

***image2***A street of newly constructed upscale custom homes will serve as a canvas for a special event on Daniel Island this fall to benefit the Lowcountry Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Unlike typical show house formats, the "Garden and Art Tour on Daniel Island" will showcase modern day interpretations of the lifestyle and cultural aspects for which historic Charleston is renowned, including art, architecture, gardens, outdoor living, food and entertaining.

The interiors of five of the newly constructed homes will be left unfurnished, utilizing the architectural spaces to showcase the work of local female artists whose work is part of the Gibbes Museum of Art’s permanent collection. Featured artists will include Eva Carter, Linda Fantuzzo, Rhett Thurman, Mary Edna Fraser, Julia Cart and sweetgrass basket artisan Mary Jackson. Other art-related activities will include an artist reception, art classes and discussions of architectural trends.

"The Gibbes is delighted to participate in the Garden and Art Tour on Daniel Island," said Kenton Barham, Development Officer for the Gibbes Museum of Art. "This twist on the typical home tour offers exceptional venues in which to highlight significant female artists working in Charleston today, and we are most honored to partner with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation."   

Also showcased on the Tour will be innovative landscape and garden designs, coupled with exciting exterior architectural concepts, that will serve as fresh venues for dining and entertaining ideas presented by local catering and entertaining professionals. Wine tastings, outdoor cooking and barbecuing demonstrations and more will constitute a slate of activities highlighting the homes’ exterior living spaces.

Julia Cart Photography

A fine art photographer, Julia Cart is known for her work documenting the vanishing past of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Inspired by images and techniques of 19^th century photography, she has dedicated her time in the field to historic preservation. Using negatives from large format cameras, she prints much of her work using antique processes such as platinum, palladium and gold-tones salt prints. Portraiture, using the "wunderkabinette" concept from the 17^th century perspective box, is also a passion.

Ms. Cart’s work is in corporate and private collections, as well as in the Gibbes Museum of Art.

Eva Carter

Eva Carter has lived in the mountains of Tennessee and Colorado and the desert lands of New Mexico, but it is the Lowcountry of South Carolina that has been her home for more than 20 years. Carter was exposed to contrasting landscapes and environments at an early age. The Lowcountry provides a diverse environment which influences and inspires her work. An abstract expressionist, Carter works in oils on canvas and paper. Recently, she has been working in reaction to her personal experience with nature, resulting in more vibrant colors and fluid motions.

Carter has had solo exhibitions throughout North and South Carolina as well as in New Mexico and Colorado. Her works have been included in numerous group, juried and invitational exhibitions at gallery spaces, universities, colleges and museums throughout the Southeast.

Linda Fantuzzo

Linda Fantuzzo grew up in Endicott, New York and moved to Charleston in 1973. As one of South Carolina’s most original and subtle visual artists, her recent works have focused on landscape, still life and still life within landscape. She emphasizes texture, tone, atmosphere and above all an inner light created by very careful, purposeful handling of cool and warm colors, applied with thick and thin paints and glazes. She often paints en plein air, but then modifies the work in her studio to achieve the special lighting effect which is central to her inner vision.

Fantuzzo has had 18 solo exhibitions since 1977 and has shown in numerous regional galleries. She has taken a very active support role in Charleston’s art community, serving on various boards and committees through the years.

Mary Edna Fraser

The pioneering work of contemporary American artist Mary Edna Fraser has been collected and exhibited worldwide. She first had the idea of painting aerial landscapes when she and her brother were flying over the Sea Islands of Georgia in 1980. Working in the ancient textile medium of batik, Fraser merges modern dye technology on silk with aerial and satellite photography, maps and charts.

Ms. Fraser’s works are in a number of important private and public collections, including the Elliot School of International Affairs at George Washington University, the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington, DC, the New England Aquarium in Boston, the American Embassy in Thailand, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Mary Jackson

Mary Jackson has devoted her life to keeping her family history alive through basket making, and to bringing the Lowcountry tradition of sweetgrass basket making to a high art form. Taught to make sweetgrass baskets by her mother and grandmother, who learned from their mothers and grandmothers, Jackson has preserved their techniques as well as a rich oral history of their families who first came to this country as slaves.

In addition to earning accolades for the artistry she has brought to this traditional, functional medium, Jackson has brought national recognition to the Lowcountry style of basket making. Her work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, the Washington Craft Show and several American Craft Council shows. She has also been featured in National Geographic, Southern Living and Southern Accents magazines.

Rhett Thurman

Rhett Thurman has lived in and painted the Charleston area for over three decades. In bold palette, her work offers studies of Southern life and there is a visible and vibrant joyfulness of life that permeates throughout. The viewer is immediately drawn into her world, senses heightened by her bold, broad brushstrokes of color.

Ms. Thurman has achieved national acclaim for her oils and watercolors. She received her degree in Studio Art from Queens College and in 1995 was named "outstanding alumna" of the year. Her work has been featured in national publications and is included in many private, museum and corporate collections.