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Fine art, fine food merge at Charleston event
By Dennis Quick
Senior Staff Writer
Take samples of cuisine from some of Charleston’s finest restaurants, pair those dishes with artworks in some of Charleston’s finest galleries and the result is an event that helps boost business for local art dealers and fund a scholarship for Charleston County high school art students.
That, in a nutshell, is what the Charleston Fine Art Dealers Association’s “Palette and Palate Stroll” is all about. The association’s second annual Palette and Palate event will be held July 13 and include 15 downtown Charleston art galleries, each paired with a Charleston restaurant. For a ticket price of $40 per person, art and food lovers can stroll from gallery to gallery, feasting their eyes on fine art while nibbling on appetizers and hors d’oeuvres from top-notch eateries.
The event shines a fine arts spotlight on Charleston, attracting art aficionados from across the nation during a time of season in which business is usually slow for galleries, said Joe Sylvan, owner of The Sylvan Gallery at 171 King St. and one of the founders of the event.
“A lot of people come to Charleston during the summer but they don’t do art walks because it’s too hot,” Sylvan said.
Last year’s inaugural Palette and Palate drew more than 700 people and raised more than $12,000 toward an art scholarship, he said.
“It’s a marriage of two great things Charleston has to offer—great food and great art,” Sylvan said of the event.
Tickets at last year’s event cost $25. Because the event produced such a strong turnout, the association raised ticket prices for this year’s event, Sylvan said.
The event showcases Charleston as a fine arts destination, Sylvan explained.
“What we’re looking for is exposure. We don’t sell a lot of pieces during the event. What we want is for tourists to come back and buy art,” he said.
Sylvan hopes the event will encourage more local residents to frequent Charleston galleries, he said.
As of June 20, the association sold 150 tickets. Ticket sales will be capped at 600 to keep the galleries from getting too crowded, said Hume Killian, co-owner of Smith-Killian Fine Art at 9 Queen St.
Ticket sales are expected to escalate as the event approaches, just as they did last year, Killian said.
“We don’t want a mob. We want it to be comfortable for everyone,” Killian said.
The event also provides further exposure for Charleston’s restaurants, he said.
“It’s for a good cause, and it’s a way of giving back to the community,” said chef Brett McKee, whose restaurant, Oak Steakhouse, will provide food at the Smith-Killian Fine Art
gallery.
Other pairings are: Tristan with The Sylvan Gallery, Fleet Landing with The Wells Gallery, McCrady’s with Robert Lange Studios, Cordavi with Martin Gallery, Cypress with Corrigan Gallery, Charleston Grill with Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art Gallery, Coast with Fraser Fox Fine Art, Grill 225 with Horton Hayes Fine Art, Granville’s with Margaret Petterson Gallery, Carolina’s with Ann Long Fine Art, Cru Café with The Audubon Gallery, Muse with Carolina Galleries, Social with Coleman Fine Art and Charleston Cooks! with The Charleston Renaissance Gallery.
The galleries are located on King, Queen, Church, Broad, State and East Bay streets.
The association has no specific dollar amount in mind for its art scholarship fund. The fund could be used to help pay for an art student’s first year of college or for courses at the Gibbes Museum of Art in downtown Charleston, Sylvan said.
Dennis Quick covers hospitality and tourism for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dquick@charlestonbusiness.com.
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