The Gallery at Flat Rock is thrilled to present an exhibition of paintings by Marty Whaley Adams from June 30 to July 31, 2022, with an artist talk scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 16.
“Moments in Time” is the first show of Whaley Adams’ work at The Gallery at Flat Rock. Whaley Adams has a long personal history with art, and while she hasn’t exhibited for many years, she’s a prolific painter who creates daily—mostly in her favorite genre, still life, but also dog portraits, people portraits and landscape.
“I think I must have been born with a paintbrush in my hand,” says Whaley Adams, a primarily self-taught painter. “I’m a late bloomer, and here I am getting into a whole new phase of art.” In her native Charleston, S.C., Whaley Adams owned an eponymously named gallery for 13 years that featured her artwork, from 1989 to the mid-2000s. She divides her time between Charleston and Flat Rock and actively paints in studios in both towns.
“We are so pleased to have Marty join the Gallery at Flat Rock family of artists,” says Suzanne Camarata, GFR owner. “She has the ability to capture the spirit of objects in a home with a wonderfully focused attention. It’s the little things that bring joy—from a flower coming into bloom in morning light to the details on a beloved heirloom object—Marty and her paintings exude a particularly warm Southern hospitality.”
Marty Whaley-Adams
When inspiration strikes, Whaley Adams is there to document it. “When I come upon something in the house that is just caught with sunlight, shadow, and is beautiful, I have to get a picture of it,” she says. Capturing a moment in time to record it later in paints or pastels is a passion of hers—she claims to have 45,000 images on her phone that provide fodder for her work at the easel. Inspired by the Impressionists but mostly by her own muse, Whaley Adams finds joy in sensitively representing light, reflection, and a virtual garden of colors in her still lives.
The artworks to be featured in the exhibition were created in the last two years and include a section of landscapes of Flat Rock’s Highland Lake. “It’s everything from people, things I love and catch my eye,” says Whaley Adams, who actively creates in a variety of mediums, from painting and sculpture to sewing and beading. “I'm also a gardener,” she says. “My grandmother said, early on, ‘Marty, if you want it, make it,’ so I made all our clothes, and if I wanted a beautiful fountainhead, I sculpted one for the garden.”