3 Savannah artists cross the river to South Carolina with exhibitions in Charleston, Florence

Saint Paul the Apostle sat in a cell, watching the Romans prepare to go to war. Instead of descending into misery, however, he penned a letter to the Christians of Ephesus, a port city located in what is today modern-day Turkey.

Inspired by the soldiers, he called upon his fellow followers of Christ to don metaphorical battle gear, the “shield of faith,” the “helmet of salvation,” and “the sword of the Spirit,” to guide them on their path towards salvation.

Set to open July 29 at the Emeline hotel in Charleston, S.C., “Divine Armor of the Lowcountry,” Savannah-based multi-disciplinary artist Stephanie “Sunshine” Forbes’ latest exhibition, uses Paul’s letter as it’s starting point, before delving deeply into her own spiritual and personal journey through a series of oyster shell helmets.

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“This body of work was going to be called ‘Armor of God’ at first,” she explained. “And then I was like, ‘How can I be more delicate with the title, so that it’s more accessible, so that I’m not shoving anything in in anyone’s face?’ There is the discreet, loving, fragility in it that represents my spiritual relationship with God, and I hope people can sense that, for what it is for me.”

Forbes’ foray into creating armor as a part of her practice actually began with “Root,” her excellent exhibition at Cedar House Gallery in early 2021. For that show, she created numerous breastplates with papier-mâché and oyster shells, the latter of which she’s been working with for most of her life. She described the pieces as representative of “the idea that I’m having to put on a piece of battle gear to enter into the world, to protect myself, and not be affected by things that could cause my own mentality harm.”

That exhibition, however, was primarily focused on issues related to family trauma rather than spirituality. Still, the protective notion of armor, and the literal filtration system that oysters serve as in our eco-system, stuck with her. When she decided to finally come to terms with a church that she had long ago turned her back on, “It felt very right that I would use this material for the [helmet] concept,” she said.

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“I started just reading the Bible and doing my own spiritual practice, by myself,” Forbes continued. “So what I was receiving was totally unfiltered. I was just getting this very sacred time by myself, with myself, with God.

“I had to be focused. I had to be alone. I got to develop this spiritual experience, that now is putting me in a stronger space to understand and love. So if this is all that work has done, then I’m happy.”

The helmets themselves are beautiful, unique, and full of unexpected color. Composed almost entirely out of oyster shells she’s been collecting her whole life, each has a different hue depending upon where and when they were harvested by the artist, vibrantly accentuated by a special coating she applies upon completion.

One helmet, for example, possesses a powerful rust color, which Forbes ascribes to the impact of the dredging of the Savannah River. Another of the pieces is almost black, a feature common to oysters that have spent decades or even centuries buried deep underground.

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She has a self-made book listing all of the collection spaces for the shells, when they were gathered, and drawings for each helmet. It looks like some sort of conspiracy theorist’s handbook, only instead of outlandish proclamations, it holds within the key to the creation of the artist’s work.

“My dad and I, we used to walk the beach on Jekyll [Island],” Forbes related. “We would collect shells [and] shark teeth. It became this meditative practice. And so I just carried that forever.”

Beyond the helmets, she’ll also be exhibiting three “angels,” delicate busts trailing strings of oyster shells, at a special gathering on opening night, homage to her beloved grandmother. All in all, the collection is perhaps the artist’s best work to date, and the perfect introduction of a rising Savannah creative to the Charleston art scene.

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“I do feel like kind of a vessel for [the oyster shells] to showcase their utmost beauty,” she said. “They did all the work; I just highlighted it.”

In addition to the exhibition “Divine Armor of the Lowcountry,” opening July 29 at Emeline in Charleston, Forbes will be the debut Artist in Residency at the hotel through Aug. 30.

For more information about Emeline, visit hotelemeline.com. Forbes can be found at sunshineforbes.com and @sforbes.art on Instagram.

Converge at the Steven F. Gately Gallery at Francis Marion University

Fresh off her well-received and expansive Sulfur Studios exhibition “Through a Kaleidoscope,” Savannah-based multi-disciplinary artist Samantha Mack is teaming up with Lowcountry favorite Amiri Farris to bring her illuminating artwork to a new audience with Converge, their two-person show at the Steven F. Gately Gallery at Francis Marion University in Florence, S.C.

“Amiri had this exhibition in the works at Gately Gallery and generously offered to include me in it after he saw my thesis exhibition at Sulfur Studios,” Mack related. “We both have studios at Sulfur, which has given us the opportunity to connect.”

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Many of the works in Mack’s Savannah show sold, so it’s not exactly a recreation of what folks in the Hostess City in the South experienced. But she has re-contextualized the remaining pieces in such a way that those who missed its initial run will still feel as though they’re getting the full experience, while those who have previously seen the work will get something new out of a second viewing.

“The exhibition is also designed to be a gathering place; there’s a crochet area in the front of the gallery where people can sit and relax in the cushions,” she explained, referring to the enormous and colorful beanbag-style chairs she’s created for the show. “And the vibrancy and scale of Amiri’s works really draw people in as well.”

For fans of both Farris and Mack, it’s an opportunity to see how the two artists, who are stylistically dissimilar, can “Converge.”

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“On the surface [the title] references these recent bodies of work from two artists coming together in conversation,” she noted. “But we were also thinking about the ways in which we each approach repetition, patterns, color, time, and energy. Both bodies of work are full of these instances of overlapping layers; drips, strokes or stitches building up and amounting to something. We’re both into accumulation, in different ways.”

“’Converge’ also implies movement, a pull of energy,” Mack continued. “You can see it in the dancers and butterflies that float through Amiri’s compositions and in the drips that run into larger pools. My radiating butterflies and pulsing light works get at that idea as well.”

“Converge” runs through Aug. 19. More information can be found at fmarion.edu/converge-exhibit-opens-at-gately-gallery/.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA artists set with exhibitions in Charleston SC, Florence