Kyle Brown displays freshwater fishing inspired screenprints at The Schoolhouse
Local visual artist Kyle Brown wasn’t always known for his eye-catching modern fishing art. He spent 5 years as a relief worker in war zones and refugee camps in Africa and Latin America, an experience that profoundly affected his view of the world as well as his relationship to art, color, and the human condition. But after that Brown owned a boutique tea company based in West Ashley, whose niche was selling Early American teas.
When Brown started Oliver Pluff & Co. in 2009 he had trouble finding an artist to create the package designs that he wanted. He says in the tea business you cannot survive if it did not have superb packaging. “The market for tea is peculiar that way,” says Brown. “I began taking letterpress classes at Redux Studios to improve my colonial-style packaging. It took me several years to master graphic design and learn the fonts to create the finished look that I wanted.”
Brown owned and operated Oliver Pluff & Co.for 8 years before selling it in 2017. In that time he did the design for 200 products. In the process, he fell in love with printmaking and he especially loved the look of screenprinting. But the medium is quite technical and special equipment is needed. So when he decided to take lessons, he went back to Redux Studios in downtown Charleston and took a course with popular local artist Karen Ann Meyers. He was hooked.
Speaking of hooks, over this summer Brown created 15 different limited edition prints of freshwater fishing subjects, including hooks, jigs, bluegill, and largemouth bass. “My favorites are the large prints of hooks, with their flowing lines and jagged barbs,” says Brown.
Brown’s work is a far cry from the kind of “fishing” art you may find on sale at the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition. He’s creating modern fishing art, some of it abstract. “I suspect that anglers may not even be the main market for my art because of how different it is from traditional fishing art,” says Brown. “My ambition is to create original art from common fishing that we all grew up with in the South, fishing for bream and bass and catfish under a starry morning or evening.”
Some of Brown’s prints have a sense of humor such as ‘Jig School’ where he made a school of swimming jigs in the same formation as a school of fish in a pond or lake.
Those 15 prints he created over the summer make up his solo art show Hook + Pond, which will be on display this month at The Schoolhouse, located 720 Magnolia Road in West Ashley. Curated by Straight For Art, the show officially opens with a reception from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 19.
“I once read a quote that being self-employed is similar to being an animal living in the wild; there are seasons where survival is doubtful, but you feel very alive,” says Brown about the similarities in owning his own business and being his own boss, now as a professional artist. “My favorite part of the tea business was creating new products. When I sold the business, I realized that I wanted to create art for the rest of my life, and so I’ve thrown everything into becoming a professional artist. An artist runs their own small business. But I’m new to the art world, so this is a new adventure.”
Brown’s chosen medium of screenprinting, is a labor of love. For each color of ink in a print, there is a separate film and screen to be made. Brown employ various methods of putting high-contrast images onto a clear film, such as cutting pieces of cardboard, drawing, painting, or photography. The films are then used to create the screens for printing. “The fun part begins when all the screens are ready and I can finally pour out the different color inks and begin printing. I turn up the music, pour a whiskey, and work late into the night to create the finished prints,” says Brown. “I wake up sore the next day from my 5-hour print sessions. Screenprinting can be a very physical art.”
Next up for Brown are saltwater species of fish, such as flounder, redfish, sea trout, and saltwater tackle. “I’m just getting started. I have hundreds of ideas ready to put into ink,” says Brown. “I’ve also been testing new types of printmaking. Last month, I created a print on a red leather cowhide and stretched it onto a wooden frame once the ink dried.”
Hook + Pond opens on Wednesday, Sept. 19 with a reception from 5-8 p.m. at The Schoolhouse, located at 720 Magnolia Road. For more information on the show visit www.straighttoart.com. To see more about Brown, visit www.fishingonjupiter.com
