WEST FRASER

"…West Fraser paints with light—the radiance of early morning, the glare of high noon, the glow of day's end and the mystery of moonlight—to create brilliant works of color and form. He takes what we see everyday, something that seems ordinary, and makes it worthy of fine art."

Jean Stern, Executive Director, The Irvine Museum, Irvine, California

One of the leading American artists in the representational/plein air tradition, West Fraser has built his career on richly painted, atmospheric vistas of cities, coasts, and the landscape throughout the United States and internationally—from the pristine Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia, to the hill towns of Tuscany. An inveterate traveler, he has painted throughout the Caribbean, Central America, Europe and Scandinavia. Yet his passion always draws him back to the marshes and landscape of the Georgia and South Carolina Coast.

Fraser was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1955, and raised in nearby Hinesville until 1964, when his family moved to Hilton Head Island. He graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Fine Art's degree in 1979. The following year in Savannah, he worked independently as an illustrator and began his first serious painting in watercolors. From 1980 to 1984, he lived in Buck's County, Pennsylvania, and began traveling up and down the New England coast to paint maritime subjects and harbor scenes. In 1984, he settled in Charleston, continued his work in watercolor through the late 1980s. The realistic, detailed marine compositions from this period resulted in early critical recognition, with a 1984 two-man show at the Grand Central Art Galleries in New York City, and his first one-man exhibition at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston in 1986 through early 1987.

By 1986 Fraser had already evolved in a looser, more lyrical watercolor style, and by 1989 had started producing his first oil paintings created from life in open air—en plein air—a style based on an impressionistic rendering of light, color and atmosphere on the forms of landscapes, city scenes, and marine views. Since then he has explored his vision in this vein—constantly developing his formal and expressive skills in portraying subjects ranging from panoramic urban rooftop views, to intimate streetscapes, to remote island marshlands. Working in plein air liberated Fraser from his studio, placing him into the rich fabric of urban life, or by contrast, into unspoiled natural environments, where he has recreated the light and colors of seasons, times of day, and varied atmospheric effects on landscapes and city scenes.

In 1990, he shifted to representational/plein air painting in oil. Since then, he has primarily specialized in coastal landscapes, streetscapes and travel paintings. Through his many accolades and awards, he has achieved a national and international reputation as a master of creating a natural light in his luminist paintings.

Fraser has been given 6 solo museum exhibitions in the Midwest, the Southeast, and California. His most recent exhibition is in April 2007, at the Bakersfield Museum of Art titled: As I See It, Paintings by West Fraser. Fraser has been published extensively, including features in Art and Antiques, Plein Air Magazine, The Robb Report, Southern Accents, American Artist, Nautical Quarterly, Southwest Art and Hemispheres, to name a few.

In 2000, he represented South Carolina in the bicentennial celebration calendar published by the White House Historic Association. In 2001, the University of South Carolina Press published the monograph Charleston in My Time: The Paintings of West Fraser, which was accompanied by a traveling exhibition to Southeastern museums. In June 2004, Fraser was appointed to the Board of Directors of the South Carolina Arts Commission and in 2006 Fraser painted the official portrait of SC Governor Mark Sanford. Fraser's art can be seen in 8 permanent collections in museums from Bermuda across to California.

Corporate and Institutional Collections
Amelia Island Plantation Company Florida
Anson's Restaurant Charleston, SC.
Arizona Bank Arizona
Bald Head Island Company North Carolina
Bank of America Georgia, North & South Carolina
Bower and Knight Yachts California
Bray's Island Plantation Collection South Carolina
Callawassee Plantation South Carolina
Carolina First Bank South Carolina
Carolinas Restaurant Charleston, SC.
Cousteau Society Virginia
Disney Corp. Florida
Evergreen Lines Taipei, Taiwan
Fenco New Jersey
Fraser Yachts California
Heritage Classic Foundation Hilton Head Island, SC
MBNA Maine
OOCL Taipei, Taiwan
Palmer and Cay Georgia
Palmetto Bluff /Crescent Development Corp. South Carolina
Piggly Wiggly Corporation South Carolina
Professional Mortgage Company Collection South Carolina
Roper Foundation South Carolina
Sea Island Company/The Cloister Sea Island, GA.
Sea Pines Plantation Company South Carolina
South Carolina Governors Mansion South Carolina
South Carolina National Bank South Carolina
Spring Island Plantation Company Collection South Carolina
The Boathouse Restaurant Charleston, SC.
The Signal Companies South Carolina
The State of South Carolina Columbia, SC.
The White House, Historic Foundation Washington, DC
Thompson Industries New York, NY.
US Department of State, US Embassy Ottawa, Canada

Museum Collections
Gibbes Museum of Art Charleston, SC.
Laguna Art Museum Laguna, CA
Masterworks Museum Collection Hamilton, Bermuda
Midway Museum Midway, GA.
Mission, San Juan Capistrano Museum California
Morris Museum of Art Augusta, GA
Springfield Museum of Art Springfield, OH.
Telfair Museum of Art Savannah, GA.
Bakersfield Museum of Art Bakersfield, CA.
2006, Gerald R. Ford Museum, Grand Rapids, MI
2006, Masterworks Museum Collection, Hamilton, Bermuda.
2006, Midway Museum, Midway GA.
2005, Mission, San Juan Capistrano Museum, San Juan Capistrano, CA.
2000, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia SC.
1998, White House Historical Foundation, Washington, DC.
1995, Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, OH.
1991, The Hubbard Museum, Ruidoso Downs, NM
1985, Mariners Museum, Newport News, VA.

Magazine References:
2008 Spring/Summer - Gibbes Museum of Art Collector's Publication, Signatures, Artist Profile/West Fraser. Written by, Pam Wall
2008 March - American Art Collector, "Coastal Carolina", Written by Staff writer
2006 May - Robb Report, "Charleston, SC", Written by, Anne T. Pope.
2005 October - Charleston Magazine, "A Light Touch", Written by, Stephanie Hunt.
2004 January - Sandlapper Magazine, "West Fraser's Southern Art", Written by, Rosie O'Rear.
2003 Jan-Feb. - Southern Accents Magazine, Plein Air Passion, South Carolina artist West Fraser explors near and far in his lush landscape, Written by Julie Cole

Selected Exhibitions:
PAPA
LAPAPA
Clinton Library
The Nixon Library
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
The Johnson Library
George H. Bush Library
White House Historical Association ( see attached exhibition list)
Arts for the Parks
The Hubbard Art Award for Excellence
The Salmagundi Club
Allied Artist of America
Knickerbocker Artists
American Watercolor Society - Mary S. Litt Medal
Mystic International - 1985 Award of Excellence

Associations:
South Carolina Arts Commissioner

WEST FRASER (born 1955)|

In Painting the Southern Coast, a monograph about West Fraser, he declares: “I am a son of the lowcountry. … Since childhood my passion has been to capture, in paint, a portrait of this place I call ‘my country.’” In his portrayals of coastal marshes, as well as his views of Charleston, his primary concerns have been light and atmosphere.

At the time of the artist’s birth, the Fraser family was living in picturesque Hinesville, in rural Liberty County, Georgia. The nearest hospital was in Savannah, hence his birthplace of record. At age nine he settled in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, where his father was assisting his uncle with the development of Sea Pines Plantation. It was an idyllic childhood; Fraser and his brothers roamed the countryside, hiking, hunting, and fishing. He attended Savannah Country Day School, studied at both Clemson University and the College of Charleston, before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1979 with a specialty in illustration. Following graduation he was an illustrator in Savannah with an agent in New York City.

For four years, 1980 to 1984, Fraser lived on three hundred acres and painted watercolors in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where several impressionistic painters had located. He traveled extensively, along the coast painting meticulous watercolors of maritime scenery, often working indoors from photographs. “Painting from photographs is fine; I did it for years. The problem is, it will hinder your ability to observe. You don’t make note of how the shade on the sunny side is different from the shade on the shady side, how the tints are different. Photographs don’t register that.”

Fraser moved to Charleston, South Carolina, and after hurricane Hugo in 1989, he changed direction and transitioned to working en plein air. Basically teaching himself to use oils, he explained, “My new approach to painting allowed me to find a deeper and more spiritual connection with and understanding of my subject and craft.” The use of oil complements Fraser’s fascination with vegetation, clouds, and reflections. Because these natural elements tend to have shapes with soft edges, they inspire him to generalize in a way that makes them more convincing. Like the French Impressionists before him he sometimes finishes the paintings in his studio.

While Charleston is his base, Fraser has traveled extensively, often exploring the coast in a boat he salvaged after the hurricane. He has also gone further afield, to Maine and the Caribbean, as well as Tuscany, and places in Sweden. But he is best known for his streetscapes of Charleston and his coastal scenes where from the time he was a child he has personally witnessed development of resorts and high-end housing subdivisions.

He is somewhat conflicted about some of the dramatic alterations, but he has also benefited from them. Several resort complexes have commissioned major work, such as the four- by five-foot mural he completed for The Cloister at Sea Island, Georgia. Somewhat pointedly he included an extinct species, the Carolina parakeet, in his composition. Nature, too, has wrought changes to his beloved coast, and Fraser is well aware of the dangers of climate change. “I have painted the transition zone from salt water to land all of my life, so I have seen firsthand some of the changes in water level and its affect on the landscape as well as the effects of pollution from coastal development. It is very subtle, but also alarming.”
Fraser is sincere in his concern about the future. He has partnered with the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry to establish, in honor of his parents, The Joseph Bacon and Carolyn Bexley Fraser Sustainable Seafood Harvest Fund which provides support for the conservation of healthy ecosystems near Hilton Head Island. He has also contributed his services to the arts: from 2003 until 2012 he served on the South Carolina Arts Commission.

Source:
The Johnson Collection, Spartanburg, South Carolina thejohnsoncollection.org