The 27^th Annual Gullah Festival of South Carolina features “St. Isabella Island Fishing Woman” and more art by Diane Britton Dunham. This year’s festival, themed “Celebrating the Unique Gullah Culture with Ties from Generation to Generation,” is underway May 24-26, 2013, at the Technical College of the Lowcountry in Beaufort. Meet Dunham at her exhibit in the college auditorium.

Diane Britton Dunham’s work has been recognized internationally as a genuine illustration of the history and traditions of African American southern culture for over two decades.

She is one of the artists who pioneered the Gullah style prevalent from South Carolina to the Florida Gulf Coast. Dunham is now painting in what she calls the Gullah-Creole style which is a blending of the Gullah culture and the Creole culture, which she always has done in a small way, however now with more emphasis on the Creole than in the past.  Look for her line drawings to include more depth as she delves into multimedia to tell her stories. 

Dunham’s paintings are recognized for their brilliant coloring, intricate human and landscape forms, and themes that represent life in South Carolina’s Lowcountry region and the bayous of Louisiana. A self-taught mixed media artist and instructor, Dunham has received honors and awards from the Artisan Center, the Gullah Festival, the Beaufort Art Association and others.

Her artwork has been highlighted in many local and national publications. It has been featured in The Children’s Museum of Houston’s installation “Tales from The Land of Gullah,” in which three murals of Dunham’s paintings are included. Also, it has been presented in The Zenith Gallery, Washington, DC; The Red Piano Too, St. Helena Island; Penn Center’s York W. Bailey Museum, St. Helena Island, SC and The Four Winds Gallery, Beaufort, SC.

The Gullah Festival’s new location at the college was the original site of Mather School, founded in 1858 by Rachel Crane Mather as a boarding school for African American women. The school added a high school program in 1932 and an accredited junior college was opened and men admitted in the 1950s. The school served African American families until it was given to the state of South Carolina in 1968 when it was renamed Beaufort Technical College and later named the Technical College of the Lowcountry.

For Gullah Festival information please call 843.636.3788. For more information about Diane Britton Dunham, call 843.902.4799 or visit DianesArt.com or fineartamerica.com