Fine Art and Fun Events

Sunset River Gallery in Calabash has added to its offerings of investment-grade modern 20th-century art and continues to sell art in a variety of media, offer classes and host events.

Sunset River Gallery in Calabash has recently added to its offering of fine 20th-century art with two new pieces each by Raimonds Staprans (1926 – ) and Wolf Kahn (1927 – 2020).

Staprans is a Latvian American artist and playwright. He immigrated to the United States in 1947. One of the artists he studied under was Hans Hofmann. Still living but no longer painting, he was known for examining the architecture of everyday objects using color and flattened compositions. His subject matter was always an important component of his work, in which he explored the formal devices of abstract expressionism.

The two new Staprans pieces at Sunset River Gallery are both early examples of his work and depict bustling city scenes. Unlike his later paintings, these two are highly textured but employ his distinctive simplicity of shape (noted particularly in both his trees and structures in these cityscapes). Typically, Staprans’ earlier pieces command lower prices, so, according to gallery director Samantha Spalti, these are ideal for entry-level collectors. Chinatown, oil on canvas, 20” x 16” and Cathedral, oil on canvas 25 ¼” x 22 ¼”, were both painted in the 1950s.

German-born Wolf Kahn also studied under Hans Hofmann and later became his assistant. He immigrated to the United States by way of England. After enrolling in the University of Chicago, he completed his degree in a single year and established, with other Hofmann students, the Hansa Gallery in CITY. Kahn received numerous awards including the Fulbright Scholarship, a John Simson Guggenheim Fellowship, an Award in Art from the Academy of Arts and Letters, and a Medal of Arts from the U.S. State Department.

His work is a unique blend of realism combined with the formal discipline of color field painting. The fusion of color, spontaneity and representation produced a rich and expressive body of work.

The two new pieces include Fall Maples, oil, 18 ¼” x 44 ¼” (1986), and Near the Potomac in Spring, oil on canvas, 28” x 66” (1987).

Spalti says that Sunset River Gallery is in a unique position to offer clients rare and high-quality investment-grade art at better-than-expected pricing due to the gallery’s cost-efficient location and the gallery owner’s buying expertise.

“If we were located in a busy metropolitan area, it just wouldn’t be possible,” Spalti says. “We hope art lovers, collectors and students will all take advantage of the opportunity to view this museum-quality art right here in Calabash or at sunsetrivergallery.com.”

Sunset River Gallery features works by more than 100 fine regional artists including Betty Anglin Smith, Marcus McClanahan, Pat Puckett and Angie Sinclair, among others. The gallery is well known in the area for its selection of oil paintings; watermedia; pastels; photography; hand-blown, stained, and fused glass; pottery and clay sculpture; turned and carved wood; unique home décor items; and artisan jewelry. There are two onsite kilns and five wheels used by the gallery’s pottery students. The gallery also offers ongoing oil/acrylic and watercolor classes as well as workshops by nationally known instructors.

Upcoming Events at Sunset River Gallery

Watercolor Batik Workshop
Instructor Ryan Fox
May 6 – 8
10 am – 4 pm
$300

Coffee With the Authors
Thursday, May 11
11 am – 12 noon
Sean Keefer (The Code)
Free

Paint & Party – Great Blue Heron
Wednesday, May 17
5:30 – 7:30 pm
$35

Third Thursday Jazz Night
May 18
5 – 7 pm
Free

Mimic the Masters – Picasso
Saturday, May 20
1 – 4 pm
$65

Studio 8 Group Show
May 22 – July 1
11 am – 5 pm
Reception Friday, June 16, 5 – 7 pm
Free

Hearts & Arts
Fundraiser for Lower Cape Fear LifeCare
With Jazz by AfterHours Band
Friday, June 2
5 – 7 pm
$20

Coffee With the Authors
Thursday, June 8
11 am – 12 noon
Nick Vance (The Lone Stranger: Revisiting the Myth of the Voodoo Healer)
Free

Third Thursday Jazz Night
June 15
5 – 7 pm
Free

Coffee With the Authors
Thursday, July 13
11 am – 12 noon
Caleb Wygal (Death on the Golden Mile)
Free

Coffee With the Authors
Thursday, August 10
11 am – 12 noon
Denny Hamann (Cryin’s For Hungry Babies)
Free

Want to go?
Sunset River Gallery
10283 Beach Drive SW, Calabash
(910) 575-5999
sunsetrivergallery.com
Regular hours: Monday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm