THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 21, 1996 TAG: 9601180147
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 09 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Edenton is astir with the return of two sisters who are native to the waterside town.
Frances Wood Crawford and Sara Wood Wickham came home to exhibit their paintings at the Chowan Arts Council Gallery on East Church Street.
Joining these women are their daughters, Benbury Crawford Carstensen and Katherine Wickham-Sherburne, to create an eclectic show appropriately titled ``Gifts from the Genes.''
With roots buried deep in a love for life and art, mothers and daughters pay homage to their ancestors and themselves with this exhibition.
Underlying the multifaceted show are not only the close bonds blood presents, but also an undeniable talent and spirit.
For Frances, 66, and Sara, 61, the love of art comes from their boundary-free childhood where creativity was encouraged even at the expense of a few walls in their Mulberry Hill home.
Laughing over sandwiches and Greek salad, the sisters recall how their mother, Anne L. Kemp, returned home one day to find that her daughters had covered the Colonial home's walls with four scenes of hillbillies.
``She thought they were cute,'' says Frances.
``Mother and Daddy had wonderful imaginations,'' adds Sara. ``There was no tyranny over our minds.''
Anne Kemp would regularly send the girls outside to entertain themselves. Left to their own devices, and with a locked door separating them from the inside, they created fun from their surroundings. Clay, or mud rather, was among their media.
Frances' art was influenced early on by books.
``My mother read me fairy tales from the time I was a small child,'' she says. ``I learned from fairy tales. I saw God in art, the awareness of the `other,' the existence of the unseen.''
Frances was also touched by an early portrait sitting.
``When I was 5 years old, our parents had my portrait painted,'' she says. ``I sat for the man. To me it was fantastic, because he was having fun.''
Both women have been drawing virtually since before they could read or write. They studied art at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Va. Frances sought additional instruction at the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, and Sara attended the Art Students League in New York City.
The massive and multiroomed Chowan Arts Council Gallery is the perfect setting to display ``Gifts from the Genes.''
Sara fills the window-lined front room with portraiture and architecture rendered in oils. Her work features exquisite scenes from Cezanne's home town in France and massive oil portraits of both family and clients.
Frances, who signs her work Francesca - emphasizing a major change in her life with the death of her husband - claims the inner sanctum for her paintings. These consist of lively still-lifes with fruit and birds, portraits, and scenes with a surreal slant.
The colorful works are skillfully rendered and tender, speaking to a more personal and inner voice.
In a smaller room that connects to Frances and Sara's work, Benbury and Katherine share a space.
Benbury demonstrates her love for nature with portraits of animals. Her black cat with green eyes done in pastel is strokable.
``Her basic desire is to show the beauty of the natural world,'' Sara says.
Katherine offers pastels, paintings, graphite works and textile designs, including a pencil drawing of several sweaters she designed while working in the fashion industry.
Frances and Katherine continue to learn from each other.
While hanging the show, they became lost in deep conversation about where each is headed with their work. Their personalities are different, but they complement each other beautifully.
There can be no greater ``Gift from the Genes'' than the strong bonds these women share - bonds they pass to their daughters that were formed long ago by those who inhabited Mulberry Hill before them. MEMO: ``Gifts from the Genes'' will show at the Chowan Arts Council Gallery on
200 East Church St. in Edenton through Feb. 25.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE
Sisters Frances Wood Crawford, left, and Sara Wood Wickham - and
their daughters - are showing their work at Chowan Arts Council
Gallery in Edenton.
by CNB