jeffrey callaham image

courtesy of Jeffrey Callaham

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Jeffrey Callaham is in Love (artist interview)

Despina Panagakos Yeargin, Contributor

October 2008

The truth has surfaced. Yes, Jeffery Callaham, the story-teller artist™, is in love. “I don’t know where it came from,” Callaham says, “but the love bug has hit. I am in love with life and it’s showing up in my newest paintings.”

jeffrey callaham
courtesy Jeffrey Callaham
Callaham, who is known for real life story-telling in his paintings, is overflowing with love in his latest works. With titles like Immeasurable Love, We Love You! and Straight From the Heart, you see the love of children, of parents and grandparents. Typically, in Callaham’s paintings, there are scenes of Jeffery as a little boy and of his maternal grandmother experiencing the daily rituals of a rural lifestyle; his grandmother is usually teaching him something or telling him a story, and sometimes siblings or cousins are featured in the painting also.

The new works continue to pay homage to the family and to his grandmother, but the difference in this developing series is that the theme is overtly that of giving and of receiving love. There is also something new that is surfacing as a testament to Jeffery’s earlier interest in textiles and fashion.

“You can tell,” he says, “that I have a degree in fashion design. Look at the detail in the dresses, the shoes, the curtains!” he adds, as he punctuates his statement with laughter.

Callaham graduated from Atlanta’s Bauder College of Fashion and completed his studies with an internship at the fashion house of internationally acclaimed designer, Mary McFadden. His interest later turned to education, and he has since graduated with degrees in art education and had a full, albeit it short, career teaching in South Carolina and Augusta, Georgia, schools.

Jeffery Callaham is currently living his dream, working as a professional artist.

jeffrey callaham
courtesy Jeffrey Callaham
His works can be found in private and public collections from Georgia and South Carolina to Ohio and New Jersey. He has appeared as a featured speaker at The Morris Museum of Art, Clemson University’s Botanical Gardens, Lander University’s Distinguished Speakers series and is scheduled as the keynote speaker for the South Carolina Art Educators Association Annual Conference in Greenville, SC, in early November. He is represented by Studio-B gallery in Asheville, North Carolina, and Daufuskie Gallery, Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, where he opens his newest exhibition October 25. For more information about Jeffery Callaham, the story-teller artist™, you may visit his website, www.jefferycallaham.com

Published, October 10, 2008
-- Despina Panagakos Yeargin is a writer and owner of Alpha Publishing & Communications, a writing and marketing consulting business, which also provides on-line book downloads. Despina has a broad background which includes being the Director of The Museum in Greenwood (S.C.) and a VP of marketing for Health Related Products; additionally, she has served on many community and arts related organizations, including the SC Arts Alliance.

An archive of Despina's articles is located here.
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