Artist:
Chapin Art Trail
A Community Art Project
Hollow Tree Inn - NO VACANCY
Karen Larrabee
Installed September 2021
Artist's Statement
Having been an art teacher, I have continuously been exposed to, and engaged in, many media and styles of art, and enjoy the freedom to be creative and experiment artistically. Lately I have been working in mixed media collage, but I also enjoy drawing, water colors, pastels and designing one-of-a-kind home décor pieces. For me, art and life just naturally go hand in hand.
This project is a way for me to be creative in a whole, new way and give back to the town I now call home. My mixed media art is guiding me to a new level of artistic expression that I envision will come to fruition in this project! Cheese cloth, modeling paste, acrylic paint, lots of creativity and my imagination have brought my Hollow Tree Inn to life!
About the Artwork
Hollow Tree Inn - NO VACANCY is a 5 foot tall artistic trail marker with a sailboat on top. The metal form was created by Steven Reed and Shelly Fugua. The artistry on the marker was done by Karen Larrabee.
Installed September 2021
About the Artist
A past-president and 11 year board member of the Crooked Creek Art League, Karen Larrabee moved to Chapin, SC, 15 years ago and feels blessed by the move. Karen was born and raised in northern NJ and loved to draw and paint since “forever, it seems”. Her awards began in high school where she had a wonderful and encouraging art program. Marietta College, a small, liberal arts school in Marietta, Ohio, lured her to the Midwest. She received a B.A. in art and education and eventually a Master’s of Liberal Learning, (yes, a MA.L.L. degree!) with concentrations in studio art, art history and art education, where her awards continued. While in Ohio, she married, raised a family and taught art for 30 years until her retirement in 2004, continuing to grow her resume. After her daughter transferred to USC, Karen and her husband, David, fell in love with the Midlands. The rest, as they say, “is history”. So far in SC she has been become a Member of Excellence in the South Carolina Watermedia Society, winning an award in 2016, she has been juried into the Greenwood Arts Festival, the Union Exhibit and the State Fair competition every year she has entered, receiving Patron Purchase Awards at the fair in 2009, 2011 and 2014 and a Merit award in 2017. She has also won 13 awards from the Crooked Creek Art League’s Juried Exhibitions including the People's Choice Award in 2014.
Scavenger Hunt Clue:
A Partnership Project by the Crooked Creek Art League and the Town of Chapin
This organization is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support in this grant comes from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.
This project was supported by a Connected Communities grant from Central Carolina Community Foundation.
