"If you love supporting Southern artists, but can’t quite swing bringing a
Bill Dunlap home,
Charleston Artist Collective founder Allison Williamson has an app (er, Instagram account) for that. What started in 2010 as an online “gallery” for Charleston, South Carolina, artists to sell their work has now expanded to include Atlanta artists, with a Nashville Artist Collective debuting in the fall.
Williamson’s brainchild arrived just as online art-buying began to take off. “I wanted local art to be delivered to people’s desktops—at their computers, phones, and through social media,” Williamson says. “I realized some people wanted art, but didn’t have time to visit galleries or couldn’t afford their prices. And I believed that if it could work in Charleston, it could grow to other cities. “It’s so rewarding to give these artists the confidence to grow their talent.”
Like many Internet businesses from Amazon to Warby Parker, Williamson is going old-school, too, with a brick and mortar gallery and studio with artists at work set to open in Charleston this September. “I am really looking forward to being able to connect face-to-face,” Williamson says. “The opportunities for increased artist-to-artist and artist-to-client communication will only improve what we do online.”
We asked Williamson to share a little more about the Holy City artists that inspired her enterprise—and works that say Southern summer to her. They follow below and are shoppable (you guessed it) online at
charlestonartistcollective.org and
@charlestonartistcollective. "