Local artistic exposes the animal Soul of surfers and reveals her own hidden talents
By Lorne Chambers | Editor
Most folks on Folly Beach either know Kate Barattini as the friendly surfer chick who slings drinks at the Drop-In Deli or as the seasoned paddle guide at Flipper Finders. But Barattini has another skill set that she has been keeping a quiet secret over the years. She’s also a very talented artist with a unique vision and style.
Barattini’s exhibit Animal Shred will open at The Charleston Music Hall later this month and stay on display into June and through Spoleto Festival USA. Animal Shred features a series of 10 paintings that blend together two of her favorite things — surfing and animals. Appropriately titled Animal Shred, the exhibit is Barattini’s first show and is quite an impressive debut for the young artist.
“I really never wanted to be a professional artist,” says Barattini. “I’m very fortunate to have an extremely talented artist for a mother and painting came naturally to me because of her. Painting has been an outlet for me to express my goofiness, stoke, and love of our beautiful surroundings. It has always been a personal thing. That being said I am so stoked to share this. It’s amazing to take something out of your head and make it tangible.”
With Animal Shred, Barattini says she aims to express the true animal soul of surfers by painting animal heads on them. “Animal Shred was inspired by people. The surfing kind of people. While all folks are animals all of the time, when we find the water we’re absolute animals, and it is evident when looking through photos of my favorite sliders.”
According to Barattini, the whole idea began when she saw a photo of a lady slider, Kassia Meador, surfing in Mexico. “She’s hanging heels in the image and all my mind could think was, ‘man, that would look stunning if she had monarch butterfly wings.’” A little while later that idea came to life and the rest of the series blossomed from there. She spent countless hours perusing online image searches of surfers doing their thing and chose the ones that called for a new and improved animal head.
“I would find photos of my favorite sliders and decide which ones really beckoned for an animal head. Its amazing some of the photos I would see I’d think, ‘boom, monkey … done!’ Then I would find a photo of a good monkey head and draw it out.”
While the images are wild and colorful, her materials are basic. She uses Masonite panels for the canvas and hardware store sample paints from the paint department.
Barattini says her focus was to keep the paintings as realistic as her ability would allow and make the animal head somewhat subtle. “The idea was to have the paintings be tongue-in-cheek but maintain the surfers and waves’ beauty. Something that would keep the viewer smiling no matter how many times they see the piece,” she says.
While it took Barattini a little while to work up the nerve to publically reveal her more artistic side, now that it’s about to be out in the universe, she’s ready for more. “How often does someone get the opportunity to gather their favorite salty community in celebration of art and living,” she asks. “I’m taking the three hours of the opening and I’m going to make it a good time for everyone — live music, tasty suds, bread, hummus, surfers with animal heads, and a surprise from another Folly creative! It’s going to be an absolute blast. I love our people and I really love when they’re all in one place bouncing stoke off one another.”
Animal Shred opens downtown at the Charleston Music Hall on Thursday, April 23 with a reception from 6-9 p.m. For more information, visit www.animalshred.com.
