The Guild named their gallery Pluff Mudd.   That peculiar ground of our coastal marsh evokes some powerful meaning.  Pluff mud is so full of life – plant life, silt, organisms from cellular to gator-sized – that you might think of it as living earth.  Naming their gallery Pluff Mudd, the Guild clearly chose grounded over glamorous.

The Pluff Mudd Gallery, at 27 Calhoun Street, is hung in French “salon” style (imagine Gertrude Stein’s walls) through an airy, open, ambling set of rooms.  So it’s possible to see a satisfying variety of art – and it’ll call for a pleasant pause to take it all in.

Here’s a small sample of what you can see here:

–         Oils and Pastels by Cheryl Eppolito

–         Watercolors and Acrylics by Lynda K. Potter

–         Lifelike wildlife carving by Bob Berman

–         Original jewelry design by Marilyn McDonald

–         Fiber art, hand-built pottery by Pat Willcox

–         Sweetgrass baskets by Daurus Niles and Michael Smalls

With 21 artists working in a dozen media, you’ll find Pluff Mudd good for browsing and great for selecting.

In their current cottage location since 2006, the Guild’s original gallery deserves some attention, too.  As we’ve said, Bluffton has its own way with time.  A Guild Of Bluffton Artists first exhibited across the street, in the Planters Mercantile Building at 20 Calhoun Street.

Built around 1895 by the Patz brothers, Planters Mercantile was the brothers’ storefront and the centerpiece between their duplex house next door, their stables just to the north and their warehouse across the street.  Calhoun street bustled with commerce in those days.  It’s been a home, a store and the gallery of the Guild Of Bluffton Artists.  Right now it’s biding its time again, with beautiful exhibit and display space awaiting its next mission.