Artist Profile- William M. Rhett III
His name is William M. Rhett III. He’s part of an amazingly talented, creative and business savvy family with deep roots in Beaufort.
Truth be told, he is actually the tenth William Rhett since his family first landed in the New World in 1694. The first, Colonel William Rhett, arrived from London to settle right here in the Lowcountry. Colonel Rhett is credited with capturing the pirate Stede Bonnett, also known as “the Gentleman Pirate.” His mother, Nancy Ricker Rhett, can trace her colonial roots all the way back to 1666 and Dr. Henry Woodward, the first British Colonist.
Rhett comes by his talents honestly. He is a fifth generation artist on his mother’s side and fourth generation artist on his father’s side. As you first walk in the gallery, you are met with what looks like an extremely well taxidermied pair of fighting gamecocks. In fact, it is a wooden sculpture, right down to its finest feathers. It is the work of Rhett’s father, William M. Rhett Jr. “It took my father four and a half years to do this,” said Rhett. It is an amazing piece–a must see. The majority of the original art you’ll see at the Rhett Gallery presents images of life in the Lowcountry over many generations. It is a virtual mirror of the past and present in Beaufort and the surrounding area. His mother, Nancy Ricker Rhett, is also profoundly talented as a painter and illustrator, as well as an author.
The Rhett Gallery in downtown Beaufort has been a landmark for many years. The work that is sold out of the historic building at 901 Bay Street includes fine original art from at least three generations, photography, antiques, vintage firearms, civil war memorabilia (much of it original), vintage guitars, and even real estate. “We wear many hats here,” said Rhett, who himself is a licensed realtor with Exit Realty of Beaufort. The gallery is also licensed to deal in firearms.
Rhett, 28, is an accomplished painter working mainly in watercolor, acrylic and oils. He particularly enjoys painting landscapes, birds and fish. The crisp realism is almost photographic. His work includes painting detailed watercolor images on ivory piano keys. As for the truly photographic, Rhett’s fiancée, Jamie Thompson, has a photography studio that’s an important part of the gallery as well.
The collectible guitar side of the business is one of Rhett’s personal specialties. After 20 years behind a guitar, he’s the resident expert. He plays lead guitar in a local band. The vintage guitar collection includes some of the best-known brands with some of the rarest models. There are vintage amplifiers as well. Recently, Rhett used his considerable skills to design the logo for the 57th Annual Beaufort Water Festival, July 13-22. The logo, titled “Sandbar,” presents a colorful likeness of activities of the festival at the popular Sandbar, including boating, an air show, and lots of celebrating. T-shirts, bumper stickers, cups and many other items are sporting the grand logo. “I don’t think anyone has done a close up of the Sandbar in the heat of summer,” said Rhett. “I really felt that was a great idea.” The theme of this year’s festival is “Sandbar Summers & Southern Nights.” The festival wanted a local artist, a native of Beaufort, to do his or her take on the festival in creating the logo. There is usually a competition. However, this year, the event’s Commodore, John Gentry, approached Rhett directly. “I was overjoyed,” said Rhett. “It was an honor to be asked to do it.”
“I decided to paint the Sandbar with everybody on it and Beaufort in the background,” said Rhett. “It took several weeks of planning just to get all my photographs together; the images to do the painting.” Rhett said his friends who frequent the Sandbar are diligently searching for themselves in the logo. “They say, ‘I’ve got to be in there somewhere. I know I’m in there somewhere,’” said Rhett. He also decided to put the names of some of his high school friend’s on the boats in the picture.
Rhett said he had to get a long lens for his camera and get everybody out on the Sandbar to get the photo images he needed to do the watercolor logo. The painting itself took a solid week and a half to paint and is the product of combining images from the hundreds of photographs he took. “Getting all the information together was harder and more time consuming than actually painting the logo,” he said.
Rhett, who paints in realism, stretched his talents to something a little less detailed and more festive. “I really had to change my style up,” said Rhett. “I did [the logo] more in an almost cartoon fashion.” Rhett changed his palette completely for the project. “Normally, I use a lot of earth tones,” said Rhett. “With this project, I went to a lot of fun tropical bright colors.”
Prints of the prized logo are now for sale in the gallery. Rhett waited about two months after the logo’s public release before making them available. “I wanted the Water Festival to have all the glory and selling the T-shirts instead of me also selling the prints in the gallery,” he said. The piece has been on the Water Festival website since its public release. “People are saying, “We don’t know who did it but we love it,’” he said.
The original of the logo is truly a Beaufort treasure. Rhett said he’s not exactly sure what he will do with it. “I may put it in the gallery and sell it, I don’t know yet,” he said. If it does go up for sale, don’t expect it to go cheap. “A lot of work went into that thing,” he said.
