The 2019 Beaufort Water Festival T-Shirt Artist

story by CAROL LAUVRAY
photos by SK SIGNS, DESIGNS & MARKETING

When Michael Arnett moved here in July 2010, Beaufort immediately made a lasting impression on him. “I was in town only a week when I experienced the spectacular fireworks display during the Beaufort Water Festival’s Opening Ceremonies in Waterfront Park!” Michael said that he captured the memorable experience in a painting, which now hangs in his living room. “The painting is special to me because it illustrates the colorful fireworks exploding over the Beaufort River with the swing bridge in the background, from the vantage point of being in a boat on the river.” This scene, by artist Michael Arnett, graces the official T-shirt for the 64th Annual Beaufort Water Festival being held July 12 – 21, 2019.

Michael, who was the visual arts teacher at Whale Branch Early College High School, explained how his painting was selected for the 2019 Beaufort Water Festival T-shirt. “Todd Stowe, another teacher at Whale Branch who is a friend and mentor, asked me to do some design work for the Beaufort Water Festival. He wanted artwork that represented the Festival’s Opening Ceremonies, so I told him about the painting I had done illustrating the fireworks over the river.”

Todd teaches photography, digital media and video, along with other subjects, at Whale Branch and has been involved with the Beaufort Water Festival since coming to Beaufort in 1995. He shared that this year’s Festival Commodore, Brian Patrick, asked him to find an artist to design the 2019 T-shirt illustrating the Beaufort Water Festival’s Opening Ceremonies. When Todd learned about Michael’s painting of the fireworks over the river, he asked Michael to bring it to the high school, where Todd photographed the painting to be reproduced for the T-shirt.

Michael Arnett came to Beaufort in 2010 to interview for a position teaching social studies at Whale Branch Early College High School, which was still under construction at the time. He was hired to teach art instead and subsequently built the visual arts and tennis programs at the new high school. Michael taught three design classes with about 20 students each, along with classes in Art 1, 2, 3 and 4. He’s also certified to teach advanced placement classes. “Whale Branch Early College High School has a great program,” he emphasized. “Students can earn college credits taking classes at the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL) while they also attend their regular high school classes. Some students earn an associate degree from TCL before they graduate from high school!”

A native of Mount Pleasant in Charleston, Michael and his family moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina when he was five years old and he attended kindergarten through high school there. He says it was during junior high that he became really interested in art. Michael was awarded a presidential art scholarship to Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where he earned a studio art degree with a concentration in printmaking. After graduating, he attended Converse College in Spartanburg, where he earned dual Masters degrees in art and social studies. His artwork encompasses painting in oils, colored pencils, silk-screen printmaking, monotype and relief printing processes, linoleum cut, and lithography. Todd Stowe says, “Michael is highly regarded at Whale Branch High School. His art students always produce good work and do well at local art shows.”

In early June, Michael watched his students graduate at Whale Branch High for the final time. “I’m one of the last original teachers at the school. I’ve had nine years of great times working with great people at Whale Branch. Attending graduation last week was a little emotional for me,” he shared. After teaching at Whale Branch for nearly a decade, Michael says he is beginning a new chapter in both his life and his art career in Charleston. “I want to be closer to my family. Although my parents still live in Spartanburg, they are planning to buy a beach house in Charleston, so the first week of June I moved to James Island with my ‘white’ Labrador Retriever named Buoy.” Michael will continue to teach art in Charleston, while he also pursues his career as an artist. He’s getting to know the art community there and has a Facebook page, Arnett Studios, featuring his artwork.

At the Opening Ceremonies for the Beaufort Water Festival on Friday, July 12, Michael Arnett will be recognized on stage as the artist who created the 2019 Beaufort Water Festival T-shirt and he’ll receive a framed print of his artwork to commemorate the occasion, as will the Festival’s major sponsors. Michael says, “The Water Festival is like Beaufort’s homecoming, and I’ll be coming back in July to experience the Water Festival and the fireworks over the river again!”