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The Charleston Artist Guild Gallery is excited to present "Whimsical", a new exhibition by Featured Artist Valentina Messina. This charming body of work offers viewers a chance to see how Messina's Italian roots and eye for forgotten paper ephemera come together in each piece.

"Of Mice and Men"

Valentina paints small creatures, antique objects, and everyday poetry onto surfaces most artists would overlook: pages from old Italian manuscripts, sheet music, and book leaves, and other ephemera collected during hours spent combing antiques stores on two continents. Each piece she paints on carries its own history — a fragment of handwriting, a faded musical staff, a printed page once bound into someone else's story — which becomes part of the finished work rather than something painted over.

"Spring is Here"

Born and raised in Italy, Messina moved to the United States after winning the Green Card lottery, a shift that also marked a turning point in her creative life. She left a more conventional career behind to paint full time, channeling her attention toward the small and overlooked: a beetle, a teacup, a bird mid-thought. Her work treats whimsy as a serious pursuit, pairing playful subject matter with the quiet weight of the antique paper it lives on.

"Whimsical"

The exhibition opens with a public reception on Friday, September 4, from 5–8 PM, as part of Charleston's First Friday Art Walk at the Charleston Artist Guild Gallery at 160 E. Bay Street in downtown Charleston.  The artist will be in attendance. The show will remain on view at the gallery through September 30.