CREATIVE PURSUITS

Charleston was already a destination for artists and art seekers. In the 1700s, the seaport was the first place in America where artists painted masterful portrait miniatures on thin slices of ivory—mementos kept close in lockets and pockets. A collection of these prized tiny works is the focus of an entire gallery room at the Gibbes Museum of Art. The 1905 Beaux-Arts building serves as a repository for many of the city’s art treasures, including works by the South Carolina–raised pop-art