Pat Brennan, artist
Number 7 Arts, in Brevard, welcomes a new artist to the fold: leather worker Pat Brennan. Born and raised in Savannah, Georgia, Brennan began working with leather when he was invited to join a friend and his partner in a business venture in the early 1970s. “We met at his partner’s small shop behind his house where they taught me the basics of leather work, making belts, laced-up bags and custom sandals,” Brennan says. “A few weeks later, we began the construction of Sweetfield Leather on River Street in Savannah.” The shop operated for a few years before construction work on River Street led to the closing of several businesses, Sweetfield among them.
Pat Brennan, artist
Brennan continued working with leather as a hobby afterwards when he and his family relocated to South Carolina. In 1990, he and his wife, Marcia, moved to Transylvania County. Marcia is one of the founding members of Number 7 Arts, a cooperative art gallery that opened in 1999. She paints in watercolor, works in collage and creates whimsical papier mâché figures.
“I have been a part of Number 7 Arts since the beginning, but until recently only as the husband of a member,” Brennan says. It was Marcia and other members of Number 7 Arts who encouraged him to apply to become a member and display his work in the gallery.
His bestselling items, he says, are hand-stitched women’s shoulder bags available in several styles. “The inspiration for the basic design of my bags comes from the haversack,” he says, “a bag that every soldier in the Revolutionary and Civil wars carried their kit, their everyday personal items, in. I make a few variations and sizes of these bags. I have sold a few of these bags to men that use them for personal shoulder bags and bags for their hunting gear. I also make briefcases of different sizes.”
Number 7 Arts is located at 2 West Main Street in downtown Brevard. To learn more, visit Number7Arts.org.
