Any unique events happen here? On a typical daytime visit, the gallery feels terrifically spacious and calm, with rootsie indie acoustics on the playlist. One dynamic exception occurs on the first Friday of each month, when lots of area galleries stay open into the evening, offering up drinks and hors d’oeuvres for what Charlestonians call the “Art Walk." On that night, RLS is elbow-to-elbow indeed, with easily 500 people passing through to sip wine and discuss paintings, or to play with the interactive “stack your own rocks” table upstairs. You’ll see tuxedos, cutoff jean shorts, and spotless Citadel cadet uniforms. Everyone gets to participate, which is really the mission statement of this gallery, in a nutshell: Just show up! You won’t be snubbed! Fire up your inner creative!

The art’s the main thing, of course. How is it?
Pieces run the gamut from diminutive, soft, poetic, and autumnal, to large, bold, buttery, and provocative, all nicely displayed and illuminated, with the occasional paintings propped against walls waiting for a free space. It is a working studio, after all. You’ll often find local artists sitting and chatting, running ideas off each other or critiquing one another’s work. Occasionally Robert and Megan, whose styles are very different, will collaborate on the same painting, with Megan painting a subdued Wyeth-esque landscape, and Robert adding a thoughtfully placed, gregarious, colorful object of his choice, to create a series they call “Better Together.” I love the results: a hummingbird hovering over the stormy ocean, a panda sitting on a dirt road in fog, a monarch butterfly so real it seems to have landed on the painting for a migratory rest.