Retta Dotterer

Retta Dotterer is a Charleston-based oil painter whose work reflects a lifelong connection to South Carolina’s Lowcountry. Originally from Florence, she spent childhood summers at Pawleys Island, developing a love for the coast that continues to inspire her paintings. Her expressive brushwork and impressionistic approach to light, color and atmosphere capture the beauty of familiar places and the feeling of being there.

Retta began painting at eight and studied fine art at Saint Mary’s in Raleigh and the University of South Carolina. She later continued her training at the Gibbes Museum of Art and through workshops with accomplished Southern artists, including Bill Jameson, Susan Mayfield West and Amelia Rose Smith.

A passionate plein air painter and active member of the Charleston Artist Guild, Retta finds inspiration along the South Carolina coast, in the North Carolina mountains and throughout her travels. Her original oil paintings at Gray Man Gallery bring her work back to Pawleys Island—a place that has been part of her story since childhood.