through July 21: Amy K. Smit Exhibit at the Clay Pot Coffee Shop

Amy K. Smit is an artist from Montana who currently resides in the Pee Dee area. She enjoys the challenge of working with Oil and Water Color on Yupo paper to create bright emerging colors that breathe life into her art. Annually her art is exhibited at various venues in the area and can also be found gracing the walls of homes in the South East. Through her ongoing zeal for life and adventure, Amy continues to captivate new audiences with her work, challenging herself to paint pieces that encourage and inspire.

The Clay Pot Gallery will showcase Amy's work through July 21st and Amy will continue to create new art to rotate into the gallery, so please revisit to see what new pieces appear! Her traditional and contemporary art work is for sale and also creates custom commission pieces for your home or office.

Clay Pot hours: Wednesday-Saturday 6:30am-9pm, Sunday 8:30am-3pm

https://www.facebook.com/claypotcoffeeshop

April 2- May 14: Floral and Fauna Exhibit at the Art Trail Gallery

February 18-March 27: Encaustic Works by Pam Wingard at Black Creek Arts Council

February 18^th – March 27^th Pam Winegard - Encaustic
Featuring works by Pam Winegard 

Pam is a mixed media artist and art educator, who was also a prior artist in residence at the McColl Center for Visual Art.  This exhibit will remain on display until March 27.

Exhibit hours: Tues-Thurs, 10am-1pm & 2-5pm; Fri, 10am-2pm; 2nd Sat of the month from 10am-1pm

116 W. College Ave.
Hartsville, SC 29551
ph: (843) 332-6234

February 17-March 26: Art Gallery Series at FMU's Hyman Fine Arts Center Present Howard Frye, Brain Charles Steel and Leah Mulligan Cabinum

Art Gallery Series February 17 - March 26, 2015 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Lines of Possibility - Howard Frye Impaired Perceptions - Brian Charles Steel Recent Discoveries - 3-D Works by Leah Mulligan Cabinum Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Art Gallery Series February 17 - March 26, 2015 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Lines of Possibility - Howard Frye Impaired Perceptions - Brian Charles Steel Recent Discoveries - 3-D Works by Leah Mulligan Cabinum Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Distant Shore by Howard Frye, ink, 24"x19" Dr. Howard Frye graduated from Marshall University with degrees in broadcasting and art education and has taught in West Virginia and Florida. In 2002, he received a doctorate of education (Ed D) in art education from Florida State University and he has been employed at Francis Marion University since 2003, where he is currently an associate professor of art education and the coordinator of the art education program.  "I grew up in the coal fields of southwestern West Virginia, a place where the opportunity to see art was--and still is--extremely limited.  An important experience happened when I was in second or third grade.  During a visit, my uncle drew pictures for me with a fountain pen on a stack of paper.  I watched with fascination as he drew these fluid and beautiful lines, which magically became cars, ships, and animals.  It made a strong impression on me.  I've been interested in art ever since. "I'm interested in creating artwork with an emphasis on sculptural shape or form and an attention to subtle transitions of value and a relationship between lines and surface.  My aim is to simplify.  I prefer, in general, to make quiet artworks rather than bold, energetic ones.  I'm influenced most by the mediative quality I see in the artworks of Morandi, Chardin, and Buddhist art, the humor and quirkiness of folk artists, such as Bill Traylor, the power and timeliness of Egyptian sculpture, and the sublime beauty of Impressionist painting. "Although I often draw from observation, most of my recent work has been either abstract or non-objective and usually the result of a strategies that allow for free association.  Often I start a drawing without a notion of what I'm going to make.  One strategy I've used is to draw hundreds of straight, parallel horizontal lines until an image or idea comes to mind.  In addition, I will sometimes draw over photographs or my old drawings.  While my approach to drawing may seem to offer considerable constraints, I've found that it often spurs my imagination to come up with odd juxtapositions in my artwork, which is something I'm keenly interested in." Leah Mullins Cabinum Leah Mulligan Cabinum. Born in Athens, Georgia in 1967, Leah Mulligan Cabinum received a BFA in Metalwork from the University of Georgia in 1990 and an MFA in sculpture from Winthrop University in 2013. Leah is a tenured art educator in public schools and has also taught as an Adjunct Visual Art Instructor at Winthrop University. Leah Mulligan Cabinum's work explores the connection between conceptual possibilities, symbolism, and the physicality of diverse materials. Her creations act as a visual journal of life’s terrain. Life-altering events, as well as the mundane, inform her artistic response. The discovery and understanding of the literal and figural landscapes of life fuel her imagination. Brian Charles Steel

Brian Charles Steel is a fine art photographer and disability activist. He is best known for his black and white portrait series Impaired Perceptions. The series empowers people with physical impairments by encouraging individualization. His photography and writing have been featured on CNN and Disability Horizons. He travels the country exhibiting his work, and speaking about ableism. He has lectured on his work to various organizations including: NASA Ames Research Center and Abilities First. Steel graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a master of fine arts in photography. He uses his passion for photography, love of people, and unique sense of humor to create portraits that are naturally beautiful and human. While attending SCAD, he worked as the photo editor for The Connector SCAD-Atlanta’s student newspaper. As photo editor, he won numerous awards including: 1st Place Best Photograph: Editorial Feature Award from the Georgia College Press Association Better Newspaper, 3rd place Front Page Layout Award from the Society for Collegiate Journalists, and 2nd place General Photography Award from the Georgia College Press Association in 2007 and 2008. Steel worked as the official photographer for the Who’s Who in Asian American Communities Leaders and Legends Awards from 2009 to 2012. He presented as a guest lecturer on food photography at The Showcase School of Photography. Steel has been written about on Wikipedia. His portraits have been exhibited in galleries across the country. He curated a portrait series titled Inside the Outsider for Mason Murer Fine Art as a part of Atlanta Celebrates Photography. He also had a solo showing of his portrait series Impaired Perceptions in the same opening. His Impaired Perceptions work has also been featured on CNN.com and Disability Horizons. "I was born with short fiber syndrome, which means that I have small and weak skeletal muscles however, my biggest handicap is how others react to it. I knew my body from birth, but I was taught that I was handicapped. The physicality of my body’s form is scientific fact however, the implications of how that form is contextualized and perceived is socially constructed. You cannot declare someone to be less capable with out an ascribed normality of ability. This is a series of black and white photographic portraits of myself and other physically impaired people dealing with the concept of perception and socially constructed identity. Some of my subjects have physical impairments that are not visible, which further challenges the notion that seeing is believing. You cannot know a person simply by looking at them; you have to individualize. Tenebrism and direct eye contact are used to aid the viewer in seeing each subject as an individual by making their eyes the point of focus. I also used chiaroscuro to highlight the natural beauty and form of each individual. "My work strives to confront socially constructed perceptual fallacies that misrepresent people who are considered physically “different”. It challenges the viewer to examine their own perceptions and make any necessary corrections; it demands the right to be seen as an individual."

February 6- March 7: The Sum of Many Parts: Quiltmakers in Contemporary America

The techniques of piecing, patching, and appliquéing fabrics have been known to exist for centuries in different cultures around the world. Yet, quiltmaking is considered by many to be the quintessential American folk art. Now visitors to the Jones-Carter Gallery’s new exhibition, The Sum of Many Parts: Quiltmakers in Contemporary America, opening Friday, February 6, will see fourteen quilts in varying styles by contemporary artists from across the United States.  The exhibition will run from February 6 to March 7, 2015.
 
Quilts are a wellspring of both individual and collective narratives, joining us to past generations and fostering within us deep bonds of community. The exhibition highlights a range of quilting styles and techniques while providing audiences an opportunity to connect with American culture through a shared love of textile arts. The artists from 14 states boast diverse backgrounds and paths that led them to quilting. Some began working in this art form in their youths, learning the craft from home and within the community. Others featured in the exhibition are academically trained artists who chose textiles as their medium. Traditional quilters often use time-honored patterns that they personalize through fabric selection and stitching patterns. Contemporary quilters drawn from this foundation while developing new techniques and creating innovative designs.
 
The works in The Sum of Many Parts: Quiltmakers in Contemporary America were part of a larger exhibition that toured China in 2012–2013. The exhibition is toured by ExhibitsUSA, a national program of Mid-America Arts Alliance, and curated by Teresa Hollingsworth and Katy Molone of South Arts, Atlanta, Georgia. ExhibitsUSA sends more than 25 exhibitions on tour to more than 100 small- and mid-sized communities every year. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, Mid-America is the oldest nonprofit regional arts organization in the United States. More information is available at www.maaa.org and www.eusa.org.
 
The Jones-Carter Gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10AM to 6PM and Saturday from 11AM to 5PM.  Admission is FREE.  Large groups are encouraged to call ahead.  On February 6, the gallery will be open from 10AM to 8PM.  The opening reception for the exhibition will be Friday, February 6 from 6PM to 8PM inside the Jones-Carter Gallery.  Field trips will be offered to students from pre-school to middle school.  Please call the gallery at 843-374-1505 for additional information.

Opening reception from 6pm-8pm on Friday, February 6

February 2 -Febraury 27: Coker Art Gallery Presents Work by Steve Johnson

Rape of the Chickadee II, 30x30 inches, 2011

Drawn and Quartered, 40x40 inches, 2011

Coker College’s Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery will present “Self and Other,” an exhibition of drawings and paintings by Steve Johnson. The opening reception, which is free and open to the public, begins on Monday, Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Johnson’s show will continue through Feb. 27.

Johnson was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in printmaking and painting and received a Master of Fine Arts in painting and drawing from Arizona State University in 2008. Johnson is the head of the drawing department at the College of Charleston.

Johnson’s work consists of chickadees, rats, hummingbirds and other small animals. Using these animals, he creates a metaphor for human life. By using contrasting figures in his paintings, he makes images that speak to the constant tension between who we are and who we want to be. “My current work navigates the gray areas and middle grounds inhabited by animals with competing interests,” said Johnson.

The Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery is located in the Gladys C. Fort Art Building on the Coker College campus in Hartsville, SC. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, while classes are in session. Parking for the art building is located directly across from 306 E. Home Ave.

For more information, contact exhibition director Ashley Gillespie at 843-383-8156 or ashley.gillespie@coker.edu. For more information on the gallery, visit ceceliacokerbellgallery.com. To learn more about Steve Johnson, visitstevejohnsonstudio.com.

Coker College upholds and defends the intellectual and artistic freedom of its faculty and students as they study and create art through which they explore the full spectrum of human experience. The college considers such pursuits central to the spirit of inquiry and thoughtful discussion, which are at the heart of a liberal arts education.

January 9- January 29th: "Lessons Learned" at the Art Trail Gallery

"Lessons Learned"

An exhibit of the works of the multi-talented art teachers that fuel the next generation of talented artists.

The exhibit runs January 9th - January 29th.

185 West Evans Street

Florence, SC 29501

The Art Trail is Open Tuesday through Friday 11am-6pm and Saturdays 11am-3pm.

November 3-December 5: Gnome: An Exhibition by Colleen A. Critcher

Selections from the Wright Collection of Southern Art Exhibit at the Florence County Museum

This exhibit will showcase from selections from the Florence County Museum’s recently acquired Wright Collection of Southern Art. This collection of 141 significant works in 20th century Southern Art was acquired by the museum from, private collector & former Florence resident, Dr. Louis Wright.

Florence County Museum 

at 111 West Cheves Street 

Florence, SC 

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday through Saturday

10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Sunday: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Admission is free.

William H. Johnson: New Beginnings Exhibit at the Florence County Museum

This exhibit consists of works on loan from the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is hand selected by the curatorial staff of the Florence County Museum. It contains works by the artist in the museum’s collection, and works by the artist on loan from a private collector in Denmark.  William H. Johnson (1901-1970) was a native of the city of Florence and a major figure in 20th century American art. The Smithsonian owns more work of art by Johnson than any other single artists. This will be the first time the artist’s work will have been exhibited in his hometown of Florence, SC since the early 1970s.

Florence County Museum 

at 111 West Cheves Street 

Florence, SC 

Hours of Operation:

Tuesday through Saturday

10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Sunday: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Admission is free. 

October 20-November 17: "Scarecrow: An Exploration of Architecture and Identity" by Morgan Craig

“Nothing but Driftwood, Caught In A Riptide” Oil on Linen 201

“Let it Stay Forever Now” Oil on Linen 201

Coker College presents an exhibition of paintings by Morgan Craig titled, “Scarecrow: An Exploration of Architecture and Identity”. A reception, which is free and open to the public, will be held on Monday, Oct. 20, 2014 from 7-8 p.m. and light refreshments will be served. Craig’s show will continue through Nov. 17, 2014.

Morgan Craig received his B.A. in painting at the Tyler school of Art, Temple University and received his M.F.A. in painting at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. He has exhibited his work around the United States while lecturing to art students about the knowledge and skill needed to become a professional artist.

Craig’s work examines the castaway places in our society. He comments upon how we should use these places to understand our past, present and future. “My work is comprised of everything and nothing. Large scale paintings of edifices that speak so much of the presence in absence. At times, my work can be construed as a sociopolitical commentary on corporations, and the effects of obsolescence, hubris, and avarice on communities throughout the world, while at other times a paradigm of existence, and its structure or lack of. I want my work to compel the viewer to look deeper, and to question.” said Craig.

The Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, while classes are in session, and is located in the Gladys C Fort Art Building on the campus of Coker College, Hartsville, S.C. Parking entrance is directly across from 306 E. Home Ave. 

For more information, contact exhibition director Ashley Gillespie at 843-383-8156 or Ashley.gillespie@coker.edu. For more information on the gallery, go to: www.ceceliacokerbellgallery.com.

To learn more about Morgan Craig, go to: www.morgancraig.org

Coker College upholds and defends the intellectual and artistic freedom of its faculty and students as they study and create art through which they explore the full spectrum of human experience. The college considers such pursuits central to the spirit of inquiry and thoughtful discussion, which are at the heart of a liberal arts education.

October 2-November 21: Artisans of the South Carolina Cotton Trail Exhibit

Artisans of the South Carolina Cotton Trail
Exhibition Opens October 2
at Black Creek Arts Council in Hartsville

Artisans of the South Carolina Cotton Trail, an organization who promotes the tradition of fine visual arts and crafts, will host an art exhibition on October 2 from 5:30 – 7:00pm at Black Creek Arts Center in Hartsville, located at 116 West College Avenue.  Admission is FREE and the public is invited to attend.

Pee Dee residents can view various works of art created by professional artists, craftspeople and retailers of the South Carolina Cotton Trail area. These art shows are known for their consistent, high-quality standards.  Professional membership is achieved through a comprehensive jurying system.

The Artisans of the South Carolina Cotton Trail (ASCCT) was formed in 2008 by artists and arts leaders in Darlington, Chesterfield, Lee, Marlboro and Florence Counties. The Artisans of the South Carolina Cotton Trail consists of a group of juried artists from a variety of medium venues. “The Cotton Trail artists consider the Black Creek facility our “home gallery” so we especially enjoy showing our work in Hartsville.” said Mike Gann, Vice President of ASCCT.

Interested persons can visit http://artisans.sccottontrail.org to view each artist’s short biographical sketch along with an example of their work. 

Admission is FREE and the public is invited to attend. This show will remain on display until November 21.

Allison Pederson

Executive Director

Black Creek Arts Council

843.332.6234

843.332.0500 (fax)

www.blackcreekarts.org

September 22-October 17: Safety in Numbers Exhibit by Shaun Richards

"Accomplice" Oil and Acrylic on Canvas

"Trajectory"
 oil, acrylic. collage, gold leaf and graphite on canvas

Coker College presents an exhibition of paintings by Shaun Richards titled, “Safety in Numbers.” A reception, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. and light refreshments will be served. Richards' show will continue through Oct. 17, 2014.

Richards lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a painting and mixed media artist. Since 2007, his work has been focused on social dynamics, incentives, and identity, along with notions of beauty, and artifice. 

“Through the combination of typography, image and the use of non-traditional subjects taken from magazines and newspaper clippings, Richards make us question what is right and wrong," said Ashley Gillespie, exhibition director for the gallery. "He brings to light the questions we ask ourselves on a daily basis - how our society functions and how we function in society.”  

Richards is especially interested in topics ranging from welfare states to colonialism to institutional bias that surround current people and the phantoms of America’s past.

Shaun Richards was born in 1977, in Brunswick, Georgia, but grew up in rural Southeast Virginia. He attended UNC-Wilmington, where he earned a BA in Art in 1999. In 2003, he enrolled in SUNY Empire State College as a non-matriculated graduate student. Richards left NYC in the spring of 2006, returning to North Carolina to pursue art full time.

The Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery is open 10 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, while classes are in session, and is located in the Gladys C. Fort Art Building on the campus of Coker College, Hartsville, S.C. Parking entrance, for the art building, is directly across from 306 E. Home Ave.

For more information, contact exhibition director Ashley Gillespie at 843-383-8156 or ashley.gillespie@coker.edu. For more information on the gallery, go to: www.ceceliacokerbellgallery.com

To learn more about Shaun Richards, go to: http://shaunrichardsart.com/

Coker College upholds and defends the intellectual and artistic freedom of its faculty and students as they study and create art through which they explore the full spectrum of human experience. The college considers such pursuits central to the spirit of inquiry and thoughtful discussion, which are at the heart of a liberal arts education.

Release written by exhibition director Ashley Gillespie.

September 19-November 6: Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery: World Consumerism by Bethany Luhman and Lowcountry Clay Sampler Holly Benton

Apple, United Kingdom by Bethany Luhman

Apple, United Kingdom by Bethany Luhman

Art Gallery Series

September 19 - November 6, 2014
8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery

World Consumerism - Bethany Luhman.
Bethany Luhman was born in Autumn, 1987 in Red Bank, New Jersey but spent most of her life in South Carolina. She graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, SC with a Photography degree in December 2010. Bethany went on to Graduate school at Savannah College of Art and Design, which she is expected to graduate with her second Masters in Photography degree this fall. Bethany’s tends to create abstract images that alter the reality and question what the viewer is looking at. Her art subjects tend to be about issues that are happening in the world and the power of story that shapes our relationship with the world.

"Ferenc Máté, author of A Reasonable Life, suggests that we seldom consider how much of our lives we surrender in return for some object we barely want, occasionally need, buy only because it was put before us. This is understandable given the workings of our society where without a job we succumb, where if we don't want a job and are happy getting by we are then labeled irresponsible and non-contributing by society. He also wrote that if we hire a fleet of bulldozers and tear up half the countryside to build some monstrous factory, casino or mall, we are called entrepreneurs, job-creators, and stalwarts of the community. Perhaps we should all be shut away on some planet for the insane. Then again, maybe that is where we are.

"The effect of consumerism starts at an early age. Children while watching their favorite cartoons are also exposed to commercials showing images of toys and sugary cereals to entice children to want. However, those toys and sugary sweets are soon left in the cabinet or in the corner of a room, and then it’s on to the next item. Those children grow up knowing no better, unaware of the trap. Adults are faced with consumerist items every day, all day, with billboards, magazine advertisements, commercials, and even displays in windows as they walk down the street to work.

"Each image is made up of many found photographs sourced from the internet. The found images represent a single, amateur view of the locale. They are presented in color, but lack clarity and focus, a suggestion of the fleeting pleasure and subsequent disillusionment of consumption."

Untitled by Holly Benton, cone 10 studios

Lowcountry Clay Sampler Sponsored by cone 10 studios.
Originally founded by Susan Filley as ClayWorks in 2000, the current owners of cone 10 studios are Fiorenzo Berardozzi, Anne John and Susan Gregory. This is their third and largest space. cone 10 studios moved to the upper peninsula area of Charleston in June of 2010. The concept has always been to house a group of ceramicists sharing in the firing, finances and joy of a large gas-reduction kiln.

cone 10 studios offers memberships for studio space, classes in wheel throwing and ceramic sculpture, as well as exhibition events and a gallery of members' work.

This exhibit is a selection of works from the members of cone 10 studios.

September 22-October 17: Paintings By Shaun Richards

Paintings by Shaun Richards

Opening: 7:00-8:00pm, Monday September 22, 2014 through October 17, 2014

Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery
300 E. College Ave.
Hartsville, SC 29550
http://www.ceceliacokerbellgallery.com

September 20-January 3: Franciso Goya: Los Caprichos at the Jones-Carter Gallery

 

Francisco Goya's Los Caprichos will be making its only South Carolina stop in Lake City's Jones-Carter Gallery from September 20, 2014 through January 3, 2015!

_____________________________________________

Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos etchings, one of the most influential graphic series in the history of Western art, will be presented at the Jones-Carter Gallery in Lake City, South Carolina from Saturday, September 20, 2014 through Saturday, January 3, 2015.  This exhibition features a superb first edition of the complete set of 80 etchings, which by tradition was one of the four sets acquired directly from Goya in 1799 by the duke of Osuna. It then came into the hands of Pedro Fernández Durán, of the house of the marquis of Perales, the greatest Spanish collector of the 19th century and a major donor to the Prado. His collector's mark appears on all 80 prints of this set.  In addition to the completeLos Caprichos collection, the Jones-Carter Gallery will also show four later edition prints from Los Caprichos; two examples of early etchings after Velasquez; and one example each from Goya's other major graphic series:Los Desastres de la Guerra, Los Proverbios, and La Tauromaquia. Also included, to demonstrate the broad influence of Los Caprichos, the exhibition includes a drawing by Edward Hagedorn, circa 1925, after Los Caprichos plate 51, "Se repulen," and eight etchings by contemporary artist Enrique Chagoya, The Return to Goya’s Caprichos, published in 1999.

Enigmatic and controversial, Los Caprichos was created in a time of social repression and economic crisis in Spain. Influenced by Enlightenment thinking, Goya set out to analyze the human condition and denounce social abuses and superstitions. Los Caprichos was his passionate declaration that the chains of social backwardness had to be broken if humanity was to advance. 

“Capricho” can be translated as a “whim,” a “fantasy or an expression of imagination.” In Goya’s use of the term for this series of prints, however, the meaning has deepened, binding an ironical cover of humor over one of the most profound indictments of human vice ever set on paper.

The exhibition, Francisco Goya: Los Caprichos, was organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA, in association with Denenberg Fine Art, West Hollywood, CA.

The Jones-Carter Gallery will open Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 10AM for this exhibition.  Gallery hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10AM to 6PM and Saturday 11AM to 5PM.  Large groups are encouraged to call ahead!

August 15-October 25: Art Across the Pee Dee Exhibit at the Clay Pot

"Art Across the Pee Dee" an exhibit featuring the work of 18 members of the Pee Dee Artist Guild, (PDAG) opens at the Clay Pot Coffee Shop on Friday, August 15th with a reception in the Gallery from 6-7:30pm. Ed Clements will perform on Acoustic guitar at 7pm. This exhibit features 2-D artwork showing scenes from the beach, the rivers, historic buildings to outer space. Exhibit will be on display until October 25th.

August 25- September 19: Paintings by Anelecia Hannah at Cecila Coker Bell Gallery

Paintings by Anelecia Hannah Opening: 7:00-8:00pm, Monday August 25, 2014 through September 19, 2014

Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery

300 E. College Ave. in Hartsville

 

August 7- September 26 Patz Fowle Solo Exhibit

Inspired: Canvas and Clay

When: August 7^th – September 26^th 

Opening Reception August 7^th from 5:30-7pm.

Where: Black Creek Arts Council Gallery 116 West College Ave. Hartsville, SC.

 

 Inspired: Canvas and Clay by Patz Fowle will feature a series of 25 feline inspired, small works on canvas along with extraordinary, anthropomorphic ceramic sculpture.

 

 

For more information http://www.blackcreekarts.org/cms/

 

Patz Fowle Visual Artist

Summer Exhibit at Francis Marion's Hyman Fine Arts Center

Primitive Arts in the Modern World - Greg Pryor.“There is great wisdom in the native American proverb, ‘A man must make his own arrows.’ Beyond the metaphorical, making arrows in the modern world connects us to the primitive world of our ancestors. Working in a variety of media, I strive to use natural resources to create arrowheads, knives, and spearheads from flint, obsidian, glass, and porcelain. I manufacture and shoot arrows and atlatl darts made from these arrowheads and locally-sourced river cane, pine pitch glue, wild turkey feathers, and deer sinew. I grow, cure, and process gourds into a variety of containers, and make cordage, tools, bags, clothing, and jewelry from wild plant fibers, bone, clay, stone, sinew, rawhide, and brain-tanned hides.” Greg Pryor is an Associate Professor of Biology at Francis Marion University with a doctorate in Zoology. He is a traditional artist (working in a variety of media), carpenter, construction worker, cook, and amateur musician, and he practices primitive arts such as bow-and-drill firemaking and survival crafts. He likes to live off the land as much as possible and is a self-proclaimed "nature freak." Notes  From the Curator: Dr. Pryor double majored as an undergraduate in zoology and art.  His acrylic paintings, most often of birds, reveal animals interacting with human artifacts, sometimes using them, sometimes existing in a landscape littered by them. Pryor’s primitive crafts give us insight into the interaction of early humans with the natural world.  His crafts also give us an opportunity to consider how art crept into craft, as useful objects came to be decorated, placing the indelible stamp of the artisan on everyday objects.  The Hyman Fine Arts Center, located on the campus of Francis Marion University is open 8:30 -5:00 pm Monday through Thursdays. This exhibit runs through August 16.