FMU pays tribute to great women with “The Supper Table”

Francis Marion University’s University Place Gallery will be the site for “The Supper Table,” a unique artistic tribute to 12 notable women from South Carolina.

“The Supper Table” is a traveling exhibit — and an actual supper table. The full-scale triangular-shaped table will be set with 12 distinct place settings representing the honorees. Those settings will be surrounded by displays bearing 120 tiles bearing the names of other great South Carolina women, living or deceased. The settings and the display will include artwork, essays and video of and about the honorees, produced by South Carolina artists.

The accomplishments of the 12 South Carolina women with a “seat at the table” covers a broad range of activities, from abolitionists Angelina and Sarah Grimke, to entertainer Eartha Kitt, to Civil Rights activist Modjeska Simkins to professional tennis player and golfer Althea Gibson. Others who’ll be represented include Mary McCleod Bethune, Alice Childress, Septima Clark, Mathilda Evans, Sarah Leverette, Julia Peterkin, Eliza Pinckney, and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright.

The exhibit will be at University Place Gallery, at 142 N. Dargan Street in downtown Florence, from Feb. 9 through Feb. 19. The installation will coincide with FMU’s G-Week, a week-long celebration that promotes gender awareness and inclusion through a variety of on-campus events. G-Week is Feb. 10 through Feb. 14.

A theatrical production related to the exhibition will also be performed on Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. at FMU’s Kassab Recital Hall.

Both the theatrical performance and the exhibit are free and open to the public. University Place is open Tuesday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m to 3 p.m.