Imagine That: Quilts by the Swamp Fox Quilters Guild
Smith University Center Gallery
May 12 – July 30, 2009
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Mon-Thur; 8:00-11:00 am Fri
The Swamp Fox Quilters Guild was started in 1980. Its purpose is to educate, create, and stimulate interest in maintaining, protecting, collecting and preserving quilts. Also, the group strives to unite members in bonds of friendship through the shared appreciation of quilt making.
The guild, with approximately 50 members, meets the first Thursday of each month at 9:30 a.m. at John Calvin Presbyterian Church, except for July. It has an annual “quilting challenge.” Yearly, it exhibits at The Columns during the Civil War re-enactment, displaying quilts and giving demonstrations. Also, it makes community service quilts for nursing homes, shelters and various civic organizations.
Each year the members are given a challenge. On display are a sample of responses to the 2008 challenge titled, “Imagine That.”
Feather Pottery – New work by Tari & Sasha Federer
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
May 12 – August 13, 2009
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Mon-Thur; 8:00-11:00 am Fri
Sasha & Tari Federer have been working with clay for over 30 years. Sasha, born in Prague, Czech Republic, moved to the USA 35 years ago. He studied ceramic art in Washington and Wisconsin, worked three years as a professional potter in New Hampshire and served as artist-in-residence with the National Endowment for the Arts. Tari spent much of her life in the Southwest. She studied as an art major at Ventura College and the University of California Santa Barbara. Six years ago she closed her studio in North Carolina and moved to Florence, SC to marry and join forces with Sasha. Their joining has resulted in a creative collaboration in their quest to create objects of beauty and functionality in clay.
In addition to exhibiting at The Chameleon Art Gallery, Darlington, SC, Lowcountry Artists, Ltd., Charleston, SC & Interiors of Asheville, Asheville, NC, Tari & Sasha have jointly made one of their artistic dreams come true by opening the Running Horse Gallery beside their studio and home in Florence, SC. Their artwork is one-of-a kind, hand crafted, using an array of firing techniques and surface decoration. Occasionally, the couple will work on the same piece. When this is done, it is signed Satari, a combination of both names.
Paintings by Matt Cook
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
July 7 – August 13, 2009
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Mon-Thur; 8:00-11:00 am Fri
Matt Cook is a freelance designer/illustrator. He received the BFA in Graphic Design from East Carolina University.
Matt’s exhibition comprises a retrospective of his work in acrylics and oils. His subject matter concentrates on scenes from the Carolina coast and coastal plains with scenes ranging from rural to small town to industrial, from swamp to tidewater marsh.
Crosscurrents: Ceramics by Doug Gray
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
August 18 – September 24, 2009
8:00 am – 5:30 pm Mon-Thur; 8:00-11:00 am Fri
Gray was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He earned his BA degree in ceramics and creative writing from the University of Louisville and his MFA degree in ceramics and art history from the University of North Texas School of Visual Arts. Prior to joining the Francis Marion University faculty in 1997, he taught at the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Arlington, and Sul Ross State University. His art work has been exhibited in juried and invitational exhibitions across the nation.
In writing about his work Gray states that “much of my inspiration comes from observing and reflecting upon our everyday surroundings. The color of moss, the texture of bark, the sound of water, these are among the most common sights, sounds, and experiences yet they still have the power to stop me in my tracks. Often, I feel compelled to preserve some of the natural mystery that can be found in a piece of clay-to trade places and allow the clay to become the maker, and I the responsive agent. Sometimes, the clay responds to this approach and together we manage to preserve a bit of that natural essence with which I was first transfixed.”
“My work is primarily concerned with space and the constructed barriers which not only divide the spaces of our existence but divide us as well. So often we are like vessels, sometimes concealing and other times revealing the central landscape of our being. It is the process of concealing and revealing space that intrigues me. I am fascinated by the facility in which, in an instant or over a long lifetime of experiences, we construct these impenetrable and sheltering barriers. In this sense, my work might be seen as metaphorical portraits of myself and those important to me. Whether a vessel or a wall piece, my work explores these perceptions of “inscape” and “centeredness.” It explores the division of space and the walls implemented in its division. It explores the universality and individuality of the self.”
The name of this exhibit is “Crosscurrents” because Doug’s recent body of work does not follow a single, homogeneous flow. The pieces on display fall into three distinct categories (functional, raku and pit fired) and include large thrown vessels, hand built urns, and small porcelain sculptures.
“Translated Landscapes” — Contemporary Acrylic Paintings by Brian Taylor
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
August 18 – September 24
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Brian Taylor’s series of paintings entitled “Translated Landscapes” explores the connections between nature’s mysteries and the artist’s search for higher planes of consciousness. Inspired by the poetic writing of Rainer Maria Rilke, Taylor sees in nature a place for contemplation of sensorial perception.
His connection with nature has roots in his memories growing up in the South. The visual complexities of abundant foliage with its sensual fragrances and temperatures, the landscape transitions from deltas to hills, from hills to mountains with their play of light and shadow, are the memories that ground the artist’s paintings. The inherited knowledge of the land passed down to him by his Cherokee grandmother certainly add a subtlety to his perception of nature.
For Taylor, translating nature means neither to possess it nor to represent it, but to simply suggest its living energy through colors and gestures. These paintings are not expressions of the artist’s control over nature, but the sensory imprints of nature. Taylor creates rhythmic paintings that are always shifting in energy and mood, depicting the constantly changing energies of nature.
The artist states –
“I believe that the true experience of nature
is not only in what we see, but also
what we feel about what we see.
My art is an attempt to portray
the illusive qualities of the
light, color and movement
within a particular natural environment.
Also, I hope to reveal a poetic undercurrent
– a kind of romanticism –
that I feel exists in the organized chaos
of the natural world.”
Brian Taylor is an associate professor of art at Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. In addition to his studio coursework instruction, Mr. Taylor also conducts art seminar courses in Post-Modern Art, Contemporary Women Artists and Multi-Cultural Issues in Contemporary Art. In March of 2001, Mr. Taylor was the recipient of The Shorter College Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership award.
Senior Shows by Graduating FMU Visual Arts Majors:
Thomas Buckman, William Lazenby, Chappell McMillan, Monica Mitchell and Cecelia E. Mooneyhan
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
November 15 – December 17, 2011
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Opening reception will be at 6:00 pm on Tuesday, November 15, in the Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery.
Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public.
Southwest Pottery from the Permanent Collection of the Florence Museum
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
September 29 – November 19
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
The Florence Museum of Art Science and History has an extensive collection of works by Native Americans of the Southwest, including pottery, basketry, and textiles. It is with gratitude that we accept this opportunity to display selected works of artistic as well as historic significance.
The objects on loan from the Florence Museum are only a small part of a larger collection of treasures from around the world. This exhibit features both prehistoric and modern day works of natives of the South, Central and North America. Most of the objects displayed at Francis Marion University are occasionally exhibited at the museum, but are usually kept in storage awaiting expanded exhibition space. It is a mutually advantageous opportunity to share some the these often hidden treasures with the Francis Marion University audience.
Please visit the Florence Museum at 558 Spruce Street in Florence, South Carolina. Hours are 10:00-5:00 Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday 2:00-5:00. Admission is free.
Pueblo Potters of the Southwest
Pueblo pottery traditions began nearly 2000 years ago in the North American Southwest, and this vibrant tradition continues to evolve and expand. There are 18 different Pueblo villages and tribes in New Mexico and the Hopi in Arizona.
Potters continue to make pottery using traditional methods of coils or ropes of clay piled one on top of another to build the walls of the pot. The walls are then smoothed using gourd or other scrapers and further polished using polishing stones. The smooth, clean surface is often slipped, or can be painted. The pots are then fired out-of-doors in excavated kilns using dried dung or wood for fuel. Covering the vessels with powdered dung produces black pots; this process is called smudging. Hand polishing produces glossy areas. Painting is done with natural substances in red, black, tan, buff, and white. Designs can be motifs used for generations or contemporary interpretations of Pueblo designs.
Santa Clara Pottery
Santa Clara Pueblo, located in the Rio Grande Valley north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was established in 1550. The Tewalanguage Pueblo, which uses the same word for “clay” and for “people” (nung), is renowned for its pottery.
Within the Pueblo culture, the extended family is traditionally at the heart of pottery making. Women teach children distinctive family styles, and families put the pots to daily or ceremonial use or trade them. At Santa Clara Pueblo, where today fewer than 3,000 people reside, pottery is typically black or red, and one vessel shape is well-known as Santa Claran: the wedding jar, a double-necked jar with two mouths connected by a handle.
Acoma Pottery
Legend has it that twin sisters led their people, “Ma,” to “Ako,” a magical white rock to be their home. Acoma Pueblo (called “Sky City” as it’s atop a mesa) is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the United States. Today, families maintain their homes on top of the mesa but live year-round in the traditional farming villages in the valleys surrounding Ako. Acoma’s dense, white clay makes the pottery lightweight and durable. Painted with slip, design motifs are added using mineral and plant-derived paints. Geometric designs are common. The traditional paintbrush is made from the yucca plant. Historically, Acoma was known for large, thin-walled “ollas,” jars used for storage and water. With the arrival of the railroad and tourists, Acoma potters began manufacturing to sell to tourists as well as for their own use as water jars and cooking pots.
San Ildefonso Pueblo Pottery
San Ildefonso Pueblo, located in northern New Mexico, has been inhabited since the 13th-century. The people of San Ildefonso speak Tewa, and are thought to be of Anasazi descent.
San Ildefonso Pueblo is well known for its beautiful pottery, decorated with frieze patterns and strip patterns. This black-on-black pottery style was developed by the late Maria Martinez and her husband Julian in the 1920s. Their work reintroduced the art of pottery making to the San Ildefonso Pueblo, mixing traditional techniques with contemporary innovation. The black-on-black pottery of San Ildefonso Pueblo, which features both matte and glossy finishes on the same piece, is recognized internationally.
South Carolina Watermedia Society — a special exhibition of works selected from the SCWS annual juried show including works by Joanne Anderson, Denise Athanas, Ingrid Carson, Jack Dowis, Elsie Ellington, Claire Farrell, Lynne Hardwick, Rachel Hyman, Kate Lagaly, Harry McFadden, Kimberly Ramey and Meg Wallace
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
September 29 – November 12
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Since 1977, the South Carolina Watermedia Society has been promoting the artistic and professional interests of its members as well as providing visual arts programs to the public. The Society works towards achieving its goals by making the accomplishments of its members available to a broad base of South Carolinians.
SCWS, the largest statewide visual arts group, is an active presenting organization. We nurture and promote South Carolina artists by providing exhibition opportunities, special programs to market their original works and coordinate educational programs. In addition, our goals include public outreach and participation in the arts.
The purpose of the Society is to promote the aesthetic and professional interests of its members and to provide the public with artistic opportunities through watermedia painting; elevate the stature of watermedia and educate the public to its significance as an important creative permanent painting medium; further the interests of watermedia painters by its programs and competitive exhibits, and to encourage the study of watermedia painting; promulgate the highest aesthetic standards within the visual arts, and to cooperate with and participate in other similar organizations in order to stimulate the practice and appreciation of the arts.
Most recently the Society has partnered with art groups, galleries and universities to feature a “special exhibit” in conjunction with its annual exhibit. Francis Marion University is a site of this year’s special exhibit. Other locations include the Lynda English Gallery, Florence Regional Arts Alliance and the Florence Little Theater.
There will be a “Gallery Crawl” from 4:00 to 7:00 pm on Friday, October 16, when all of the various exhibiting organizations will receive visitors. The Gallery Crawl will begin with a reception at the Lynda English gallery and then wend its way through the Florence Little Theatre, the Florence Regional Arts Alliance, and the Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery at Francis Marion University.
“Gallery Crawl” from 4:00 to 7:00 pm on Friday, October 16.
Costume Crafts Project:
Making Bears for McLeod Children’s Hospital
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
October 15 – November 12
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
As a project to demonstrate their skills, students in Theatre 209: Costume Crafts create and donate bears to children.
Assistant Professor of Theatre-Costume Design Abby Kiker enlisted pattern donations from Simplicity Pattern Company, Inc. and used the project for the students to learn basic hand and machine sewing skills in a laboratory setting. They put these skills to use in the costume shop, where they can get hands-on experience working with the costumes for a production. (They make the bears as an intro, to learn what they are doing before being given other projects for the costume shop.)
The bears will then be donated to children during a class field trip to McLeod Children’s Hospital later in the semester.
Senior Shows by Graduating FMU Visual Arts Majors
Jeremy Crooks and Devon Coward
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
November 17 – December 19
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Each Visual Arts major is required to exhibit work and write an artist’s statement as part of a senior exhibit. The senior exhibitions are presented on the FMU campus as small groups shows during the final year of enrollment. Each student’s portion of the group exhibit is comprised of works from the student’s specialty area and is prepared under the direction of the student’s specialty area professor and serves as partial fulfillment of Art 499: Senior Seminar.
Student Works by FMU Ceramics Classes
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
December 7-19, 2009
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Visual Arts studio courses typically culminate in a public exhibition so that students may have their work adjudicated by their peers, faculty, and the FMU community.
Mill Portraits by Scotty Peek
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
January 5 – February 11, 2010
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Scotty Peek is very much a product of the south-east. He was born in Alabama, studied in Tennessee and then South Carolina, where he met his wife Sally. Together, they’ve deepened her existing Columbia roots and embrace the area as a place rich with content and possibilities.
Scotty strives at being an idea-based artist, choosing the media and materials that will best communicate the idea of the artworks. Those artworks often deal with ideas of connectedness and shared experiences, and are usually sensitive to site and audience.
Scotty is a professor at South Carolina State University and an actively commissioned portrait painter.
Mill Portraits
These are portraits of people from the Columbia SC neighborhood and former mill village commonly referred to as Olympia. Their images were painted from photographs that were taken when the neighborhood’s mills were in operation. The portraits were originally produced for and exhibited as a part of “Textile Tales,” the inaugural exhibition of the 701 Center for Contemporary Art. 701 CCA is housed in a recently renovated building, which originally served as the Community Center for the Olympia mill workers and their families. While removed from their original and intended exhibit space, hopefully the portraits still carry with them a story that is common and familiar: how our families and identities are often tied to our work.
The portraits are painted on raw cotton duck (canvas), a common mill product.
Alice R. Ballard
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
January 5 – February 11, 2010
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Alice Ballard received her BS in Design and MA in Painting from the University of Michigan. After teaching at Coastal Carolina and Francis Marion, she eventually wound up teaching in Penland NC, Asheville NC, and the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville. Her work has been recognized internationally.
“My art is a reflection of my relationship with natural forms. These forms come to me on walks, while I work in my garden, on visits to the produce section of the grocery store or, appear as gifts from friends who share my fascination with beauty inherent in Nature’s abundant variety of forms. To be more specific, it is often the metamorphosis of Nature’s forms, as they change from season to season, that attracts me. I am endlessly drawn to that universal world in which differing life forms share similar qualities. Tulip bulbs and the human form for example share many of the same sensual qualities.
“I spend countless hours contemplating a particular form in order to feel its energy. It becomes a Zen-like connection not unlike a mediation. Next I will begin to draw the form, trying to capture the essence of what I have felt and observed. Then I begin to bring this form to life in clay. As an artist, I hope that those who choose to connect with my work can share some of the harmony and tranquility I feel through the creative process. Perhaps, at the very least, the viewer will give those small, often unnoticed forms in Nature, a second glance.”
Alice and Kim Keats will team up for a Gallery Lecture “A 3-dimensional Afternoon” at 1 pm on Thursday, February 11.
2010 Gallery Lecture Series:
“A 3-dimensional Afternoon” hosted by Alice R. Ballard and Kim Keats
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery and Kassab Recital Hall
February 11
1:00 pm Thursday
Alice Ballard will be on campus to remove her ceramics and Kim Keats will also be here to install her exhibit, so they both agreed to take time out to discuss their work with students and members of the community interested in the arts. Works will be on display in the Hyman Gallery and Kassab Hall will be available for lecture and projection.
Sidney Glass, Panoramic Photography
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
February 16 – April 1, 2010
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
“My panoramic prints are composed using 16 to 18 images. With photoshop I stitch and manipulate them together to create a seamless panoramic.
“The photographs are from wilderness areas in the eastern and western United States. I am drawn to the open areas and feel the panoramic print comes close to expressing what I see and feel when I am in these areas.”
Sidney graduated form the New England School of Photography in 1976 and earned a BS in Biology at FMU in 1984. Presently, he lives in Florence, South Carolina and works as a photographer with McLeod Regional Medical Center.
“Interlacements” by Kim Keats
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
February 16 – April 1, 2010
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
“The objects that I make are intended to honor or memorialize the origin of the materials from which they are made. I primarily use bark from trees, a vital and noble material that houses the wood and provides sustenance along with protection from life’s destructive elements. Basketry interlacing techniques are employed to construct the forms. Harvesting bark is a considerable part of the overall process and is seasonable and laborious. The bark is manipulated while wet and then sewn or woven together with waxed linen thread or palmetto root. The surfaces are refined through sanding and stain is used to provide a protective finish. Materials such as twigs and bones are added to create contrast. Objects are also constructed and incorporated to create areas of interest that support the visual concepts. The tree has become a personal icon and my work reflects the influences of a number of indigenous cultures that have a tradition of using natural materials. Sharing in this celebration of materials, techniques and imagery has made me feel as though I am part of a universal heritage.”
Kim Keats holds a BFA from Augusta State University, pursued graduate studies in fibers at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and received an MFA from Georgia Southern University. Kim’s fiber works have been exhibited in museums including the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, the Museum of York County in Rock Hill, SC, the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, and the Orlando Museum of Art in Florida. She has received merit and best of show awards in a number of juried exhibitions and her works have been included in the traveling exhibits, Palmetto Hands, Craft of the Carolinas, and Material Objects. Keats’ sculptures are in the Mark B. Coplan Collection of Art at the South Carolina State Museum and the Medical University of South Carolina’s Contemporary Carolina Collection at the Ashley River Tower. Her work is also featured on the Southern Arts Federation and Medical University of South Carolina’s websites.
Kim and Alice Ballard will team up for a Gallery Lecture “A 3-dimensional Afternoon” at 1 pm on Thursday, February 11.
Senior Shows by Graduating FMU Visual Arts Majors
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
April 6 – May 8, 2010
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Each Visual Arts major is required to exhibit work and write an artist’s statement as part of a senior exhibit. The senior exhibitions are presented on the FMU campus as small groups shows during the final year of enrollment. Each student’s portion of the group exhibit is comprised of works from the student’s specialty area and is prepared under the direction of the student’s specialty area professor and serves as partial fulfillment of Art 499: Senior Seminar.
Student Works by FMU Ceramics and 3D Design Classes
Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery
April 26 – May 8, 2010
8:30 am – 5:00 pm Mon-Fri
Visual Arts studio courses typically culminate in a public exhibition so that students may have their work adjudicated by their peers, faculty, and the FMU community.
