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April Issue 2005
Cameo Fine Art Gallery in Columbia, SC, Features Works by Jean McWhorter for Artista Vista
Cameo
Fine Art Gallery is pleased to be presenting a one-woman exhibit
titled, Masquerade, by local artist, Jean McWhorter. The
exhibit will begin Apr. 29, to kick off the annual Artista
Vista event and will be on display through May 16, 2005.
McWhorter is widely known as a multi media artist. Her work derives from a very personal nature and is inventive, unique and comes from her soul. This exhibit is no exception. There are approximately forty-one mixed media, originals on paper on display all based around masks. These masks are invested with mystery and ambiguity. Some are immediately perceived as faces while others reflect dreams and inner thoughts or desires one might wish to confront.
All the pieces in this exhibit are 8"
x 10" with decorative borders. They are rectangular in shape
and some have strings attached to the upper corners and others
have posts extending from the bottom of the mask to indicate that
each mask could be worn or held to the face to help one envision
what one would like to become or what one would wish to see.
The shape of these masks establishes an uncomfortable and mysterious
feeling that uncircumscribes the usual concept and meaning of
a mask. The images in the masks do not represent any particular
culture or time. The magical spirit of each mask however, takes
place when the viewer becomes aware that there are human eyes
or a human eye staring back at the viewer. This beckons one to
have a closer look at each mask as it sets up the feeling that
each image may bear multiple meanings. The viewers look through
their own eyes to observe the reality beneath the image.
McWhorter earned her Bachelor's and Master's
Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Georgia. She studied
for a year at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School in New York City,
and then came to South Carolina to begin her professional career
as an artist. She taught drawing, painting and sculpture at the
Museum School of The Columbia Museum of Art for twenty-three years
and served as Director of The Museum School for six years. She
continued lecturing at The University of South Carolina, Newberry
College and Benedict College.
McWhorter has participated in over thirty one-woman exhibits both
regionally and nationally (a portion of those exhibits have been
displayed at Cameo Fine Art). Her work is represented in collections
of The Gibbes Museum of Art, The Greenville County Museum of Art,
The Columbia Museum of Art, The Georgia Museum of Art and Columbia
College of Columbia, SC. She is listed in the Who's Who in
American Art and featured in Allied Publications of Prize
Winning Sculpture and Watercolor, The First Compendium of Women
Design International, Fiber Artsform IV and was one of the
100 Years, 100 Artists at the South Carolina State Museum
display in 1999-2000.
For further information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings or call the gallery at 803/799-8869.
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