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August Issue 2005
SC State Museum in Columbia, SC, Features Exhibit of Rice Family Silhouettes
SC State Museum guests can now learn why poet
Carl Sandburg called artist Carew Rice "America's greatest
silhouettist". A variety of silhouettes by Charleston, SC,
artists Rice (1898-1971) and his grandson Clay Rice are being
displayed in a new exhibit on view through Jan. 9, 2006. Southern
Shadows: 75 Years of Rice Family Silhouettes will mark the
75th anniversary of Rice family silhouette art. This is the first
time there has been a major exhibition of these silhouettes in
South Carolina.
The silhouettes include profile portraits done by Carew, as well
as scenes of South Carolina's Lowcountry. The exhibit showcases
work from the State Museum's permanent collection, other museum
collections, and a portion of artwork from members of the Rice
family that has never before been seen. Silhouettes date back
as far as 1930, when Carew first picked up a small pair of scissors.
Carew had an interest in art as a child, but it wasn't until he was in his early 30s that he began to cut a jaybird, just for fun. Equipped with his first pair of scissors that only cost him a quarter, he soon began cutting landscapes and scenes of the Lowcountry after reminiscing about Dubose Heyward's novel Porgy. His work soon evolved into cutting profiles after a judge requested a composite of him and his wife.
Carew passed the traditional folk art down to grandson Clay, who has been a professional artist for 25 years. "As a young boy, I watched my grandfather cut them out so effortlessly," says Clay. "As a teenager, I started informally doing simple barnyard animals and moved on to cutting more detailed landscapes. In my early 20s, I was profiling." The younger recalls cutting his first silhouette, a waterfowl scene with ducks coming off the marsh. "The Sea Islands lend themselves to silhouettes with wading marsh birds and the habitats they support," he says. "I include a lot of wildlife in my silhouettes. I try to show nature in outdoor scenes and humans interacting with nature." Now the only Rice family member cutting silhouettes, Clay hopes his two-year-old son will grow to take an interest in the traditional art, an art that Clay had "no idea" would be so popular.
Working in almost all 50 states, Rice says he can create as many as 150 to 200 profiles in a day. "Profiles are an outline that can take about one minute to make," he says. "Natural scenes can take much longer."
Rice says he has put as many as 400 hours into working on some landscapes, and hints one or two of these extraordinary pieces may be shown in the exhibit. Some silhouettes may even require a few months to complete. "Like other artists and painters, I sometimes also work on two or three pieces at a time."
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings, call 803/898-4921 or at (www.museum.state.sc.us).
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