Feature Articles


September Issue 1999

Spartanburg County Museum of Art Hosts Works from the SC Watercolor Society 22nd Annual Exhibition and Works by Kit Loney & Steve LeWinter

The Spartanburg County Museum of Art, Spartanburg, SC, will host the SC Watercolor Society 22nd Annual Exhibition Traveling Exhibition from Sept. 3 - 28. The exhibit will feature the juried works of thirty of South Carolina's best water-media artists and is touring the state as part of the Traveling Exhibitions Program of the South Carolina State Museum. The traveling show is sponsored by First Citizens Bank. Also on view at the Museum through Sept. 28 are works by Kit Loney and Steve LeWinter.

The juried annual exhibition was organized by the SC Watercolor Society. The top thirty award winners comprise the traveling exhibit and were selected from 200 entries. The exhibition features a variety of subject matter executed in both traditional and nontraditional techniques.

The top three award winners include Joanne Anderson of Belton, SC, who received the Peoples Federal of Conway Award of $1000. for her work entitled Nicole. The Artists for Art and Friends of Guy Lipscomb Award of $800. went to Billie J. Sumner, of Mt. Pleasant, SC, for Windows of Life #24 and Kathy Caudill, of Rock Hill, SC, received the Hal P. Moore Award of $600. for Bedroom Series: The Bedroom Window.

Edward Betts judged the 1999 competition. He is a renowned artist hailed by American Artist magazine in 1983 as one of fourteen "living legends" in American Watercolor. Betts is a Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Illinois. His work has been featured in many national exhibitions at leading museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Betts has received more than seventy exhibition awards, including seven awards from the American Watercolor Society. In explaining how he feels artists should approach their work, Betts advises, "What you paint is not as important as how you paint it; a fine painting always transcends its subject . . . Bring to each painting you do a strong element of personality and/or imagination."

The exhibit will travel to various museums and galleries in SC through April 2000.

The Spartanburg County Museum of Art also will be hosting works by Kit Loney and Steve LeWinter through Sept. 28.

Kit Loney of Folly Beach, SC, works feature mixed media figurative drawings. During her drawing and weaving process, Loney tears her paper. "The paper becomes no longer simply a surface to hold an illusion, but a tangible, physical structure with particular character, particular thickness and weight. During the weaving process the paper scraps share the function of the weft yarns." Loney chooses Ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Romanesque statues as a starting point for her subject matter. "These images are battered often missing an arm, leg, or head. I am interested in how these fragments still evoke the sensitivity and depth of human identity." Loney received her MFA from the University of South Carolina. She recently participated in "Triennial 98".

Recent Works by Steve LeWinter of Chattanooga, TN, shows how LeWinter uses a variety of printmaking techniques such as etching, collograph, lithography, monotypes, and chine colle to create abstract landscapes. LeWinter enjoys the twists and turns inherent in the printmaking process. Through this media he can "imitate and reveal the subtleties of nature". His work is inspired by camping and hiking trips taken with his family through various parts of the United States and England. He states, "Historically, much of the terrain in the American Northwest remains as it was 100 years ago. The grandeur of the mountains, forests, open skies, and people mesmerized me like I'm sure it did others who traveled there before." Steve LeWinter is currently an Associate Professor of Art at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the Museum at 864/948-5353.

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