December Issue 2001
Charleston, SC's City Gallery Features Works by Arthur McDonald
The City Gallery of the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, SC, will present an exhibit of handmade paper, entitled Bibliorelics/Homage to the Book, by local artist Arthur McDonald from Dec. 5 - 31.
Arthur McDonald is an artist whose work is deeply informed by travel experiences beginning with an eleven-month journey around the world in 1952-53. In the 1970's he taught acting classes in London and led students on interdisciplinary art studies in France. In 1986 he was a scholar in residence at the British Library in London. In 1997 he was designated as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Theater at the College of Charleston. Arthur McDonald studied papermaking at the Gibbes Studio School and the Arrowmont Craft Center in Tennessee. His works are in galleries in North and South Carolina as well as private collections in Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
McDonald comments on his work: "Each of my projects use the inner bark (acquired from an import firm in Brooklyn, NY) of various plants: gampi (Philippines), Nelapese daphne (Bhutan), and Thai kozo. The bark is soaked for twenty-four hours and then cooked with soda ash for about five hours. The fiber is washed and then hand beaten for about two hours. This fiber provides the base for the sheets that are formed on both traditional western molds and deckles and traditional Asian bamboo molds. My work employs only the natural color of the fibers. My current subject matter indicates an interest in Asian culture and particularly Buddhism. The content of the work is based on the book as a means of providing guidance and of provoking questions. The books are often reliquaries that continue unknown substances, which are relics of some former humanistic explorations."
For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the Office of Cultural Affairs at 843/724-7305.
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