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December Issue 2007
Pickens County Museum of Art & History in Pickens, SC, Features Works by Michel Bayne, Jeanet Dreskin and Deborah Pagano
The Pickens County Cultural Commission is pleased to announce the opening of three very special exhibitions at the Pickens County Museum of Art & History in Pickens, SC. The exhibits include: Clay Canvas, featuring Southern folk pottery by Michel Bayne; The Vastitude Paintings, featuring works by Jeanet Dreskin; and Narrative Collage & Assemblage, by Deborah Pagano. All three shows will be on view from Dec. 8, 2007, through Feb. 14, 2008.
Michel Bayne
Living in Greenville, SC, and making pottery since the 1980s, Michel Bayne makes historically-inspired, slip-decorated stoneware, keeping alive a long-standing tradition that has existed in the early-established communities of folk potters throughout the Southern regions of the United States.
About his pottery Bayne says, "My work reflects an intense interest in history and folk life in the 19th century. The forms I create are reminiscent of vessels made in South Carolina; their shape is so round and full. I have taken the traditional designs using incising or colored slips to a more complicated level of detail. It is inspiring to think of daily life in an unspoiled America and I have a deep yearning to have lived during that time. I'm hoping to inspire Folks today to think about their American heritage."
Jeanet Dreskin
Living in Greenville, SC, Jeanet Dreskin's illustrious career has included more than fifty one woman exhibitions in a variety of venues including, the Columbia Museum of Art, SC; the Lowe Gallery, New Orleans, LA; the Greenville County Museum of Art, SC; the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; Furman University, SC; Clemson University, SC; the Asheville Museum, NC, and more. Her paintings can be found in the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA; The Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC; the E. Hampton Museum, NY; the Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ; the Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; South Carolina State Art Collection; Texas Art Association Collection, Austin, TX; Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR), Imperial Chemicals, Manchester, England; J. Strobel of W. Sohne, Munich, Germany and many more public and private collections.
Dreskin's accolades include awards and selection into exhibitions at the American Contemporary Exhibition, Palm Beach, FL and New York, NY; National Academy of Design, New York, NY; International Grand Prix, Cannes, France; Isette Colle Di Roma, Rome, Italy; Jehanger Gallery, Bombay India; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngston, Ohio; Broome St. Gallery, New York, NY to name but a few. In 2004, the Governor of South Carolina awarded her the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts.
Dreskin received her BFA from Tulane University and her MFA from Clemson University as well as her Medical Art certificate from John Hopkins University. She also studied at the NY Art Student League. She teaches at the (Greenville County) Museum School of Art and has taught at the SC Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities and for the University of South Carolina.
When referring to her work, Dreskin says, "In my paintings I develop layers of transparency to create a sense of growth and uninhibited flow. As in nature's cycle, these shapes that I paint are often eroded and destroyed before being recreated from within. In the Williwaws series the elements of wind and water, quiet and turbulence intermingle at various levels of perception to create a sense of uninhibited flow. In contract to these cheerful, happy paintings, my Sere series deals with the somber effects of man's encroachment and waste of our environment. In the drawings and paintings, I try to visually express this 21st century dilemma. I have been exploring concepts of birth, growth and life in a land of environmental destruction."
Dreskin continues, "With fluid and merging shapes, I develop levels of perception of the constantly changing earth and water forms. Looking inside of the beauty and vastness of those forms, I find the inner erosion and destruction presented in the series."
Living in Clemson, SC, Deborah Pagano studied painting and illustration at the University of Connecticut where she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts degree. She has furthered her studies in mixed media art techniques at the Greenville County Museum of Art in SC and Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN. Pagano has over fifteen years experience as a freelance illustrator/graphic artist and as an art instructor for both children and adults, teaching at both public and private institutions. In 1995 she transitioned over to collage/assemblage after acknowledging a love for ephemera.
A member of the National Collage Society, Pagano is a co-founder of The Arts Center in Clemson, SC.
"My work," says Pagano, "incorporates found objects and multiple paint & paper layers to create rich textures that convey fragmentary messages and stories to be completed by the viewer. I thrive on the beauty of decay, multiple layers and rich textures that can be found in old books, rusted objects and organic matter. Vintage photographs are often included because of the emotions that they can be made to convey." She Continues, "My work deals with issues that I have been confronted with and for which I feel strongly about. Creating visual commentary on contemporary issues brings me a sense of calm and relief."
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings or call the museum at 864/898-5963.
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