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February Issue 2006
Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, Offers New Exhibitions - Several for South by South Africa Crafting Cultural Understanding Project
Winthrop
University in Rock Hill, SC, is presenting several new exhibitions,
some in support of South by South Africa Crafting Cultural
Understanding, taking place in the greater Charlotte, NC,
region.
Winthrop University's programming contributions to South by South Africa Crafting Cultural Understanding begins in Rutledge Gallery with the photo-documentary project Two Worlds Outside: Nukain Mabusa and Joshual Samuel, on view from Feb. 10 through Mar. 29, 2006. Also in the Rutledge Gallery will be the exhibit, Beautiful Things: A Showcase of South African Crafts, on view from Feb. 10 through Mar. 29, 2006. The Lewandowski Gallery will feature the photographs of Catherine Anderson in an exhibition entitled The Children of Ixopo: Hope and Survival in a Time of AIDS, on view from Feb. 8 - 24, 2006. Other exhibitions include Fernando Porras: Recent Paintings in the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery through Mar. 29, 2006, and in the Rutledge Windows with A View, Beneath the Surface: New Works by Caroline Rust, on view through Mar. 10, 2006.
South by South Africa Crafting Cultural Understanding is a multifaceted collaborative arts, crafts, history and tourism development initiative, which will be taking place in Charlotte, NC, and the surrounding region through June 2006. Ten Charlotte institutions will present programs including exhibitions, performances, community outreach initiatives, culinary events, films and lectures focusing on the varied and unique art forms of South Africa. It will tell the story of its emergence from the Apartheid system to a full democracy, while at the same time using this historic event as a mirror to gain perspective on what has and is occurring in our own community related to social, political and racial issues.
As one component of this larger regional project, Winthrop University Galleries will present a comparative exhibition of photographs that documents two outsider art environments. At the core of the exhibition titled Two Worlds Outside: Nukain Mabusa and Joshua Samuel will be the archives and photographic images by South African artist John Clarke that document the Stone Garden and home of Nukain Mabusa (c.1910-81) in Revolver Creek, Mpumalanga, South Africa. According to Clarke, Mabusa initiated his project with the decoration of two wooden chairs and then continued with his small shack before he began painting the stones and boulders on the hillside of his home with bright patterns of stripes, dots and pictograms representing birds and animals.
As a point of cultural and social comparison, the photographs by folklorist, film maker and photographer Roger Manley that document Joshua Samuel's Can City will be on display with the images of Mabusa's work. Can City, built from quart oil cans, wooden planks and decorative bunting, existed on a rural stretch of road five miles from Springtown, SC, in the 1970s. Samuel (1898-1984), the son of a South Carolina Lowcountry slave, began the construction of Can City with a specific vision. Samuel's purpose and forms, in juxtaposition to Mabusa's work, offer opportunities for dialogue and discussion about the nature of Outsider Art, its role within the community, and the perception of Outsider Artists as adjacent to mainstream society.
In addition to this exhibition, Winthrop University Galleries has invited recognized topiary artist Pearl Fryar of Bishopville, SC, to present a slide lecture about his work on Feb. 26, at 3pm in Rutledge Auditorium. Fryar, like Samuel and Mabusa, transformed his home and immediate environment as a statement that carries aesthetic and social implications.
Beautiful Things: A Showcase of South African Crafts is an exhibition of craft objects made by traditional South African craftspeople according to ancient practices, side by side with crafts made of contemporary material. Conceptualized by well-known South African design and display guru, Nicholas de Klerk, Beautiful Things was initially designed for the United Nations' World Summit for Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002. The installation challenged all pre-conceived ideas of how an exhibition of craft should be mounted, presenting a fusion of dynamic and exact elements to stunning effect.
An additional component of Beautiful Things will be a community-based environmental project using de Klerk's grid system. Calling attention to waste and the need for the conservation of limited resources, recycled materials will be collected and installed on the grounds of the campus on Mar. 25, 2006, in conjunction with Winthrop's Environmental Symposium beginning Mar. 27, 2006. The community installation begins at 10am.
The exhibit, The Children of Ixopo Hope and Survival in a Time of AIDS, will feature works by the photographer Catherine Anderson. In the rolling hills of Ixopo in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, you will find a stark contrast between the beauty of the countryside and the poverty of the people living there. This is an area where AIDS has taken its toll, especially on the children, many of whom have to find a way to survive without the guidance and care of parents. Anderson, a MLA student at Winthrop University, was born in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and now lives in Charlotte. She recently spent time among the people of the Ixopo Valley and her photographs are a reflection of what she learned about the way these orphans survive in a community with very little resources to care for them.
South by South Africa Crafting Cultural Understanding is a multifaceted collaborative arts, crafts, history and tourism development initiative funded in part by the South African Department of Arts and Culture, the Knight Foundation, the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and other institutional Partners. For more information visit (www.southbysouthafrica.org).
The Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery will feature recent paintings by Venezuelan-born artist Fernando Porras. Currently on the faculty at Concord College in West Virginia, Porras' paintings have focused on the children who inhabit a dense, tropical forest in the delta of the Orinoco River, in northeastern Venezuela. The children, typically dark-skinned with large brown eyes, have inspired the painter with their innocence, beauty and mystery. They belong to the gentle tribe of the Warauno people. Like many other indigenous groups of the South American rainforest, their civilization is being shattered by the constant exploitation of the area.
In Rutledge's Windows with a View is the exhibition Beneath the Surface: New Works by Caroline Rust. Rust's paintings and embroideries in the exhibition focus on women's issues in society and the concepts of women's empowerment.
Several lectures and educational programs are planned in conjunction with these exhibitions, contact Winthrop University for further details.
For more information
check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, contact Tom Stanley
at 803/323-2493 or at (www.winthrop.edu/arts).
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