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February Issue
2009
Clinton Junior
College in Rock Hill, SC, Features Works by Byron Baldwin
ACE Projects at Clinton Junior College in Rock Hill, SC, is presenting the exhibit, 521 All-Stars Championship Story of Baseball and Community, featuring photographs by Byron Baldwin. The exhibition will be on view in the College's Dalton Gallery through Mar. 13, 2009.
Based on the 1998 book The 521 All-Stars: A Championship Story of Baseball and Community, this photography exhibit depicts the game in its purest form: scrap metal base lines, rotten wood bleachers, teams made up of brothers, fathers and sons, and most importantly, fellowship within the community.
Until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, major league baseball was the pastime for white players and fans. Segregated and separated, black players were forced to form leagues of their own. In many respects, the documentary photography that comprises this exhibition illustrates an example of the social history, and continuing reality, that has been played out in South Carolina.
In 1996, author Frye Gaillard was driving north on Route 521 in Sumter County, SC, when he discovered a homemade ballpark and stopped to take pictures of the players. He and his artistic partner, photographer Byron Baldwin, spent the next season and a half watching and studying the Gamecock Baseball League of Rembert, SC. The teams of the Gamecock League are comprised only of African-Americans.
The 521 All-Stars is an exhibition from the Traveling Exhibits program of the South Carolina State Museum.
ACE Projects is an outgrowth of the Dalton Downtown Arts Initiative. One goal of ACE is to expose students to the vital importance of artists' participation in civic engagement at every level. ACE recognizes that we live in an era of a significant paradigm shift that will impact where we go, how we go, and the quality of where we live. ACE is taking a step to refocus its goals and activities around the concept of student civic engagement via the arts. Some of the primary activities of Artists & Civic Engagement Projects (ACE Projects) will include: An emphasis on its significant partnership with Clinton College's Dalton Gallery; Enhanced collaboration with downtown venues; Sponsorship of student artists in the development of community-based projects downtown; Support for significant visiting artists who address the idea of arts and civic engagement; Advocacy for quality public art and design throughout the community; and the introduction of exceptional artists to children through partnerships with local schools.
ACE Projects at Clinton are supported by Jo Sherrill Dickert, Gay Randolph and Robert Breakfield. Additional support for ACE Projects has been provided by Becca and Harry Dalton, Clinton Junior College, Winthrop's College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Winthrop University Galleries. For information about ACE Projects call Tom Stanley at 803/323-2653 or e-mail to (stanelyt@winthrop.edu).
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call 803/327-7402 (ext 226) or 803/323-2653.
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