March Issue 2001
Beaufort Art Association Hosts 40th Annual Spring Exhibit in Beaufort, SC
Beaufort Art Association in Beaufort, SC, will present its 40th Spring Exhibit opening Mar. 15 at Greene Street Art and Activities Center. The exhibit continues through Mar, 25.
Over these forty years the exhibit has been displayed at varoius locations including a sidewalk exhibition on the exterior wall of Lipsitz Department Store, finally finding a home at the Greene Street Gym, which this year boasts a brand new lighting system.
As the organization grew it was able to hire judges for its ever-expanding exhibit which now regularly features over 200 pieces of work from more than a hundred artists, as well as student work from area high schools.
This exhibit remains BAA's only judged show of its growing number of exhibit sites city-wide. Lori Kornegay, Curator of the William Halsey Gallery at College of Charleston, in Charleston, SC, will be the juror of this year's show. She was Assistant Visual Arts Coordinator for the SC Arts Commission and in that capacity has juried numerous exhibitions across the state. She received a BS degree from Clemson University and a MA in Art History from University of South Carolina with an emphasis on 20th Century Art. She joins the list of distinguished BAA "Spring Exhibit" judges including Ray Ellis, Ralph Smith, Ben Konis, Carl Blair, West Fraser, Scott Belville and Judy Jones, to name a few.
The Beaufort Art Association was founded in 1957 by a group of women (five of whom are still members) who met informally to paint and study with various local artists. They founded this eleemosynary corporation in order to "present a program of exhibitions of art work, lectures, films and entertainment for the encouragement of art, education and pleasure of the community and members".
Soon they were ready to present their first Spring Exhibit. Beaufort began to grow as an arts community, attracting artists in all media to the beauty of the area and the welcoming response from the residents of Beaufort, ever eager to advance education.
Today, many Beaufort galleries are owned by BAA members current and past. In a "Retro" nod to its distinguished past, BAA honors Nancy Ricker Rhett whose 1978 design for that exhibit motif will be featured again this year as the design motif for the 200l prospectus, program and posters.
Over $3000 in prizes will be awarded including the $750 Best of Show and the $200 Founders Award instituted last year to honor the Founders. High school work is also judged and receives awards.
Over one thousand visitors see the show annually and while viewing are asked to vote for their favorite work. The votes are tallied at the end of the show. The winning work travels with other winners to the "Winners Show" which will be displayed at the Riverview Cafe of Beaufort Memorial Hospital where each September for the last eleven years BAA and Beaufort Memorial Hospital Foundation have presented a show, sales of which benefit various Foundation goals to expand services to its patients. To date, forty to one-hundred percent of sales donated by BAA artists has contributed over $10,000 to the BMH Foundation.
This Winners Show at BMH is a gracious accommodation to BAA. Thirty percent of sales from this show, as well, will be donated by the artists to BAA'S on-going projects which include scholarships, education and future exhibits. It will be open during regular cafeteria hours.
The Spring Exhibit is open to all artists. Media on view will include oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, mixed media, drawing, hand-pulled prints. digital art, sculpture, photography and fibers.
This Project is made possible in part through
a grant from the Arts Council of Beaufort County with funds from
the SC Arts Commission and the city of Beaufort and supported
in part with an accommodations tax grant from the City of Beaufort.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings
or call 843/524-4575 or 843/986-9255.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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