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March Issue 2010
Artists' Guild
of Spartanburg Focus on Youth Art Month
The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg will present the exhibit, Focus on Youth Juried Art Exhibition, on view at the Guild Gallery, located at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC, from Mar. 8 - 26, 2010. The exhibit is being offered in celebration of National Youth Art Month.
Jane Allen Nodine, professor of art and director of the Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery at the University of South Carolina Upstate, is the juror for the exhibit that includes works of students in grades nine through 12 in Spartanburg County schools.
"Student artists are our future artists, art teachers and patrons," Nodine says, "and support from organizations and events like the Artists' Guild of Spartanburg and the Focus on Youth exhibition offer opportunities to explore artistic interests that may lead to possible careers in the field or the joys of art patronage."
Robert Urban, local artist and art teacher at Dorman High School, is the coordinator of the exhibit, working with the Guild and area high school art teachers to provide a showcase for young artists. "I would encourage community members to come see the show," Urban says of the exhibit that gives some students their first opportunity to exhibit in a professional gallery and compete for monetary prizes.
"The quality of art produced by high school students in Spartanburg County is extremely impressive. High school art students in our county are consistently some of the top art students in South Carolina. Excellent facilities and art educators, outstanding parental support and, of course, great students, complete the picture," Urban says of the strong art education programs that develop quality artists in local schools.
Student artists juried into the show will be recognized Mar. 11, 2010, from 6-7:30pm. Prizes of more than $250 will be presented to the award winning artists, and the David Benson Award will be presented to the art teacher with the most student pieces represented in the juried exhibition. The reception is free and open to the public.
Criteria applied in jurying the youth show is the same as that used when jurying professional exhibits, Nodine explains, noting that the first quality that she looks for in a work is that it be visually stimulating.
"I first note works with visual impact. That impact includes aspects of intrigue, mystery, awe, satisfaction, tension, discomfort, challenge or surprise," she says of her criteria for selecting works that display both execution and craftsmanship. "Ordinary subjects need not render ordinary art, and I rejoice in seeing the intuitive, innovative and inquiring artist venture beyond common ground to redefine mundane subjects with a new vantage point. Judging is always subjective but the seasoned juror will recognize potential in work that might otherwise be overlooked by the novice observer."
Laura Pinkley, executive director of the Artists' Guild, explains that sponsoring the youth exhibit allows the Artists' Guild not only to collaborate with local art education programs, but also to encourage young artists by giving them an opportunity to exhibit in a gallery that is open to the public free of charge. One of the missions of the Artists' Guild as a professional art organization is to foster a relationship with young artists that will allow them to continue to develop a relationship with the larger art community in Spartanburg.
For further information
check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call Laura Pinkley
at 864/764-9568.
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2010 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2010 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.