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May Issue 2009
Piccolo Spoleto
Festival in Charleston, SC, Presents Exhibition of Works by Adults
with Disabilities
The Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, will present the exhibit, Breaking Out, an exhibition of works by adults with disabilities at Charleston City Hall, from May 22 through June 7, 2009. The exhibit presented by the Hulsey Law Group is coordinated by: Special Olympics of South Carolina; City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs; VSA Arts of South Carolina and South Carolina Arts Commission.
The show will hang in the public spaces on the first and second floors of the newly renovated Charleston City Hall located at 80 Broad Street in Charleston.
This show provides an opportunity for artists with intellectual disabilities to speak using the vocabulary of art. The artists communicate through their paintings and pottery and in so doing break down the walls raised by their disabilities. The worlds inside these walls are brightened by inner light and are just as exciting, complicated, happy and sad as the observer's world. The viewer gleans additional pleasure from observing the "outside" world through the artists' eyes.
The artists use acrylics,
oils, colored pencils and ceramics to tell their stories. Eddie
Gregory and Chris Peery paint landscapes. Gregory's are realistic,
while Peery's are more abstract. The two artists are working on
a collaborative piece that will give their spin on Jackson Pollock.
Donnie Driggers excels in colored pencil drawings of cartoon characters.
He also has a great downtown landscape and a fabulous piece showing
the North Bridge. Chris Pilcher creates mixed media landscapes
and abstracts. School buses and gas stations drawn on recycled
paper are Jerald Fraser's specialty.
Joey Helgret is a new artist who loves learning to express himself in landscapes while Michael Bonyne focuses on seascapes. Leland Wilson works in oils focusing on marsh scenes and golf courses.
Christian Royal is a potter who creates functional hand and wheel pieces. He does his own glazing, throwing, and wedging. Royal owns Creek Bend Pottery. Mark Goldmintz (1970 - 2008) worked in acrylics focusing on flowers and abstracts. He got great pleasure from painting while being hospitalized at Duke Hospital where he was undergoing chemotherapy.
For further information
contact Margaret M. Peery by calling 843/722-2350 or e-mailing
to (margaretpeery@comcast.net). Contact the Office of Cultural
Affairs at 843/724-7305 or at (www.ci.charleston.sc.us/oca.html).
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