June Issue 2000
The Pickens County Museum in Pickens, SC, Offers Two New Exhibits
The Pickens County Cultural Commission invites one and all to two new exhibitions at the Pickens County Museum in Pickens, SC. The exhibitions Liz & Jed- A Mother/Son Exhibition and Corporate Caring and Other Work by Linda W. McCune open on June 10 and continue through July 22.
Liz Smith-Cox
Liz & Jed - A Mother/Son Exhibition, on display in gallery one, will feature the watercolors and other works of Liz Smith-Cox and her son Jed Smith. Liz Smith-Cox, a native of Washington, NC, has lived in the Clemson, SC, area for the past 31 years. She received her BA in Art from Raleigh, NC's Meredith College and her M.Ed. from Clemson University. Successful through the years as both an art educator and a practicing artist, she has taught art at every grade level including college. In 1986 she retired from teaching after having taught at D. W. Daniel High School for 16 years.
In 1976 Smith-Cox was named South Carolina Teacher of the Year, the only art educator to ever receive this honor in SC. Currently she is on the SC Arts Commission's professional artists roster for the artist-in-residency, artists-in-education program. A member of the Anderson Artists Guild, Upstate Visual Arts and a Member in Excellence with the SC Watercolor Society, she has exhibited and received awards in numerous shows in both North & South Carolina and a prestigious Honorable Mention in the National Art Education Associations juried Electronic Gallery Exhibition. At their Year 2000 National Convention in Los Angeles, CA, the NAEA presented her with their Retired Teacher of the Year Award.
Speaking of her work, Smith-Cox says, "Art and I go 'way back' - to one day when I was around six years old. My daddy unwittingly started me on my long love affair with producing art. To keep me out of mischief in the family florist shop, he gave me long rolls of blank white ribbon bolt paper, a pencil and crayons, and sat me down at a table in the corner and said, "DRAW!" And I've been drawing, sketching and painting almost ever since! I'm still on a journey of discovering and becoming. The very best part of this journey is having an artist son with whom I've been able to share with - being his art teacher in high school, and now showing our work together in this exhibit.
Jed Smith
Jed Smith, presently lives in Asheville, NC, but will soon make the San Francisco area his home. In addition to the lifelong education provided by his mother, he received his BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia. A Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society, he has exhibited and received awards in numerous shows nationwide, including the First Place Gold Award from the 1999 Georgia Watercolor Society's National Exhibition, the Best in Show Award from the Anderson County Arts Center 24th Annual Exhibition and the William V. Pfister Memorial Award for Transparent Watercolor in the Texas Watercolor Society's National Exhibition.
When speaking about his artistic endeavors, Smith states, "I had my first experience with an art critic when I was in the first grade when crabby old Mrs. Anderson gave me a "D" because I couldn't (or wouldn't) color within the lines. What fitting preparation for my adventures as an artist and the do's and don'ts of the art world. Fortunately, from early childhood to my current life as an adult I have been blessed with a mentor and champion who has constantly challenged me to look at the world from different perspectives and to, above all else, find my own voice. That person is my artistic soulmate and my mother - Liz Smith-Cox." He continues saying, "And my heart is with seemingly insignificant moments of daily living and how they provide glimpses into the souls of humankind. I travel to the Mediterranean cultures of Greece, Italy and Portugal to be an observer of everyday life - to meet and experience the people - especially those whose histories are beautifully etched into their faces. In my paintings, which I refer to as 'psychological landscapes', I work to capture the power of these faces and these ordinary, yet remarkable lives."
Liz & Jed is made possible through the kind sponsorships of Joe Merck & Ken Hembree and The Pickens Garden Club.
On display in Gallery Two will be Corporate Caring and Other Work by Linda W. McCune. One of the most gifted artists residing in the upcountry of SC today, McCune received her BFA from the University of Tennessee and her MFA from the University of South Carolina. She currently is permanent faculty and student advisor in the School of Visual Arts at Greenville Technical College where she was awarded Teacher of the Year in 1997. She has served on the Tennessee Arts Commission's Visual and Environmental Panel, the South Carolina Art Commission's Grants Review Panel as well as a variety of other influential advisory positions. In addition to being listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers and Who's Who of American Women, She is the SC representative for the Tri-State Sculptors Group. McCune has been featured in numerous one-person and group exhibitions nationwide, most recently highlighted by her inclusion in the 100 Years, 100 Artists Century Exhibition at the South Carolina State Museum.
After numerous accolades for individual works from her Corporate Caring series of drawings, this exhibition will be the first occasion that many of these pieces have been able to be viewed together. Referring to this series that brings to light the beauty and the distress of discards ranging from old furniture to road kill, McCune says, "The Corporate Caring drawings are statements on the treatment of individuals by corporations as well as the general apathy of people towards their neighbor's condition, toward their environment, and toward the morally uncontrolled uses of technology. Animals are left without ritual as the victims of technology's intrusion on the natural environment. The birds destroyed together are, for me, symbols for destruction of personal freedom and enthusiasm for living. The rabbit is running down the middle of the road trying to keep up with the technology and it too is hit, hurting and left to be run over many more times. The opossum freezes as it is exposed and in spite of its ability to fight is also killed as were the other two are left to be mangled. These are factual drawings; realistic in their approach. Neighbors mean no more to some than these animals mean to the countless numbers of people who choose not to see them on roads all over our area."
Speaking of her influence, McCune states, "I have found a freedom in the use of materials that is exhilarating, in the use of appropriated decorative sources, and in the integrity of using a self referential basis as the source for subject matter. The art historical roots for the kind of work that I do can be found in Iroquois, Christian and Hebrew symbolism, Etruscan and Roman burial practices and traditional woman's handwork designs made legitimate as art objects following the woman's movement of the 70's. I have been greatly influenced by reading about and looking at art because I have taught beginning art history classes for many years.
Corporate Caring is made possible through the sponsorship The Pickens Garden Club and a grant from The Max & Victoria Dreyfus Foundation, Inc.
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