June Issue 2000
SC State Museum in Columbia, SC, Features Postcards Sent by Artists
Good things come in small packages! You'll believe it when you experience the exhibit Return to Sender: The Columbia Postcard Project, on display from July 7 - Oct. 15 in the Palmetto Gallery at the SC State Museum in Columbia, SC.
Inspired by a project in Virginia, 14 Midlands artists created a postcard-size work of art every month from Jan. 1999 to Jan. 2000 and mailed it to another artist participating in the project.
While some of the 5-by-7-inch works were packaged, many were actually sent as postcards. To see how they fared at the hands of the US Postal Service was part of the project. "They all survived surprisingly well," says Robin Waites, the museum's chief curator of art.
The varied group includes well-known professionals, such as Christian Thee and Toni Elkins, and new faces, such as Amanda Thorne and Belle Crawford. "The diversity is evident in the final product too," Waites says. Mediums include watercolor, oil, collage, ink and crayon and computer-generated images.
"It was interesting to see how an artist develops over that year-long cycle and how work changes as the artists feel more comfortable working in such a small scale," she says. "The artists attempted to create community, to interact with each other in this artistic way and to feed off each other's ideas," Waites continues.
Claudia Smith Brinson of The State newspaper "used the postcards to tell a story, which is appropriate for Claudia because she is a writer. Each piece is like a chapter in her life. With Claudia's work, there is a noticeable progression." Waites says.
The style and technique of Marcelo Novo, a Benedict College faculty member and a more experienced artist, remained the same throughout the project. However, his subjects changed.
Georgia Lake, a frame and conservation specialist, chose a symbol, the spiral, which she manipulated and changed throughout the year.
Other artists in the show are Elizabeth Adams, Bruce Bahr, Judy Hubbard, Matthew Milone, Blanche Quinn, Betsy Taylor Thorne and Mike Williams.
Programming offered in connection with the Return to Sender includes The Art of Postcards presented by David Sennema at 10am, July 22, and a roundtable discussion with the artists at 2pm on Aug. 13. Send Me One When You Get There, a summer art adventure, will be offered for students in grades 4-6 on July 24-28 and for grades 1-3 on July 31- Aug. 2.
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