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July Issue 2008
Artists' Guild of Spartanburg Offers
Works by Andrew Blanchard in Spartanburg, SC
The Artists' Guild of Spartanburg will present the exhibit, Spartan'scapes, featuring works by Andrew Blanchard in the Artist's Guild Gallery at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC, from July 1 - 29, 2008.
Blanchard, currently Assistant Professor of Printmaking and Photography at Converse College, is a native of Mississippi's Gulf Coast. In the three years that he has lived in Spartanburg he has become fascinated with the landscape and the towns, saying of Spartanburg that it is a "diverse habitat [that] is perfect fuel for a visual enthusiast such as myself."
Blanchard finds beauty in aged storefronts, porch stoops, mill remains, churches and bars, making these the subjects for his work. Spartan'scapes, he says, is "more of a mirror-like documentary than an attempt to artistically render scenes of our town by way of formal design elements. Simply put, what you see is what you get."
This series of Spartanburg-based images screenprinted on mounted wood panels presents glimpses of downtown, Hampton Heights, Beaumont village, the Southside - all neighborhoods that remind Blanchard of his Mississippi upbringing.
"Within these tight knit communities lie generations of historical context, and on their fringes rest secrets, folk-lore and even one of the most poignant aspects of southern life - the truth," the artists says of his inspiration for his work.
At a young age, the artist became fascinated
with the bold, curvilinear woodcuts of another Gulf Coast native,
Walter Anderson. From this early inspiration, he established his
love for printmaking.
Blanchard earned a BA degree from the University of Southern Mississippi
in 2000 with an emphasis in printmaking and a minor in photography.
Then he traveled to Paris, France, to work, study and learn the
photolithography process with Frederic Possot, a master lithography
printer. This experience solidified his desire to be a lifelong
artist-printmaker. In 2004, he earned his MFA degree from The
University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS.
In the past three years, Blanchard has been included in and won awards for his lithographic/photo silkscreen combination prints in over two dozen national and international juried printmaking exhibitions. In addition, his prints have been collected throughout the United States, as well as in France, Bulgaria, South Korea and the United Kingdom. Throughout 2007 and 2008, several of his lithographic/photo silkscreen prints are traveling from Wales, U.K., to London, England, then to Belfast, Ireland, as part of the Stone-Plate-Grease-Water International Contemporary Lithography Exhibition.
"In terms of legends," Blanchard says, "I hope this body of work inspires all who see it to act on documenting your favorite Spartan'scape, for it may be gone tomorrow."
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings or call the gallery at 864/764-9568.
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