July 2011

Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, Offers Annual Artists’ Guild Exhibit

The Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, will present the 2011 Sumter Artists’ Guild Show, on view from July 7 through Aug. 26, 2011. A reception will be held on July 7, from 5:30-7:30pm. If you are not a member of the gallery, there is a $5 charge for the opening reception. At all other times admission is free

Sumter is home to many talented artists, and has a large, active artists’ guild. The Sumter Artists Guild was founded in 1966. It is comprised of amateur and professional artists and art enthusiasts. The annual Sumter Artists’ Guild show provides an opportunity for these artists to “strut their stuff”. Guild members working in visual arts or craft use a variety of media: oils, watermedia, sculpture, mixed media, natural material such as gourds, fiber arts and ceramics.

Since 2009 and continuing with 2010, Guild President, Susan Allen and incoming 2011 president Rhonda Simons, the Sumter Artists’ Guild made several innovative changes including an electronic newsletter, an updated website, a Sumter Artists’ Guild Facebook page and an expanded schedule of fun events and interesting meetings that include a variety of speakers, demonstrations by artists and “show and tell” where guild members bring their pieces in for comments and critique. The Guild is a close knit but welcoming group that gets together and socialize at guild events such as picnics and holiday parties where the conversation inevitably turns to art.

The Sumter Artists’ Guild also participates in several community events including The Iris Festival, The Heart of Sumter’s “Art in the Park” each Fall in Memorial Park (Oct. 15 this year), and “Sip and Stroll”, the kickoff event of WineFest, Nov. 4 in downtown Sumter.

Guild meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month, September through May at 7pm, upstairs at the Sumter County Gallery of Art. For more information please visit the Guild’s website at (www.sumterartistsguild.org).

Karen Watson, Director of the Sumter County Gallery of Art states that the Sumter Artists’ Guild Show is one of the most popular and well-attended exhibitions the gallery presents. The 2011 Sumter Artists Guild Show, like last year’s, is on track to be a wonderful show as many “new” artists are joining the guild. This influx of work by new artists, coupled with the high quality work of long time guild artists results in a fresh and diverse Sumter Artists’ Guild Show – a treat for art lovers in Sumter and surrounding areas.

Each artist can enter up to three pieces. The Guild show is a “judged” show, not a juried show (where only a portion of those works entered are accepted for display), so every piece of artwork entered will be displayed. Prize money has also been increased again for the 2011 show in the hopes of attracting former, as well as new members to join the Guild and enter their art. Increasing prize money is a very effective way to increase the number of the entries and rewards these artists who work so hard. The Sumter Artists’ Guild Show also offers patrons a great opportunity to purchase high-quality art at reasonable prices.

The judge for the 2011 show is Jeffrey Day. Day is an arts writer and curator and has written about the arts for more than 20 years. For most of that time he was the primary arts writer for The State, the largest newspaper in South Carolina. In that position he covered museums, galleries and arts centers around the state, as well as some performing arts. He was a National Arts Journalism Fellow at Columbia University and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, also at Columbia. His work has been published in newspapers and magazines around the world, including the Baltimore Sun and Ceramics: Art + Perception. Day founded Carolina Culture, devoted to covering the arts in South Carolina, was associate editor of undefined magazine in Columbia, and was the publicity coordinator for the University of South Carolina Arts Institute. He recently curated a large-scale show “Install It” in conjunction with Artista Vista in Columbia this past April that included 10 installation and performance artists.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 803/775-0543, or visit (www.sumtergallery.org).

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