August Issue 2001
Columbia Museum Of Art in Columbia, SC, Welcomes the Gorillas at the Zoo
In honor of the Riverbanks Zoo & Botanical Garden's new residents, the gorillas, the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC, is highlighting a different type of gorilla in Gallery 15. Created by Edgar McKillop, the grandson of an Irish immigrant living in rural NC during the early 20th century, the museum's Gorilla sculpture reflects the artist's personal interpretation of an animal that he likely never saw except in photographs from a book or magazine.
After moving to Balfour, NC, in 1925 or 1926, McKillop was offered three or four black walnut trees provided he would cut them down. McKillop agreed, and soon thereafter began working on the first of his wooden sculptures. Without any previous training, McKillop dedicated himself to carving - mostly animals - during the next decade. Unusual subjects like the Gorilla and another of the museum's works a Kangaroo, are noteworthy for the vibrant and unusual personality with which McKillop imbued them. Long-time Columbia resident, Max Gergel, donated both works to the Museum in 1975.
As with other self-taught artists working in rural portions of the southeast during this period, McKillop began creating his works out of personal interest. In the earliest years of the Great Depression, McKillop attempted to realize the potential monetary value in his work by displaying his carvings for a small viewing fee of five cents - often exhibiting in the Hendersonville, NC, and Asheville, NC, area from the back of his truck or within a makeshift tent.
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