August Issue 2001
Boyd Saunders at McKissick Museum & I. Pinckney Simons Gallery in Columbia, SC
The University of South Carolina's McKissick
Museum and the I. Pinckney Simons Gallery of Columbia, SC, will
jointly present a retrospective exhibition and sale of the work
of Boyd Saunders, well known SC artist and educator. The show,
entitled Retro Spectus will be shown concurrently at both
galleries from Aug. 26 through Oct. 28, 2001.
Boyd Saunders was born on a farm in West Tennessee and has lived
in SC all of his life. He arrived at the University of South Carolina
in Columbia in 1965 with a mandate to establish and develop a
printmaking program for the Department of Art. The exhibition
at the McKissick Museum coincides with Professor Saunder's retirement
from USC.
It has been quite natural for Saunders to assume the Southern affinity for literature and storytelling; whether from the bible stories that were read to him as a child, the accounts of hunters around evening campfires or raconteurs spinning yams to pass the time while working in the fields; from preachers and politicians mastering the art of oratory, to that great army of Southern literary giants, too vast to list, who have dominated the world of modern literature. Indeed, most of the visual art, which he saw and loved while he was growing up, was intended to illustrate many of the narrative vehicles. Of course, none of these storytellers were under any burden to confine themselves to strict accuracy in their utterances. In fact, magic, miracles, fantasy and superstition were a vital and integral part of the conscious of the times, whether a matter of absolute belief or simply a literary diversion to add texture to a tale. Ghosts regularly haunted graveyards or abandoned house, angels and demigods walked about on the earth, conjurers cast spells, and animals sometimes talked and acted like humans. It is easy to understand why much Southern visual art, his included, has tended to weave a richly evocative texture of narrative and surreal fantasy.
For a number of years Saunders has been producing a body of imagery which is, in effect, an epic visual poem about an imaginary agrarian community in the American South. The visual poem, richly narrative and often traditional in stylist approach, looks backward and forward in time and poses questions and reflections about the great drama of life. It addresses matters of love and loss, marriage and courage, death and rebirth. It takes occasional side trips. Its enduring constant, however, is abiding awareness of, and reverence for, the land. In the virtual reality, which Saunders has created, everything springs from, and is shaped by, the same land to which it ultimately returns. As it lifts commonplace subjects out of the mundane, a profoundly reflective and poetic sense is established.
Some of the images in this visual poem are paintings realized in oil, watercolor or acrylic media. Others are hand-drawn and hand printed original prints. The lithographs are printed by the artist from slabs of Bavarian limestone, the etchings are printed by the artist from zinc or copper plates which employ line etching, aquatint, engraving and softground techniques. From time to time, woodcut or silkscreen techniques are employed. Many are printed in color from multiple plates & stones and some are heightened with hand applied watercolor.
Regardless of the medium, each work is designed to either stand alone and be experienced as part of this epic visual poem which continues to be developed as an ongoing work-in-progress.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings or call the gallery at 803/771-8815.
Mailing Address: Carolina Arts, P.O. Drawer
427, Bonneau, SC 29431
Telephone, Answering Machine and FAX: 843/825-3408
E-Mail: carolinart@aol.com
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Carolina Arts
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