Feature Articles

September Issue 2002

Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, Features Photography by J. Frank Toms

Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, will host a photography exhibit by J. Frank Toms from Sept. 17 through Oct. 11, 2002. Entitled 40 in 40, the exhibit will be held in the Art Gallery of the Milliken Fine Arts Building.

The exhibit will feature 40 photographs taken by Toms over a 40-year period. The majority of the photographs are abstract in nature, with some consisting of close-ups of old buildings, paint peels, and debris.

Once the exhibit is complete, the collection will be given as a permanent gift to the Converse Art Department. Mac Boggs, director of the department, plans to frame the photographs in such a way that will enable him to present the works in a "traveling show" that will be available to all schools throughout the state.

J. Frank Toms was a Spanish professor having taught at the University of Virginia, Tulane University, and Purdue University before joining the faculty at Converse College in 1963, where he taught for 21 years before retiring in 1984.

In 1955, while studying at Tulane in New Orleans, he became very interested in photography and had much success in this field in the ensuing years. He saw his photos accepted for publication in The Photography Handbook; Salon Photography; Camera 35; US Camera, The American Cage-Bird Magazine, for which he did the cover in the October 1979 edition; "The Bicycle Journal; The Encyclopedia of Photography, vol. 1 of 1969; and many others.

He probably is known best for his color abstractions, the subject matter of which he found everywhere- on decaying walls; dilapidated buildings; desolate, uninhabited and abandoned places; and streets filled with rusted objects, broken glass, torn signs, graffiti, etc. In the 1960's, he showed and explained his abstractions on a local television station, and presented slide lectures in art classes at Converse College.

Dr. Toms became interested in Cinematography in the 1970's and taught Introductory and Intermediate classes at Converse. He organized and ran for two years The Super 8 Piedmont Movie Competition at the Arts Center in Spartanburg, which received national attention.

He has had his photos shown at the Delgado Museum of New Orleans. Also, as one of ten photographers chosen from throughout the country, he has shown his work at Converse College Milliken Gallery. He won a bronze metal in the Nikon International Contest of 1969, and a silver plate at the 75th Anniversary Photo Contest at Converse College.

For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, contact Eric Lawson, associate director of communications for Converse College, at 864/596-9705 or e-mail at (eric.lawson@converse.edu).

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