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September Issue 2004
Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, Offers Exhibition on SC Birds
The Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, is presenting the exhibit, South Carolina Birds: A Fine Arts Exhibition, on view through Oct. 29, 2004.
Curator
Wim Roefs
The exhibition, curated by Wim Roefs, presents
one of the largest shows of South Carolina art in recent years.
The exhibition brings together more than 80 art works by 43 living
South Carolina artists. Each work includes birds or engages in
some way the concept of birds. Many of the biggest names in South
Carolina art are part of the exhibition, which tries to appeal
to non-habitual art watchers and seasoned art aficionados alike.
The birds provide easy access to the art and invite contemplation
of their role in it and, subsequently, of the whole work of art.
Birds' visual familiarity, one of the artists, Robert Spencer,
said, can establish an initial dialogue with the viewer that hopefully
results in deeper exploration "of self, imagery, and humanity."
The exhibition and its catalogue are largely financed with money
from the defunct Guild of South Carolina Artists. "We are
really grateful for that and proud of this exhibition," said
Janice Williams, the Sumter Gallery's executive director. "The
show presents a wide range of South Carolina art. In fact, if
it weren't for the Triennial, this could well be the biggest
show of state art this year, except for the State Fair, of course.
We are also very happy that we were able to publish a catalogue
for the show."
Several artists produced work especially for the exhibition. They
include Jill Allen, Amylynn M. Bills-Levi, Steven Chapp, Diane
Kilgore Condon, Janet Kozachek, Colin Quashie, Tom Stanley, Hollis
Brown Thornton, and Mike Williams. Janet Orselli created an installation.
"Except for Janet's work, we didn't set out to have artists
create specifically for the show," said curator Roefs. "But
some really got into it and did so anyway."
Several of the state's most prominent artists
are represented, including Grainger McKoy, Leo Twiggs, Tartleton
Blackwell, Ed Rice and Carl Blair. Both Rice and Blair contributed
sculptures, an art form for which neither is well known. Among
the major young talents in the show are Jason Amick, Tonya Gregg,
and Walt Simpson. Others included are Dave Appleman, Aaron Baldwin,
Pamela Bowers, Bob Chance, Stephen Chesley, Claude Davis, Yvette
Dede, Jeff Donovan, Tyrone Geter, Mac Arthur Goodwin, Mana Hewitt,
David J.P. Hooker, William G. Jackson, Leigh Magar, Terrance McDow,
Sheri Moore, Marcelo Novo, Rebecca Rhees, Loren Schwerd, William
T. Thompson, David Voros, Philip Whitley, Edward Wimberly, and
Aggie Zed.
"Because of the scope and the statewide nature of the show,
the Guild of South Carolina Artists felt this was a good opportunity
to spend its last money," Roefs said. "We are really
honored and a little humbled that they picked us." The Guild's
donation in effect marks its formal dissolution. The organization
was founded in 1950 and for four decades served the state's visual
artists, especially through annual statewide exhibitions. Several
of the artists in South Carolina Birds were active in the
Guild or participated in its exhibitions. The organization became
inactive around 1990.
Some artworks in the exhibition depict one or more birds in straightforward
fashion. In other work, birds are part of a larger composition.
There are also artworks with no birds at all. Some of those have
eggs, nests, birdhouses or feathers, while others are tied to
birds only conceptually. Many of the birds in the exhibition do
not live literally in South Carolina. What makes them South Carolina
birds is that they are of the state, created by artists from the
state. "I didn't set out to create a show around birds,"
Roefs said. "I was looking for a theme that could connect
the art of many South Carolina artists whose work I admire. And
I wanted an exhibition that could appeal to a broad audience.
At some stage I noticed that many artists in some fashion deal
with birds or the concept of birds. Since a lot of people, art
insiders and others alike, love birds, I figured the theme could
work well for what I had in mind." Roefs, who is from The
Netherlands, writes about art and this fall is teaching a course
in African-American art at the University of South Carolina in
Columbia.
"Those not typically tuned in to fine art surely will be impressed with Bill Jackson's raptor," Roefs wrote in the catalogue, "but might also take the trouble to wonder how Jackson's seemingly abstract Atlanta painting relates to birds. Delight and awe with Grainger McKoy's wren might trigger a comparison with Mike Williams' heron, Philip Whitley's crows, or Aaron Baldwin's chicken and perhaps awareness of different ways to conceive and sculpt a bird. Viewers at least should be intrigued by how artists interpret and conceive a common phenomenon in many ways and make the ordinary extraordinary - and by how viewers themselves can look differently yet again at the art. That should feed the imagination and add an element of discovery to what in any case is meant to be a fulfilling experience in arts and aesthetics."
A selection from South Carolina Birds: A Fine Arts Exhibition will be exhibited at the Franklin G. Burroughs Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC, in Nov. and Dec., 2004.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the gallery at 803/775-0543 or e-mail at (director@sumtergallery.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.