September 2013

Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Joseph Burwell and Herb Parker

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts in Charleston, SC, kicked off its fall season with exhibitions featuring two internationally recognized artists; Joseph Burwell and Herb Parker. Entitled Joseph Burwell: School of the Viking Spaniard Revisited and Herb Parker: Studio Practice the exhibitions examine the relationship between the studio and the work produced within. College of Charleston sculpture professor Herb Parker and alum Joseph Burwell will recreate their studio spaces within the Halsey Institute’s galleries. The exhibitions will be on view at through Oct. 5, 2013. An Artist Talk with Herb Parker will be offered on Sept. 26, beginning at 6pm in Rm. 309 of the Simons Center for the Arts

The stereotypical image of the artist’s studio as a paint-splattered, sparsely furnished garret where the lone artist toils away producing their brilliant works is in much need of re-examination. Many artists’ studios are a far cry from this description, and serve very different functions for their inhabitants. This exhibition will examine the relationship between the studio and the work produced within it by two contemporary artists who will recreate their studio spaces within the Halsey Institute’s galleries.

Herb Parker is best known for his large-scale, site-specific nature-based installations around the world. Yet, he has an equally interesting body of works created, often, using found objects as a point of departure, and displayed within his studio.

Joseph Burwell’s singular vision offers a world engineered by a network of realms and technologies, meticulously constructed and superimposed. The effect of architecture and space onto the psychology and emotions of the viewer is pivotal to the artist’s work. His drawings on wood are blueprints for modular structures inspired by ancient sacrificial sites, modernist habitats and medieval fortifications. His studio contains elements referencing the structures found in his intricate works.

Parker is a sculptor and possibly South Carolina’s most prominent site-specific landscape artist. The College of Charleston art professor since 1991, a native of Elizabeth City, NC, has participated in over 50 site-specific interactions in the landscape since the early 1980s. Parker has created public works at botanical gardens, a centuries old Japanese temple, urban centers, universities, rural landscapes and museums around the world. In addition to fifteen states, he has worked in Sweden, Japan, Italy and Canada.

Parker’s South Carolina site works include those at the State Museum in Columbia, the Waterfront Park in Charleston, Chandler Creek Elementary School in Greer and the SC Botanical Garden in Clemson. In 1999, Parker was included in 100 Years/100 Artists: Views of the 20th Century in South Carolina Art at the SC State Museum. His work also is in Threshold: Expressions of Art & Spiritual Life, a SC Arts Commission exhibition of art from the Southeast that has been traveling since 2004. Parker has been represented in two SC Triennials and in exhibitions in more than a dozen states. The former US Marine and Peace Corps volunteer holds a BFA and an MFA from East Carolina University in North Carolina and has studied in Italy through the University of Georgia.

Born in Iceland in 1970 and raised in southwestern Virginia, Joseph Burwell began to study Architecture at Savannah College of Art and Design, but changed his major to Studio Arts and received his bachelors degree at the College of Charleston in 1993. He received his MFA in Sculpture from Tulane University in 1999 and moved to New York in 2000. Since, Burwell has exhibited in New York, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Egypt, Canada, South Korea, and many venues across the US. He is a 2011 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow (Printmaking/Drawing /Artists Books).

The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is a non-collecting, non-profit contemporary art museum located on the campus of the College of Charleston, on the corner of Calhoun and St. Philip Streets in downtown Charleston.

The Halsey Institute offers a comprehensive contemporary arts program that is committed to providing a direct experience with art works in various media, in an environment that fosters creativity, innovation, and learning. The Halsey Institute serves as an extension of the undergraduate curricula at the College of Charleston and as a cultural resource for the region by producing exhibitions, lectures and panel discussions, film series, publications, and a comprehensive website. In addition, the Halsey Institute seeks to foster meaningful partnerships with local organizations in order to further the reach of contemporary art within the Charleston community. Admission into the galleries and to most programs is free with the public encouraged

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Institute at 843/953-4422 or visit (www.halsey.cofc.edu).

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