September Issue 1999
Gibbes Museum of Art to Host Exhibition of Works on the Subject of Water
From a single tear to our world's vast oceans, water continues to fascinate and motivate creative minds. On Oct. 1, the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, will open an exhibition that draws upon the varied qualities of water. Featuring 65 works of art consisting of watercolor, oil, and acrylic paintings, as well as etchings and sculpture, Water: A Contemporary American View will evoke emotion, challenge the psyche, and soothe the soul.
Thomas H. Garver, well-known museum expert and guest curator of this exhibition, says, "As I looked over the selections for the show, I found that the exhibition has a rather romantic, emotional point of view which is what I was seeking. It's a thinking show, and slides a bit between realism and a touch of surrealism."
This exhibition is premiering in honor of the new SC Aquarium opening in the spring of 2000. All work is based on the theme of water as interpreted by 22 American artists and is divided into five categories. The first deals with water itself, the idea of water and land, water and sky, and the line drawn between them. The third explores water as a vehicle for metaphor and narrative, with the fourth examining water in form and symbol. The final category illustrates the work of sculptors who have represented the liquid medium on a solid plane.
The Gibbes Museum of Art is proud to once again bring Thomas H. Garver to Charleston as a guest curator for an exhibit.
Having worked as a museum curator, director, and writer for more than 35 years, Garver has earned a fine reputation for his skill and knowledge in the museum industry. Garver received his undergraduate degree from Haverford College in Philadelphia, and then studied art conservation in Pennsylvania at the Barnes Foundation and in New York at the Brooklyn Museum. He continued his studies at the University of Minnesota where he received a Master degree in Art History.
Garver's career started in 1960 with an assistantship for the
director at the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois.
In 1962, he became the assistant director of the Fine Arts Department
of "Century 21" at the Seattle World's Fair. Garver
moved on to be director of the Newport Harbor Art Museum in CA.
By 1972, Garver was the curator of the Fine Arts Museum of San
Francisco and coordinated an exhibition on the American painter,
George Tooker. This was his first major traveling exhibition.
In 1977, Garver served a short stint as curator of twentieth century
art at the Metropolitan Museum of art. He then returned to Newport
Harbor Art Museum. In 1980, Garver became director of the Madison
Art Center where he finally settled and lives today. Currently,
he works as an art consultant, writer, and independent curator.
Garver has published a major monograph on the painter Geroge Tooker and is author of The Last Steam Railroad in America: Photographs by O. Winston Link. He has written almost 50 essays for catalogues of exhibitions he has organized, and has articles that have appeared in Artforum, Art in America, New Art Examiner, House and Garden, and many other circulation magazines. Garver has taught courses at several universities in CA and WI, and has been a consultant to a number of corporations and other organizations on the development of museums, galleries, and art exhibit spaces. Garver's most recent organized exhibitions were Flora: Contemporary Artist and World of Flowers and Mind and Beast: Contemporary Artist and Animal Kingdom.
Water: A Contemporary American View is one of Garver's most interesting exhibitions. It showcases the imagery of 22 talented artists whose work is found throughout the US, including works by John Alexander, David Bates, Deborah Brown, Dale Chihuly, Richard Estes, Stephen Hannock, Andre Von Morissee, Margaret Nielsen, and Robert Stackhouse.
Water: A Contemporary American View runs through Dec. 12 and will then travel to the Mobile Museum of Art and the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the museum at 722-2706.
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