The December 2020 Issue of “Carolina Arts” is Now Ready to Download

We’re coming to you a little early this month as I have a medical procedure on Dec. 1. Oh joy!

The December 2020 issue of “Carolina Arts” is up on our website at (http://www.carolinaarts.com/1220/1220carolinaarts.html) – all 56 pages of it. That’s 1 less page than last month’s issue.

This month’s cover is a work by Noelle Brault. She will be having an exhibit of her works on view at the Rob Shaw Gallery and Framing, in West Columbia, SC, from Dec. 4 through Jan. 15, 2021. A reception will be held on Dec. 4, from 6-9pm. You can read about the exhibit on Page 20 of this month’s issue.

So download that PDF and dig in – it makes for good reading when you’re ordered to stay at home. And, don’t forget to find a way to thank our advertisers – they make this publication possible. Visiting their websites would be a way to start, you might be surprised what you’ll find there – maybe that one-of-a-kind holiday gift. You might even want to fill your entire holiday shopping list there.

And help us spread this issue around by sending this link to your friends.

Don’t forget that the deadline for our January 2021 issue will be December 24 at 5pm, even though that’s Christmas Eve, it’s still our deadline. Send us info about what you’re offering our readers, so that those who can and wish to respond can.

Thanks – Tom and Linda Starland
“Carolina Arts”
843/693-1306
info@carolinaarts.com

Triangle Cultural Art Gallery in Raleigh, NC, Calls for Entries for Sankofa Visual Art Competition – Deadline Dec. 5, 2020

Triangle Cultural Art Gallery in Raleigh, NC, call for entries for Sankofa Visual Art Competition, “Looking Back at 2020”

Deadline for entries is Dec. 5, 2020

Call for artist

1. ARTIST ELIGIBILITY

The artist must be eighteen (18) years of age or older on or before November 1, 2020.
The artist’s submission must be original works of art by the submitting artist sizes up to 30″ x 40″.
An artist submits as an individual artist.

2. All submissions must be completed and paid for by 11:59PM on, Saturday Dec. 5th, 2020. Use our simple submission tool, to upload your artwork photo, artist statement, and bio.
Each artist may submit up to 3 individual entries.
Each artist must submit the $35 submission fee before Saturday December 5th, 2020 deadline.

3. ARTWORK ELIGIBILITY

Each artist’s submission must be one single work of art. That single work of art size up to 30″ by 40″ and may consist of multiple components but cannot be merely a grouping of components without conceptual purpose. All decisions in this respect are at Triangle Cultural Art Gallery’s’ discretion.
The artist’s submission does not infringe upon any third party’s proprietary rights and must not violate any intellectual property laws.
The artist must submit an artwork created by themselves. The submission cannot be identical to or a copy, reproduction or only slightly altered version of someone else’s existing imagery. If someone else’s imagery forms part of the artist’s submission, the artwork in the submission must be significantly different from the source imagery. In such case of appropriation, the artist is required to provide a photo of the source imagery at the time of submission.
The artist’s submission must be in the medium in which the artist initially executed the work as opposed to a reproduction or digital version of that work.
The artist’s submission, and every single component of that submission, must be wholly owned by the artist at the time of their submission through the duration of the exhibition.

4. COMPETITION TIMELINE

Submissions for Triangle Cultural Art Gallery 2021 Juried Art Show are open November 5, 2020 – December 5, 2020. Submissions close at 11:59 p.m. EST on Saturday, December 5, 2020.
Submitted works will be reviewed and rated through the Submittable submission platform by Charles Joyner.
The artist will be notified of their acceptance or rejection for Triangle Cultural Art Gallery juried art competition by December 20, 2020 through the e-mail account provided in the submission.
The artist will receive a venue invitation and Artist & Venue Hosting Agreement no later than January 1, 2021 with drop-off January 11-17, 2021.
The venue show will be from January 21 – February 28, 2021 and the opening reception will take place January 30, 2021 4pm-6pm.
Artists agree to all rules and regulations set forth by the Triangle Cultural Art Gallery and their representatives.
Entries retrieved by hand must be removed from their venue between March 3-8, 2021 by appointment with the venue. Those entries remaining after 6:00 p.m. on March 9, 2021 will be disposed of by Triangle Cultural Art Gallery at its absolute and exclusive discretion, with no recourse or remedy available to the artist.
Entries to be returned by shipping are REQUIRED to have a prepaid return label included with the artwork during delivery. Return shipping will take place March 11-22, 2021. Those entries remaining after 6:00 p.m. on May 22, 2021 will be disposed of by Triangle Cultural Art Gallery at its absolute and exclusive discretion, with no recourse or remedy available to the artist.

5. PRIZES & ARTWORK SALES

Charles Joyner will juror the entries and he will select a First Place of $300; one Second Place Prize of $200; one Third Place Prize of $100.
An artist can only win one prize or award selected by the juror.
All artist submitting an entry agree to allow the Triangle Cultural Art Gallery to use images of the artwork for promotional materials. All work is available for sale by the Triangle Cultural Art Gallery and will remain in the gallery exhibit until the end of the event on March 2, 2021.
Any sales of artworks that are part of Triangle Cultural Art Gallery are pending until the end of the event, after award winners are announced.
Triangle Cultural Gallery will receive a 50% commission of all artwork sales.

6. ACCEPTED ARTISTS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The artist is responsible for keeping their e-mail account, e-mail address, contact phone number and current mailing address up-to-date.
The artist is responsible for all transportation costs to deliver and retrieve their artwork to and from Triangle Cultural Art Gallery within the required dates set by Triangle Cultural Art Gallery. Failure to retrieve work within 3 months (90 days) of the exhibits conclusion, forfeits said work.

7. LOGISTICS FOR INSTALLATION

Artwork accepted for Triangle Cultural Art Gallery should be ready to hang or install. For 2-D and other wall-mounted artworks, artworks should have weight-appropriate D-rings, eye bolts/screw eyes, and/or wire; all eye bolts/screw eyes should be outfitted with wire. Artworks deemed not ready to hang or show as delivered will be excluded from display.
Triangle Cultural Art Gallery will install artwork if mounting or installing the artwork is non-standard and/or overly complicated; all decisions in this respect are at Triangle Cultural Art Gallery’s discretion.
Artists who require non-standard pedestals, bases or other display platforms should provide such platforms themselves; all decisions in this respect are at Triangle Cultural Art Gallery’s discretion.

8. EXHIBITION DISPLAY

Triangle Cultural Art Gallery has the final decision on how, where and the space allotted to any artwork displayed at Triangle Cultural Art Gallery. No artist is guaranteed the maximum space indicated here, regardless of the dimensions listed by the artist for the artwork in the submission.

9. VENUE GUIDELINES

All Artwork accepted into the competition will be exhibited at Triangle Cultural Art Gallery – 8320 Litchford Road, Suite 138, Raleigh, NC. 27615 for the duration of the show.

10. PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

TCAG will determine how and where promotional materials are displayed and distributed.
Images of accepted artwork; artwork information, including dimensions and price; artist statements; and artist biographies, submitted through submission process or otherwise, will be used for online and catalogue publication, publicity and marketing, labels, and possibly elsewhere at Triangle Cultural Art Gallery’s discretion.

11. DISQUALIFYING CONDITIONS

Entries that do not conform to their accepted digital image or accepted site-specific installation proposal may be rejected at the sole and exclusive discretion of TCAG.
Entries will be removed based upon impracticability or impossibility of installation or continued exhibition, or if they create issues with fire or public safety hazards, as determined by Triangle Cultural Art Gallery.
If the artwork is damaged, incomplete, or the artist sells the accepted artwork prior to installation, or in any other fashion ceases to wholly own the artwork or components of the artwork, the artwork is no longer eligible and will be removed from the competition, and a new artwork cannot be substituted for the initial, accepted entry.
Failure to adhere to these rules may result in disqualification and removal from the competition at any time.

For artist inquiries, please contact us by e-mail at (info@TriangleCulturalArt.com) or call 919-900-8055.

City of Concord, NC, Dedicates First Permanent Public Artworks to Grace Greenway

Dignitaries from the City of Concord, NC, Atrium Health Cabarrus, and Cabarrus Arts Council met at a microphone near a flooded marsh Friday to officially dedicate a new pair of artworks recently installed along the Hector Henry II Greenway. The dedication was live-streamed for virtual attendance via the City’s FaceBook page (where the recording is visible). Concord Mayor Bill Dusch joined Chris Bowe, Atrium Health Senior Vice President, and North Market President; and Noelle Scott, President & CEO of the Cabarrus Arts Council, in making brief remarks before the artworks’ unveiling. A handful of people attended, masked, and socially distant. Despite the foggy, grey morning, spirits were high. The realization of these two 9-foot tall art panels, in 1/4” thick, cor ten steel, fulfills a years-long partnership effort.


Design by Paul Keysar

Atrium Health Cabarrus, in celebration of its 80th anniversary, donated a generous gift to several local municipalities, including Concord, in 2017; their goal was to fund projects that would be of benefit to the Cities and promote health and wellness. City leadership proposed the public artworks as an “Art on the Greenway” project to fulfill the Hospital’s goal for the community project, and Atrium Health accepted. The Planning & Neighborhood Development Department and the Buildings & Grounds Department co-managed the project, enlisting ClearWater Arts Center & Studios.

With approval from the Concord Public Art Committee and the funding from Atrium Health Cabarrus, ClearWater commissioned resident artists Walter Stanford, Paul Keysar, and Gordon C. James to create images of birds found in the wetland near the Greenway. For fabrication, Jim Gallucci Sculptor, LLC, in Greensboro, NC, gave consult on the refinement of the computer images of the designs, and also handled the cutting and finishing. He provided an economical cost to complete two panels within the commemorative gift budget.


Design by Walter Stanford

The large, rust-coated panels poetically depict two bird species: the soft flight of a Snowy Egret over water, by Paul Keysar, the commanding gaze of a Barred Owl from tangled branches, by Walter Stanford. (The third design, Great Blue Heron by James, should be funded soon via other sources.) These are the first works of public art for these artists.

At the dedication, the Mayor thanked all parties involved, with a nod to the work of the Public Art Committee. “We know what a powerful positive force public art is, for the economic and cultural life of a city,” he said. “These artworks will withstand the elements for many years while enhancing the experience for those on this Greenway. They signify the beauty of the wildlife living in the Wetlands area.” He congratulated the Hospital for a “fine investment in citizen health.”

“Atrium Health is excited to partner with the City of Concord for this very special initiative to add even more beauty to the Hector Henry II Greenway while celebrating the hospital’s 80th anniversary,” said Chris Bowe, Atrium Health Senior Vice President, and North Market President. “As we invest in our community together for health, hope and healing for all, we find that these public spaces are an opportunity for us to gather safely, celebrate nature and celebrate Dr. Henry, who gave so much to the hospital, his patients and his community.”

For further information contact Sarah Gay, ClearWater Arts Center & Studios Coordinator, by calling 704/784-9535 or visit (http://clearwaterartists.com).

Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, NC, Calls for Entries for “Take A Walk in My Shoes” – Deadline Dec. 15, 2020

The Haywood County Arts Council in Waynesville, NC, is hosting an online digital exhibit entitled “Take A Walk in My Shoes” to be on view, online in January and February of 2021.

“Take A Walk in My Shoes” is an opportunity for artists of our racially diverse western NC community to speak to the historical and contemporary issues of racial justice. HCAC invites artists to use their various mediums to engage issues through their art form.

The deadline for submission is Dec. 15, 2020.

Eligibility: Haywood County Arts Council (HCAC) invites artists (18 years old and older) who reside in Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancey, or the Cherokee Qualla Boundary. All work must be original and created in the past two years.

Eligible media include: ceramics, stone, sculpture, fiber, glass, metal, mixed media, painting, and wood. Fine art media such as photography, and lithography are NOT ELIGIBLE unless incorporated into an otherwise eligible media. Diversity of Artists: Three fourths (3/4) of the show inventory must be produced by artists that are American Indian, Asian, Black/African American, or Hispanic/Latino. One fourth (¼) of the show inventory may be produced by artists that do not fall into the above-mentioned racial/ethnic designations. Race/Ethnicity information is required for reporting to the North Carolina Arts Council.

Submission instructions and contract can be found at (www.haywoodarts.org/call-for-artists/). Inquiries can be directed to Leigh Forrester, Executive Director by e-mail at (director@haywoodarts.org).

Mary Whyte, Charleston, SC, Resident, Receives National DAR Award

Mary Whyte, photo by Jack Alterman

Charleston, SC, artist Mary Whyte has been awarded two national honors. Recognizing her contributions to our nation’s veterans through her “We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America Exhibition” and the formation of the Patriot Arts Foundation, the Eliza Lucas Pinckney Chapter, NSDAR presented artist Mary Whyte with the NSDAR Women in the Arts Award and the prestigious DAR Medal of Honor. The DAR Medal of Honor is the most prestigious award given by the DAR. The recipient must have made unusual and lasting contributions to our American Heritage by truly giving of herself to her community, state, country and fellowman. Former recipients include Barbara Bush, and Tom Brokaw.

The Women in the Arts Award was created to recognize women who have exhibited excellence in their chosen field beyond mastery of technique. Innovative design work, featured exhibitions, publication, research, and technique development are major components of the strict criteria for this prestigious award. Additionally, the recipient must have contributed to her artistic field in an original, outstanding manner.


“America”, by Mary Whyte, watercolor on paper, Native American traditional dancer, Aberdeen, South Dakota, Army, 1986-1988

From the Eliza Lucas Pinckney Chapter, NSDAR: “Mary Whyte’s innate ability to connect with her subjects on an intimate level in order to tell the personal stories of her subjects through her painting exemplifies her true character of trustworthiness and integrity. She exhibits a passionate sense of patriotism in her desire to honor those who have served our country.”

It is to honor these qualities and her accomplishments, that the Eliza Lucas Pinckney Chapter, NSDAR nominated Mary Whyte for the DAR Medal of Honor.”

The Eliza Lucas Pinckney Chapter, NSDAR, is located in Charleston, South Carolina. (www.elizalucaspinckneynsdar.org)


“Flurries”, by Mary Whyte, watercolor on paper, rancher, Watrous, New Mexico, Navy, 1943-1946

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to promote historic preservation, education and patriotism. Its members are descended from the patriots who won American independence during the Revolutionary War. With more than 185,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide, DAR is one of the world’s largest and most active service organizations. DAR members are committed to volunteer service having served more than 12.5 million hours in communities throughout the world during the past three years.

“When I undertook this project to paint the face of America, what began as an exercise to create fifty portraits turned into an all-consuming mission to uphold and honor the hidden heroes of our country,” says Whyte. “We the People is not only a tour across and through these vast United States, it is a tour through the heart and soul, the duty and the commitment of the people who protect not only our Constitution and our country but our very lives. We can only be deeply grateful, inspired, and humbled by all of them, and it’s my hope that this exhibition will give rise to a greater sense of gratitude for our military, as well as to inspire people to reach for what is possible.”

Additional details for “WE THE PEOPLE: Portraits of Veterans in America Exhibition” can be found at (http://marywhyte.com) and (https://www.patriotartfoundation.org)

Mary Whyte (b. 1953) is an American figurative artist known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people. Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide, and have been featured in numerous media outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS and NPR. In 2013, Whyte was one of ten artists worldwide invited to travel to China and exhibit her watercolors at the Nanning Art Museum in Nanning, Guangxi. The author of seven books including “We the People: Portraits of Veterans in America”, Whyte’s work has also been featured in many international publications, including periodicals and books in China, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and Taiwan. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Portrait Society of America’s Gold Medal, the Carolinas Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Award, and the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, South Carolina’s highest honor in the arts. In 2019 Whyte founded the Patriot Art Foundation as a means to honor and inspire veterans through the arts.

The mission of the Patriot Art Foundation is to seek a better world for our veterans through initiatives in art, history, education, leadership and imagination. The Foundation is organizing a working board of veterans, military leaders, business leaders, educators and artists. Partner organizations currently include The Citadel, the University of South Carolina Press and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. The Patriot Art Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) whose mission is to honor and serve veterans through art and educational initiatives.

Linda Wiliams McCune Retires after 25 Years at the Department of Visual Arts, Greenville Technical College in Greer, SC

The Department of Visual Arts at Greenville Technical College announces the retirement of Linda Williams McCune. For more than 25 years, McCune has worked tirelessly as part of DVA’s team to increase the scope of the department while always maintaining an emphasis on excellence. Hundreds of Tech Visual Arts’ students have blossomed under her enthusiastic, persistent, and affectionate care. She has led as a mentor and teacher but also by example. During her career at Greenville Tech, McCune reared two daughters with her husband, Bill, and also maintained a successful studio practice.

McCune began her GTC career as a part-time instructor, teaching Greenville Tech’s one and only section of Art History Appreciation in 1989. Eventually, her teaching expanded as Tech began to offer courses in drawing, painting, and design. With no dedicated teaching space for studio art, she rolled a cart of supplies across Main (now Barton) Campus from class to class, from building to building.

In 1995, McCune was hired full-time as the Department of Visual Arts moved to a dedicated space on the newly constructed Greer (now Benson) Campus. She visualized a DVA with a strong fine arts transfer track and employment-ready tracks in graphic design and photography . She set about helping to make that happen. She assisted in recruiting and hiring top-notch instructors. She insured GTC courses met employer and transfer standards. DVA course offerings have expanded to a current total of 30-plus courses with enrollment up from 30 students 25 years ago to at least 300 students today.

McCune has been a positive force in the lives of her students. She taught the pursuit of excellence and demanded achievement, assuring each student that she would provide all needed support, assistance, and encouragement. She has former students succeeding in creative communities from New York to Los Angeles. Her former students, now teachers, designers, and artists, provide the professional foundation of many of the fine arts and graphics communities here in South Carolina.

At GTC, McCune taught full-time including most summers, advised twice as many students as required, scheduled all DVA classes, researched and created course curriculums, and lead several academic committees. It seems she might want to retire to a recliner, but GTC was only one of her several careers.

McCune may be retiring from Greenville Tech but not from her studio. Upon completing her graduate art degree, she set these exhibition goals for herself: at least one solo exhibition and at least six group exhibitions per year. She has always met or exceeded that goal even as she worked full time, plus some, at Tech. Her career as a professional artist continues with no slowdown. For McCune, there is always art to be made, packed, shipped, and exhibited. She is also maintaining her newest career as a grandmother with four lively, creative grandsons. Though she and Bill must currently grandparent distantly, Linda is undeterred. She and the grandsons have Facetime craft projects going computer to computer across the US.

Though she leaves a void at GTC that not even two people could fill, there seems to be no recliner in her future.

“Thank you, Linda. All of us in the Department of Visual Arts and all your former students have enjoyed and profited from our time with you as a teacher, mentor, colleague, and friend. You have gifted us a legacy of excellence.”

In 2022 the Department of Visual Arts and our Benson Campus Galleries plan to host a retrospective of McCune’s work as a celebration of her achievements at Greenville Tech and her continued success as an artist.

For now visit (www.lindawilliamsmccune.com).

Art League of Hilton Head on Hilton Head Island, SC, Announces Award Winners from “CraftHiltonHead2020”

Fine art craft artists from 22 states competed for cash prizes at “CraftHiltonHead2020” 7th National Juried Fine Art Craft Guild Exhibition, presented by Art League of Hilton Head. This national, juried craft exhibition showcases over 70 two and three dimensional high-quality craftworks at Art League of Hilton Head Gallery located mid-island, inside Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, 14 Shelter Cove Lane, Hilton Head Island, SC.

The award-winners were announced on Facebook Live for a Virtual Awards Reception on Oct. 7, 2020. The winning selections were chosen by the Director of Cultural Affairs for Hilton Head Island, Jenn McEwen. $3,000 in prizes were awarded.

The awards were as follows:


“Coral I” by Flavia Lovatelli

First Place – $1000 Prize “Coral I”, Paper by Flavia Lovatelli from South Carolina

Second Place – $750 Prize, “Rejoice”
Porcelain & Gold Leaf, by Deneece Harrell from Florida

Third Place – $500 Prize, “Argalia”, Mixed Media Sculptural Mosaic on Animal Skull, by Kate Hanley from Michigan

Honorable Mention – $150 Prize, “Women’s March”, Handwoven Tapestry, by Laura Burcin from South Carolina

Honorable Mention – $150 Prize, “Serenity 2”, Terra Cotta, by Sheri Farbstein from South Carolina

Honorable Mention – $150 Prize, “Solitude 3,” Fiber, by Delaney Conner from New York

Honorable Mention – $150 Prize, “Piano Dancing,” Bronze
By Julia Knight from Georgia

Honorable Mention – $150 Prize, “Cube of Haiku,” Mixed Media, by Michael Kolitsky from New Jersey

Art League of Hilton Head is the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit visual arts organization on Hilton Head Island with a synergistic art gallery and teaching Academy.

Art League Academy welcomes artists and students in all media at all skill levels, including true beginners. Taught by professional art educators, students can choose from many art classes and workshops that change monthly.

Art League Gallery features local artwork in all media created by more than 170 member artists. All artwork on display is for sale and exhibits change every month. Located mid-island inside Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, next to the box office. Art League Gallery is open every day, Mon. – Sat., 10am – 4pm & Sun., 12 – 4pm plus 90 minutes prior to all Arts Center Performances.

“Inspiring visual arts for our community and its visitors through exhibitions, education and partnerships” is Art League of Hilton Head’s mission.

For further information call the League at 843/681-5060 or visit (www.artleaguehhi.org).

Artists Collective | Spartanburg in Spartanburg, SC, Announces Winners of Its Annual “2020 Juried Art Exhibition”

The second annual “2020 Juried Art Exhibition” presented by Artists Collective | Spartanburg, in Spartanburg, SC, has eight winners from the Carolinas, awarding a total of $4,500 in cash prizes.

The four-state show (South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia) had 2-D and 3-D entries from all four states but only 67 were chosen. The show opened Sept. 15 and will end Oct. 17, 2020.

The winners were announced virtually Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020.

“We are very pleased with this year’s show,” the Collective’s Management Board Chair Beth Regula said. “Especially in light of the pandemic. A lot of the work this year addressed social issues that the world is now facing, something I believe is very telling about how stress influences the creative process. Also, I think overall the work is very accessible to non-artists. This is a show that anyone can visit and take away some thought-provoking concepts, as well as some great beauty.”


“Harriet Hancock Center, Melrose Heights, Columbia” by Gregory Wilkin

First place was taken by Gregory Wilkin for his oil painting — “Harriet Hancock Center, Melrose Heights, Columbia”. “I am very flattered by the win because the quality and creativity of the other entries were so strong that I really had no expectations,” Wilkin said. “Watching the video of the announcement of winners was a big and very pleasant surprise.”

This image of a house and parking lot has many messages — everything from gay pride to urban trash hidden behind walls — and is presented very cleanly, as if to make sense out of the conflicting morals of today’s woke culture. Each element — the lush greenery, the modern architecture of the white house, the red pickup truck, the trash bins, the rainbow flag — seems isolated and carefully placed in the composition to find tenuous balance and create contrast in the overall image. It is thought provoking in both its subject matter and applied technique.

Wilkin’s first place gives him $2,500 from The Wendy Mayrose Memorial Award.

“I have been working on scenes of Melrose Heights in Columbia, where we are living for the past couple of years,” Wilkin said. “It is a mix of influences that have driven my recent work. This piece was attempting to capture a moment in time that normally would have been overlooked and yet when examined closely actually carries in it the currents of our time and the beauty of the eternal.”

Wilkin was reared in southeastern rural Ohio, and he and his wife Candace have three children. For 26 years, he worked as a graphic designer in New York City for most of the major publishing houses, art directing book cover designs. In his spare time he painted and showed his work in several solo exhibitions at the Frank Miele Gallery in Manhattan. His work was chosen by UNICEF to grace its Christmas card in 2000 and has been exhibited in the US Senate Building in Washington, DC. His work has been featured in Country Living Magazine, Down East Magazine, Yankee Magazine, and Maine Boats and Harbors. He has been profiled many times by the news media.

Second place was taken by Seth Scheving of Anderson, SC, for his work “Ignorance Was Bliss”, a watercolor and ink on paper work of a blindfolded white man wearing a shirt made from an American flag. He received $1,000 from the Friends of Artists Collective | Spartanburg.

“I actually watched the video at 10am (Saturday, Sept. 26) with a lot of nerves,” Scheving said. “I just had a weird feeling, I guess. I kept watching and waiting as they were announcing the pieces, and when they got to the third-place winner, I was at the edge of my seat – hopeful but keeping my expectations low. Then they changed scenes, and they were standing in front of my piece, and I got really overwhelmed. I cried. I’ve never won anything on this level. The piece was my most politically driven, and I didn’t know what the response was going to be. I was content to be included – never would’ve thought it would win an award.”

This entry is a wonderful example of hyperrealism used sparingly to drive home the political message. Front and center is a blindfolded white man wearing an American flag that is in contrast to the white-on-white background all-cap letters that repeatedly spell WHITE PRIVILEGE. The man is expressionless, however, he wears a Cleveland Indians baseball cap with the red-faced Chief Wahoo logo bearing teeth and raging eyes. Careful examination shows the man’s skin is a rainbow of colors.

“As a middle-class white male living in the Southeast, this painting is for all my white peers who do not realize the privileges we have benefited from,” Scheving said. “I am more speaking to the crowd who think they have no part in it. Choosing to remain ignorant or uninvolved is just perpetuating the problems. We need to be aware of our failings and teach the next generations how to make meaningful change in our country. Equality needs to be an equal opportunity for all, but before we can have that, we really need equity -– we spread the resources to those who need them most, so we can all have an equal starting point. No one is born racist: It is a learned behavior. We need to teach our youth that everyone belongs.” He plans to donate a portion of his winnings to the Urban League of the Upstate.

Scheving grew up in North Dakota before moving to the Anderson area in 2008, where he attended Anderson University. As an undergraduate, he discovered his love for watercolor and has been painting with the medium since 2009. He specializes in watercolor and producing work that illustrates vulnerability, dark undertones, self-reflection, or subtle humor. During the past decade, Scheving ventured into graphic design and marketing for about six years, until ultimately becoming a high school art teacher in 2019. He has also served as an instructor at the Anderson Arts Center and has been on the curation committee since 2019. His work has been shown in various South Carolina galleries and shows. Most recently, he has been invited to head an Anderson Mural Project, hoping to raise awareness for social injustices.

In third place is Bennett Stowe for her impressionistic “Dining Room”, a vibrant still-life that accentuates a large dining table in a refined room with red wallpaper. The work is in acrylic, charcoal, and oil pastel. Stowe, who lives in Charlotte, received $500 from the Collective.

This exaggerated and impressionistic image of a dining room gives the patron a sense of luxury gone awry. A passionate red used in the wallpaper and intermixed throughout the image dominate the palette, but the room is grounded with darker colors in the floor rug and lighter — airy — colors on the ceiling. The dining room table is grossly exaggerated from the back of the room to the edge of the canvas, making it both inviting and revolting at the same time. It is the sort of image a patron can study for a long time, taking in the various elements and wondering how they come together to create a dreamy room that just might be nightmarish.

“This work was inspired by my childhood home and the often troubling and unstable conditions that surrounded growing up there,” Stowe said. “This dining room is the space where my family and I had dinner together most evenings — or, at least, that’s what I remember. When my parents began their divorce and things started to fall apart more, I remember walking into that room and it felt so dark and cold and vacant. All of those feelings had dissipated and the warmth that was once there only existed in my memories. When I worked on this painting, I used a photograph of the house as a reference, but the majority of my decisions were made through those feelings and memories.

“I would define my work as having both expressionist and impressionist qualities,” she continued. “I tend to focus a lot of attention on light and color but also find that much of my stroke-making becomes very intuitive and reflective of the energy and emotion I feel while working through a painting that is very charged for me personally. I want people to take with them that although things may seem pristine or straightforward on the outside, they can often be far more troublesome and turbulent on the inside. Whether that may be a family, a home, or someone’s mental state: it can often be difficult for us to see the reality of someone’s circumstances.”

Stowe grew up in Charlotte and attended Virginia Commonwealth University to study art. She graduated in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in painting and printmaking with a double major in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, as well as a minor in Art History. She has a passion for animals and worked as a veterinary assistant while living in Richmond before moving back home to Charlotte because of COVID-19. “I honestly don’t find painting to be very easy or even very fun a lot of the time, but I do feel it is something that is an important part of my identity and a way that I can conquer my own internalized feelings and ideas that I often have trouble dealing with in real life,” she said. “The challenge of working through a painting and creating an outcome that exceeds my own expectations is one of the most rewarding feelings.”

In addition to the first, second, and third place winners, there are five merits award winners, each of whom received $100:

Wendy Converse of Salem, SC, was recognized for her wood-fired ceramic, “Twisted Barrels Tested by Fire”, which is organic and almost biological in its conveyance of three opened-end tubes that melt and merge downward to a singular base.

Tomya Henderson of Greenville, SC, won for her abstract “The Essential Worker” painting of crowded black handprints holding cotton bolls against a red, green, and yellow backdrop.

Aldo Muzzarelli of Mauldin, SC, received merit attention for the mixed media work “Unprejudiced and Coloress Rain”, a portrait of a young African-American woman looking heavenward, amid colorless butterflies and shingle-like raindrops, with the lower portion of the canvas showing cracks in the mixed media of acrylic, graphite and metal leaf on canvas.

Lynne Tanner of Rutherfordton, NC, entered “untitled#1”, a nonrepresentational acrylic painting that utilizes a strong yellow base overlaid with striking and intrusive elements of a black and white tubular slant, three red dots, and a multi-hue blue capstone.

Mary Hannah Willingham of Fountain Inn, SC, presented “Forever on Call”, a 3-D creation of a wooden cabinet door, supporting an old-fashion (landline) wall-hanging rotary telephone that uses a red 6-inch high heel shoe as the handset.

The jurors (judges) for this show were Alice Sebrell, Program Director for the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville, NC, and Connie Bostic, a late-blooming and highly involved artist in Western North Carolina.

Sebrell is a native of Charlotte and earned her master’s degree in photography from The Savannah College of Art and Design and her bachelor’s degree in fine art from the University of Delaware. She has written and spoken about Black Mountain College for multiple publications and gatherings and has curated many exhibitions during her time at the museum. Sebrell is also a practicing artist whose photographic and mixed media work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is in many public and private collections.

Bostic is a native of Spindale, NC, born in 1936. Reared by her grandparents in a small southern town in the ‘40s and ‘50s, she spent two years at Gardner Webb Junior college and then did the expected thing for a young woman of that era: she married and had five children. In 1970 she moved with her growing family to Asheville and after a few years enrolled in her first drawing class. Unsure of her abilities she did not pursue a degree until 1989. In 1990 she finished a master’s degree at Western Carolina University. Since that time, she has had 28 solo exhibitions and has work featured in 44 group shows. Active in the Asheville arts community, she has curated exhibitions for the YMI Cultural Center, The World Gallery, and the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center. During her art career, she opened and closed a gallery in downtown Asheville, and has since devoted herself to her painting and teaching private students, maintaining her deep involvement in the Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center and her two young great granddaughters.

Artists Collective | Spartanburg is a membership-based and member-focused organization, providing low-cost studio space to more than 30 working artists. Its membership is more than 50. The Collective is housed in what was once a three story Baptist church. Each month (when safe from the pandemic), the Collective hosts three art exhibitions showcasing its members and guest artists. It has two galleries and the once-sanctuary now serves as a large gallery space, as well as a venue for performance art. Its annual juried show has some of the largest cash prizes in the region.

For more info, please visit (ArtistsCollectiveSpartanburg.org).

Mark Sloan to Retire from the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston – Dec. 31, 2020

We received this statement from Mark Sloan about his upcoming retirement:

The time has come for me to step down as Director & Chief Curator of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. I have made the difficult decision to retire as of December 31, 2020.

I have been with the Halsey Institute since 1994, having moved to Charleston from upstate New York, where I had been for five years, and prior to that almost four years in San Francisco and a short stint in Charlotte, NC. I have been a museum curator/director for thirty-seven years, twenty-six of which have been spent in Charleston. I am very proud of the work we have all done together—members, friends, artists, community partners, donors, staff, advisory board members, and faculty colleagues at the College of Charleston. The four words “It takes a village” come to mind. Being the director and chief curator at the Halsey has propelled me into some of the most rewarding and amazing life experiences I have had. In the 245 shows that happened during my Halsey Institute tenure, I’ll never forget the privilege of working with artists like Aldwyth, Butch Anthony, Nick Cave, Sonya Clark, Tiebena Dagnogo, Riccarda de Eccher, Eames Demetrios, Lesley Dill, Shepard Fairey, Coulter Fussell, William Halsey and Corrie McCallum, Hitnes, Lonnie Holley, Jasper Johns, Chris Jordan, Jumaadi, Hung Liu, Deborah Luster, Ruth Marten, Jiha Moon, Fahamu Pecou, Quashie, Hamid Rahmanian, Aurora Robson, Brian Rutenberg, Tanja Softić, Renée Stout, The Art Guys, Leslie Wayne, Jennifer Wen Ma, Motoi Yamamoto, Aggie Zed, and a long etcetera. I hope this woefully short (and necessarily incomplete) list at least conjures fond memories of a few of your favorite shows.

The changes that will be brought about in our culture as a result of the COVID-19 virus are only beginning to be felt. At the time of this writing, we have no sense of the scope of the virus, much less how it will impact our lives in the months and years ahead. The Halsey Institute staff and Advisory Board will endeavor to navigate these uncharted waters with aplomb, but we will need your support. We will endeavor to navigate these uncharted waters with aplomb, but we will need your support. We are fortunate to have an ace staff in place: Lizz Biswell, our associate director, who started as an intern at the Halsey Institute in 2008(!), is now a seasoned leader; Bryan Granger, our director of exhibitions and public programs; and Katie Hirsch, curator and director of strategic partnerships round out the senior leadership team, ably assisted by Kaylee Lass, our operations manager and curatorial associate; professor Mark Long is our curator-at-large and academic liaison to the College of Charleston, helping make the Halsey Institute an extension of every classroom; Andrew King is our preparator; and Sarah Berry is thriving as our education coordinator. In addition to this staff talent, we are fortunate that the Halsey Institute has such a dedicated and resourceful Advisory Board, with spoons stirring in many pots within our community. They help make sure folks know that membership in the Halsey Institute is still the most tangible way of showing your ongoing support for adventurous art in Charleston. We want to keep admission free, so that our galleries remain a place where the public can have direct experience with the notion of how an artist turns a thought into a thing.

I would like to thank each of you for being in the Halsey Institute’s orbit. It has been a grand adventure so far, and a privilege to serve as the director for Charleston’s contemporary art museum and to watch the concomitant explosion of contemporary arts programming throughout the region over these last two and-a-half decades. It has been thrilling to be a part of that. My wife and I have forged many wonderful friendships here and feel incredibly grateful to have been so warmly embraced by this community.

I urge you to continue to stay safe, get out and VOTE, and continue your support of the Halsey Institute’s programming and mission.

In appreciation,

Mark Sloan
Director and Chief Curator

Upstairs Artspace in Tryon, NC, Calls for Artists to Donate to Its Holiday Ornament Fundraiser

The Upstairs Artspace in Tryon, NC, is calling for artists to share their talents and skills. Please lend a helping hand to our end-of-year Holiday Ornament Fundraiser by donating a handmade ornament for our tree. Your donated ornament will support our programs and keep our doors open to the public for 2021.

Our tree will be featured in our next exhibit:

Handmade: Crafts for Home and Holiday Open House, held on Nov. 21, from noon – 7pm. Our tree will remain on display until Dec. 31, 2020.

Buyers may take ornaments with them upon purchase. Artists may make multiple ornaments if desired.
Recommended size limit is 5″ x 5″x 5″.
Please deliver ornaments to the gallery on Sat., Nov. 14th, from noon-5pm.

Let’s spark joy by sharing our creative gifts with others.
Questions, e-mail to (frontdesk@upstairsartspace.org) or call 828/859-2828.