Feature Articles


October Issue 2001

USC-Sumter in Sumter, SC, Features Works by Ke Francis

The University Gallery in the Anderson Library at the University of South Carolina at Sumter in Sumter, SC, is presenting an exhibition entitled, Narrative Impluse, through Nov. 2, 2001.

Ke Francis was born in 1945 in Memphis, TN. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH. In his region, Francis has become an important collector and teller of stories, transforming the inhabitants' experiences into collage-like images. Francis is also well known for his artistic books, as well as sculptures and installation art. Not only has Francis been asked to be a guest lecturer, workshop leader and visiting artist by over fifty universities and private institutions all over the world but he was also a Graduate Printmaking Instructor for the University of Mississippi in 1992.

Francis has had over 25 one-man exhibitions and his works are included in many public collections including the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, J.P. Getty Museum and Library, Los Angeles, High Museum, Atlanta, Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution. Some of Francis' recent invitational exhibition activities include Breaking Barriers, National Museum of American Crafts, New York, An American Renaissance, 1996 Olympic Games, Atlanta, and in Europe, Bounty from the Block: 100 Years of American Colored Woodcuts.

Francis currently is the Painting and Printmaking Instructor at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. In 1979, in Tupelo, Mississippi, he founded Hoopsnake Press, which is devoted to the publication of fine prints and artist's books. Since inception it has issued over 75 editions of etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, fine books, and broadsides. Works done by Francis himself include edition art books, prints, paintings, sculptures, and installation pieces all internationally known. "The impulse, which drives me to create, is a narrative impulse," says Francis. "However, once a work is under way, the artwork takes on a life of its own and all the words drop away"

The artist's offers the following statement: "The theme of the work is narrative...both implied narrative and real narrative...stories, books and images that imply that there is some story behind them. The works deal with myths...Southern Myths..tornado stories, fish tales, etc."

Ke Francis will give an Artist Talk on Oct. 12, at 6pm in the Anderson Library. The event is free and sponsored by the Sumter County Cultural Commission and The Korn Trust.

For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call Cara-lin Getty, Director of Galleries, at 803/938-3727 or Laura Cardello at 803/938-3858.

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