| For more information about this article or gallery, please call the gallery phone number listed in the last line of the article, "For more info..." |
April Issue 2006
Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, Offers Look at SC State Art Collection
The Sumter Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC, will present the exhibition, State Art Collection 1987-2006, featuring works purchased over the years by the SC Arts Commission, from Apr. 7 through June 25, 2006.
Alice Boyle
The Sumter Gallery of Art, working in conjunction with the South Carolina Arts Commission, is honored to present the first retrospective of the State Art Collection since 1988 (for the inaugural opening of the South Carolina State Museum). The exhibition comprises 150 works, acquired since 1987, by over 100 artists. This retrospective of the State Art Collection provides a comprehensive view of the last twenty years of collecting by the state of South Carolina, under the auspices of the South Carolina Arts Commission, of works by contemporary South Carolina artists.
The criteria by which this collection is organized; that all works be created by artists with significant ties to the state either by birth, residency, or extended professional experience, is one that casts a wonderfully wide, inclusive net and captures many different types of art, including craft and folk art, as well as a rich cross section of artists who reflect the diverse faces and tastes of South Carolina. In other words, this show offers something for everyone.
Bruno Civitico
Established in 1967
as one of the first programs of the South Carolina Arts Commission,
the State Art Collection has grown to include over 400 works,
by 265 artists in a variety of media and styles. The collection
is an invaluable educational tool and, as such, is available for
loan to art museums, state agencies, art galleries and other arts
organizations as well as public and private organizations for
the purpose of public exhibition. Exhibitions of the collection
are organized for rural and isolated areas and for special targeted
areas in and out of state. The goals of this program are to foster
a healthy cultural climate by supporting the state's contemporary
visual artists, and to maintain and grow a collection that stands
as a record of the cultural history of the arts in South Carolina.
This important show stands as a testament of the talent and diversity
of visual and craft artists in the state of South Carolina, as
well as the commitment of the South Carolina Arts Commission to
these artists and the State Art Collection over the last twenty
years.
Established in 1969,
The Sumter Gallery of Art is a non-profit, community-based institution
with an unwavering commitment to provide visual arts exhibitions,
activities and arts education opportunities to Sumter, Clarendon,
and Lee counties, an extensively rural, economically depressed,
region of the state. It serves as one of the only cultural resources
available to this area. In 2002, the Sumter Gallery of Art relocated
from the Elizabeth White house to a 25,000 square foot two-story
wing of the Sumter County Cultural Center, adjacent to the Patriot
Hall. The space has two large, formal exhibition galleries on
the first floor, as well as the "Hallway" gallery, and
the Arts Education Center on the second floor.
The Sumter Gallery of Art houses the permanent collection of Elizabeth
White. The Gallery also offers changing exhibitions by local and
regional artists, as well as more renowned artists (Corrie McCallum,
Juan Logan), and from noted collections A.G. Edwards: American
Spirit in Sept. 2006). Arts education programs include a Summer
Art Camp and Second Saturdays for youth, and ongoing classes in
pottery, jewelry making, and painting for adults. The Sumter Gallery
of Art was recently honored with the South Carolina Art Education
Association's "Business Supporter of Art Education"
award for 2005.
For more information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings,
call the gallery at 803/775-0543 or at (www.sumtergallery.org).
.
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing
Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc.
Copyright© 2006 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© 2006 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.