Feature Articles


July Issue 2000

Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, Hosts 3 Summer Exhibits

Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC, is presenting three exhibits this summer. In the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery, the exhibit, Works from Studio XI, will be on display through Sept. 15. On view through Sept. 3 at the Rutledge Gallery is the exhibit, 12th Annual Undergraduate Juried Exhibition. And, in the Lewandowski Student Gallery in the McLaurin Building is the exhibit, Student Works from Painting and Sculpture, also on view through Sept. 3, 2000.

Studio Xl is affiliated with the Western Carolina Center Foundation, in Cullowhee, NC, a public nonprofit organization created in 1981 to meet the critical needs of persons with disabilities living in Western North Carolina. In 1993, Signature, the country's only group home for artistically gifted adults who are challenged by developmental disabilities, was opened by the Foundation. To complement the home, the Foundation developed a unique alternative to the traditional day placement options for the talented artists living at Signature. Studio Xl, a studio co-operative and gallery, was opened in 1994 in downtown Morganton, NC, to provide this alternative. The only similar studio/gallery in this country focusing on arts and disabilities is Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, CA.

Currently seven visual and musical artists work at Studio Xl. Four are included in this exhibition: Harold Crowell, Laura McNellis, Ricky Needham, and Brooks Yeomans. Studio XI is not a program of art therapy, but a working environment where individual artists produce art works in their distinct styles. The 1996, a touring exhibition entitled Complex Gifts, brought the work from Studio Xl to larger audiences. The artists included in Winthrop's exhibition have exhibited both nationally and internationally. Their work is sought by collectors throughout the art world. Two of the artists are included in the prestigious "Collection de l'Art Brut" in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In the Rutledge Gallery is the 12th Annual Undergraduate Juried Exhibition. June Lambla of Charlotte, NC's Hodges Taylor Gallery selected fifty-four works from two hundred works submitted for this year's exhibit. Disciplines of painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography, ceramics, metals, graphic design and interior design were represented. Winners and sponsors included:

Best in Show Award went to Amy Landreth, for her installation Dripping in Time; the Springs Purchase Award went to Jamie Ouzts; the President's Purchase Award was given to Kathryn Hefner; the Museum of York County Purchase Award went to Frank McCauley; the College of Visual and Performing Arts Purchase Award was given to Richie McCorkle; (3) Art and Design Purchase Awards went to Erica Solak, Will, Kiser and Mike Hammer; the Harriet and Martin Goode Purchase Award was given to Amy Landreth; the Jamie and Lars Larsen Purchase Award went to Sarah Kibbe; the Jeannine Burger Purchase Award went to Sandi Singletary; the Carole Choate Purchase Award was given to Sarah Kibbe; the Alumni Award went to Reed Elliot; The HERALD Award went to Aaron Winans; the Tom and Kathe Stanley Purchase Award was given to Chris Clamp; the Queenie Award (awarded by Alf Ward) went to Kara Gunter; The Ken Hartwell Award (awarded by Alf Ward) was given to Dustin Walker and Amy Landreth; and the Sculpture Award (awarded by Mary Mintich) was given to Amy Landreth.

Educational programs are currently being planned by Winthrop University Galleries in collaboration with with Studio Xl, Hodges Taylor Gallery and the Shorenstein Companies' Gallery at Carillon, both in Charlotte, NC, where other works by Studio Xl artists will be on display later in the summer. Dates, times and locations will be announced.

Another exhibition of Studio Xl artists is also scheduled for the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC. It will open Aug. 11, 2000, together with an exhibition of drawings by Rock Hill's Gene Merritt with photographs of Merritt by Swiss photographer Mario Del Curto. Gene Merritt Drawings With Photographs by Mario Del Curto will also travel to the Studio Xl Gallery later in Nov., 2000. Merritt has exhibited in Japan, Switzerland and the United States. He is represented in collections including The SC State Museum; The Museum of York County; The Musée dArt Brut in L'Arcine, France; and The Collection de l'Art Brut in Lausanne, Switzerland. The Merritt/Curto exhibition was organized and traveled by Winthrop University Galleries with support provided by the South Carolina Arts Commission.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call Tom Stanley at 803/323-2493 or email to (stanleyt@winthrop.edu).

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