Feature Articles


September Issue 2001

USC Beaufort Features Work by Joyce Martin Perz in Beaufort, SC

The Arts Council of Beaufort County will present an exhibition entitled, Exploring Boundaries: Painting/Sculpture, by Chicago artist, Joyce Martin Perz, at the USC Beaufort Art Gallery, from Sept. 4 - 26, 2001.

Chicago artist Joyce Martin Perz, before ever visiting the South Carolina Lowcountry, has figured prominently into its local, cultural history. While her serious art comprises mixed media and three-dimensional assemblage, and what she terms Color Constructs, it was a brightly designed fiberglass cow that began the artist's on-going relationship with our community.

Perz's Merci Henri, a bovine homage to the colorful cut-outs of French modernist Henri Matisse, preceded this exhibition by over a year. Merci Henri was one of the 28 Chicago Art Cows sent to Beaufort for last summer's Cows on Vacation, the initial public art partnership between Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Beaufort's local arts council. During that early experiment to introduce art in public places, tragedy struck when Merci Henri was vandalized and discovered in flames. Despite this misfortune, the project, and the smoldering Art Cow, would rise above the ashes.

Within weeks, a local auto-body repair specialist, Jeff Teter, had volunteered to rebuild the cow into a fire-fighting bovine, complete with helmet, ladder, and boots. The Beaufort community-with the help of Mayor Bill Rauch, the Beaufort Fire Department, and the Arts Council staff-welcomed a new public art resident, now called Backdraft. It was the beginning of a true creative, community comeback.

And a thousand miles away, in Chicago, Perz was working to help Beaufort overcome the loss of her bovine opus. Perz quickly designed a miniature copy of Merci Henri and sent it to our community along with a museum book on the art of Matisse and a gracious letter to the people of Beaufort. These kind gestures, following the sad loss of her Art Cow, completed our comeback.

But the dialogue continued well after Chicago's Cows on Vacation returned to the Windy City. The Arts Council began working with Perz to present an exhibition of her serious art, beautiful and formal objects, at the USCB Art Gallery. The result is this exhibition, Exploring Boundaries: Painting/Sculpture, and a continuation of our fruitful partnership between cities and creative communities.

Click here for an interview which Arts Council gallery coordinator, Gina Gartner, had with Perz.

For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the Arts Council at 843/521-4144 or at on the web at (http://www.beaufortarts.com).

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