Below find information about some of this season's exhibitions.  Please check the Arts Calendar for more information about First Tuesday concerts as well as the Art Gallery Series schedule.

Senior Exhibit: Kelly Horak

eye gumbo by Andre Leon Gray

"Rejected urban artifacts, such as old doors, windows, washboards, gym floor panels and piano lids, become the canvases of my creations, each containing its own story of existence and given a new life as a work of art." 

Andre Leon Gray was born and raised in Raleigh, NC.  As a self-taught artist and photographer, Gray produces thought-provoking mixed media assemblages inspired by the African American experience.  Gray incorporates discarded materials of civilization into a tableaux of history, spirituality, and politics he calls 'eye gumbo.'

Works from Local and Regional Collections

This exhibit features privately owned works in a variety of three dimensional media, including ceramics, metals, wood, sweetgrass and glass.

3 x 6: Paintings in Triptych Format
by Osmosis Painters Group

    Osmosis is composed of six not so traditional painters from the SC Midlands: Eileen Blyth, Eleanor Craig, Charles Dillingham, Jeff Donovan, Tom Ogburn and Laura Spong. 
    Osmosis Painters Group was formed in the belief that creative support can refine and elevate artistic expression. Following that line of thought, this group of nontraditional painters banded together to strengthen their individual endeavors. Their first collaborative effort was a well-received show of woodcuts entitled Against The Grain which exhibited at Francis Marion University in April 1999. It has toured various venues in North and South Carolina. 
    If the first show was about working together as a group, this one is about working in a group as individuals. The 3x6 exhibit is formatted as a core of large-scale triptychs of the members' primary works (paintings), with a collection. This exhibit opened in October of 2000 at 80808 Gallery in Columbia and has since been touring the Carolinas.

What Goes Where (Multimedia and Collage Works)
by Lawrence P. Anderson

"My personal research includes a quest of forms, content, and elements that provoke several associations.  Each time I look at something I see it differently, and each time I view my work there is a new experience.  I strive less to be understood than to understand."

Lawrence Anderson received his BFA from the University of South Dakota and his MFA from the University of Kentucky.  He currently is the Chairman of the Department of Fine Arts at Francis Marion University.

Discovery of the Center, Ceramics by Paula Smith

"The Female Body as a subject -- this theme is as old as mother nature itself. After studying art history and observing art in many museums and galleries you become aware of the many ways in which the female body has been interpreted.  Concerning the nature of female identity, what does it mean to be a woman, historically, experientially, as well as personally?" 

Paula Smith received the BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and went on to earn the MFA from the University of Illinois.  She is currently Instructor of Art at Gaston College in Dallas, North Carolina.

Exhibit by FMU Painting Students

Senior Exhibits: Stephen Motte and Leontyne Robinson

Exhibits by FMU Ceramics and Sculpture Students

Exhibit by FMU Photography Students

Past, Present, Future Landscapes? by Steven Hewitt

"Slip cast earthenware/ multi-fired cone 06-04 oxidation with found objects This new body of work has been created especially for display in an area with wall space suitable for viewing works displayed in sets.  Although the forms are slip cast each object is unique will slight rotation of plaster forms to create new variations on a theme.  The use of textured glazes allow the surfaced to be built up, raked through, chipped and altered through multi-firings and multiple applications of textured glazes. The viewer is allowed to decide if the image is of an aerial view of ancient/modern architectural elements, a symbol, or just a non-sense form.  The viewer must decide."

Vanessa Hewitt Grubbs

 "My current work is an expression of the things I love most.  I have been an avid reader and writer all of my life.  I college I discovered clay and fell in love with all of the versatility it has to offer.  For years I have struggled to find a way to incorporate my love for words and Japanese printmaking in my ceramic work. 

"The writings (on my vessel forms) are from American and Japanese literature, along with my own poetry.  Each of these pieces is one of a kind, and each has its own hidden meanings and messages. My goal for my work is to incorporate the beauty of written words, with strong images of beautiful people." 

Offerings, works by Ashlee Basinger

Ashlee Basinger has exhibited her artwork on the regional, state, national and international level such as the Piccolo Spoleto 2000 Juried Art Exhibition, and Americas 2000: Twenty-seventh Annual Paperworks Exhibition.  In 2001 she won an Honorable Mention Award in the Florence Museum State-Wide Art Competition for her color photograph entitled Offerings.  In 2000, she won First Place in the Florence Museum State-Wide Art Competition, an Honorable Mention Award in the 2000 Forty-seventh Annual Pee Dee Regional Art Competition, and Second Place in the 1999 Florence Museum State-Wide Art Competition. 

Configurations: photography by Edward Petrosky and Sue Abramson

Edward Petrosky:  "I use photography to evaluate familiar  aspects of our visual world by changing or  disrupting the manner by which objects and  scenes are commonly viewed. My intention  is to break from assigned associations and  present a world that is mysterious and strange yet viewed with wonderment."

Sue Abramson says of her Artifacts (From the Garden):  "This work is a photographic record of one garden seen and explored as an archaeological site.  The photographs represent elements that have coexisted in the same place for days, months or years...a mysterious landscape where a life form can be both tough and fragile and all common objects become ornamental.  In the creation of this series I have used several pinhole cameras, each of which is unique in its visual syntax and working style.  In addition, I have allowed some of the original negatives to randomly decompose just like their subject counterparts.  The pinhole camera requires the artist to relinquish some control; this is a natural extension for my personal vision."

Patchwork Containment, Ceramics by Vince Pitelka

"My work addresses the visual and narrative power of pattern, and the dialogue between surface, form, and containment.  I am interested in the way pattern and surface inform our perceptions of exterior form and interior space....  My work fits into a 14,000-year tradition of narrative vessels...all surface pattern and imagery is created with inlaid colored clays, usually with a clear glaze overall...no colored glazes are used." 

Vince Pitelka received his BA in Art from Humboldt State University and his MFA in Ceramics from the University of Massachusetts. Having taught at the University of Massachusetts, Northeastern University, and North Dakota State University, Vince is now Associate Professor of Clay and Head of the Clay Program at Tennessee Technological University's Appalachian Center for Crafts. He has exhibited nationwide, and is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. 

A reception and gallery talk is scheduled for Tuesday evening, March 19, in the gallery. The following day (Wednesday, March 20) Mr. Pitelka will be interacting with FMU students in the ceramics lab (HFAC 121).  The first of two demonstration will begin at 9:30 AM and continue until 12:30.  At 2:30, Mr. Pitelka will continue his demonstration and a provide a brief slide lecture.  All events are free and open to the public.  Please joins us!

Exhibit by FMU Drawing Students

Exhibits by FMU Painting and Photography Students

Senior Exhibits: Colleen Appleton, Lisa Chalian, Crystal Garris, Jamie Livingston, Anthony Logan, Katrina Powell, Tony Rigdon, David Smith, Stephen Spratt, and Renee Strickland

Exhibits by FMU Ceramics and 3-D Design Students; Senior Exhibit: Jennifer Cone