DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS
Art Gallery Series 2014-2015
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DEPARTMENT OF FINE ARTS Art Gallery Series 2014-2015 |
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Art
Gallery Series
Primitive Arts in the Modern World - Greg Pryor.May 12 - August 16, 2014 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Thur Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery “There is great wisdom in the native American proverb, ‘A man must make his own arrows.’ Beyond the metaphorical, making arrows in the modern world connects us to the primitive world of our ancestors. Working in a variety of media, I strive to use natural resources to create arrowheads, knives, and spearheads from flint, obsidian, glass, and porcelain. I manufacture and shoot arrows and atlatl darts made from these arrowheads and locally-sourced river cane, pine pitch glue, wild turkey feathers, and deer sinew. I grow, cure, and process gourds into a variety of containers, and make cordage, tools, bags, clothing, and jewelry from wild plant fibers, bone, clay, stone, sinew, rawhide, and brain-tanned hides.” Greg Pryor is an Associate Professor of Biology at Francis Marion University with a doctorate in Zoology. He is a traditional artist (working in a variety of media), carpenter, construction worker, cook, and amateur musician, and he practices primitive arts such as bow-and-drill firemaking and survival crafts. He likes to live off the land as much as possible and is a self-proclaimed "nature freak." Notes From the Curator: Dr. Pryor double majored as an undergraduate in zoology and art. His acrylic paintings, most often of birds, reveal animals interacting with human artifacts, sometimes using them, sometimes existing in a landscape littered by them. Pryor’s primitive crafts give us insight into the interaction of early humans with the natural world. His crafts also give us an opportunity to consider how art crept into craft, as useful objects came to be decorated, placing the indelible stamp of the artisan on everyday objects. |
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Art
Gallery Series
Bits and Pieces - New Works by Adrian Rhodes.August 19 - September 16, 2014 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Gallery Talk by Adrian Rhodes 11:30 am Tuesday, September 9 Adrian Rhodes is a native of Hartsville, S.C. She earned her B.F.A. from Winthrop University, and during her undergraduate studies she spent a semester studying fine art in Imatra, Finland. She completed her M.F.A. in painting and printmaking from Winthrop University and is currently teaching at Wingate University. "I
am interested in studio practice as a way to question--I am interested
in the
act of making. I don't try to illustrate an idea, rather I let process
guide
the piece and find its meaning in the method used to create it.
Printmaking is
an important part of my process. I create editions, and pull additional
prints
from the matrix that I deconstruct and use as college material in my
mixed
media pieces. This leads to recurring imagery across my work that
becomes part
of my personal iconography, and the meaning I find in these different
images
helps me to determine the meaning of the larger works. “I
like paper, texture, and color. I take cast off things and collage them
into my
work: onion bags, bits of string, and the mylar press bed covers marked
by ink
and registration marks. I pick up feathers, dead moths, bees, and
scraps of
books. Nothing is sacred, and nothing is trash. A "finished" piece
might be deconstructed into components for many other paintings, or I
might
sweep up the studio floor and make a collage of whatever I find.
Including
these random bits of life in the work blurs the line between studio and
sidewalk. |
 Subcutanious by Adrian Rhodes |
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Art
Gallery Series
World Consumerism - Bethany Luhman.September 19 - November 6, 2014 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Bethany Luhman was born in Autumn, 1987 in Red Bank, New Jersey but spent most of her life in South Carolina. She graduated from Francis Marion University in Florence, SC with a Photography degree in December 2010. Bethany went on to Graduate school at Savannah College of Art and Design, which she is expected to graduate with her second Masters in Photography degree this fall. Bethany’s tends to create abstract images that alter the reality and question what the viewer is looking at. Her art subjects tend to be about issues that are happening in the world and the power of story that shapes our relationship with the world. "Ferenc Máté, author of A Reasonable Life, suggests that we seldom consider how much of our lives we surrender in return for some object we barely want, occasionally need, buy only because it was put before us. This is understandable given the workings of our society where without a job we succumb, where if we don't want a job and are happy getting by we are then labeled irresponsible and non-contributing by society. He also wrote that if we hire a fleet of bulldozers and tear up half the countryside to build some monstrous factory, casino or mall, we are called entrepreneurs, job-creators, and stalwarts of the community. Perhaps we should all be shut away on some planet for the insane. Then again, maybe that is where we are. "The effect of consumerism starts at an early age. Children while watching their favorite cartoons are also exposed to commercials showing images of toys and sugary cereals to entice children to want. However, those toys and sugary sweets are soon left in the cabinet or in the corner of a room, and then it’s on to the next item. Those children grow up knowing no better, unaware of the trap. Adults are faced with consumerist items every day, all day, with billboards, magazine advertisements, commercials, and even displays in windows as they walk down the street to work. "Each image is made up of many found photographs sourced from the internet. The found images represent a single, amateur view of the locale. They are presented in color, but lack clarity and focus, a suggestion of the fleeting pleasure and subsequent disillusionment of consumption." |
 Apple, United Kingdom by Bethany Luhman |
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Art Gallery
Series
January 13 - February 12, 2015 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery The African-American Voice - South Carolina Arts Commission State Art Collection Works by African-American artists who are among the state's best-known and widely celebrated practitioners, The African-American Voice includes 40 pieces of artwork from the State Art Collection by 25 African-American artists, including outsider artists Sam Doyle, Leroy Marshall, Richard Burnside and Dan Robert Miller, and academically trained artists with established careers such as Leo Twiggs, Arthur Rose, Tarleton Blackwell, MacArthur Goodwin, Jesse Guinyard, Joseph Gandy, Terry K. Hunter, Larry Jordan, Larry Lebby, Robert Spencer, and Winston Wingo. The sweetgrass basket tradition is represented by Mary Jackson, the best known practitioner working in this craft, and by Linda Blake, Marguerite Middleton, and Elizabeth Kinlaw. Artists such as Merton Simpson, Beverly Buchanan, Sheri Moore Change, Maxwell Taylor and Connie Floyd are all South Carolina–connected artists who no longer reside in the state. The exhibition was created in response to the continued requests for works by African-American artists from the State Art Collection. Support of the collection is provided by the South Carolina Arts Foundation and First Citizens.  Vase of the New Moon by Larry Jordan |
  The State Art Collection is a program of the South Carolina Arts Commission. |
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Art Gallery
Series
February 17 - March 26, 2015 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Lines of Possibility - Howard Frye Impaired Perceptions - Brian Charles Steel (show begins February 23) Mediate - 3-D Works by Leah Mulligan Cabinum Dr. Howard Frye graduated from Marshall University with degrees in broadcasting and art education and has taught in West Virginia and Florida. In 2002, he received a doctorate of education (Ed D) in art education from Florida State University and he has been employed at Francis Marion University since 2003, where he is currently an associate professor of art education and the coordinator of the art education program. "I grew up in the coal fields of southwestern West Virginia, a place where the opportunity to see art was--and still is--extremely limited. An important experience happened when I was in second or third grade. During a visit, my uncle drew pictures for me with a fountain pen on a stack of paper. I watched with fascination as he drew these fluid and beautiful lines, which magically became cars, ships, and animals. It made a strong impression on me. I've been interested in art ever since. "I'm interested in creating artwork with an emphasis on sculptural shape or form and an attention to subtle transitions of value and a relationship between lines and surface. My aim is to simplify. I prefer, in general, to make quiet artworks rather than bold, energetic ones. I'm influenced most by the mediative quality I see in the artworks of Morandi, Chardin, and Buddhist art, the humor and quirkiness of folk artists, such as Bill Traylor, the power and timeliness of Egyptian sculpture, and the sublime beauty of Impressionist painting. "Although I often draw from observation, most of my recent work has been either abstract or non-objective and usually the result of a strategies that allow for free association. Often I start a drawing without a notion of what I'm going to make. One strategy I've used is to draw hundreds of straight, parallel horizontal lines until an image or idea comes to mind. In addition, I will sometimes draw over photographs or my old drawings. While my approach to drawing may seem to offer considerable constraints, I've found that it often spurs my imagination to come up with odd juxtapositions in my artwork, which is something I'm keenly interested in." |
 Distant Shore by Howard Frye, ink, 24"x19" |
| Brian
Charles Steel
is a fine art photographer and disability activist. He is best known
for his black and white portrait series Impaired Perceptions. The
series empowers people with physical impairments by encouraging
individualization. His photography and writing have been featured on
CNN and Disability Horizons. He travels the country exhibiting his
work, and speaking about ableism. He has lectured on his work to
various organizations including: NASA Ames Research Center and
Abilities First. Steel graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a master of fine arts in photography. He uses his passion for photography, love of people, and unique sense of humor to create portraits that are naturally beautiful and human. While attending SCAD, he worked as the photo editor for The Connector SCAD-Atlanta’s student newspaper. As photo editor, he won numerous awards including: 1st Place Best Photograph: Editorial Feature Award from the Georgia College Press Association Better Newspaper, 3rd place Front Page Layout Award from the Society for Collegiate Journalists, and 2nd place General Photography Award from the Georgia College Press Association in 2007 and 2008. Steel worked as the official photographer for the Who’s Who in Asian American Communities Leaders and Legends Awards from 2009 to 2012. He presented as a guest lecturer on food photography at The Showcase School of Photography. Steel has been written about on Wikipedia. His portraits have been exhibited in galleries across the country. He curated a portrait series titled Inside the Outsider for Mason Murer Fine Art as a part of Atlanta Celebrates Photography. He also had a solo showing of his portrait series Impaired Perceptions in the same opening. His Impaired Perceptions work has also been featured on CNN.com and Disability Horizons. "I was born with short fiber syndrome, which means that I have small and weak skeletal muscles however, my biggest handicap is how others react to it. I knew my body from birth, but I was taught that I was handicapped. The physicality of my body’s form is scientific fact however, the implications of how that form is contextualized and perceived is socially constructed. You cannot declare someone to be less capable with out an ascribed normality of ability. This is a series of black and white photographic portraits of myself and other physically impaired people dealing with the concept of perception and socially constructed identity. Some of my subjects have physical impairments that are not visible, which further challenges the notion that seeing is believing. You cannot know a person simply by looking at them; you have to individualize. Tenebrism and direct eye contact are used to aid the viewer in seeing each subject as an individual by making their eyes the point of focus. I also used chiaroscuro to highlight the natural beauty and form of each individual. "My work strives to confront socially constructed perceptual fallacies that misrepresent people who are considered physically “different”. It challenges the viewer to examine their own perceptions and make any necessary corrections; it demands the right to be seen as an individual." |
 Brian Charles Steel |
| Leah Mulligan Cabinum combines
ordinary materials and other sensory components in innovative
applications creating subtly immersive environments. Her site-specific
installations, object-oriented sculptures and nontraditional drawings
are made with sensitivity to the origins and physicality of the
materials and, whenever possible, to the exhibition space. Outside of
art making, Leah shares her passion through teaching visual art
students. Originally from Athens, Georgia, she received a MFA in
sculpture from Winthrop University, and a BFA in Metalwork from the
University of Georgia. "My work explores the connection between conceptual possibilities, symbolism, and the physicality of diverse materials. My creations act as a visual journal of life’s terrain. Life-altering events, as well as the mundane, inform my artistic response. My imagination is fueled by the discovery and understanding of the literal and figural landscapes of life. "Time and again, I am drawn to untraditional materials, reflecting a lifelong tendency to repurpose and revalue objects. The manipulation of such materials begins as exploration, and the process of trial and error reveals the physical qualities of various media by defining its limits and usability. As the work takes shape, symbolism emerges, and often relates to the universal ebb and flow of life. The representation of an abstract idea conveys the deeper meaning of the art object and is further emphasized by the chosen materials. My intention is to evoke an idea or feeling rather than to depict a definite image, allowing mystery to unfold, and provoking others to interpret their own sensitivity to the work." |
 Leah Mulligan Cabinum |
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Art Gallery Series
Senior
Show by FMU Visual Arts Majors: Brittany Davis, Shana Kubilius,
Ciera Hunt, Mark Keller, Allison Triplett and Alexandra Craig March 31 - April 17 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Opening Reception 6:00-8:00 pm, March 31 Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public. There will be opening receptions at 6:00 pm on March 31 and Tuesday, April 21. |
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Art Gallery Series
Senior
Show by Chris Fogner, Ashley Walker, Sharika Hooks and Thomas BilderApril 21 - May 9, 2015 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Mon-Fri Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery Opening Reception 6:00-8:00 pm, April 21 Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public. There will be opening receptions at 6:00 pm on March 31 and Tuesday, April 21. |
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| About the Art Gallery Series Walter Sallenger, Art Gallery Curator The Department of Fine Arts sponsors the Art Gallery Series, hosting varied shows of two and three dimensional works showcasing local and regional artists. Exhibits change regularly throughout the academic year. The mission of the art galleries program is to present exhibitions that support and enhance the academic goals of the visual arts program at Francis Marion University, providing a non-profit institutional setting in the service of society for educational purposes. Under the supervision of the Fine Arts Department faculty, the galleries curator is committed to researching, exhibiting and interpreting for the purpose of study, objects, activities, and documents focused on the visual arts. |
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 Overview of west end of Hyman Fine Arts Center Gallery |
Art galleries are located in the Hyman Fine
Arts Center. The Fine Arts Center Gallery features large cases along
glass walls, allowing three-dimensional works to be displayed and
viewed from the outdoor breezeway as well as inside the commons serving
the Fine Arts Theatre and Adele Kassab Recital Hall. A lighting grid
and configurable display partitions provide a flexible gallery space
for two- and three-dimensional works throughout the remainder of the
gallery. Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. At the end of each semester, the galleries also feature works produced by students enrolled in studio art classes. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and general public. |
| The Galleries
Curator then selects among distinguished regional artists to fill
out the Art Gallery Series schedule in order to have two- and
three-dimensional shows changing regularly throughout the academic
year. The gallery serves as the lobby for Kassab Recital Hall and the
Fine Arts Theatre, bringing the visual and performing arts together. Please check the Arts Calendar for more information about film, music and theatre offerings as well as the Art Gallery Series schedule. Gallery hours are typically 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Monday-Friday except during summer session (June-August), when hours are 8:30 am - 5:00 pm Monday-Thursday. |
 Portion of a Student Show |
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