Vol. 15, No. 1 January 2011 - Carolina Arts

DEC 7, 2010 - FEB 5, 2011 TUES-SAT 10-5the community art project that grew intoan international phenomenonPostSecret exhibition tour was organized byInternational Arts & Artists, Washington, DC, in cooperation with Frank Warren200 East St. John St • Spartanburg, SC • (864) 582-7616www.spartanburgARTmuseum.orgSAM is funded in part by The Arts Partnership and its donors, the County and City ofSpartanburg, the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts,Lem Walker through Walker, Walker, Higgins, and Wells Fargo The Private Bank.Be sure to check out ourmany Winter Classes.We have a great selection ofadult, kid and big kidart classes!!Blue Ridge Art Center Calendar of EventsJanuary 21 - March 4, 2011 20th Annual Open Juried ShowsOpening reception - January 21 st 5:50 to 8:30 p.m.March 18 -April 15 SDOC STUDENT EXHIBITOpening reception – March 18 th 5:50 to 8:30 p.m.April 22 – May 13: POSTCARD ART EXHIBITOpening reception – April 22 nd 5:50 to 8:30 p.m.May 20-June 24: “METAL MANIA” EXHIBITOpening reception –May 20 th 5:50 to 8:30 p.m.POP Open Studio Tour: Saturday, April 30 th 10 to 6 p.m.Sunday, May 1 st 12 to 5 p.m.Opening reception at World Of Energy (WOE)April 14 th 5 to 7:30 p.m.July 15-September 32: MEMBERS’ SHOW 2011Opening reception –July 15 th 5:50 to 8:30 p.m.September 16 – November 3: “NEW LOOKS” EXHIBITOpening reception – September 16 th 5:50 to 8:30 p.m.November 18 – December 17: HOLIDAY ARTS AND CRAFTS SHOWOpening reception – Jan 21 st 5:50 to 8:30 p.mVisit us at our website for more details of these event and classes and off-site events.www.blueridgeartscenter.comAll exhibits are funded in part by:The Daily Journal / MessengerSeneca Hospitality and Accommodations Tax • Oconee County Parks, Recreation & TourismOconee County ATAX • Oconee County TourismAnd the South Carolina Arts Commissionwhich receives support from the National Endowment for the ArtsClasses for adults and kids year roundVisit our web site for art information and links to many upstate art organizations:www.BlueRidgeArtsCenter.com111 East South Second Street • Seneca, SC 29678 • (864) 882-2722www.blueridgeartscenter.com • office@blueridgeartscenter.comHighsmith University UnionGallery in Asheville, NC, FeaturesExhibition of West African ArtUNC Asheville’s Highsmith UniversityUnion Gallery in Asheville, NC, will presentthe exhibit, African Art: A CollectorsPerspective, which includes traditionalmasks, mortar and pestles, slave shacklesand Kente cloth from the collection of JanGoffney, art educator, collector, and curator,on view from Jan. 10 through Feb. 7,2011.The exhibition showcases a selectionof art and artifacts from Goffney’s personalcollection. Goffney hopes to use theexhibit to break down common misconceptionsabout Africa’s past and present.She served as curator in the Detroit PublicSchools Children’s Museum specializingin ethnic studies, and later opened herown Multicultural Museum. She has spentmany years traveling to Africa to collectartworks and their accompanying stories.The event is sponsored by the followingprograms at UNC Asheville: theOffice of Student Activities and IntegratedLearning, the Honors Program, MulticulturalStudent Programs, the Center forDiversity Education, the Department ofAfricana Studies, and the Craft StudiesInitiative.Goffney will also give a lecture accompanyingthe exhibit at 6pm on Thursday,Jan. 20, 2011, in the gallery. A receptionfeaturing traditional West African foodswill begin at 5:30pm. The events are freeand open to the public.The gallery is located on the lowerlevel of UNC Asheville’s Highsmith UniversityUnion.For further information check ourNC Institutional Gallery listings or call828/251-6991.Pickens County Museum ofArt & History in Pickens, SC,Offers Three New ExhibitionsThe Pickens County Museum of Art & elers Rest. His work has been seen inHistory in Pickens, SC, is presenting three several Pickens County Museum’s Annualnew exhibits including: Shutter / Shuttle, Juried Shows as well as their Critters:featuring black & white photography Animals, Nature & Man exhibition. Hisby Brain S. Kelley exhibited alongside published work can be found in Greenvillewoven tapestries made by Connie Lippert; Magazine, Metro Beat, Bold Life Magazine,Melissa Earley: 10+ (A Decade of BeadworkSpartanburg Herald Journal, Metroand Other Art), featuring beadwork Mix, Link and Mountain Express as welland paintings spanning more than a decadeas on CD & DVD covers for Vizz Toneand highlighting the most significant Records, Woodward Studios and Planta-works from the career of Melissa Earley; tion One Records. He was featured in theand Barbara St Denis: Mixed Media. All 2010 AT&T SC African American Historythree exhibits will be on view through Calendar.Feb. 10, 2011.Connie Lippert, born in Tuskegee, AL,Shutter/Shuttle is a unique pairing of and now living in Seneca, SC, weaveswhat some may think is an unlikely duo tapestries using the wedge weave techniquewill pleasantly surprise the viewer with itsand yarns hand-dyed with naturalcontinuity and kinship. The gray-scaled materials. She received her BS in Botanyphotographic exploration of positive and from Auburn University in 1979 and anegative relationships in light and shadow MS in Soil Science from the University ofis well mirrored by the stark contrast of California in 1981.the hard-edged color boundaries created in Wedge weave is a tapestry weave practicedthe wedge weave tapestries. Both bodiesby the Navajo in the late 1800’s. Inof work embrace, through shape and line, contrast to most weaving which is wovenhumankind's awe of, and influence upon, horizontally on the loom, wedge weave isthe natural world. The visually pure derivationswoven on the diagonal, giving it a charac-of the environment around us tend teristic scalloped edge.to move toward the abstract, allowing the When asked about her weavings Lippertviewer to create their own allusion.shared, “My work celebrates natureNow living in Travelers Rest, SC, and the spirit that reveres the naturalBrain S. Kelley is a multi-faceted photographicworld. My message is one of environmen-artist who is as comfortable with tal respect and protection.” She went on tofine art photography as he is in photojournalismsay, “The colors are derived from naturaland studio portraiture. The dyes - mainly indigo, madder, goldenrod,exhibit features some of Kelley's most cochineal, and black walnut. Through myrecent black & white work, but he is also work with natural dyes, I have becomewell known for his work with Polaroid aware of the rich local history of indigo,transfers, cyanotypes, gum dichromate once considered blue gold in the state ofand hand tinting as well as his carpentry South Carolina. All my yarns are handdyedand frame-making.using indigo leaves from my garden,Kelley’s studies have included work at goldenrod gathered in the fall, blackErskine College, Savannah College of Art walnut hulls from a friend's tree, and otherand Design, and Greenville Technical College.commercially available natural dyes.”He received his BA in IDS: Studio Lippert also works as an artist-in-and Art History from the University of residence in South Carolina public schoolsSouth Carolina.and has taught weaving to thousands of“Visual interpretations of my surroundingschildren through residencies, summer arthave been essential elements camp and classroom activities. She hasof expression throughout my life,” said presented seminars and workshops forKelley. “My passion for art surfaced at a adults at national and regional conferences.very young age, yielding another channelfor communication. Through the lens of Lippert’s tapestries have been in majorintroversion I became an observer of life.” national exhibitions including Craft NationalHe continued, “I often watch interactionsand Crafts National in Pennsylva-among people, appreciate the forms nia, Celebration of American Crafts, USAcreated by nature or study the light as it Craft Today, and Craft USA in Connecticut,moves through the day. These observationsContemporary Crafts in Arizona, thewere first recorded through my LaGrange National in Georgia and manydrawings, which quickly led to painting, more. She has been the recipient of threeand then sculpture. However, photography artist grants from the South Carolina Artswould eventually receive the majority of Commission. Her work is represented inmy time and efforts.”museum, corporate, academic and privateKelley has shown in numerous regional collections nationwide and has been publishedexhibitions including Beyond the Lens atin Fiberarts Design Book 7, Line inVillage Studios Gallery and Artisphere’s Tapestry, Fiberarts magazine, HandwovenArtists of the Upstate. He has also shown magazine and in Shuttle, Spindle, andin several Upstate Visual Arts Exhibits, Dyepot (the magazine of the HandweaversGreenville’s Oliver Yu Gallery and at Guild of America).TRAM Gallery (now Trillium) in Trav-continued on Page 23Carolina Arts, January 2011 - Page 13