CLEMSON – Today’s Instagram models and celebrity Tweeters can shift public discourse, paradigms, and even the destiny of Fortune 500 companies with a single post on social media. Those that accrue that power have been titled “influencers,” but the man who ignited the pop culture machine died decades before Instagram, Twitter, or the internet as we know it existed. Andy Warhol is the grandfather of it all.

A selection of Warhol’s groundbreaking work is on display at Clemson University until March 6 in the exhibition “Andy Warhol: Portraits and the Everyday” at the Lee Gallery.

Free to the public, the exhibition features 98 pieces of Warhol’s work. The selection of images can thrill one viewer while challenging another’s perception of what “art” is.

The show includes several of Warhol’s iconic screen-printed portraits alongside black-and-white photo prints and Polaroids with subject matter ranging from headshots of some world-famous celebrities to head-scratchingly banal snapshots from his day-to-day life. Glamorous photographs of Diana Ross, Dolly Parton, Chris Evert, and Lauren Hutton hang next to unstaged pictures of Warhol’s desktop lamp, an out-of-focus group of seven eggs, and – in what might be considered a precursor to Instagram – a plate of pasta.

Denise Woodward-Detrich, who has been the director of the Lee Gallery for 22 years, explained that many of the photographs in the show were not taken to be displayed as “art,” but rather were part of Warhol’s process as he gathered information and inspiration. In that way, they offer a look into the mind of someone the majority of art historians consider one of the most important artists of the 20th century.

These Polaroids are particularly interesting. Warhol was enamored with inexpensive and easy-to-use photographic technologies and carried a Polaroid “Big Shot” camera or a small 35mm point-and-shoot with him at all times. In the last decade of his life, he went through a roll of film every single day.

“In my opinion the Polaroids are like looking through an artist’s sketchbook,” Detrich said. “He used multiple Polaroids, for instance, to identify multiple angles of one individual. It’s like looking through someone’s private collection of ideas. He was a voracious collector of things – and this was one way he collected information about his subjects so that he could eventually make screen prints of them.”

Warhol’s work was always controversial, especially in the last two decades of his life when he shifted to a more entrepreneurial approach that some considered “selling out.” He unabashedly used his celebrity to draw people to his work and he was never ashamed to make money, saying famously in his 1975 book The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: “Making money is art, and working is art and good business is the best art.” In that regard, too, he paved the way for the social media superstars of today.

“Andy Warhol’s art speaks to some really difficult things – identity, homosexuality, acceptance… but he wanted to be liked. Who doesn’t feel the need to be liked?” Detrich said. “It’s not just entertainment – it’s core heart stuff.”

Photographs in the exhibition are on loan from the University of South Carolina-Upstate and East Tennessee State University. Both universities were granted original Warhol photographs for viewing and study as part of the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program, organized by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Legacy Program distributed Warhol’s photographic works to colleges and universities across the country to provide greater access to these relatively unknown bodies of work.

Detrich was thrilled when all the pieces fell into place to bring the exhibit to Clemson, but she was most excited for her students.

“It’s a teaching gallery, so I didn’t do this all by myself. I had my seniors help unpack the work and install it and I worked with one of our Graduate students Amanda Musick to select the work for the exhibit. Can you imagine as an undergraduate student being responsible for putting an Andy Warhol on the wall or being a graduate student and having a curated exhibit on your resume? These are important opportunities the gallery provides our students both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.”

Meredith Mims McTigue, the marketing and public relations director for Clemson’s Center for Visual Art, credited Detrich with bringing such a world-class exhibit to campus, where students will benefit from it the most.

“What Denise has done is such a gift for the university,” McTigue said. “Having Andy Warhol in the Lee Gallery puts Clemson on the cultural map – and that’s kind of an understatement. His international body of work is important to the world, and that brings people into the gallery which is great – but she’s here day in and day out putting up exhibitions all over campus of other names not as big as Warhol that have extraordinary work – including our students.”

Detrich pointed out how much thought she and her students put into hanging each piece of art in the show. A large print of Beethoven, for example, hangs next to a wall of Polaroids, all taken of the same businessman whose dark, arching eyebrows are similar to the musician’s.

One of Warhol’s trademarks was repetition, which is showcased perfectly in the exhibit. Stand in a certain spot, and you can see two different prints of Queen Beatrix. In another spot, you can see two prints of Sitting Bull, and see how Warhol manipulated colors and lines and how those differences change the feel of each piece.

That repetition is in the Polariods, too – even the ones that show the mundane. Thinking about it for a moment, one might come to see that if a careless snapshot of a pasta dinner can be framed and hung in a gallery, maybe every moment is that precious. Maybe every second of life is worth cherishing like a work of art.

“Warhol: Portraits and the Everyday” will open Jan. 22 and continue through March 6, 2019, at Lee Gallery, the primary exhibition space for Clemson Visual Arts (CVA).

The first gallery exhibition of the spring semester at Clemson University will feature original art from one of the most iconic artists of the 20^th century, Andy Warhol.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Jonathan Flatley – the author of “Like Andy Warhol” – will deliver a special presentation about the artist during a guest appearance on Friday, Jan. 25.

“Warhol: Portraits and the Everyday” showcases the artist’s practice through three distinct but related platforms: Polaroid portraits, black and white photographs, and his large, colorful, screen-printed portraits. By bringing these three creative pursuits together in one gallery, viewers will get a snapshot of Warhol’s fluid approach to art and life.

Warhol’s Polaroid portraits of celebrities, couples and individuals were created as resource material for his larger commissioned screen prints. The collection of Polaroids in the exhibition present individuals in repeated but slightly different positions, as directed by Warhol during their photo sessions. When viewed together, the Polaroids reveal subtle changes of expressions by the sitter. They also provide a thought-provoking counterpoint to our current fascination with selfies and the mediated presentations of identity through social media platforms.

“I was most interested in showing Polaroid portraits for what can be discovered by looking closely at the subtle changes taking place within the sitters’ expressions,” said Lee Gallery Director Denise Woodward-Detrich. “In these works, we see Warhol capturing various states of individual transformation through the simple use of repetition. These sittings allowed Warhol to select specific poses, but seen together they provide a portrait of the individual that is more complex than can be captured in one snapshot.”

Warhol’s black and white photographs function as a documentation of the people, places, objects and activities unfolding around him every day. For the viewer, they provide insight into the life of a famous artist, but for Warhol they were a way to collect and record things he liked and might potentially use later as a resource.

Photographs in the exhibition are on loan from the University of South Carolina-Upstate and East Tennessee State University. Both universities were granted original Warhol photographs for viewing and study as part of the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program, organized by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Legacy Program distributed Warhol’s photographic works to colleges and universities across the country to provide greater access to these relatively unknown bodies of work.

Jonathan Flatley’s presentation on his recent book “Like Andy Warhol” will be celebrated with a reception from 5-6 p.m. and with a presentation by Flatley held from 6-7 p.m. in the Lee Hall auditorium (Lee 2-111). Flatley is an associate professor of English at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the author of “Affective Mapping: Melancholia and the Politics of Modernism” and co-editor of “Pop Out: Queer A follow-up talk will move into the Lee Gallery, where the “Andy Warhol Portraits & The Everyday exhibit is installed.

Flatley’s presentation is made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Humanities Hub at Clemson University.

The “Warhol: Portraits and the Everyday” exhibition is open to visitors 9 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday through March 6. All events are free and open to the public.

For more information about the exhibit, contact Lee Gallery Director Denise Woodward-Detrich at woodwaw@clemson.edu.

CLEMSON — “Artists Teaching: Teaching Artists,” a new exhibition highlighting artwork by the faculty of the department of art at Clemson University, will open with a reception from 6-8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 28.

Each iteration symbolically connects the distinctive faculty research and experiences, investigating complementary elements of place, media, technology and visual language. The faculty hold common ground in both the verdant upstate South Carolina location and the collaborative teaching values for all undergraduate and graduate students within the degree programs. This exhibition is an opportunity to share the most current creative research with students, fellow university colleagues and the greater community. The work represents multiplicity in communication, visual modes of practice and systems of materiality. As artists, art faculty voice a broad range of perspectives and are willing to take risks to establish meaningful dialogue on contemporary art-making in the 21st century.

The Department of Art’s award-winning faculty welcomes this occasion to exhibit at the flagship Lee Gallery on Clemson University’s main campus. The Clemson Visual Arts are grateful to the supporters from across the University and state who helped make this exhibition possible — forward-looking friends who inspire a legacy of creativity and value the arts as cultural capital which generates thoughtful discourse in response to the opportunities and challenges of our present day.

Resources from the University over a faculty member’s career provide a unique autonomy for experimental, creative research that is unhindered and profound. The location within a comprehensive, public university also fosters collaboration with other disciplines. Such relationships allow these teaching artists, as well as the art students, to locate important professional connections and new sites of artistic inquiry.

The participating artists include: sculptural ceramicist Deighton Abrams, printmaker Todd Anderson, sculptural ceramicist Daniel Bare, painter Mark Brosseau, sculptor David Detrich, digital media artist David Donar, graphic designer David Gerhard, sculptor Joey Manson, painter Todd McDonald, digital media artist Christina Nguyen Hung, drawing specialist Kathleen Thum, functional ceramicist Denise Woodward-Detrich, photographer Anderson Wrangle and sculptural ceramicist Valerie Zimany.

Guests are invited to interact with the exhibiting artists and hear about the work during the Artist Talk at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 15, at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 16, and 2:30 p.m. Oct. 25. An opening reception will be from 6 to 8 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 28.

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Clemson Visual Arts
The importance of the arts at Clemson University goes back to Thomas Green Clemson’s vision for a “high seminary of learning.” As an accomplished painter, an avid art collector, and an arts advocate, Clemson understood the importance of art to our nation and the world. Clemson University continues to carry out his vision by incorporating art throughout its facilities. Visitors are encouraged to engage with Clemson Visual Arts (CVA) by experiencing the exhibitions in the many gallery and showcase spaces, by viewing the public art found all over campus, and by attending special events. For more information and to access the full calendar of events, please visit clemson.edu/cva. #clemsonarts.

Exhibitions, artist talks and receptions are free to the public thanks in part to the generous support given to the Clemson Visual Arts. To belong to the Friends of Clemson Visual Arts, visit cualumni.clemson.edu/give/cva.

CLEMSON — Clemson University visual arts students will be on full display this spring in the Clemson University Center for Visual Art’s (CVA) gallery spaces.

The second half of the semester features a calendar full of student exhibitions. Both Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduating students present a comprehensive show of artwork weeks prior to graduation. These exhibits are a special time for visual art students, allowing them to reflect on the transformational experience Clemson has provided and choose pieces that best personify the student’s creative achievements.

BFA senior exhibits and MFA thesis exhibits showcase the culmination of year-long research endeavors. Visual Arts students go through a series of critiques aimed at helping build a body of work of the students’ choosing. The public is invited to join the conversation by attending the artist talks, followed by the artists’ receptions. Join the CVA this spring to see the next generation of artists.

MFA Thesis Exhibit – Statera: A Place Between

Master of Fine Arts Thesis Students, Susan Vander Kooi and Carey Morton will present an exhibition illustrating the importance of interconnected relationships between people, landscape, and the natural world. Throughout history, there has been a deep human connection to the earth and recognition of our position within space that contemporary culture is potentially forgetting. This work acknowledges the tangible and intangible attributes of human dependence on, and relationship with, the land, nature, and visceral experience. Utilizing sculpture, the artists blur boundaries, explore the need for balance, and challenge viewer perception.

BFA Senior Exhibit #1 – Take Shape

Apr. 9–13, M–F, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

Artist Talks and Reception – F, Apr. 13, 6–8 p.m.

Take Shape will feature works by Mariana Aubad, Leah Brazell, McKenize Fletcher, Hannah Gardner, Amanda Hazell, Kara Lerchenfeld, Cody Miller and Anna Rice.

BFA Senior Exhibit #2 – Existence

Apr. 18–25, M–F, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

Artist Talks and Reception – F, Apr. 20, 6–8 p.m.

Existence will feature works by Lainee Craft, Caroline Herring, Mary Jo May, Zoe Rogers, Michala Stewart, Heather Suttles and Samantha Trivinia.

Additional student artwork currently on display until Apr. 19 is the Next Up Invitational Exhibit, Sikes Hall Showcase, Ground Floor.

Wrapping up the end of spring semester will be the Spring Ceramics Studio Sale and the Community Support Art (CSArt) Share Pick Up, Apr. 25, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. outside of the Lee Gallery along with the Foundation Review, Apr. 27. Students who have completed their Foundation studio courses in the Department of Art at Clemson University will showcase their creative efforts in the Lee Gallery. The showcase is a review of student progress and an opportunity for the Department to share the work of these art students with a local audience. Opening reception will be 6-8 p.m.

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The Center for Visual Arts
The Center for Visual Arts (CVA) at Clemson University is where students, visitors and scholars explore contemporary perspectives in art and culture through research, outreach programming and studio practice. With a mission to engage and render visible the creative process, the CVA is a dynamic intellectual and physical environment where art is created, exhibited and interpreted. It educates through academic research and practice with art at its core, drawing upon varied disciplines to examine critically cultural issues and artistic concerns.

The Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts and the Arts Center of Clemson will host the popular and unique celebration of the arts with the signature town-gown event “Passport to the Arts” 6-9:30 p.m. March 2.

Now, in its eighth year, Passport to the Arts, which continues to see a sold out crowd year after year, remains to be an exciting and popular “Town and Gown” event. Join the Lee Gallery and the Arts Center of Clemson as they host an evening full of art, entertainers, live music, drinks and exceptional food showcased at four different locations.

This event highlights the incredible local talent housed in the town of Clemson and surrounding area. Clemson celebrates its longtime standing as one of the top town-gown relations according to The Princeton Review. Attendees and area businesses have supported the event that is truly an exceptional evening highlighting the beauty of this nationally renowned relationship.

Attendees receive a “passport” at an announced starting location, and stamp their books at several venues as they travel through Clemson on provided transportation. Many of the pieces are on sale and being debuted for the first time in the four gallery venues. Additional highlights from this year’s event will be the integration of student digital art that celebrates the intersection of art and technology in the Watt Family Innovation Center. All attendees also will have opportunity to engage with the many offerings of the Center such as creating their own virtual reality art through the Immersion Space.

At each new venue, a new batch of local food, music, art, and creativity will be on display. During Passport to the Arts, entertainment is at every turn — even on the shuttle; local musicians greet you with their talents as you travel through Clemson. This innovative combination of art and entertainment has made Passport to the Arts the “Town and Gown” event of the year.

Clemson Area Transit (CAT) offers transportation for the Passport to the Arts tour. All shuttles feature entertainment, making the ride to each venue a destination in itself. The locations this year include The Arts Center of Clemson, the Clemson Area Transit facility, Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts and Watt Family Innovation Center.

Click this link see photos from past Passport to the Arts: The following businesses make this event possible: https://www.flickr.com/photos/passporttothearts/albums

Click this link to view the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4ujEQuUSHY

Buy tickets by visiting clemsonpassport.org. For more information, contact Center for Visual Arts Marketing and Public Relations Director, Meredith Mims McTigue, mmims@clemson.edu.

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Current event partners and sponsors

The following businesses make this event possible: Clemson Area Transit, Clemson Downs, Isaaqueena Pediatric Dentistry, PrintSmart, Watt Family Center for Innovation.

“Troubling Beauty” showcases original paintings and hand cut paper collages on view at the Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts with a artist talk and closing reception Feb. 8.

Culling through scattered memories of the past and current experiences with her daughters, Yvette Cummings art explores the complicated path of youth, beauty, femininity and transitions from childhood into self-awareness.

“Yvette’s work is provocative and dynamic referencing human development in a world filled with paradoxes and complexities,” said Director Woodward-Detrich.

Her use of strong and brightly colored backdrops and decorative motifs draws the viewer into a world that is both overpowering and disarming. Juxtaposed to the backgrounds are innocent exchanges between various figures that evoke a tenuous uncertainty. The relationship between these moments presented in the work and the artist skill at painting, present complex and emotional paradoxes for the viewer.

“This body of work is perfect to showcase on a university campus as it poses important questions about society, social expectations and boundaries for all to ponder,” said Woodward-Detrich.

Originally, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Cummings currently lives in Conway, South Carolina where she teaches at Coastal Carolina University. She received a master’s degree in Fine Arts from the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning, where she was the recipient of the Wolfstein Travel Fellowship to Spain. She taught as an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina (USC) Department of Art in Columbia, S.C. and was awarded the Stephen J. Dalton Teacher of the Year from USC in 2011.

The commitment of the Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts continues to support the university’s Clemson Forward strategic plan to provide educational activities that expose students to research through artistic means.

There will be an artist gallery talk and closing reception beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8. The artist talk and reception are free and open the public. For more information about this exhibit, contact Lee Gallery Director, Denise Woodward-Detrich at woodwaw@clemson.edu.

The Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts (CVA) first art exhibit of the fall semester focuses on the importance of striking a sustainable balance between nature and the current global consumer culture with Pam Longobardi’s “Drifters Project,” on display Aug. 21-Sept. 27.

Plastics are integrated with every aspect of our lives from the smallest little toy to life sustaining medical equipment and every other place in-between.  Artist Pam Longobardi utilizes these discards to make installations that explore our global culture through plastics that have been transformed by the ocean then collected, documented and re-presented by the artist into the gallery context.

“I am interested in the collision between nature and global consumer culture. Ocean plastic is a material that can unleash unpredictable dynamics,” Longobardi said. “I am interested in it in particular, as opposed to all garbage in general, because of what it reveals about us as a global culture and what it reveals about the ocean as a type of cultural space, as well as a giant dynamic engine of life and change.  As a product of culture that exhibits visibly the attempts of nature to reabsorb and regurgitate this invader, ocean plastic has profound stories to tell.”

The “Drifters Project” began in 2006 after Longobardi encountered mountains of plastic being deposited on remote islands in Hawaii by the ocean. Since that time she has removed thousands of pounds of material for re-examination. Visitors to the Lee Gallery will experience various installations along with select paintings and drawings.

This innovative art collaboration is part of the Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts (CVA) commitment to support the institutions 2020 ClemsonForward Strategic Plan to provide educational activities that expose students to research through artistic means. This type of exposure encourages dialogue surrounding supporting a sustainable environment.

The Lee Gallery at the Clemson University CVA will be open for this exhibit 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays. It is located in 1-101 Lee Hall, 323 Fernow St. There will be artist talk followed by a reception on Aug. 25, 5:30 p.m. The exhibition, artist talk and reception are free to the public because of the generous support given to the Center for Visual Arts. For more information about this exhibit, contact Lee Gallery Director, Denise Woodward-Detrich at woodwaw@clemson.edu. Visit www.clemson.edu/cva to learn about exhibitions in the Lee Gallery as well as other Center for Visual Arts activities and events.

CLEMSON — Clemson University’s National Print and Drawing exhibition, “Adaptable: Facing the Future,” opens Thursday in the Lee Gallery and will be available to the public through March 15. The juror and awards presentation and reception will be 6–8 p.m. Feb. 17.

Since the beginning of our time on Earth we have responded to the impact of change in every aspect of our human experience. In the ever-expanding social, technological, biological and digital era, change is taking place at unprecedented speeds while the world is becoming a much smaller place. The 2017 Clemson National Print and Drawing exhibition explores change in a wide range of approaches to unpacking this idea.

Consisting of 62 works by 59 artists from across the United States, the biennial show was juried by faculty emerita Sydney A. Cross. More than 340 images were entered by 118 artists. Cross received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Arizona University and her Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University. She taught printmaking at Clemson University and she was awarded the title of Distinguished Alumni Professor. Always professionally active in her field, she held the office of president for the Southern Graphics Council, the largest printmaking society in North America.

The works will be on view from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. For more information, contact Lee Gallery Director Denise Woodward-Detrich at woodwaw@clemson.edu.

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Participating Artists
AWG, Miguel Aragon, Todd Arsenault, Anne Beidler, Mark Bischel, Kelsey Bledsoe, Cynthia Brinich-Langlois, Jessica Burke, Karen Brussat Butler, Anne Chesnut, Allison Conley, Jacob Cotton, Andrew DeCaen, Darcy Edwin, Katie Efstathiou, Beth Fein, Craig Fisher, Kendra Foster, Karen Gallagher-Iverson, Oscar Gillespie, Brian Gillis, Sharon Harper, Yuji Hiratsuka, Melinda Hoffman, Andy Holliday, John Holmgren, Nick Conbere, Zach Horn, Richard Hricko, Jayne Reid Jackson, Joyce Jewell, Brian Johnson, Matthew Kluber, Lauren Lake, Treelee MacAnn, William Mathie, Juliet Mattila, Corrin Smithson McWhirter, Johanna Mueller, Nick Osetek, Andy Owen, Caroline Owen, Ethan Peeler, Aaron Pennington, Johnny Plastini, Haley Prestifilippo, Adrian Rhodes, Rachel Rinker, Nicholas Ruth, Emmet Sandberg, Blake Sanders, Mark Sisson, Emily Stokes, Lynda Harwood Swenson, Michael Weigman, Art Werger, Linda Whitney, Chris Williford, Jackson Zorn

The Lee Gallery
The Lee Gallery at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts provides the university and surrounding community with access to regional, national and international artists. Through a variety of exhibitions and special events, the galleries at Clemson University are dedicated to teaching, providing a space to display student and faculty research and serving the community, as well as providing internship opportunities for undergraduate art majors. Exhibitions held in Lee Gallery examine contemporary issues that underscore academic programs and serve the broader mission of the university.  Visitors to campus can enjoy exhibits showcasing undergraduate, graduate and faculty work as well as nationally and internationally recognized artists. The Lee Gallery maintains exhibition spaces at College of Architecture Arts and Humanities Dean’s Gallery in Strode Tower, Sikes Hall showcase space, the Brooks Center for Performing Arts lobby showcase, and the Acorn Gallery in Lee Hall II. The Lee Gallery is located in Lee Hall I on Clemson University’s campus. Gallery Hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and select Fridays for special events.