Category: Uncategorized

by Joshua Kelly and Jackie Kuntz Published in The Tiger Newspaper

Hey guys, welcome to the final Perspective column of the semester. For our last culturally enlightening time together, we are going to take a brief look at the Bachelor of Fine Arts students that are graduating this December, previewing their shows and looking quickly at their work. We have a great group of students putting on work this semester, and these are three shows that you are not going to want to miss that will provide a cultural getaway from all the studying that you should be doing for exams in the next few weeks.

“Analogue Interactive” provides viewers with plenty of chances to interact with cutting edge digital technology and see what a space infected with paranoia and obsession looks like.

The artists in the show “Fabricated Perception,” on display in the Lee Hall Gallery from Dec 2-6, deal with creating experiences for their viewers that hope to alter the way that we think about (or often times overlook) everyday happenstances.

Wendy Escobar’s drawings, Jackie Kuntz’ paintings, Kep Pate’s sculptures and Katie Ruggerio’s instillations all share one thing in common — they examine a different facet of human interaction. When viewed all together, the artists and work in “House Blend” help to form a rather complete picture of the human experience, blended together and distilled down to be presented in very personal and very refined formats.

 

Analogue Interactive

Joshua Kelly:

Joshua Kelly’s work is contingent upon the experience of the viewer within the gallery context and the progression of the narrative as one continues through the space. Kelly has constructed a gallery within a gallery, an intimate space for this diorama of tragedies to reside. The story line is based on an allegorical character with aggrandized mental anomalies and personality disorders who has a vision he is destined to a prophetic calling. He finds himself unsatisfied with this role and seeks alternative means of directing his own fate. This pursuit, and a misuse of power, only destroys — wiping out populations in its path — leading him in a final moment of pure transcendence, resolving to rectify these transgressions through self denial and his own ultimate sacrifice. This production deals with notions of fate, prophecy, duty, the divine and destruction as well as inevitable systems of chaos that characterize the world, representing our own want and need for control in our lives. After following the story of this self-destructive hero through this plastered grotto, the viewer turns the last enclaved corner to find him, a dissolving sculpted form, writhing, trapped, tortured, and reaching out — yearning to tell his tragic saga — his last penitential deed.

 

Nate Newsome:

Bringing attention to the side effects of existing in a digital world and being immersed in technology, the interactive projection works by Nate Newsome are sure to captivate and engage viewers in a way they didn’t think possible at a gallery show. He describes his work as “interventions that cause people to think about how we interact and communicate with other people and also [how we interact] with technology itself. People don’t think enough about the effects of constant connectivity and putting all their personal information out on the web.” His employment of some of the latest interactive-projection-based technology in work talking about the dangers of technology may at first seem counter intuitive. However, he hopes that by drawing the viewer into interacting with his piece he can then encourage them to think about just how much of their personal space they willfully but unknowingly forfeit to all of the latest technology.

 

Fabricated Perceptions

Karl Bolinger:

The asphalt road we drive on, streets we cross, dewy fields, spans of dessert, the mountains that crown the horizon: be it urban, country, oceanic or interior, we cannot exist outside of the context of a landscape. Karl Bolinger’s sculptures bring the viewers’ attention to the necessity, beauty and character of the “systems of landscapes” around us. Bolinger uses natural materials collected from the local landscape to highlight “specific details such as the invisible and visible features, elemental forces, the inhabitants, neglected landscapes, interstitial spaces and landscapes of devastation and beauty.”

 

Morgan Cole:

The Internet. Most of us have lived through its creation and development. We learn, shop, research, travel, do business, advertise, promote, explore and connect with others; who can remember a time without it? We all know what the Internet does for us and its impact on our lives, but rarely do we try and intellectually pin down its intangible and substantial nature. Through her paintings, Morgan Cole strives to do just that. She implements architectural references, icons of technology and even some ties to molecular science. The fluorescent blue of her canvases seem to hum with the swarms of data and pixilated information that overwhelm the composition. Deep shifting spaces and seams of portals allude to the possibilities of where this illusive crutch in our lives might reside. With references to the sublime and cosmos, and painted with a luminosity that parallels James Turrell, these futuristic “landscapes” portray the ethereal construct of the technology that now runs and betters our lives.

 

Ryan Powers:

Inspired by human anatomy, science fiction and personal experiences, the life-size ceramic human figures that Ryan Powers constructs bring to focus pain, suffering and the vulnerability of the human body. Powers said, “Clay is important as my medium because it records the tactile experience of building my figural fragments, and its surface references the tension of skin.” The conceptual backing for his work comes from personal history. “The inspiration for my project is due in part to the physical trauma I have experienced and the resulting possible nerve damage. This produces peculiar sensations such as: crawling, tingling, wriggling, constricting, stabbing, prickling and pulsating.” The way he has replicated these sensations with the textures applied to his forms is captivating. Oftentimes in classical sculpture, the human form is used to depict a heroic action. But Powers’ work attempts to undermind that association. His figures, which depict pain, highlight the fragility of the human form and the ease at which they can fall to suffering.

 

Emily Sorgenfrei

Emily Sorgenfrei deals with an issue that many Americans are very familiar with — the drive to consume. Her instillations, made of familiar items like shopping receipts and paint chips, are overwhelming instillations of otherwise recognizable information and artifacts from a consumer-minded culture. However, the purpose of the work is not to critique the need to consume, but simply to analyze and organize the data we encounter in our day to day lives, prompting her viewers to simply be aware of the fact that consumption is a vital and central part of everyone’s lives. Her work shows an alternative method of dealing with the bombardment of consumerism related material and leaves the viewer with a feeling of being overwhelmed by information but also a different perspective on consumerism.

 

 

House Blend

jackie Kuntz:

In her paintings, Jackie Kuntz explores the once prevalent but now seemingly lost dialogue between the written and visual arts. Her process is simple. Start with a poem which she resonates with, read it, meditate on it, absorb it; then paint the image that comes to mind. That is not to suggest that her paintings are mere illustrations of poems she likes — far from that. The symbolic and often allegorical landscapes she creates upon reflection of the chosen poem often do not show an expected rendering but allow the viewer a voyeuristic glance into the mind of the artist. By putting her own process of thought digestion and interpretation on examination in her work, Kuntz’ prompts the viewer to think more critically about the written word, visual narratives and the associations that we have between the two.

 

Katie Ruggerio:

Using both man-made objects and objects from nature, Katie Ruggiero’s instillations focus on the relationship between humans and their natural surroundings. According to Ruggerio, she is “interested in the paradoxical relationship [humans have with] nature, which is marked by feelings of wonderment, fragility and disconnect.” For “House Blend,” her sculptural work will highlight the cultural phenomenon of wanting to be closer to nature juxtaposing the general failure to care for nature that is a common happenstance in the course of human action. “We see nature as something that can be consumed, replaced, cultivated and reproduced continuously. I want to show our ever-increasing disconnection from our environment and the surrounding natural world.” The aesthetic employed in her work is refined and shows influences of minimalism and modernism. Ruggerio’s works offer the viewer quite moments of contemplation about the state of human and nature interaction while being visually captivating in their simplicity and exactness.

 

Kep Pate:

Kep Pate’s sculptures “embrace the adventure of youth’s unquenchable curiosity and merges it with the optimistic spirit of a child’s endless desire to play.” The cartooned styles and references of childhood strike a chord with any viewer who finds themselves approaching the work with an untraced knowing … what is it that they recognize? Whether beginner, student or professional, seasoned wisdom, matured soul or young wonder, Pate’s work does not discriminate. Each piece serves as an invitation to the inner child. Imaginatively built structures, one like a sand castle another a horse, awaken that spirit — no matter how long it may has withered, dormant. The viewer must remind themselves of the gallery confines as they fight the urge to explore, touch, grab and climb — thinking to themselves “the fun I might have had with that as a kid!” If his work had a grin, its corners would be kissed with mischief and sly humor. Won’t you come out and play?

 

Wendy Escobar:

Wendy Escobar’s drawings and paintings are a cognitive portrait of their creator. Autobiographical and narrative, these scenes illustrate the physical, mental and emotional impact of the journey through hardship as they rise, climax, wind, explode and disperse feebly like smoke. In these other worldly spaces, fantastical characters wrestle with the burden of stifled emotions and brace for the prowling danger that lurks by. Though horrifically marred in their affliction, the viewer can’t help but feel sadness for these figures, scarred, writhing and struggling in their bound confines. But pain is not the only fate that characterizes Escobar’s work. The comfort of an embrace, a trace of offered incense, the steadfast roots of an old, twisting tree … slivers of hope whisper a resonance in the work as the characters find a personal grounding within themselves to draw out a relentless strength. In a beautiful build up of bright colors, violent charcoal and torn medium, nothing is more real and raw than the perspective lens and forms of her brilliant but haunting imagination.

SENECA — For the past week, Ayako Abe-Miller has been surrounded by clothes.
These clothes were donated by friends, Clemson University faculty members and students, local donation centers and more, all with the intention to help Abe-Miller with an art project: a sculpture made of textiles.
Every day since Nov. 9, Abe-Miller has occupied the inside of Arts off the Alley in downtown Seneca, where her project is being installed. Through the use of donated textiles, Abe-Miller is exploring and trying to revive individuals’ forgotten memory and feelings from used clothing.

“I am often amazed by the intense feelings that these tattered remnants evoke,” Abe-Miller said.
Abe-Miller is a sculptor and Japanese Sumi (ink) painter and is in her second semester of earning a Master of Fine Arts degree at Clemson. Several of her sculptures are in public and private collections, including a 1,700-pound metal sculpture for the new medical school of the University of South Carolina in Greenville, another large outdoor piece in Spartanburg and even a large sculpture in a gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria. More of her sculptures can be found in Georgia, California, Maryland and Italy. Her Japanese calligraphy has been published in scholarly journals in Japan.
Abe-Miller started collecting clothes in September for her current project.

“I frequently wonder about the destination of an individual memory,” Abe-Miller said. “During our lifetimes, we collect a tremendous amount of memories and information which is stored in our brains. New memories pile up on top, layer by layer, so that the old memories are buried deep inside the brain until someone or something awakens them.”
The textile sculpture will be big enough for people to walk through; it is in a giant spiral-shaped piece made up entirely of clothes. Abe-Miller said the clothes represent an individual’s residue. The use of fabric also emphasizes its importance in South Carolina, once home to a former thriving textile industry that has shifted to foreign countries, she said.
“We can only see the evidence of prosperity by finding abandoned textile buildings in this area,” she said. “Therefore, the fabric of clothes implies a memory in South Carolina.”
She wanted the sculpture to be large enough to walk through because Abe-Miller connects memory with time, and she wants the public to take their time and walk through it.
“I’m quite interested in memory themes — any kind of memory theme, conscious or subconscious,” Abe-Miller said. “My sculptures are always giant. I’m also a welder.”
Abe-Miller’s work is strongly influenced by where she has lived and traveled. She was born in the northern part of Japan and has lived in Tokyo, Australia, Singapore and New York City before coming to South Carolina. She has also traveled extensively in the United States and has been to more than 20 countries. She earned her Associate of Arts degree in English Literature from Toyo University in Tokyo, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a concentration in sculpture from Converse College.
Despite the lengthy installation Abe-Miller said she loves making giant sculptures.
“It’s always that way,” she said. “It’s kind of a meditation to me.”
After searching to find new space to display public art, Abe-Miller came across the opportunity at Arts off the Alley — an artist co-op that consists of many artists with common goals. The co-op is located at 123 N. Townville St. in downtown Seneca.
Abe-Miller’s sculpture opened Friday.
“I feel more motivated,” she said. “I really want to continue with memory.”

By MONICA KREBER
The Journal

Originally posted by The Journal on November 16, 2013

 

“Tempos: Muse and Motion”

February 19, 2014 – March 14, 2014

Call for Art Submissions

 

Wassily Kandinsky, Compositions, 1911

 

Call for Submission

This is a collaborative exercise showcasing the creativity of students in the visual arts and performing arts. The artwork should reflect your interpretation of tempo or speed. In order to be considered for selection, you are strongly encouraged to choose a corresponding musical term from the provided list of tempo markings for inclusion in the description, but not necessarily the title, of the work.  The exhibit will be based on a progression of tempos ranging from slow to fast.

Musical interpretation and theatrical movement response will be performed prior to 2 Brooks Center events in March during the open exhibit.

Writing students will be invited to compose a written response to the exhibit and the performance.  Selections may be included in the program or for display near the artwork.

Entries

Artists are invited to enter two-dimensional artwork including original paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and mixed media.  Collaborative work is acceptable.  Multiple works may be grouped together to fill a larger space.  Each artist may submit up to 4 works if, when framed and grouped together, the maximum dimensions are not greater than 96” in height and 48” wide.

There is no entry fee.

Entry Deadline – Wednesday, December 4, 2013 4:00 pm

Eligibility

Artists must be enrolled in the Clemson University Visual Arts program.

Deadline Wednesday, December 4, 2013

 

Jury Details

Juried from actual works. Works do not need to be framed to be part of the jury process.  Accepted works need to be professionally framed with D-rings on the back for installation.  Works submitted with wire will have d-rings added to the back of the work for installation purposes. To be considered, all entries should be brought to the office of Denise Woodward-Detrich in 101B Lee Hall by 4:00 pm, Wednesday, December 4^th.

 

Jury Notification – December 10

Notification of acceptance will be posted on the Lee Gallery downstairs office wall.

Pick up of Juried works – December 11-13

Works can be picked up from the jury process at the Lee Gallery office from 9am – 4pm.

Sales

All works will be for sale unless otherwise noted on the entry application.  A 30% commission will be collected by the Center for Visual Arts upon sale of work, to be put towards future collaborative exhibits.

Reproduction Rights

Clemson University reserves the right to use digital images of accepted works in the exhibition catalog, as well as for publicity purposes.

 

Exhibition Timeline

December 4, 2013                  Entry deadline

December 10, 2013                Notification of jury selection

December 11-13, 2013           Pick up work for framing

January 27, 2014                    Delivery of framed works

February 11, 2014                  Exhibit install

March 11, 2014                       Artist reception & musical/theatrical movement response

March 13, 2014                       Musical/theatrical movement response

March 14, 2014                       Exhibit closes

March 26, 2014                       Return of work to artists

 

 

Words of Inspiration

Corresponding title tempo markings from slow to fast:

Larghissimo – very, very slow

Grave – slow and solemn

Lento – slowly

Largo – broadly

Adagio – slow and stately (literally, “at ease”)

Andante moderato – a bit slower than andante

Andante – at a walking pace

Andantino – slightly faster than andante (although in some cases it can be taken to mean slightly slower than andante)

Marcia moderato – moderately, in the manner of a march

Moderato – moderately

Allegretto – moderately fast

Allegro – fast, quickly and bright; cheerful

Vivace – lively and fast

Vivacissimo – very fast and lively

Presto – extremely fast

Prestissimo – even faster than Presto

 

You may couple one of these additional qualifiers with a term from above:

A piacere – discretion with regard to tempo and rhythm; literally “at pleasure”

assai – very much, as in allegro assai, quite fast

ben – well, as in ben marcato (well marked or accented)

con brio – with vigor and spirit

con fuoco – with fire

con moto – with motion

deciso – decidedly, decisively

funebre – in the manner of a funeral march

appena – almost none, as in appena forte (almost not at all loud)

misterioso – mysterious

molto – much, very, as in molto allegro (very quick) or molto adagio (very slow)

non troppo – not too much, e.g. allegro non troppo non tanto – not so much

più – more, as in più allegro (more quickly); used as a relative indication when the tempo changes

poco – slightly, little, as in Poco adagio

polacca – generic name for Polish dances, usually the polonaise, as in tempo di polacca;

quasi – almost, nearly, as if (such as Più allegro quasi presto, “faster, as if presto”)

senza interruzione – without interruption or pause

senza tempo or senza misura – without strict measure

sostenuto – sustained, prolonged

 

A note about the Kandinsky Painting:

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/wassily-kandinsky/composition-iv-1911

 

An interesting story indicating Kandinsky’s intellectual examination in the creation of his works revolves around this composition. He became exhausted during the months of studying he went through in preparation for this painting, and decided to go for a walk. His assistant at the time, Gabrielle Munter, who was tidying up the studio in the artist’s absence, inadvertently turned the canvas on its side. Upon Kandinsky’s return, he saw the canvas, fell to his knees and began weeping at the beauty of the painting. His newly found perspective on the piece would change his artistic vision and direction for the rest of his life.

 

By Jacqueline Kuntz

The corridor outside of the Center for Visual Arts (CVA) Lee Gallery is bustling. People are crowding around long tables with an impressive spread; the line trails out the door. Buyers and enthusiasts reach and grab, examine and admire, some even stand and guard their chosen piece while a friend runs to get more cash. It is a wonder nothing breaks. Down the expanse of the hallway, delicate plates, hearty bowls, rustic, earthenware cups, and mugs that hug the hand, are stocked deep. At the end of the day, only a few – if any– will remain. Members of the local community, Friends of the CVA, students, faculty, and staff from all over campus and across departments have convened for the Annual Ceramic Bowl Sale… and of course, to experience the best minestrone of their life.

The Annual Ceramic Bowl Sale is put on by the student organization, the Clemson Ceramics Association. With the purchase of every cup, bowl or mug – comes a free lunch of homemade soup and warm bread – a midweek break, a hot meal, and a masterpiece souvenir for the meager price of a lunch.  The sale’s proceeds go to raise money for the annual National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference.  To attend a national conference of this prestige is a once in a lifetime experience for many of these ceramic emphasis students. Assistant Professor of Art in Ceramics, Valerie Zimany, talks about the unique opportunities this council brings to the students, “through the conference, students are exposed to contemporary ceramics exhibitions, lectures, and panels.  They also make important contacts with peers from other institutions and network for post-graduation opportunities at non-profit booths geared toward graduate programs, artist residencies, and internships.” This year, Zimany, will be featured as a special guest lecturer for her research titled “Porcelain Fever: Contemporary Artists and Kutani Now.” MFA student, Nina Kawar, also will be recognized for being accepted into the competitive NCECA National Juried Student Exhibition.

Students from every level of ceramics throw themselves into weeks of intensive studio to turn out hundreds of functional ceramic pieces for this tradition. Graduate students, Nina Kawar, Brent Pafford, and Lindsey Elsey have work in the Annual Ceramic Bowl Sale. Nina’s thesis work is more sculptural and references the botanical; every curve is kissed by a folded pedaled form, “focusing on creating an environment for the viewer to engage in the works physical qualities that reflect the self and the barriers or defenses we project in social interactions.”  Brent’s thesis work “investigates the intimate, haptic, and assembled social conditions in which individuals encounter the work” and the social interactions people respond with to the work, sparking his Mug Exchange project that “seeks to engage with participants through the reciprocal nature of alternative exchange such as a barter system, to raise questions of labor, value, and worth.” Lindsey Elsey is a new addition to the MFA ceramicists and her functional pieces promise an exciting new avenue of work for the department. Her forms are draped with grace and their structure has a classical elegance.

Each work in this manifold emanates the diversity of the artists’ hands. Whether bisque or glazed, every form, divot, and handle has character. Whether it will hold warm winter chowder, cereal, ice cream, pasta, or perhaps a morning cup of joe or night time tea, be sure to come by the ceramic sale to pick out your one of a kind bowl.

The sale will be November 20 located in the Lee Hallway in front of the Center for Visual Arts Lee  at Clemson University 12 noon to 5 p.m. Soup will be served between noon to 1 p.m.

 

November 2 and 3 marks the weekend of the annual Greenville Open Studios, presented by the Metropolitan Arts Council. This weekend features 124 local visual artists, and opens their studios to the public. We are proud to announce that Clemson’s Center for Visual Arts (CVA) is well represented, with Open Studios highlighting seven alumni, Eric Benjamin, Suzanne Bodson, Alexia Timberlake Boyd, Kim Dick, Jeanet S. Dreskin, Jo Carol Mitchell-Rogers, and Blake Smith, and one former CVA board member, Ann Jennings. As you are enjoying the Open Studios, we encourage you to seek out these Clemson alumni and friends with the opportunity to experience their artwork.

Below you will find information on these artists and directions to their studios. For more information about Greenville Open Studios, please visit http://www.greenvillearts.com/art-scene/open-studios/.

 

Eric Benjamin 

1738 E. North Street,
Greenville, SC 29607(864) 640-7000
fineartsalliance@gmail.com
www.ericbenjaminstudios.com

Directions:

From N. Main St turn right on E. Park Ave. Continue over Stone Ave/Laurens Rd. Park becomes E. North St. #1738 is on the right, just past the elementary school.

 

Suzanne Bodson

Studio 12B
12B Lois Avenue
Greenville, SC 29611
864-373-5349
sbodson@yahoo.com

Directions:

From S. Main St. take Pendleton St approximately one mile into the Village of West Greenville’s arts district. Turn right onto Lois Ave. Studio will be on the right, a parking lot is located to the left of the building.

 

Alexia Timberlake Boyd

 

ArtBomb Studio
1320 Pendleton Street
Greenville, SC 29611
864-220-3131
alexia.timberlake@gmail.com
alexiatimberlakeboyd.com

Directions:

From S. Main St take Pendleton St approximately one mile into the Village of West Greenville’s arts district. ArtBomb is on the right.

 

Kim Dick

 

ArtBomb Studio
320 Pendleton Street
Greenville, SC 29611
864-320-0903
contact.kim.dick@gmail.com
www.kimdick.com

Directions:

From S. Main St take Pendleton St approximately one mile into the Village of West Greenville’s arts district. ArtBomb is on the right.

 

Jeanet Dreskin

 

60 Lake Forest Drive
Greenville, SC 29609
864-906-8412
jeanet@dreskin.net
www.hamptoniiigallery.com

Directions:

From downtown Greenville, take Wade Hampton to traffic light at Chick Springs intersection. Turn left onto Chick Springs Rd. Keep right, go 1/2 mile to Twin Lake Rd. Turn right, go one block on Twin Lake Rd. Turn right onto Lake Forest Dr. #60 is on the right. Walk down the drive to the patio, which leads to the studio.

 

Jo Carol Mitchell-Rogers

 

ArtBomb Studio
1320 Pendleton Street
Greenville, SC 29611
(864) 220-3131
jocarol@charter.net
www.jcm-r.com

Directions:

From S. Main St take Pendleton St approximately one mile into the Village of West Greenville’s arts district. ArtBomb is on the right.

 

Blake Smith

Art Bomb Studio
1320 Pendleton Street
Greenville, SC 29611
864-245-0067
mudhillpottery@gmail.com
www.mudhillpottery.blogspot.com

Directions:

From downtown Greenville, take Wade Hampton (Hwy. 29) north to Fairview Rd/Old Rutherford Rd. Stay left at the fork. At the traffic light turn left onto Locust Hill Rd. Turn left onto Sunrise Dr. #201 is on the right.

 

Ann Jennings

116 Riverside Drive
Greenville, SC 29605
(864) 242-0988
annjennings@yahoo.com

Directions:

Take Augusta St to Riverside Dr (Blythe Elementary School on right). Turn left on to Riverside Dr. Go through the 4-way stop at Riverside and Byrd. Studio on corner of next block.

 

 

If you’ve been out and about in downtown Greenville, you’ve probably seen the newest public art sculpture located in NOMA Square. This sculpture was commissioned by the Hyatt. The artist is our very own Emeritus Faculty and Art Department Chair, John Acorn. The sculpture was recently featured in the October issue of Talk Magazine.

To view this sculpture in TALK magazine and read more public art in Greenville, please visit http://www.clemson.edu/centers-institutes/cva/public-documents/talkmag_johnacorn.pdf

We are proud to announce that Clemson’s very first MFA graduate, Jeanet Dreskin, 1973, and previous Center for Visual Arts Board Member, Ann Jennings, were named in Talk Magazine, 25 Most Beautiful Women in the Upstate. After hundreds of women are nominated, Talk chooses the top 25 after meeting and talking to the nominees. All of these women possess a positive attitude and are “dedicated to making life better for everyone they meet” (Talk).

To read more, please visit http://www.clemson.edu/centers-institutes/cva/public-documents/talkmag_25beautiful.pdf

CLEMSON – Clemson University’s Center for Visual Arts has expanded its scope regionally as a result of a $100,000 commitment from the Community Foundation of Greenville.

“We are proud that our partnership with Clemson University supports a growing creative community and will increase the economic development for the surrounding neighborhoods,” said Bob Morris, president of the Community Foundation of Greenville, S.C.

This generous gift gives life to Clemson University’s Center for Visual Arts vision to have presence in Greenville. The grant is partnered with a lease for a facility currently located in the Village of West Greenville along Pendleton Street in downtown Greenville. The new Center for Visual Arts – Greenville satellite facility creates a dynamic, hands-on, “real world” space where students, faculty and alumni are directly involved with art historians, artists, critics and curators in developing, curating, installing, exhibiting, documenting and interpreting the best contemporary art happenings of today.

Clemson always has long enjoyed visual arts presence through its students, faculty and alumni throughout the state of South Carolina, but in the past decade, that presence has grown exponentially in Greenville. First graduate of the Masters of Fine Arts at Clemson University, Jeanet Steckler Dreskin, M ‘73 is an influential local Greenville artist. Her art has been collected by major museums including the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. and can be seen in the Greenville Museum of Art. Throughout the city, former Clemson art department chair and faculty emeritus, John Acorn’s public art is celebrated in downtown Greenville. His public art sculptures are featured in the City of Greenville’s public art tour.

Clemson University’s focus on the arts began with its founder, Thomas Green Clemson.  A known painter and collector of contemporary artwork of his time, he is noted as saying in a speech in 1859 that “art is the magic bond that unites all nations.” Today, this legacy is continued by Clemson President James F. Barker. In dedicating the CVA – Greenville facility, he addressed Clemson’s importance relationship with the arts, “The arts are a very important part, not only of what we see of our history, but also of our future.”

Not long after President James F. Barker took office, he called Greenville Clemson’s “home city,” which has never been more true than today. More than 13,000 alumni, 2,500 current on-campus students and 500 University employees call Greenville home.

The CVA-Greenville is just one example of the ways in which Clemson University strives to partner with the region, and provides visual arts in the area. The presence of this facility provides continued benefit for the citizens of Greenville, and the environs, and allows students and other community members to enjoy, embrace, and grow in the art generated by the area. The grant from the Community Foundation of Greenville supports programming for the CVA – Greenville for the west Greenville and downtown community.

The Center for Visual Arts
The Center for Visual Arts (CVA) in Lee Hall 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 Center for Visual Arts – Greenville is a satellite of the Center for Visual Arts at Clemson University, which serves as the umbrella for all visual art activities at the university. Though there is not a physical building for this center, the majority of the activities for the Center of Visual Arts are generated out of Lee Hall on the Clemson University campus.

For more information regarding the Center for Visual Arts, visit

Contacts

Meredith Mims McTigue – Media Contact, 864-656-3883, mmims@clemson.edu

Greg Shelnutt – Center for Visual Arts Contact, 864-656-3880, gshelnu@clemson.edu

 

by Joshua Kelly Published in The Tiger Newspaper

“I have always been interested with why we remember certain things and not others. So [my work] has a lot to do with these every day, mundane moments that tend to stick with us rather than these really big events in our lives,” MFA painting student Alyssa Reiser-Prince explained to me when I sat down with her this week to talk about her upcoming thesis show, “Being There” (which will be on display in the Lee Gallery from Nov. 15-22). Her work deals with the very phenomenon which gives rise to our own self-awareness — the act of remembering — in a way that allows the viewer to not only better understand the act of remembering itself, but also gives insight into why we may remember certain things rather than others.

Certainly there is a great deal of literature, both in philosophy as well as psychology, that explores the concepts behind human memory in great detail. However, the work of Alyssa Reiser-Prince (as well as the fellow MFA candidates featured in the “Being There” exhibit) attempts to tackle this experience from a visual standpoint.

Starting with a vague memory from childhood, or merely a simple concept like “clean,” Rieser-Prince takes that memory and truncates it, reducing a specific recollection to an abstract visual that anyone can approach. This process of diminishing personal memories to the point of a semi-recognizable composition is meant to evoke a variety of associations and memories in the viewer, paralleling the actual process of remembering what we go through every day.

She prefers to focus on memories that we may tend to think of as small and insignificant. When asked why this is her preferred subject matter, she responded, “We end up basing our identities off of these seemingly mundane moments, and it is through the process of remembering that we engage with them … But the process of remembering is an active process. You are constantly reinterpreting what you remember based on your present situation, so it is a very subjective process. [Your memories are] constantly changing and shifting.” By bringing attention to how many different associations and recollections any individual can have when viewing a vaguely familiar visual, Resier-Prince underscores one of the most mundane facets of how our memory works. It isn’t always the huge events in our past that form who we are, but rather the many small details we often don’t realize we will remember that shape our identity and dictate how we react to the

larger life events.

In her process she translates the qualities of particular memories — rather than the specifics — into the process of making the paintings themselves. “Childhood memories are often very visceral and immediate,” Resier-Prince said of a series of smaller paintings that she worked quickly with little to no preplanning. “There is not a lot of time spent between thinking about the memory and making the painting; they are very direct.”

In making this body of work, the process was very important to Reiser-Prince. Because the paintings were worked in the style of the process of remembering, they become “very emotionally subjective spaces” and are not intended to be representations of any specific event. There is an inherent questioning within the process as well that hopes to point out that the line between truth and fallacy within our own self is sometimes (more often than not) more murky than we actively think. With this consideration, her paintings sometimes contain an internal failure and seem to lack a realized or fully resolved composition. Reiser-Prince explained that this is intentional. “My paintings are fleeting and incomplete because these moments depicted are themselves fleeting and incomplete,” she said. These works leave the viewer at first wanting more than they are presented with on the canvas, and then it is the task of the viewer’s memory to fill in those blank spots and experience an internal examination of the process of remembering.

So if you are into learning more about memory and how your brain works (or how it doesn’t work like you would normally think), or if you are just into becoming more cultured — that is what all the cool kids are doing these days — be sure to see the works of Alyssa Reiser-Prince. Stay culturious Clemson.

by Jackie Kuntz Published in The Tiger Newspaper

“Move a little bit to the left and turn more towards me…and then hold your hand… yes!”

I walked four paces across the lacquered gallery floor and assumed the new pose as Elizabeth Snipes began her quick gestured mark making, hand dancing zealously across the cream colored paper she sat atop.

I was told to write an article on the new Center for Visual Arts gallery space in Greenville and the alumni show that would premier it. I drove in on Friday to the West Village Art district to take a look at the show just to be invited back the next day; Elizabeth Snipes needed a model for another piece she was adding to her showcase. I could not pass up an opportunity to engage in such dialogue with one of the featured artists and to spend more time with the work I would report on. What I got to witness and take part in on my trip back was wildly edifying.

The title and mantra of Clemson’s Art exhibit “Sourcing New Mentors,” suites the group of artists, all Clemson M.F.A. graduates who were at some point instructors and assistant professors for foundation studio classes.  This show consists of collages and installations by Marty Epp-Carter, paintings and drawing by Michael Marks, video and photography by Zane Logan, and mixed media drawings by Elizabeth Snipes. Theprogram coordinator, Eugene Ellenberg, also a Clemson Graduate, knows the various relationships among the body of work best, finding similarities in the “intersections of individual and societal engagement with natural arenas and or spiritual consequences.”

Given the space for two months, the artists were invited to continually add to and change the exhibit as the weeks persist.  On day one of my visit, I walked in to see the space lit up with lights and umbrellas for a photo shoot- Zane Logan was buzzing around, rearranging a still life and calculating the correct exposure; I had just missed Michael Marks whose over sized easel and paints were pulled out into the middle of the space, patient for his return. During my return the next day, Elizabeth Snipes responded to the space by recording the movement and negative space relationship of a gallery goer as they moved up and down and across the room, even inches away from where she sat cross-legged on the floor, pastels and acrylics scattered about her.  During this session, Marty Epp-Carter toted in a number of copper pipes which, once she set up camp, proceeded to sand and cut for an installation that would reflect the old building’s history and an interview with the original owner, which she listened to ardently with headphones as she labored away.  The artists were obviously excited about the freedom this kind of  transitory show embodied-morphing and developing as they each meditated on the space’s characteristics, history, and creative potential, toying with this muse and running with these inspirations.  Ellenberg described the success this invitation  has to offer, “their creative research overlaps investigations of past and present human and environmental experiences.”

Logan’s photographic work embodies artistic exploration.  From the documentation of the subtle sounds of nature to the captured thicket of forested landscape, the viewer is compelled to watch reverently silent as the creek trickles by, giving way to the artist’s slow crawling ripples as he wades through.  It is a wise saying, “you never step in the same river twice,” and once should visit Logan’s work as such.

For Epp-Carter, no material is left unchallenged: graph paper, textured rubbings, wood cuts prints, ink blots, cut outs, and colored pencil- he collage’s peculiarities own their propensity to intrigue.  The written captions under the works confound, construe, and yet still further expound the conceptual potential of the pieces, which are layered with imagery.

Marks has a true hand of an old master: the flawless blending of paint and rendered cracked surfaces emanate the quality of 14^th century frescos.  What looks like the work of Cimabue or Giotto undeniably stakes its claim on the contemporary front with its evocative and unsettling imagery.  Mark seems to have two lines of work displayed in the gallery. One visually references the biologically absurd- figures or perhaps macro views of body parts, wrapped and writhing, struggle to find anatomical context.  The body of work that seems to circa the pre-renaissance Madonna and Childs or the Victorian portraiture of children are either haunting or sullenly plaintive. Beautifully rendered but without faces, these figures are silences to nothing but muffles yet the cast shadows fall across these voids as if something there was.

Snipes hones in on the figure: it’s movement, its placement within a space, and its contemporary relevance in art despite its roots in art historical traditionalism.  What she calls “personal territories” is dynamic- competing place of vivid colors join or project from the irrepressibly ebullient contours that animate the subject drawn; each movement, gesture, shift and thought are recorded. Every mannerism and personality of line is employed as the final product heralds the artist’s gestural sketched style.

The exhibit’s reception will take place on November 1^st during Greenville’s First Friday art walk, a monthly event for which over 25 galleries and artist studios in downtown Grenville open their doors to the public for a night of music, food, and culture.