CLEMSON — Clemson University visual art 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 work 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 art in bloom.

Diminishing Connections (MFA)
March 25, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.,Lee Gallery

Our existence is experienced through the container of the body and how that relates to others and the world around us. M.J. King investigates this existence through one’s physical embodiment, studying surface of skin and relationships. Looking to the state of being or having been, the body becomes a vessel and a need to preserve that memory and connection emerges. Mary Cooke examines the relationship between humans and nature experienced within the domestic realm. Her labyrinthine amalgamation of manufactured nature and domestic signifiers leads viewers on a circuitous journey through the familiar but unnatural.

Artist Talks and Reception
March 25, 6–8 p.m.

On the Way/Far and Away (MFA)
March 28–April 1, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

This solo exhibition of MFA thesis work by En Iwamura features a walk-in installation of large-scale ceramic sculptures and drawings that explore interrelated themes of an epic journey. Layered elements of Japanese gardens and theater, as well as Manga and popular culture, combine to heighten the impression of a distant and vast unfamiliar world.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 1, 6-8 p.m.

Inside Out (BFA)
April 4–8, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

Daily we explore the balance of our inner and outward selves. We interact with our outer surroundings and come in touch with our inner presence. These relationships draw oneself in to explore the intimacy and harmony between interactions, nature and our own. Through drawing, painting, ceramics and photo we have chosen to research these relationships and what type of imprint they will make. Exhibiting artists include Laddie Neil, Alisha Petersen, Summer Stanley, Emily Tucker and Simone Wilson.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 8, 6–8 p.m.

Sempiternal Flesh (BFA)
April 11–15, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

Flesh is finite, lacking and conditional by nature, though it desires preservation. Human beings share a longing to know what might change if we experience our own flesh in a state of divine sempiternity. As we search for this existence, we encounter the barriers of our temporal flesh and natural tendencies to alleviate realities in perverse behaviors. We, as artists, intend to translate these ideologies to viewers in a way that is relatable, but not necessarily comforting. Allowing the viewer to concoct an individual conclusion is where beauty begins incubation. Exhibiting artists include Libby Davis, Jessie Helmrich, David Lamm, Lexi Mathis.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 15, 6–8 p.m.

Turn it Up to Eleven (BFA)
April 11–15, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Acorn Gallery

An alternative approach to storytelling, Turn it Up to Eleven combines narrative with a critique of contemporary culture. Through a nuanced cast of characters in a fictional setting, the collection offers voyeuristic insight into the grit and glamour of the music industry. A look into the world of these imaginary musicians reveals a lifestyle that has only three rules: Make it passionate. Make it heavy. Turn it up to 11. Work by Victoria Watkins.

Artist Talks, April 15, 6–6:30 p.m., Lee Gallery
Reception, April 15, 6:30–8 p.m., Acorn Gallery

Embrace.Exchange.Connect. (BFA)
April 18–22, 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Lee Gallery

As artists we are embracing the simplest aspects of life, exchanging ideas across cultures and communities, and connecting people through our work. By taking forgotten moments into our studio practices and elevating them, we are directing focus to the overlooked; embracing the mundane and bringing it to the forefront of the mind. Through an array of disciplines, we encompass these concepts and individually interpret them. Participating artists include Parker Barfield, Caitlin Gurley-Cullen, Rachel Rinker, Torrean Smith and Ella Wesly.

Artist Talks and Reception
April 22, 6–8 p.m.

The exhibition, artist talks and reception are free to the public because of the support given to the Center for Visual Arts.

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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.

CLEMSON — Clemson University and the city 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 4.

Now, in its sixth year, the always sold out Passport to the Arts continues to be an exciting and popular “Town and Gown” event. Join the Center for Visual Arts (CVA) – 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 year, City and University leaders have embraced this comprehensive event to highlight the incredible local talent housed in the small college town of Clemson, S.C. Currently ranked no. 1 in the nation for “Town Gown Relations” by the Princeton Review, Clemson has supported this event that is truly an exceptional evening showcasing 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. There will be an opportunity to view more than 200 works of art by more than 80 artists. 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 catering provided by Rick Erwin of Clemson at the Patrick Square Town Center venue.

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 participants 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, the Center for Visual Arts (CVA) – Lee Gallery at Clemson University and Charles K. Cheezem Education Center, home of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in the Patrick Square Town Center.

Passport the Arts is proud to announce a new partnership with United Methodist Church’s College Ministry, Clemson Wesley. Students of this ministry are offering childcare for children of parents attending the Clemson Passport to the Arts from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Rates are $20 per child with a cap at $50 per family. Contact Abby Barnett at barnet7@g.clemson.edu for more details. Funds received for this service will help support spring break missions trips to the Island of Eleuthera and Miami, Fl.

Only a few tickets for Passport to the Arts are $40 at clemsonpassport.org. The ticket price includes transportation, food, drink and entertainment. This event anticipates another sold out event this year so the public is encouraged to purchase their tickets as soon as possible.

For more information contact CVA Marketing and Public Relations Director, Meredith Mims McTigue, mmims@clemson.edu.

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Event partners and sponsors

The following businesses and individual sponsors made this event possible:

Carolina Real Estate, Charles K. Cheezem Education Center, Clemson Area Transit, Clemson Downs, Clemson Home, Clemson University, Clements Electrical, Inc., Edward Jones-Lee Woods and Jim Hill of Clemson, Greg Shelnutt and Family, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Patrick Square, PrintSmart, Rick Erwin’s of Clemson, Tom Winkopp Realtor/Developer, LLC, United Methodist Church’s College Ministry, Wells Fargo, The Willis Candela Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC., Wendys.

Clemson University in Clemson, SC, will present the Clemson University Department of Art Faculty Exhibit, featuring works by the Clemson University faculty, Oct. 5 – Nov. 12. Guests are invited to interact with the exhibiting artists and hear about the work during the Artist Talk to take place Oct. 8, at 2:30 p.m. and Oct. 28, at 11 a.m. An exhibit reception will be held on Oct. 8, 6–8pm in the Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery, 1–101 Lee Hall.

The participating artists include: printmaker Todd Anderson, sculptor David Detrich, digital media artist David Donar, sculptor Joey Manson, painter Todd McDonald, digital media artist Christina Nguyen Hung, sculptor Greg Shelnutt, functional ceramicist Denise Woodward-Detrich, photographer Anderson Wrangle, drawer Kathleen Thum, and sculptural ceramicist Valerie Zimany.

Relationships dominate our human experience. These experiences shape us into who we are as individuals and how we interact with the rest of our environment as a society. This existence between ourselves and our environment is a constant balancing act of impacting and being impacted by the vast conglomeration of experiences.

Having the faculty’s work accessible in the gallery adds a new dimension to the teaching environment at Clemson University, allowing students and visitors to see into the thoughts of the artists. In this exhibition, the work prompts questions to the viewer of human engagement in natural, societal, and personal environments.

The work of David Donar, Kathleen Thum, Todd Anderson, and Joey Manson turn our view outward into the natural world. David Donar uses a mixture of traditional and new media to explore the landscape before human influence. In his film, he looks at Lake Ouentironk, also known as Lake Simcoe, a fresh water lake north of Toronto, Ontario. Through the use of watercolor painting he creates “vibrant and moving picture to capture the various seasons as well as the fluid changes of water, land, and sky” to render for the viewer an area as it was over four-hundred years ago.

Interested in the human species’ relationship to the earth, Kathleen Thum examines complex relationships between nature and humans through the use of intricate line. The tubules are given a life of their own as she examines how they might be affected by pressure, gravity, fluids, and gases. In her current work, she specifically examines the relationship a species has with its environment, and how environmental changes cause species to flourish or perish. In the case of the relationship humans have with Earth’s natural resources, she asks: “Are we, as a human species, at our maximum Carrying Capacity in regards to the earth’s natural resources?”

Through the work of Todd Anderson, the viewer is challenged to make a connection between themselves as part of the human population and the greater environment. Where Thum studies natural resources, Anderson makes a study of human impact on the environment by documenting the retreating glaciers of Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in Alberta, Canada and Montana, US. Over the course of his documentation he has seen 25 glaciers reduced to 18 since 2010. Expected to disappear by 2020, Anderson seeks to use his field data of sketches, watercolors, and photographs to create original fine art woodblock prints. He hopes The Last Glacier “will serve as a historical record of this momentous time of change within the park and offer unique insights into the larger issue of climate change”.

Joey Manson works with industrial materials to make large scale sculptures that embody organic qualities. These abstracted representations of our present environments, technological and natural, become “an exploration of our built, social, and environmental constructs”, says Manson.

Following is an examination of our social environment by Valerie Zimany, Greg Shelnutt, Anderson Wrangle, and David Detrich. With the use of sculpture and ceramics, they pull apart and clash together cultural elements.

Valerie Zimany’s bright colors and imagery clash on the softer surfaces of her ceramic sculptures, where she uses these “forced relationships” to “question compatibility.” After graduating with a BFA from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, Zimany went on to study at Kanazawa College of Art as a “Fellow” in Kanazawa, Japan. With a foot in these two backgrounds, Zimany uses her work to study how these cultures intersect. “In my current work,” she says, “I visually examine complex relationships between the East and West, nature and technology, and intimate and public worlds.”

The work of Greg Shelnutt has a narrative quality inviting the viewer to “question accepted notions about culture.” His use of materials such as metal and wood give a rustic quality and depth to his work. The storytelling these objects provide shifts between subtlety or forwardness. He couples recognizable objects in American culture with strong phrases, sparking conversation with his viewers. “As an academic artist living in South Carolina,” he says, “–I feel that part of my obligation to the profession is to engage with the broad public.”

Similarly, Anderson Wrangle uses black and white photography to document a moment that will forever impact our history.

David Detrich describes what drives his work as “paradoxical tensions that are created when oppositions find a common ground.” Using color wheels and swatch groups, he creates an interesting narrative of color and poetry. Detrich asks, “How is aesthetic taste derived?” Is it experienced intuitively or learned by an external force? Contrasting commercial design with high art practices, the viewer is invited to discover what drives their taste.

Todd McDonald, Denise WoodwardDetrich, and Christina Nguyen-Hung turn the viewers attention from the outside world of nature and culture, and into the more intimate realm of home and self.

Through his vibrant paintings, Todd McDonald explores how humans perceive their environment and how this perception has evolved to include digital media as a lens. He catalogues the change in perception through painting, one of the original lenses for which humans recorded their environment. McDonald says, “As methods of image making evolve we are confronted with new visual qualities that affect the way we see and consequently create models of ‘our world’.”

Fascinated with the idea of utility, Denise Woodward-Detrich investigates the interaction between functional objects and our day-to-day activities. In a study of balance, her beautifully glazed ceramics take on interesting shapes as they equally embody functional, visual, and tactile intrigue.

Christina Nguyen-Hung zooms the scope of her study to microscopic levels. As an interdisciplinary artist who combines electronic and biological media, she is interested in thinking about “material relationships between the individual (human body) and its environment in new ways.” To explore these relationships, Nguyen-Hung uses a common chicken egg and its mutable properties to study how common household items can transform the egg through what she describes as “little kitchen science.”

Lee Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

The exhibition, artist talks and reception are free to the public because of the generous support given to the Center for Visual Arts.

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About 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.

CLEMSON — A Clemson alumna’s artworks will be presented by the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts in the lobby of the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts this fall, from Tuesday, Sept. 8, through Dec. 4.

The seeds of Hilary Siber’s love for art and landscape were planted early. As a child in Ohio, Siber remembers drawing trees and solving jigsaw puzzles. Flash-forward several years, and she found herself exercising those same artistic muscles pursuing a degree in architectural design at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

“I was fortunate enough to work in the design field for several years after graduation, but visual problem-solving soon became a puzzle that pulled me toward creating fine art,” she said. “I am forever challenged by the visual mode of communication. It seems to elude language while simultaneously creating a new one.”

She enrolled in Clemson’s Master of Fine Arts program in the art department. There, she “began to understand that creating paintings is two-fold: I am putting a puzzle together while presenting one to my viewers.”

Those artistic puzzles will be on display with her new exhibition, “Shifting Ground.”

Shifting Ground opens on the heels of Siber’s thesis exhibition, which, she said, “reflected on the grief and emotion of the death of my father.”

In contrast, this oil-on-canvas collection focuses on “universal landscapes that suggest unknown outcomes, unstable grounds and shifting panoramas.” Her landscapes are not literal, but rather subjective interpretations that she believes “model accurate representations of the rational and irrational landscapes of our emotions, experiences and intellect.”

Siber’s work has been exhibited both regionally and internationally: at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston; the Nelson Gallery in in Lexington, Virginia; and the Art Museum of Nanjing University in China, along with several other places in South Carolina and North Carolina.

Susan Kaplar, business manager at the Brooks Center and current Bachelor of Fine Arts student has admired Siber’s work for awhile.

She and Denise Woodward-Detrich, director of the Lee Gallery at Clemson, approached Siber several months ago with the idea of a solo exhibition in the Brooks Center lobby.

“We’ve seen her style and we thought anything she does will be a good fit for our audience,” Kaplar said. The exhibition includes works created since January, including two pieces originally from her master’s thesis exhibition and now on loan from private collections.

When patrons attend the exhibition, Kaplar hopes it will be a time for deep self-reflection.

“I hope it will encourage people to look within themselves, to engage in inner contemplation.”

Siber’s wish is that people see an opportunity to consider both the here-and-now and the everlasting.

“I hope that viewing these paintings conjures up a consideration for the temporal,” she said. “Perhaps by contemplating our finitude and flux, we are more apt to consider what is infinite and never-changing.”

Shifting Ground is open from 1 to 5 p.m. on weekdays and before all Brooks Center performances. An artist talk will be held before the 7:30 p.m. performance of the National Dance Company of Siberia at 6 p.m. Oct. 29, followed by a reception at 6:30 p.m.

Through the workshop, attendees will learn how to write praise poetry as a way to reflect on their sense of place and how their identities have been shaped by the communities and neighborhoods in which they live.

Many of the poems will be recorded and turned into spoken word to play in the gallery space during First Fridays and exhibition viewing hours.

The “West Greenville in Print” exhibition showcases the images created in collaborative printmaking workshops given by The Printshop. Prints displayed are the creation of local residents and students participating in summer camp students at Legacy Charter School, the Center for Educational Equity and the Mill Village Farms.

Images and poems can be viewed until Aug. 28 in the Center for Visual Arts-Greenville satellite facility in the Village of West Greenville, 1278 Pendleton St. The center is open 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays.

The workshops and exhibit are free and open to the public because of donations from supporters and gifts given by Richard and Gwen Heusel, the Community Foundation of Greenville and The Graham Foundation.

For more information regarding the exhibits at the Clemson University Center for Visual Arts-Greenville (CVA-G), contact Kara Blanken Soper at kblank2@clemson.edu.

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Glenis Redmond
Glenis Redmond lives in Charlotte and Greenville. She travels all over the state and the country as a road poet with two posts as the poet-in-residence at The Peace Center for the Performing Arts and at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Jersey This year she served as the mentor poet for the National Student Poets Program. She prepared student poets to read at the Library of Congress, the Department of Education and for First Lady Michelle Obama at The White House. Redmond is a Cave Canem Fellow, a North Carolina Literary Fellowship Recipient and a Kennedy Center Teaching Artist.

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 Center for Visual Arts-Greenville (CVA-G) 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, visit clemson.edu/cva.

Wait. What? That’s right, Skittles. Clemson’s innovative STEAM exhibits were educational and inspiring, but most of all, fun. And many folks thought so. Festival organizers estimate more than 75,000 people visited the tent during the three-day event. Kids of all ages were making art in the name of science, or science in the name of the art, depending on your point of view. STEAM is a national trend to fuse the arts with  STEM, which stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

At the festival’s midpoint, two Clemson deans announced the formation of a new Clemson STEAM Network. Charged with coordinating and facilitating STEAM initiatives at the University, the  new network is already thriving, with a diverse group of faculty, staff members and students and more on the way.

“When we circulated the initial call to see if anyone at Clemson was interested in serving on a collaborative STEAM network, the response was immediate and overwhelming,” said Richard Goodstein, dean of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities. “And with Artisphere as our launch pad, interest has blossomed in the community as well.”

Artisphere is nationally ranked as one of the top arts festivals in the United States and has proven to be a great place for Clemson to connect with the community. Throughout the three-day event, parents and educators reached out to the University repeatedly with ideas and suggestions and questions about STEAM initiatives.

“How can we get involved?” was the refrain for three packed days.

“It’s gratifying when we hit the mark so well and when we connect with each other in such a meaningful way,” said Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College of Engineering and Science. “I have no doubt that we are on the horizon of seeing some truly unique and inventive collaborations at Clemson University.”

How you can get involved:

Contact Alexa Woodward woodwa6@clemson.edu or Shannon Robert shanrob@clemson.edu for partnership opportunities or to be added to the STEAM Network mailing list.

Read more about the recent STEAM exhibits here:

http://www.clemson.edu/steam/

View photos from Artisphere 2015:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clemsonuniversity/sets/72157649779368143/

GREENVILLE — The arts festival that begins its 11th year this weekend has always filled downtown Greenville with the work of painters and sculptors, but something not human will join the crowd on Main Street this year: robots.

Clemson University’s exhibit at Artisphere will include two types of robots that draw, several activities and an announcement about a new partnership that could change how students learn at the university and beyond.

Visitors also will be able to see what they can build with common items, such as paper clips and cardboard tubes. Participants then will add their inventions to one continuously changing sculpture.

Clemson’s exhibit will be at Main and Broad streets and will be open regular festival hours May 8-10. All activities are free and open to the public.

The exhibit is part of an effort at Clemson and across the nation to ensure that the arts remain an important part of education as a growing number of students gravitate to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

In the exhibit’s main event, two university deans will announce the launch of the Clemson University STEAM network.

As part of the network, 32 faculty and staff members are coming together to find new ways of adding an “A” for the arts into the STEM mix.

It could mean new classes and study-abroad opportunities for Clemson students and programs that extend into the K-12 system. Some of those programs could involve the activities that Clemson will have at Artisphere.

Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College of Engineering and Science, said that the arts can help inspire creativity and recruit a more diverse mix of students to engineering and the sciences.

“The intersection of art and STEM has a long history,” he said. “The Duomo cathedral in Florence, Italy, was so big and so important it helped start a whole new era of art and construction engineering. Doors created by Lorenzo Ghiberti represent great work of art that revolutionized metalwork.

“Likewise, Taj Mahal is considered both an artistic splendor and a civil engineering jewel.”

Rick Goodstein, dean of the College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities, said that the arts help students develop empathy and creative thought.

“The arts not only help individuals lead richer, more well-rounded lives but also give them a competitive advantage,” he said. “Good leaders understand empathy, and creativity is crucial to innovation.

“The STEAM Network is an example of the creative collaboration between different areas of the university that is crucial to the success of our students, the university and the nation.”

Also at Clemson’s exhibit, the public can:

• Code “Scribbler Robots” to draw in an elevated sandbox
• Perform dance steps in real-life and then program an animated character to do the same
• Use audio files and a cell phone to draw with a robot
• See how light wavelengths affect pigment on fabric, M&M’s and other items
• Create a design with a web-based “morphing tool,” then print it to take home
• Admire the inspiring and powerful pictures that show science as art
• Learn about the Indigo Pine home students are creating from interlocking plywood
• Hear a sculptor describe how math and science are used to create 3D art
• Watch artists demonstrate printmaking and ceramic techniques used to create functional and sculptural art

“We’re glad to have Clemson’s STEAM exhibit back for another year of festival programming,” said Kerry Murphy, Artisphere’s executive director.

“Last year, it enhanced the patron experience by offering something that’s both innovative and unique. I’m looking forward to seeing the new slate of activities.”

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Fast-forward seven months. Kaplar, who first developed an affinity for visual art in college, is now enrolled at Clemson as an art major while remaining the Brooks Center’s business manager. She credits Tempos with giving her a “nudge” to pursue her degree, and she has joined with Woodward-Detrich once again on a new exhibit: “Echoes: Decoding the Shape of Future Recollections.”

The new exhibition features abstract art from different artists and eras.

“Initially it was Denise and I deciding on what type of exhibit to have for fall semester,” Kaplar said. “Jackie Kuntz was Denise’s graduate student assistant, and so Denise assigned her the task of researching the available artwork from the Clemson Advancement Foundation, which is held in storage within Lee Hall. I also mentioned that Brooks Center Coordinator Sarah Edison expressed an interest in being involved with the project.” The exhibit’s mission is to prepare young children for encounters with abstract art later in their lives, and to help them think imaginatively and critically about what they see.

The title “Echoes” stemmed from the fact that the artwork spans four decades but remains relevant: Echoes of past generations of artists still speak to new generations of viewers.

“We want children to be able to make sense of and enjoy abstract art when they visit art galleries as adults,” Kaplar says, “which is why the subtitle is Decoding the Shape of Future Recollections. We want them to be able to engage with this genre instead of automatically saying, ‘I don’t get this.’”

The exhibit, now on display in the lobby, is the result of months of planning. Work began in July, when Kaplar and Woodward-Detrich started sifting through abstract work in the Foundation’s collection. They came across work that was decades old and had been in storage for years. South Carolina artists such as John O’Neil, Edward Yaghjian, Carl Blair, and David Freeman are represented here, as well as two artists, Bill Seitz and Robert Hunter, who were art professors at Clemson University.

The most difficult part was finding a common theme from the available artwork, Kaplar said. After she and Woodward-Detrich earmarked around 40 pieces, they brought in Kuntz to help whittle down that figure to between 15 and 20, and shared their ideas with each other through Powerpoint. Sarah Edison was invited to the next meeting as the group members discussed themes, pieces that really stuck with them, and possible activities. They met at Lee Hall to visually arrange the art and eliminate some due to condition, size, and other factors. The remaining works were transported to the Brooks Center Lobby, where space constraints reduced the exhibit’s number to 11.

Each piece was selected based on the overall theme of shapes. “While abstract art can take many forms,” Kaplar said, “we wanted to choose pieces that were conducive to teaching kids the basic elements of abstraction.”

The exhibit is organized from most literal to most abstract. Viewers begin with a painting in which they may most readily identify physical objects (Supermarket by Ben Shahn) to a work that requires the most interpretation of the artist’s intent (Sophie’s Parlor by David Freeman).

There have been two children’s activities in conjunction with the exhibit so far. One was an art creation exercise using shapes to build original works of abstract art. The other was a movement exercise, conducted under the direction of theatre assistant professor Kerrie Seymour and her acting class. They led children who attended a Bill and Donna Eskridge Tri-ART Series event in a movement-based exploration of the art pieces using the children’s own interpretations of the work.

“Viewpoints,” the name of the method Seymour used in the activities, “is a physical approach to theatre and staging,” she said. “So much of what I teach in my acting classes is a more inside-out or psychological approach, examining the objectives, needs, thoughts, history and relationships of a character.”

Therefore, the “physical approach” to theater often does not receive as much class time. This activity was a perfect opportunity for her students to explore physicality.

“I find that when you start to play around with ‘Viewpoints’ and other physical entryways into the work, it does open up a new window of creativity and freedom for many actors. Suddenly, the work can go beyond words and that can really allow many actors to play in a new way.  It forces them out of their literal minds and pushes them to explore uncharted territory.”

Not only is this beneficial for college theater students, but for young students as well. Seymour believes “Viewpoints” is a valuable way to respond theatrically to artwork “because so much of the experience of looking at art, for me at least, calls up so many of the viewpoints: spatial relationship, shape, repetition. Sometimes you look at a piece of art and it just seems still, other times a still image can give the sensation of movement, and suddenly you are thinking about the concept of tempo, whether you know it or not.”

Seymour and her students will reconvene on 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14, the lobby for more movement work.

“I find that both my students and the children that have responded to the art in the Brooks Lobby have enjoyed the liberty of creating with fearlessness, and have experienced that wonderful moment of giving yourself permission to play and move and respond,” she says. “When work can go beyond words, I think many of us are loosed from that fear of not ‘saying the right answer.’ Suddenly you are just working with an organic response within your body, and how can that sort of response be wrong?  It just can’t.”

Also occurring this month is an activity hatched by Brooks Center Coordinator Sarah Edison. Through Monday, Dec. 1, young students may participate in an exciting activity called “Art Detective” during Box Office hours (Monday through Friday; 1 to 5 p.m.), and before and after Tri-ART morning performances in the Brooks Center Lobby.

The idea for the activity came to Edison while deciding on a title for the exhibit. “We were talking about the title and the word ‘decoding’ came up,” she said. “I thought about the theme of educating kids, and said, ‘Well, who decodes things?’ I also remembered pretending to be a spy or detective when I was younger and thought this would be a fun concept!”

Students’ mission, should they choose to accept it, is to check out book bags from the Box Office containing supplies for various activities listed on a “Secret Mission” objectives sheet. Among these objectives are drawing and writing assignments in response to the displayed artwork.

“We often underestimate children as an audience for any type of art,” Edison says. “The kids are so creative. They come up with 50 different responses to the works. We kind of lose that as we get older, so I hope the whole family, not just children, finds different ways of looking at art.”

Kaplar has been overwhelmed by the positive response from patrons, employees, children, parents, and students. “I’m pleased we have another successful exhibit in the Brooks Center Lobby,” she said.

List of pieces/artists on display:

• “Supermarket” by Ben Shahn
• “Landshark” by Antoine Predock
• “Master Cleaners” by Edward Yaghjan
• “Summer Landscape II” by A. Stanick
• “Summer” by Walter Hollis Stevens
• “Signs of the Treegarth of Orthanc” by John O’Neil
• “The Secret of a Guilty Cloud” by Bill Seitz
• “Metamorphosis De Crigo” by Manley
• “Unknown” by Robert Hunter
• “Barron Briar II” by Carl Blair
• “Sophie’s Parlor” by David Freeman