CLEMSON — The ceramics studio in the department of art at Clemson University will hold the annual Fall Ceramics Bowl Sale from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16, in the hallway in front of the Lee Gallery in Lee Hall.

This popular annual sale is a fundraiser that supports student travel to the upcoming National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference as well as other professional activities that help further student research and collaboration.

A selection of bowls and other functional works by ceramics undergraduate and graduate students and faculty will be available in a variety of price points. The Clemson Ceramics Association’s homemade soup will be served free with the purchase of a bowl between noon and 1 p.m. The annual Spring Ceramic Sale will be held April 26, 2017.

For additional information, contact the department of art’s associate professor of ceramics, Valerie Zimany, vzimany@clemson.edu.

CLEMSON – “Solastalgia,” an exhibition by Clemson University Master of Fine Arts candidates Deighton Abrams and Haley Floyd opened this week and will run until Nov. 11 at the Center for Visual Arts-Lee Gallery. The public is invited to a reception with artist talks beginning at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11.

Through the sculptural work of ceramist Abrams and photographs by Floyd, “Solastalgia” explores the physical, psychological and emotional relationship between the environment and human identity. Connected to the concepts of solace and desolation, solastalgia is used by environmental philosophers to describe the human distress associated with environmental sickness regarding home. Both artists reflect on this relationship through their personal experiences of home.

This final research thesis exhibit showcases a culmination of research in which students go through a series of critiques as master’s candidates helping build a body of work of the students’ choosing.

The Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery at Clemson University will be open for this exhibit 9 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays. It is located in 1-101 Lee Hall, 323 Fernow St. The exhibition, artist talks and reception are free to the public because of the generous support given to the Center for Visual Arts. For more information about exhibitions in the Lee Gallery, as well as other Center for Visual Arts galleries and venues, visit www.clemson.edu/cva.

“Stories on My Back,” an installation by Clemson Master of Fine Arts (MFA) alumnus Richard Alexander Lou, ’86 will open the 2016-17 season in the Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery on Aug. 22 and run until Oct. 13.  On Friday, Sept. 23 at 5:30 p.m., the artist will give an artist talk about his work with a reception to follow in the gallery.

Lou was born and grew up in San Diego, CA with a biracial family, which was spiritually and intellectually guided by an anti-colonialist Chinese father and a culturally affirming Mexicana mother. After earning his bachelor’s degree in San Diego, CA, Lou continued his education at Clemson University, citing a handwritten note from the Chair of the Department of Art, a tradition that is still practiced today, as the decisive factor that led him to choose Clemson out of almost one hundred potential graduate schools. Lou has exhibited internationally and has over 30 years’ experience teaching in higher education, 20 years as an arts administrator most recently serving as Chair of the Department of Art at University of Memphis in Memphis, TN.

He has been invited back to campus to showcase his traveling multimedia installation that combines photography, found objects and sound walls of tamale husks. The artist writes, “As a contemporary image-maker I am interested in collecting dissonant ideas and narratives, allowing them to bump into each other, to coax new meanings and possibilities that dismantle the hierarchy of images. The work serves as an ideological, social, political and cultural matrix from which I understand my place in this world and to make a simple marking of the cultural shifts of my community.”

“Stories on My Back” art installation was featured in the recently released book, The Routledge Companion to Latina/o Popular Culture by Guisela Latorre, PhD, as a reference to the increasing proliferation of Lantina/o culture in modern American popular culture.

This innovative art collaboration with Richard A. Lou, ’86 is part of the Center for Visual Art’s commitment to support the 2020 ClemsonForward strategic plan to provide educational activities to attract and retain outstanding students by “providing an exceptional educational experience grounded in engagement.” In addition, Richard collaborated with four other artists, three of whom are Clemson University alumni: Chere Labbe Doiron, Jo Carol Mitchell-Rogers ’87, Robert Spencer ’86 and Chris Wallace ’86.

The Center for Visual Arts-Lee Gallery at Clemson University 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. The exhibition, artist talks and reception are free to the public because of the generous support given to the Center for Visual Arts. For more information about exhibitions in the Lee Gallery, as well as other Center for Visual Arts galleries and venues, visit www.clemson.edu/cva.

Participating artists were charged to create Artist’s Trading Cards, which are miniature works of art about the same size as contemporary baseball trading cards. The CVA offered workshops and guidance to assist art students from the different schools develop original works of art.

The exhibit was unveiled at a reception at Fluor Field’s 500 Club sponsored by the Greenville Drive. The occasion marks the second Out of the Park event the baseball organization has hosted helping to bring together arts and athletics. This type of engagement is part of the Drive’s unique approach to community outreach, contributing to the cultural richness of the Upstate.

The first Out of the Park event highlighted the juried Sense of Place exhibit. The showcase was created by the first grant received by the CVA from SCAC. Art photographers were invited to create a collection of works using environmental portraiture or storytelling. The experience helped to convey and bring together a significant exhibit meant to honor its residents and surrounding community of the Village of West Greenville. Sense of Place is part of the CVA’s permanent art collection and will be on display in Sikes Hall later this summer.

The “Out of the Park 2: Bases Loaded” exhibit was juried and awards will be presented at a special reception held in the Center for Visual Arts – Lee Gallery at Clemson University at 6 p.m. today. Participating artists from the department of art at Clemson University, Daniel High School, the Fine Arts Center of Greenville, Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Greenville Senior High School, Legacy Charter School and the University of South Carolina Upstate, as well as family, friends and the public are encouraged to attend.

After the artists’ reception is held  the “Out of the Park 2: Bases Loaded” exhibit will spend some time on display at the CVA-Greenville’s new location on the fifth floor of Greenville ONE building thanks in part to the partnership with the Clemson MBA Program and additional on campus gallery and art showcased locations managed by the CVA.

This innovative art collaboration is part of the CVA’s commitment to support the institutions 2020 ClemsonForward strategic plan to provide educational activities that strengthen recruitment efforts for the Art Department in efforts to attract and retain outstanding students by “providing an exceptional educational experience grounded in engagement.”

Photos from the “Out of the Park 2: Bases Loaded” reception are posted online and click here for video.

Exhibitions, artist talks and receptions are free to the public thanks in part to the generous support given to the Center for Visual Arts. To belong to the Friends of the Center for Visual Arts, click here.

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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 Center for Visual Arts-Greenville is a satellite gallery space located on the fifth floor of Greenville ONE building at One Main Street, Greenville, SC. The Center for Visual Arts at Clemson University, 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.

South Carolina Arts Commission
The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, SC, the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com.

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.