Sumter Artists’ Guild Show
Sumter Artists’ Guild Show
Thursday, April 28th - July 1st
BY IVY MOORE
The 2011 Sumter Artists' Guild Show offers the opportunity to view the work of local artists who work in all media; and those attending the opening reception at the Sumter County Gallery of Art Thursday will also be able to meet many of the artists.
"Sumter is home to many talented artists, and has a large, active artists' guild," said Karen Watson, director of the gallery, adding that this show offers them the opportunity to "strut their stuff."
Comprising both amateur and professional artists, the guild has been active since its founding in 1966 by some of Sumter's premiere artists of that time.
In 1965, eight artists met at the home of Eva Kirven: Kirven, McCollum, Lad Chandler, Sam Fiorini, Robert S. Jones, Chapman J. "Jimmy" Milling Jr., Bill Sakovitch and Mildred White. This nucleus began the Sumter Artists' Guild on June 28, 1966, meeting with approximately 30 charter members in the C&S Bank building on Liberty Street. According to their temporary by-laws, its purpose was "to promote, support and foster interest in art and to create an opportunity for our community of artists to engage in cooperative artistic enterprises (and to) be further active in supporting a variety of activities associated with art education, art instruction and art appreciation in our community."
That mission has continued unabated since that time.
On Aug. 22-26, 1966, the guild held its first exhibition in the basement of the Sumter County Courthouse. Throughout the first three years, its membership grew to 79, the guild sponsored a spring sidewalk art show, which later was included in the Iris Festival at Swan Lake-Iris Gardens, art exhibits in junior and senior high schools and art classes taught in the old YMCA building.
The guild was instrumental in founding the Sumter County Gallery of Art, after members had sponsored exhibitions at several locations around town. When artist Elizabeth White died, her house on North Main Street was transformed into an art gallery, opening in 1979. The Sumter Artists' Guild meets at the new gallery in the Sumter County Cultural Center on the second Wednesday of each month, and its members remain active in gallery activities - many of them can be found teaching classes in the Summer Art Camp.
Watson noted that "Guild members working in visual arts or craft use a variety of media: oils, watermedia, sculpture, mixed media, natural material such as gourds, fiber arts and ceramics. Since 2009 and continuing with 2010 Guild President, Susan Allen and incoming 2011 president Rhonda Simons, the Sumter Artists' Guild made several innovative changes including an electronic newsletter, an updated website, a Sumter Artists' Guild Face Book page and an expanded schedule of fun events and interesting meetings that include a variety of speakers, demonstrations by artists and 'show and tell' where guild members bring their pieces in for comments and critique."
In addition, she said, "The Guild, a close knit but welcoming group, gets together and socializes at guild events such as picnics and holiday parties where the conversation inevitably turns to art."
The Sumter Artists' Guild also participates in several community events including The Iris Festival, The Heart of Sumter's "Art in the Park" each fall in Memorial Park (Oct. 15 this year), and "Sip and Stroll," the kickoff event of WineFest, on Nov. 4 in downtown Sumter.
"The 2011 Sumter Artists Guild Show, like last year's, is on track to be a wonderful show as many 'new' artists are joining the guild," Watson said. "This influx of work by new artists, coupled with the high quality work of longtime guild artists results in a fresh and diverse Sumter Artists' Guild Show - a treat for art lovers in Sumter and surrounding areas."
Each artist can enter up to three pieces in the guild show, which is a "judged" show, not a juried show, in which only a portion of those works entered are accepted for display, so every piece of artwork entered will be displayed. The Sumter Artists' Guild show also offers patrons the opportunity to purchase high quality art at reasonable prices.
Guild meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month, September through May at 7 p.m., upstairs at the Sumter County Gallery of Art. For more information visit the guild's website www.sumterartistsguild.org.
The judge for the 2011 show is Jeffrey Day. Day is an arts writer and curator and has written about the arts for more than 20 years. For most of that time he was the primary arts writer for The State, the largest newspaper in South Carolina. In that position he covered museums, galleries and arts centers around the state, as well as some performing arts. He was a National Arts Journalism Fellow at Columbia University and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, also at Columbia. His work has been published in newspapers and magazines around the world, including the Baltimore Sun and Ceramics: Art + Perception. Day founded Carolina Culture, devoted to covering the arts in South Carolina, was associate editor of undefined magazine in Columbia, and was the publicity coordinator for the University of South Carolina Arts Institute. He recently curated the large-scale show "Install It" in conjunction with Artista Vista in Columbia this past April that included 10 installation and performance artists.
The Sumter Artists' Guild Show will open with a 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday reception and awards ceremony at the Sumter County Gallery of Art. Admission is free for gallery members, $5 for others. At all other times admission is free. The show can be seen through Aug. 26.
GENERAL GALLERY INFORMATION
Location: 200 Hasel St., Sumter, SC 29150 (adjacent to Patriot Hall).
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday 1:30 – 5:00 pm. Closed Mondays and major holidays
CONTACTS AND INFORMATION:
Frank McCauley, Curator, Sumter County Gallery of Art, 803.775.0543, or Frank@sumtergallery.org
Karen Watson, Executive Director, Sumter County Gallery of Art, 803.775.0543, or scgadirector@gmail.com