Sumter County Gallery of Art Presents
Steve Johnson: Animus and Denise L. Greer: Detours & Destinations
Thursday, April 26th (opening reception from 5:30-7:30 pm) through July 6th, 2012
Steve Johnson: Animus
The Sumter County Gallery of Art is proud to present the mixed media works of Steve Johnson. The body of work presented in Animus plays with the social disparity between those with the power of flight and those who are grounded. Johnson has been captivated by the concept of flight since childhood, spending his time capturing, observing, and releasing birds much like a Darwinian naturalist. This detailed, observational approach and curiosity formed the foundation of Johnson's delicate, yet energetic, style of draftsmanship. His grand social narrative unfolds amongst an anthropomorphic cast of chickadees and rats, undaunted in all of their beauty and malice.
Frank McCauley, Curator at the Sumter County Gallery of Art observes: “If you’ve ever gone down to Swan Lake with some bread, then you might have experienced first hand the sense of the competitive tension present in Steve Johnson’s work. I was first taken by Steve’s work back in 2009 when he had started teaching at the College of Charleston and I had recently relocated to Sumter. These large-scale, dark, graphite & gesso pieces, showed writhing gaggles of geese in an almost Dante-esque lake environment. Steve’s new body of work has moved from monumental canvases to the more intimately scaled birch panels. I think viewers will enjoy discovering all the fine details and a few surprises in these beautiful pieces.”
Johnson was born and raised in Mesa, AZ, and moved to San Francisco in 1996. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in printmaking and painting in 2003 and received an MFA in painting and drawing from Arizona State University in 2008. Johnson was invited as a Master Printmaker artist in residence at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in NYC in 2010. Recently Johnson has had solo exhibitions at 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco, CA, Blackburn 20/20 in New York City, and the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art in Charleston, SC. Johnson is currently an Assistant Professor of Drawing at the College of Charleston.
Steve Johnson's studio practice is based in drawing and painting; he works primarily in gray scale utilizing the warm and cool tones of wood panels, graphite, gesso, and paint. Johnson's work explores the concept of the mock-heroic and the absurdity of everyday life; his graphic sensibility and strong marks take these themes to a monumental scale personifying emotional conflicts in the form of chickadees, rats, and hummingbirds.
Johnson’s Artist Statement
"One of my objectives as an artist is to bridge conflicting views by revealing shared concerns and common ground. My work deals with the basic desire to find and maintain security, whether in a home, job, or relationship in a forever shifting landscape. These works navigate the gray areas and middle grounds inhabited by animals with competing interests."
Denise L. Greer: Detours & Destinations
The Sumter County Gallery of Art is also excited to present an exhibition of work by local artist Denise L. Greer.
Greer was born in Teaneck, New Jersey and began making art at an early age. In 2000 Greer decided to get serious about her art. After retiring from a 30-year career in the telecommunications industry, Denise took a beginner’s watercolor class. From watercolors she expanded her repertoire to include oils, acrylic, pastels, collage and her specialty, mixed media. Greer immediately began winning awards in her native New Jersey. She relocated to South Carolina in January 2005 and continued making art and winning awards. She has been on a “streak” for the past two years winning many major awards throughout the state including three consecutive “First Place” awards in the Miniature Show, Florence Museum, 2009, 2010, 2011, Second Place, SC Watermedia Society Show, 2010, Best in Show, Trenholm Artists’ Guild, Columbia, 2011, Best in Show, North Charleston Art Fest, 2011, and Honorable Mention, Piccolo Spoleto, 2011. She is also an experienced commercial air brush/restoration artist. Greer is (still) settling into her home in southern Kershaw County with her husband Mike and three cats.
Tom Starland, Editor and Publisher of “Carolina Arts” had this to say about Denise L. Greer, after “discovering” her on a trip to the North Charleston Arts Festival in May 2011: “In viewing the fine art show we started to notice that there was a new sheriff in town- so to speak – named Denise L. Greer. She had won the Best of Show award for a mixed media work, the First Place award for another of her works in the mixed media category, and First Place in the watercolor category. Who was this new queen? And, to top it off she was doing abstracts – my favorite kind of art. So, who is this Denise L. Greer? I found the folks who had the check in sheets for the various competitions and when we located Greer’s entry form in the first category – her address was left blank. But, before I left the convention center, I went and looked on the back of one of her works and saw that the tag showed she was from Rembert, SC. When I got home I did a Google search and was I surprised what I found there. This artist was on fire in competitions all over South Carolina. She won First Place in the 22nd Annual Friends of the Florence Museum Miniature Art Competition; Best in Show at the latest Trenholm Artist Guild show at HoFP Art Gallery in Columbia; and she won the second top award at the SC Watermedia Society’s annual show last year in Rock Hill. Juried competitions around SC – keep a look out for Denise L. Greer!”
Karen Watson, Director of the Sumter County Gallery of Art first became aware of Denise L. Greer in 2005 when she entered her first Sumter Artists’ Guild show. Watson was impressed with her talent and humor apparent in her collage compositions - Greer had yet to move into abstracts. Greer’s entries into the Guild show every year since have been one of the high points of the show, winning Honorable Mention in both 2010 and 2011. Watson states, “The thing I most appreciate about Denise besides her artistic talent is that, although she is very serious about her art, she does not take herself too seriously and she has fun making art and titling her pieces. She has such enthusiasm and a rigorous artistic mind and eye – always exploring new ideas and techniques.”
Greer states: As a mixed media artist I tend to see the similarities of the various media instead of the differences. Mixed media is like a family; everyone has to work together and get along. Oils is the “problem child” because it does not interact well with water based media.
Both artists will be in attendance at the opening reception.
RELATED PROGRAMS AND EVENTS
Opening Reception
Thursday, April 26, 2012, 5:30-7:30 pm
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:
Karen Watson, Executive Director, Sumter County Gallery of Art, 803.775.0543, or director@sumtergallery.com
Sumter Gallery of Art website: www.sumtergallery.org
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON STEVE JOHNSON, visit his website:
Steve Johnson: Animus
Denise L. Greer:
Detours & Destinations