During the hot, scorching days of the typical Carolina summer, there are few things I enjoy more than escaping to the air-conditioned comforts of an art museum. Our very own Greenville County Museum of Art offers visitors and locals alike the opportunity to view world class art, right here in the heart of our own Downtown. This summer’s exhibits are no exception.
Perhaps one of my favorite collections currently on exhibit at GCMA is “Dark Corners / Appalachian Ballad” by Asheville artist, Julyan Davis. Although English by birth, Davis has developed an intense bond to the Appalachians and its ties to Celtic origins. This bond is revealed in his collections, which he calls ballads in honor of the folksongs that resonate throughout the mountain regions. Reflecting the dilapidated beauty and simple dignity amidst the poverty of the rural areas, Davis’s collection touches the part of one’s soul that makes us who we are. If you only do one thing Downtown this week, let it be visiting the Art Museum to view this thought-provoking collection – it will be leaving Greenville July 1st.
The collection that helped put our humble little art museum on the map has found a permanent home here in Greenville and continues to increase in size. The Andrew Wyeth Greenville Collection is now the largest and most complete collection of Wyeth’s works owned by any public museum in the world. A realist painter in what is known as the regionalist style of painting, this son of artists best known works reflect the people and places he met throughout his life. His grand-daughter, Victoria Wyeth, is a frequent visitor to our city to lead tours and discussions of her grandfather’s legacy. On July 8th, docent Mike Murphy will host a tour of Wyeth’s work in celebration of the late artist’s birthday.
The newest exhibit to grace the Greenville County Museum of Art is Winfred Rembert: “Amazing Grace”, which just opened last week. Rembert’s colorful and evocative folk art, worked in beautifully carved and painted leather pieces, tell the African-American tales he grew up with in Georgia. The artist himself will be at the museum on July 15th to discuss his art and its inspiration.
Those who love the art, history and architecture of Charleston will be pleased by “The Art of Alfred Hutty: Woodstock to Charleston”. One of the primary artists of the Charleston Renaissance, this collection features over 60 works that reveal the charming landscapes and ordinary people of Hutty’s life in Woodstock, NY and Charleston, SC. This exhibit will be on display until July 15th.
Other collections currently on display at GCMA include both travelling and permanent collections. Among these are the Southern Collection – an assortment of American art from colonial times to the present, with an emphasis on examples with relationships to the southern United States, Portrait of Greenville – which has returned with paintings by national and regional artists who were invited to share their inspiring depictions of our beautiful city, and the works of Spartanburg native, Helen Dupre Mosely –a fantastical crew of characters plucked from the artist’s imagination, but that some believe are a satirical view of local society. No matter what your artistic tastes are, a stroll through the Greenville County Museum of Art is just the thing to feed your heart, soul and creative inspiration!
More Information:
The Greenville County Museum of Art is located on College Street at Heritage Green – sharing space with The Children’s Museum of the Upstate, Greenville Little Theatre and the Hughes Main Library. The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday, 11AM until 5PM and on Sunday from 1PM until 5PM. Admission is FREE (although donations are appreciated). On Sundays, join them for Sundays at 2, special events and programs designed with art lovers and the “art-curious” in mind. Many of the events are created to appeal to families and children. For more information, visit: http://www.greenvillemuseum.org
downtowngreenvillegirl 