ARTS AND HUMANITIES: SC Arts Commission celebrates anniversary | Features

The South Carolina Arts Commission has a lofty goal. This important government agency has set its sights on developing for all of the citizens of our state a “thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education, and economic viability.” To that end, the SCAC has long been committed to supporting the work of individual artists. Indeed, for over forty years, annual monetary awards have been granted to those arts and crafts practitioners who have generated work of “superior artistic merit.”

To honor the nearly ninety SCAC Fellows to date and to commemorate the Commission’s fiftieth anniversary, fifteen solo and group exhibitions have been planned across the state for 2017-18. The first of these shows is currently on view at two Columbia venues: the Center for Contemporary Art (701 CCA) and the McMaster Gallery on the USC campus.

Because of its more commodious exhibition space, the CCA hosts a larger portion of the pieces that make up “SC Fellows Part I,” but the works currently on display at both locations conform, more or less, to four categories as outlined by the show’s curator, New York-based art critic Eleanor Heartney: “private worlds,” social and political commentary, abstraction, and explorations of the natural environment. Let us examine, in turn, one piece from each category.

No better example of how some artists focus on making manifest their inner visions is Linda McCune’s “Pit Series: Glass Ceiling,” on view now at the McMaster. Constructed of wood, rocks, fabric, metal, and glass, this wall-mounted 3-D piece reads like a post-apocalyptic, multi-story apartment complex, each level connected by makeshift ladders. This earth-toned sculpture by Greer-based McCune, a 2001-02 SCAC Fellow, is also obviously a product of the subconscious. It’s safe to say that everyone’s dream life has many floors.

In the category of social and political commentary are three small, enamel and copper broaches by Columbia artist and 2005-06 Fellow, Mana Hewett. Resembling vintage convention badges, each work features three elements linked by chains in a vertical orientation. The top piece of the Harriet Tubman badge, for example, boasts a miniature portrait of the legendary conductor on the Underground Railroad. The middle badge contains a map of the dangerous territory that she needed to traverse. The bottom piece – an evocative dangle – is in the shape of an open padlock. The badge, also on view at McMaster, could be proudly worn by anyone commemorating the universal struggle to be free.

To the average observer, it might seem odd that I have chosen Ed Rice’s “La Dama Blanca” as a prime example of what Heartney calls the “expressive potential of abstraction.” Those familiar with the work of this North Augusta-based artist – his carefully delineated renderings of building facades and architectural elements – may be taken aback by this recent oil-on-canvas departure from his now-familiar subject matter. Yet, this portrait of a young woman ultimately resolves itself into a study of color and form. Façade becomes face. In this case, the visage is attached to a torso rendered in flat black. Only the neck and face are shaded, making the whitened visage appear to emerge from the canvas and hover like an apparition above the entrance to the 701 CCA installment of the current show.

Finally, “Guadalcanal” by the late Manning Williams of Charleston straddles the categories of social commentary and environmental concern. Behind the central figure, an older, grim-faced male whose bare chest is emblazoned with the name of a pivotal battle waged in the Pacific theater in World War II, lies a fire-scorched landscape punctuated by abandoned rubber tires. The question posed by the artist might very well read as follows: does protection of our natural resources require the same dedication of purpose as exhibited by the members of the Greatest Generation who saved the world from the Axis Powers?

This first installment in the SCAC’s yearlong anniversary commemoration offers ample evidence of the high level of inventiveness of our state’s artists and the vital role that this important government agency has played in nurturing that creativity. Hosted by 701 CCA on Whaley Street and the McMaster Gallery on Senate Street, “SC Fellows Part One” is on view until September 17.

Dr. Tom Mack is recipient of the Governor’s Award in the Humanities and holds the rank of USC Distinguished Professor Emeritus. Of his five books to date, three are focused on local cultural history: “Circling the Savannah,” “Hidden History of Aiken County,” and “Hidden History of Augusta.”