Tom Flowers, "Landscape", watercolor	Mark Flowers,"What Dogs Think", mixed	Morgan Higby-Flowers, “HugeTruck Woman Bend Tweeked”, still (print) from video

“Flowers: Tom º Mark º Morgan -three generations of art” highlights the work of Tom Flowers (83), Mark Flowers (56), and Morgan Higby-Flowers (27). The artwork ranges from paintings, mixed media constructions, digital prints, to digital video art. Tom Flowers, who was Professor of Art at Furman University for 30 years, is the father of Mark Flowers and the grandfather of Morgan Higby-Flowers. Each Flowers’s have their Master of Fine Arts degree. Tom received his from the University of Iowa in 1955, Mark’s received his from Western Michigan University in 1979, and Morgan has recently received his degree from Alfred University in the spring of 2011.

   The show contains a wide range of media, each representing a generation’s attempt at visual explorations. Tom’s work deeply rooted in the tradition of surface, texture, and color. Mark’s work is of constructed panels and narrative imagery and Morgan’s work is a cutting edge leap of digital imagery, both static and in motion.  Each generation seeks their own path, yet common denominators can be discovered in the exhibition.

   Tom Flowers, now living in Dacusville, SC, received his bachelor's degree from Furman University and his MFA from the University of Iowa. He taught at Ottawa University in Kansas and East Carolina University in NC, before coming to Furman University where he spent most of his career as Art Professor and head of the Art Department. Now Professor Emeritus of Art at Furman University, Flowers has been awarded a plethora of prizes over his career. The South Carolina State Museum selected Tom as one of the "100 Artists in 100 Years" celebration and exhibition in the year 2000.

   About his work Tom says, "First of all I am an artist. I have a passion for life and nature, and I express it through my art. I paint and I sculpt. I observe as much as I can see, and I am always looking for things or visions that I can use effectively in my art work. I work on something visual every day; either sketching or painting a watercolor in my sketchbook, chipping away at a current sculpture project, or putting paint on canvas or paper. Life is always a learning experience for me."

   Mark E. Flowers earned his BFA in Studio Arts from The University of South Carolina in 1977 and his MFA in Painting from Western Michigan University in1979. Following his academic career, he has exhibited his work throughout the US and in Europe. His art teaching career parallels his art making. He has taught art at the Prep-school and postsecondary levels for more than 33 years including the Savannah College of Art and Design and most recently at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania.

   While pursuing dual careers, he has served as a town councilman, volunteer firefighter, Little League baseball coach and president of a community recreational board. With his artist/wife, Kristy Higby, they have raised two sons, Carson and Morgan, who are now off learning to be artists themselves. Mark has spent his adult life pursuing his art, teaching and serving his community. He and Kristy currently reside in a cabin just north of Asheville, NC where they also built 1650 sq. ft. studio. Now “commuting” between their teaching jobs in Pennsylvania and their North Carolina home, they hope to be soon be full time residents of the creative community of Western North Carolina. Examples of Mark and Kristy’s work can be found on their website at www.mountainteastudios.com.

   When asked about his work, Mark said, “At the beginning of my career, my life, my stories and my paintings were simple in content: images of palm trees in my yard, river rocks from mountain streams, applied saturated Southern colors and simple compositions served as primitive memory keepers.” He continued, “As my life evolves my work evolves. Now, I visually report my experiences as an artist, teacher, husband, and father. My paintings serve as journals where I think, reflect, and react. Currently, I’m intrigued by the relationship of images and how they can read as a poetic narrative. When images as single thoughts are connected, they have more depth.”

   Morgan Higby-Flowers received a BFA in new media, and arts & technology from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2008 and his MFA in 2011 from The Electronic Integrated Arts program at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. Upon graduation Morgan accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Electronic Media and Digital Art Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana where he currently resides.

   About his work Morgan says, “My interests circulate around particular areas of the new media spectrum, specifically, work that incorporates appropriated technologies and discarded icons. I actively pursue encounters with exuberance and wonderment. By acquiring of new knowledge, obsolete technologies metamorphose in to potential new means of expression. My work is the visual representation of my navigation through new and different processes.”

                                 three generations of art will continue through February 9, 2012

David Detrich, "Arm War" mixed media	Denise Detrich, "Wall Vase 2", ceramic
David Detrich, "Steam Punk Snow Globe Shaker", mixed	Denise Detrich, "Teapot" ceremic

About two artists sharing varied interests on an entwined life’s path, “Dragonflies, Polka-dots, Whirly Gigs and Other Unusual Suspects” features the work of David and Denise Woodward-Detrich. Both artists are vital members of the Art Department of Clemson University; Denise as the Director of the Rudolph E. Lee Gallery and David as an Associate Professor and head of the Sculpture Department.

   Denise Woodward-Detrich is the Director of the Lee Gallery in the Department of Art at Clemson University. Before joining Clemson University, Ms. Detrich served as a Master Instructor at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. Prior to that she was the exhibitions coordinator at Clemson University. She received her MFA in Ceramics at the New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University and has maintained an active exhibitions record having been invited to participate in many national exhibitions. Ms. Detrich has given workshops in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Florida and has been included in publications such as Wheel Thrown Pottery by Don Davis, Best of Pottery, published by Rockport Publishers and Studio Potter magazine.
 
   Speaking of her work Denise said, “Utility is paramount in my investigation as an artist.  Inspired by mundane activities of the day to day my work focuses on functional objects.  I strive to create objects whose purpose is elevated from a purely functional state to one that balances the functional, the visual and the tactile. The balancing of these relationships has operated as source inspiration for the creation of my work.”

   Originally from East St. Louis, Illinois, David Detrich received his BFA degree from the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri and his MFA from Alfred University in New York. His teachers included Dale Eldred, Jim Leedy, Tony Hepburn and Wayne Higby. He has exhibited his sculptural works nationally and internationally including venues at the Tallina Kunstiulikool in Tallin, Estonia and at the American Cultural Center in Taipei, Taiwan. His work is also represented in public and private collections nationally. Outside of the field of art he has consulted with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Government of Jamaica and was involved in architectural collaborations with architect, Robert Miller including Nexus Press in Atlanta, Georgia and the Gibbes Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. Before his academic appointment at Clemson University he served on the faculties at Wichita State University in Kansas and at Alfred University. David is presently an Associate Professor and head of the Sculpture area in the Department of Art where he has been teaching since 1992.

    Of his work David says, “From Hegel’s Theory of the Dialectic to evening TV sitcoms I have always been a sucker for irony and paradox. I identify most with a definition I found in one of my old dictionaries of the term “artist” as being a trickster that employs slight of hand. My work involves manipulating recognizable and conditioned elements of formal geometry, language/text, art about art and the socio-political in an open dialogue of opposition.”

   He continued, “I feel my work is most successful when it poses a question rather than presenting an editorial on a subject. I also contend that ‘style and consistency’ are antithetical to the creative process. I am very curious about the potential of art making that can exist by recognizing a seemingly incongruous palette of concepts and contexts. The end accumulation may appear to be disparate but hopefully this approach has the capacity to represent a broader sense of who I am and how I reflect upon our current condition.”

                                  Dragonflies, Polka-dots, Whirly Gigs and Other Unusual Suspects
                                                     will continue through February 9, 2012
 

Lynda Slattery, "Country Store Flowers", collage	Lynda Slattery, "Pre-Dinner" collage
Michael Slattery, "Retreat", ink w/ mix media
	Michael Slattery,"Squadron", ink, w/mix media

Exploring the path of two artists sharing a duality in their careers, inspirations and interests, this exhibition of drawings and collages features the work of Michael and Lynda Slattery. Both artists are vital members of the creative culture at Bob Jones University; Michael as the head of the studio department in the Division of Art and Design, and Lynda as an illustrator with the Bob Jones University Press and affiliates.

   Michael Slattery has been teaching at Bob Jones University for more than twenty years. Currently he is the head of the studio department in the Division of Art and Design where the majority of his classes concern art theory and history. A large portion of his time as a faculty member is spent teaching Art Appreciation to the non-art students and discussing concepts of aesthetics with the art department majors. 

   Born in Greenville, SC, Lynda Slattery demonstrated her interest in art at an early age. She began working professionally while still in high school as an illustrator at the Bob Jones University Press. She graduated from the Division of Art at Bob Jones University in 1988 where she studied with Carl R. Blair. Lynda has worked as an illustrator for more than twenty years with Majesty Music, the Super Duper School Company along with Bob Jones University Press compiling thousands of illustrations in print. She has exhibited at the Anderson Arts Center, the Pickens County Museum of Art, the Spartanburg County Museum of Art, Art and Light Gallery and the Metropolitan Arts Council in Greenville. 

   Michael and Lynda, soon to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary, reside in Taylors, SC with their three children.

   When asked about his art making, Michael responded, “My very first works as an artist were done with a Rapidograph technical pen when I was about 15 years old.  I always liked to draw but one day I had noticed an illustration of a statue on a stamp that was stippled.  I showed it to my mother and commented to her that I would like to learn to do that.  Within a few days she had bought me a Koh-i-noor Rapidograph and I started in with it immediately.”

   He went on to say, “I tend to work in a series, yet I regard each piece as an individual work as well as a component within a collection that can also be considered as a single work of art. For this exhibition I’ve selected pieces from several series, the most common which involves surveillance or security camera images. Another series involves images from World War II.  Growing up I had a kind of fascination with that particular war and these images investigate various ways in which we see reality. The work is ‘constructed’ by photographing on location and then burning those images onto a DVD and then re-photographing them while playing on an old TV screen. These images are then digitally manipulated; sometimes combined with others creating a sense of sequence. The black ink that you see is added by hand after the digital process is complete, essentially rebuilding the image from the ground up using dots of ink. It’s editing on a microscopic scale.”

   Contrasting her husband's black, grey & white ink work, Lynda presents a range of colorful works created from cut paper. When asked about her work Lynda shared, “I think that this quote from Henri Matisse sums up what I am trying to do with my work; ‘What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.’”  She continued saying, “My work is composed of bits of paper meticulously cut to precisely fit together to form the image.  I have been influenced by the Cubists, particularly George Braque and Francoise Gilot. It is their interest in form and the abstract qualities of art that have been a primary influence in the way that I think about my subject. I have been drawn to domestic images of tranquil serenity detached from the complexity of modern life and hoping the pictures I create will be like a good armchair for the viewer.”

                  Michael & Lynda Slattery’s exhibit will continue through February 9, 2012

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Located at the corner of Hwy. 178 at 307 Johnson Street in Pickens SC, the museum is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission is free but donations are welcomed.

                       For more information please contact the museum at (864) 898-5963.

“Flowers: Tom º Mark º Morgan - three generations of art”, featuring work from Tom
Flowers, his son Mark Flowers and grand-son Morgan Higby Flowers

“David & Denise Detrich: Dragonflies, Polka-dots, Whirly Gigs and Other Unusual
Suspects”, featuring the couple’s sculpture and ceramics

“Michael & Lynda Slattery”, featuring the couple’s drawings and collage

“Heroes of the War Between the States” - in conjunction with the second year of the Sesquicentennial of the War Between the States.

 

“Jim Arendt: Denim”

“Steven Bleicher: Route 66”

“The Landscape in Painting” works by John Brecht, Carla Padgett, Bill Updegraff
and Cathy Zaden Lea

“Photography: Then & Now”

“Alice Ballard: Ceramic Sculpture”

All classes will be held in the Liz Smith Cox Educational Studio (unless otherwise noted). Pre-registration is required for ALL classes & workshops. Please call (864) 898-5963, or drop by the museum, to register or for more information.

As the Hagood Mill Historic Site has many well established indigenous plant, vine, and tree communities, we wanted to better promote the diversity of plants and wildlife at the Hagood Mill by offering workshops and classes conducted by paid professional instructors in the various fields. All profit from this program, along with designated donations will go to sustain a Mill Site Nature Conservation Plan. Our main goal from this program is three-fold: 1) To preserve and protect the Native Plants currently growing on site. 2) Establish a propagation and plant rescue plan for the mill site. 3) Establish field school style workshops & classes as a method to fund the project and simultaneously reach new audiences while promoting the natural history preservation of our area.

Classes and workshops will be held at both the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center and the Pickens County Museum of Art & History. Location of each class in noted in its description. Tuition amounts are indicated first by the regular tuition followed by the discounted price for Museum Members (i.e. $50/$40). This is yet another great reason to become a member. Listed below are offerings already scheduled for 2011.

The Hagood Mill is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00 for tours of the buildings and grounds.

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is pleased to announce our 2011 “MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS” programs. We invite one and all to join us at the historic Hagood Mill on the third Saturday of every month for a day of MILLING, MUSIC & MEMORIES AT THE HISTORIC HAGOOD MILL, including tours, concerts, demonstrations, living history presentations and seasonal thematic activities. Upcoming 2012 events include:

 The Hagood Mill is located just 3 miles north of Pickens, or 5 1/2 miles south of Scenic Hwy. 11, off Hwy. 178 on Hagood Mill Rd. The site is open to the public Wednesday – Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00. For more information please call the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963.