"American Colors: Patriotism Reflected in Art" Opens at Museum June 29

The Pickens County Museum of Art & History will be presenting three new exhibitions beginning June 29, 2013. Please join us from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. on June 29 as we host a reception to meet the artists featured in “American Colors: Patriotism Reflected in Art”.

 Also opening that evening will be the exhibits “Nam Era: Never Forgotten - a photographic tribute by J. Michael Johnson” and “Legacy: Drawings & Paintings by Melody M. Davis”. All three exhibitions will continue through August 15, 2013.

The Pickens County Museum invited artists from both of the Carolinas and Georgia, working in the plastic mediums (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.), to submit work to be considered for inclusion in “American Colors: Patriotism Reflected in Art”. All entries were to fall within the theme of “Patriotism”, whatever that artist’s interpretation of the word may be.

 pa·tri·ot·ism (pā′ trē-ə-tɪz′ əm) noun devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty. Origin: 1720–30; patriot + -ism

In curating the exhibition Museum Director Allen Coleman tried to keep a core concept to the selection process. He said, “The core of our understanding of just what is ‘Patriotism’ resides in diverse culturally negotiated understanding -- the perceptions, contradictions, questions, problems and issues that continue to be challenged and redefined around the ideal of freedom and love of country. It may fixed in a persistent struggle to define and achieve freedom and expression or it might exist in a comfortable zone where one is simply sure of their own feeling. The American narrative has over the centuries reflected a striving toward personal or communal success and individual freedoms within social, economic and political fabrics of shared rights. The movement towards these ideals has sometime been unsteady, sometime heroic, sometime controversial… but the concept continues to inspire.”

 The wide range of artists that submitted were all inspired to reflect their own sense of patriotism through their artwork. Of those the thirty-nine selected for inclusion in the exhibition are Kathy Bell, Stanley Bermudez, Greg Bowling, Vickey Brickle-Macky, Linda Hyatt Cancel, Brad Carraway, JJ Casey, Clinton Coleman, Ashley Davis, Melody Davis, Darryl DeBruhl, Trent Frazor, James Greene, Chris Hartwick, Carol HasBrouck, Ernesto Hernandez, Mary Lou Hightower, Lauren Hill, Amanda Illian, Lynn Ingram, Diarmuid Kelly, Lauraette Kirkland, Tracy Landers, April M. Leland, Dabney Mahanes, Hamed Mahmoodi, Mark Malmgren, Eve Martin, Frank McGrath, Donna N. Minor, John Moore, Mark Mulfinger, Kevin Pang, Grace Scherer, Sara Dame Setzer, Kirkland Smith, Tom Supensky, Wendyth T. Wells and Jane Woodward.

Recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Department of Defense as a 2013 Blue Star Museum, 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.