FINE ARTS CENTER RESIDENCY COMES TO A CLOSE

First year dance group.

My residency at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville SC came to a close on Friday however my exhibition at the Center will continue through March 22, 2013.

One of the most interesting interactions I had with the students was my visits with the dancers.  I was invited by the dance instructor, Jan Woodward, to talk with her students about design and the part design plays in dance.  I had only a moment of hesitation as I can not say I know anything about dance except as an observer but then I quickly realized that design is part of any creative pursuit and I agreed.  I'm so happy I made that decision.

I meet with both the first years dancers and the advanced group.  They were intensely interested, took copious notes, looked at all of my work in the gallery and asked great questions.  Their assignment was to then select one piece from the show to be an inspiration piece and choreograph a dance.  How exciting.

Inside the dance studio.

I visited the dance studio on a day when they had a visiting artists, Vincas Greene who is chairman of the Dance program at Brenau University in Gainesville GA.  It was very exciting to watch and he gave the dances a tough workout which they appeared to love.

Portfolio session

Friday was the last day of the semester for the students at the FAC.  Today they are all in new classes so there were lots of final critiques going on.  This is a casual shot of some students looking at work to be presented for review in the painting class.

Painting Studio

The primary painting studio is located on the second floor of the building on a corner with great light.

I managed to catch a few minutes of critique and could not help but make a few comments.  The work was fresh and challenging.

In the photography studio.

The photography studio was buzzing with activity on Friday.  The students were cleaning and organizing the studio for the next semester and when that was done they had the opportunity to try their hand at making a Cyanotype.  This technique gives a beautiful cyan color print which is recognized most often as a blueprint.  Some students were using paper and some were printing on fabric.

Computer Lab

The photographers have a computer lab connected to the main studio.  It is equipped with Macs, a large format printer and other necessary equipment.  They also have a nice photography centered collection of books in the lab.

In addition to the digital equipment, the lab is also fully equipped for traditional processes.

Before I went to work in the textile industry I taught in a number of schools, colleges and universities.  I had the opportunity to do workshops for The Fine Arts Center in their original facility and they have this piece of my work as part of their collection.  Nice to see my ole friend.

The week was topped off by Tom and I attending the center's Gala which is their yearly fund raising event.  It was a sparkling event held in the newly renovated Hyatt in downtown Greenville.  Works by both Tom and me were part of the auction and both sold contributing toward updateing the schools computers and software.  Great fun.

A big thank you goes out to Dr. Fluhrer, Director of the FAC,  the faculty and the staff at the Center who welcomed me into this wonderful program and allowed me to become a part of this excellent program.

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Fine Art Center Residency - Day 6

This student is actually doing a repair job on an old dress form.  The form is sometimes used for display purposes but I believe the student will learn just from performing this service to her school.

Yesterday was day 6 of my residency at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, SC.  The event continues to be productive and enjoyable.  I have been able to create two completed compositions which I will finish

at home and discovered a surface technique I really appreciate.

Design student putting the finishing touches on a plaster carving.

The design studio and the metals studio are both just across the hallway from my work area.  This is the end of their semester and the studios have a buzz of activity.  The seniors are working on portfolios for college applications and everyone else is just photographing work and finishing up final projects.

Pictured here are students waiting for class to begin.

I haven't said much about the other areas of the school but there are classrooms and professional quality practice rooms and dance studios upstairs.  Because my work area is just off the open atrium, I hear everything,  The sounds might be the drum class, the jazz guitarist, pianos, grinders, tumblers from the metals class etc.  These sounds escape as doors are opened and closed.  I'm always aware when classes change as the enpty atrim fills up with students, book bags and friendly banter. 

Today I have a group of artists who will be visiting and I plan to start a new piece.  I have used up all of some of my surface design materials so I'll be digging into my fabric bins to see what I can find.  

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Fine Arts Center Residency - Day 5 - Alien Creature Startles Artist

I wast startled today to look up and see an alien creature headed my way down the hall.  Happily it turned out to be one of the students having some fun with his safety gear.

Today I focused on squaring up the piece I composed last week and making some new fabric.

I have 3 work tables and my design wall.  Feels like home.  The light is great and I am in the middle of all the action.

This trio of students came by to see what I was doing today.  We ended up digging through some of the containers of fabrics I took as "backup" in case I needed something other than the fabrics I'm making this week.  They were an enthusiastic audience.

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I have 4 more days of my residency.

Keep your fingers crossed as it's all gone Great so far.

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Day 3 - Fine Arts Center Residency

Day 3 of my Residency at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, SC and I was able to being sewing together a new work.  I should be able to complete that phase of the work today and if the weather hold out I'll begin to prepare the work to be finished.

I took some time yesterday to walk around the main floor of the building yesterday and snap some images.  I'll do more next week.

The school has an excellent metals program.  Each student has a separate work bench and power tools.

This is a second room attached to the main metals studio.  There are many larger tools and pieces of equipment for the students to use in designing and construction everything from a pair of earrings to major metal wall pieces or sculpture.

This adventurous student is using dried branches as the basis of a headpiece.

Next door to the metals program is the clay studio.  This studio is the best studio of it's kind I've ever seen.  Here is a shot in the main design area and instructor Glenda Guion is working with one of her students.

They have a room with this huge kneading station with numerous shelves for drying and storing work to be glazed.

This is another room that is dedicated to chemicals for making glazes, spray booths and information relating to glaze formulas.

Behind the indoor studios is a walled in area with both electric kilns and this wonderful kiln which I believe is either a raku kiln or salt kiln....not totally sure.  The bird head is in honor of all the birds that love to come into this area.

The beautiful piece was made by the student pictured below holding another of her insect babies.  The above work was based on her concept of a silk worm baby.

There are many display cabinets throughout the building featuring the work of students many who have gone on to top schools and later into successful careers from teaching to commercial studios to personal studios.

The school is lead by Dr. Roy Fluhrer, Director of the FAC, pictured here (R) in the gallery with Greg Flint (L) who teaches in the schools after-school program for elementary and junior high students.

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I headed out right now to drive up to 

Greenville.  Hope the 

weather

holds

out!

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Day 2 - Fine Arts Center Residency

Sculpture by John Acorn

Main lobby - Fine Arts Center

Today I gave my image presentation to both the morning and afternoon art students.   I shared with them a look into how my work has developed from graduate school to present day.  They had very mature questions and it was a delight.  Between presentations I was able to check the work I did yesterday, touch up some of the pieces and heat set everything.  Their very kind and helpful custodian got a big laugh out of me standing in the gallery ironing.  

Alice Neal

I failed to note the title of this piece but it is part of the FAC's art collection.  They have many pieces by major artists as well as artists from the area including one of my sculpture pieces.  I'll take a phone to share tomorrow.  This Alice Neal piece was purchased by the school a few years ago with profits from a drink machine.  The school no longer has such a machine.  The white crescents in the image are reflections of the lights.

This shot of one of hallways shows more of their collection which has paintings, sculpture, prints, ceramics, enamels and more.  The large sculpture pictured above is by Pendleton, SC artists John Acorn.  John is a very respected artists and former chair of the art department at Clemson University.  This work is one of two major works on the FAC campus.  I'll put the second piece on my list of things to document tomorrow.

I quickly laid out an idea for a piece with the new fabric.  We'll see tomorrow if I can resolve the work and begin to sew.

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Day 1 - Fine Arts Center Residency

Today was my first day of the Fine Arts Center Residency.  In addition to having all the art students
come into the gallery for an informal introduction, I made 6 pieces of fabric that I plan to use in a new composition which I will make on site.

These photographs are a little rough but perhaps they will give you the general idea.

Tomorrow I will be giving a power point presentation to both the morning and afternoon groups.  The students already asked some great questions during the informal meeting so I can't wait to hear what they have to say tomorrow.

I can't help of feel a tinge of jealousy when I see the opportunity that this school offers students in Greenville County.  Their facility matches any college program I've ever visited.  Fabulous!

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