Campbell Frost: 2024 Governor’s Awards Spotlight
Lifetime Achievement Recipient
As the day nears for the 2024 South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts, The Hub is shining the spotlight on this year’s four recipients.
We are happy to introduce them to you in greater detail. This is the schedule:
- May 6: Diane Frankenberger (Individual Category)
- May 8: Dr. Minuette Floyd (Arts in Education Category)
- May 13: South Carolina Philharmonic (Organization Category)
- Today: Campbell Frost (Lifetime Achievement)
Campbell Frost
Campbell Walker Frost, Jr. was born to Campbell Walker Frost and Margarette Adams Frost in Columbia in 1942. At the age of 4, he became fascinated with art when watching a neighbor mix colors on an artist’s palette.
In 1957, Frost’s first published work of art, a pencil sketch, appeared in the nationally syndicated daily newspaper feature “Ripley’s Believe it or Not.” Peanuts creator Charles Schulz was another young artist so recognized.
Before starting college at the University of Tennessee, Frost served in the U.S. Army and, later, the Army Reserves before earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1973. During his time at UT, he specialized in abstract painting but would soon develop a preference for realism.
Frost returned to Columbia as an art instructor for organizations ranging from Midlands Technical College to the S.C. Department of Corrections, at Columbia’s Central Correctional Institution as part of an SCAC program at the time). Campbell also served in the SCAC’s Crafts Truck program, traveling in a portable classroom to share his skills with citizens in underserved areas of the state
He served briefly as a judge at various regional art competitions, but soon withdrew from judging because he perceived a potential conflict of interest: many of his students were making submissions.
Other art instruction gigs occurred over the years across the Midlands: Sesquicentennial State Park, Cardinal Newman High School, the erstwhile Paint Box store in Columbia, and Michael’s and Hobby Lobby crafts stores throughout the region. Today, he maintains art instruction roles with the Orangeburg County Council on Aging and, once a week, at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia.
Though his primary focus is teaching art, he has donated pieces of his own creation to charity auctions and sold a few others to individual patrons. A chance gallery meeting in 2020 led to some of his work being licensed to appear on products ranging from prints to calendars to digital jigsaw puzzles and quilting fabric, all sold by retailers worldwide.
In the fall of 2023, Frost’s work was nominated by Streamline Publishing & Fine Art Connoisseur magazine’s Michael George to appear in an upcoming “Portfolio Special Section” of the company’s Plein Air magazine.
The South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts are coming to SCETV on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at 7 p.m. ET.
South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network, will broadcast the awards ceremony through its 11-station TV network that spans the state. Viewers can access the broadcast via livestream on the homepage of SCETV.org; by using a digital antenna; or through cable, satellite, and certain streaming live TV providers. Further information about accessing SCETV is available here.