2021/22 National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition
The 15th annual National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition opens April 28 at North Charleston Riverfront Park. The 11-month exhibition features 13 pieces by established and emerging artists from 10 states displaying imaginative and thought-provoking outdoor sculpture. Visitors can enjoy the sculpture displays among ten acres of walking paths, a fishing pier, boardwalk, playground, and children’s play fountain. On view April 28, 2021-March 20, 2022. Free Admission/Free Parking
2021 North Charleston Arts Fest Tri-County High School Sculpture Exhibition
Public, private, and home school students in Charleston, Dorchester, and Berkeley counties will display three-dimensional artwork in a variety of subjects and media. Award winners in grades 9-12 selected by Sarah Miller, founder and director of Miller Gallery in downtown Charleston, SC. Award winners acknowledged at the Arts Fest Opening Celebration on April 28. On view in Charleston Area Convention Center Exhibit Hall A, April 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; April 29-May 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and May 2 from noon to 5 p.m. Free Admission/Free Parking
2021 North Charleston Arts Fest Tri-County Youth Art Exhibition
Public, private, and home school students in Charleston, Dorchester, and Berkeley counties will display two-dimensional artwork in a variety of subjects and media. Award winners in grades 6-12 selected by Setsuko Lawson, local artist and Adjunct Professor in the Visual Art Department at Trident Technical College. Award winners in grades 1-5 selected by the City of North Charleston’s 2019/20 Artist-in-Residence, Katherine Hester. Award winners acknowledged at the Arts Fest Opening Celebration on April 28. On view in Charleston Area Convention Center Exhibit Hall A, April 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; April 29-May 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and May 2 from noon to 5 p.m. Free Admission/Free Parking
2021 North Charleston Arts Fest Judged Fine Art & Photography Exhibitions
View hundreds of fine art and photography pieces in a variety of styles and subjects entered by artists from throughout the Lowcountry. Award winners for fine art pieces in acrylic, oil, drawing, pastel, watercolor, printmaking, printed new media, and 2-D mixed media selected by Greg Colleton, Director of Development at Yo Art! Inc. in Charleston, SC. Award winners for photographs in color and monochrome selected by photographer and educator Leslie Burns. A number of the pieces on display are available for purchase. Award winners acknowledged at the Arts Fest Opening Celebration on April 28. On view in Charleston Area Convention Center Exhibit Hall A, April 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.; April 29-May 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and May 2 from noon to 5 p.m. Free Admission/Free Parking
14th Annual African American Fiber Art Exhibition – “Sankofa”
This annual juried exhibition features works in fiber created by African American artists from throughout the US. The theme of the 14th installment of the exhibit was directly inspired by the Twi word "Sankofa," which translates to “go back and get it.” Sankofa also refers to the Asante Adinka symbol that appears as a stylized heart shape or as a mythical bird with a backwards head carrying an egg. The word and symbols represent the concept of remembering the past to inform the future. Curated by award-winning and nationally exhibiting textile artist, Torreah “Cookie” Washington, this unique opportunity offers African American fiber artists a showcase to exhibit their original and innovative designs. On view April 28-June 29, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. daily.
2021 South Carolina Palmetto Hands Fine Craft Competition & Exhibition
Artists from across the state will display fine craft objects in the media of clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, and three-dimensional mixed media in this 19th annual juried competition and exhibition. Following the close of the exhibition, up to 20 works from the show will go on to tour the state through the South Carolina State Museum's 2021/2022 Traveling Exhibitions Program. Selections for the exhibit, as well as the subsequent traveling show, were made by the juror, Karen Watson, Executive Director of the Sumter County Gallery of Art in Sumter, SC. On view in the Charleston Area Convention Center Exhibit Hall A: April 28 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., April 29-May 1 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and May 2 from noon to 5 p.m.
Solo Exhibit – Christine Bush Roman’s “Loose Parts”
Christine Bush Roman, winner of the 2020/21 North Charleston Arts Fest Poster Design Competition, will display her winning piece, Oak Circus, along with a series of new works in an exhibition titled Loose Parts. This exhibition features new mixed media pieces created with painting, drawing, and collaging techniques that express color, joy, and playfulness. The work is inspired by the phrase “loose parts,” referring to childhood play materials with no explicit rules or instructions. These loose parts can be combined, restructured, taken apart, and put back together in multiple ways. Similarly, artists are continually tinkering with and reorganizing experiences and inspirations to create interesting works of art. On view: April 28-May 29, 2021. Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.
Group Exhibition – Art Quilters of the Low Country
The Art Quilters of the Low Country are five award-winning fiber artists who share a passion for creating art with fabric and thread. The Quilters are "four gals and a guy:" Ron Hodge, Jody Wigton, Peg Weschke, Donna Stankiewicz, and Ro Morrissey. Each artist has a unique style and technique. The common thread is their use of fabric, thread, and quilting to create the illusion of 3-dimensional art. Pieces featured in this group exhibit, A Thread Runs Through It, range from realism to abstraction. On view: April 2-24, 2021. Gallery hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 12 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.
2021 North Charleston Arts Fest
The City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department proudly presents the 2021 North Charleston Arts Fest. This annual event highlights regional and local artists and performers in the areas of dance, theatre, music, literature, and visual art. For more than 38 years the festival has made quality arts programming affordable and accessible to the widest spectrum of the public, attracting residents and visitors to experience a variety of free and modestly priced performances, workshops, exhibitions, and activities in multiple venues, including libraries, community centers, businesses, and parks. Enjoy concerts, theatre presentations, dance performances, virtual programs, workshops and demonstrations, exhibitions, and more.
Artist Talk: Jibade-Khalil Huffman
Join the Halsey Institute at the College of Charleston on May 25 at 7 p.m. for an online artist talk with Jibade-Khalil Huffman on his exhibition You Are Here. Huffman is an artist and writer whose video and photo works use found, archival material and contemporary ephemera to address slippage in memory and language, particular to race and visibility. He mines images and texts, searching for latent meaning and hidden memories. Using a wide array of media including lightboxes, video, performance, photography, text, and installation, Huffman uses his work to expose power structures and racial dynamics in popular imagery. His heavily layered images beckon viewers to form connections between recognizable images and the personal pentimenti of our own existences.
