S.C. Arts Awards: Hampton III Gallery

2019 Recipient Feature Series

As the day nears for the 2019 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is taking 15 days to focus on this year’s recipients: nine receiving the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Awards for the Arts and five receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, which are managed jointly by the South Carolina Arts Commission and McKissick Museum at UofSC. In between the two groups, we’ll run a special feature on S.C. Arts Awards sponsor Colonial Life.


Hampton III Gallery

Business Category

Since 1970 the mission of the Hampton III Gallery has been and continues to be supporting professional living artists and the estates of professional artists in or from South Carolina ranging from post-World War II to the present.

South Carolina’s oldest art gallery was started by a teacher who, with summers off, started an art gallery for three artist friends. Around the time of its 1970 opening, certain South Carolina artists were exhibiting beyond the state’s borders throughout the Southeast: Carl Blair, Emery Bopp, and Darell Koons. Those artists invited their friends to the gallery, and Leo Twiggs, Jeanet Dreskin, and William Halsey joined the fold.

The gallery’s vision of supporting artists and educating the public to the rich heritage of South Carolina artists continues into 2019. Over 500 paintings, sculptures and original prints are kept in inventory. Changing exhibitions, artists’ talks, and special events provide educational opportunities for all. Consultation is available for private and corporate collections. Exhibitions change every 6-8 weeks. The public is invited to all events.

Hampton III Gallery has an additional distinction. The following 11 artists, all recipients of the Verner Award, either have been or are represented by it: Jeanet Dreskin, William Halsey, John Acorn, Carl Blair, Leo Twiggs, Boyd Saunders, Tom Stanley, Edward Rice, Corrie McCallum, Guy Lipscomb, and Laura Spong. Gallery owner Sandy Rupp no doubt hopes for more in the future.

The following excerpt from Town Carolina in 2016 tells more of the gallery’s reach:

“Representing artists with work in the permanent collection of MoMA, the MET, and the Whitney in New York City, not to mention the National Gallery in Washington, and the Art Institute of Chicago, Hampton III Gallery owner Sandy Rupp has spent more than 25 years curating art. Her collaborations between artists, collectors, museums, and academic institutions form the basis for her South Carolina–focused exhibits. Featuring sculpture, collage, mixed media, prints, and paintings in subjects as varied as still life, figurative work, and landscapes, the Hampton III Gallery offers art aficionados work at any budget.”

Visit www.hamptoniiigallery.com to learn more.


South Carolina Arts Awards Day is Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The festivities begin at 10 a.m. with a reception that leads up to the awards ceremony at the UofSC Alumni Center (900 Senate St., Columbia). The event is free and open to the public. Following the ceremony, the South Carolina Arts Foundation honors the recipients and the arts community at the S.C. Arts Awards Luncheon and Art Sale. Tickets are $50. Please go here for more information and reservations.