Salkehatchie Arts hires new director
Salkehatchie Arts has announced that Susan J. Oswald, a local artist and lifelong resident of Allendale County, is the new director for Salkehatchie Arts. Her position will include management of the Salkehatchie Arts Center, a retail outlet for local artists, promoting arts in the Salkehatchie region, and assisting with Salkehatchie Stew, a storytelling initiative that promotes stories of the region through an original play each year. She comes to Salkehatchie Arts with extensive experience in management, retailing, wholesaling, marketing, and advertising.
Oswald graduated from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor of fine arts. She gained experience in retailing as the owner and operator of Country Flair, a retail business in Allendale, for 23 years.
Upon closing that business, she entered the wholesale fashion world as a multi-line manufacturer’s representative for five annual Women’s Apparel trade shows in the AmericasMart Atlanta and traveled a nine-state area as a manufacturer’s representative. During this period, she developed efficient marketing and advertising strategies to increase sales and acted as a link to provide customer service between retail stores and manufacturers.
In 2013, Oswald returned to Allendale to recapture a lifelong dream to paint. She has gallery representation in Allendale and Charleston, established an online presence and has been accepted into juried art competition/shows.
Salkehatchie Arts is a 501-c-3 nonprofit organization including Allendale, Barnwell, Bamberg, Hampton, and Colleton counties with a mission to foster cooperation between arts, economic, education, and community development groups. It supports the local artists and local economy, encourages future arts programs, helps to bring awareness to local arts resources, promotes tourism and the visability of the Salkehatchie Region, and enhances the production of arts and entertainment in the region.