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South Arts opens Southern Prize + State Fellowship apps

$80,000 in cash awards up for grabs

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Monday, January 10, 2022

They're back, y'all! The South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships acknowledge, support, and celebrate the highest quality artistic work being created in the American South.

The program is open to individual visual artists living in the South Arts region: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. South Arts is committed to practices and funding that create greater cultural equity, represent the diversity of our region, are inclusive of diverse voices and artistic expression, and are accessible to everyone. First, a group of nine state fellows will be selected through a two-tiered selection process by a national jury. Then, a second national jury will select the Southern Prize winner and finalist. Each state fellow automatically receives $5,000. The finalist receives $10,000 and winner receives $25,000, and both of those receive a two week residency at The Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. Jurors will make their selections based on artistic excellence that reflects and represents the diversity of the region. All nine artists selected as 2022 state fellows will also be featured in a touring exhibition opening next year at the Bo Bartlett Center for the Arts in Columbus, Georgia, and touring for up to 18 months (exact details are TBD). This program is open only to visual artists and will expand to other disciplines in the future. The application deadline is January 10, 2022.  #SCartists who are recent state fellows include Fletcher Williams III (a finalist), Kristi Ryba, Kate Hooray Osmond, and Herb Parker from the Charleston area and Virginia Scotchie from Columbia.

Jason Rapp

2019 South Arts state fellowships for visual arts awarded

Nine recipients vie for Southern Prize

[caption id="attachment_38996" align="alignright" width="250"] Virginia Scotchie - Photo by Chris Horn[/caption] South Arts, the nonprofit arts service organization advancing Southern vitality through the arts, has named nine visual artists to receive State Fellowship awards of $5,000 each. These nine artists are now in consideration for the Southern Prize, which includes an additional $25,000 cash award and a two-week residency at the Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts and Sciences. All nine state fellows will be featured in an exhibit at the 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia from March 21 – May 5, 2019. The winner of the Southern Prize and a $10,000 Finalist award will be announced at a ceremony celebrating the State Fellows on April 15 at 701 CCA. The 2019 State Fellowship award recipients are:
  • Jamey Grimes. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Sculpture.
  • Amy Gross. Delray Beach, Florida. Sculpture.
  • Bo Bartlett. Columbus, Georgia. Painting.
  • Lori Larusso. Lexington, Kentucky. Painting.
  • Stephanie Patton. Lafayette, Louisiana. Multidisciplinary.
  • Rory Doyle. Cleveland, Mississippi. Photography.
  • Andrew Hayes. Asheville, North Carolina. Sculpture.
  • Virginia Scotchie. Columbia, South Carolina. Crafts.
  • Andrew Scott Ross. Johnson City, Tennessee. Multidisciplinary.
Launched in 2017, the South Arts Southern Prize and State Fellowships celebrate and support the highest quality artistic work being created in the American South. Over 800 visual artists submitted work for consideration, and a panel of jurors reviewed each anonymous application using the sole criterion of artistic excellence to recommend the nine State Fellows. A second panel of jurors is currently reviewing the State Fellows to select the Southern Prize awardee and the Finalist. “Creativity is thriving throughout the South,” said Susie Surkamer, executive director of South Arts. “The 2019 State Fellows’ work has such varied subject matter as the African-American cowboy culture in the Mississippi Delta, the forms and forces of nature, and the impact of ‘perfect’ images of life and home inundating us through digital media. They each come from different backgrounds, viewpoints, and styles, yet each are masterful representations of their respective artform. We are very proud to support them as we work toward our mission of advancing Southern vitality through the arts, and helping working artists more able to survive and succeed while living in the South.” This is the first year when the Fellows will be featured in a group exhibit. “One of our goals is to celebrate the excellence, innovation, value and power of the arts of the South,” continued Surkamer. “By curating a public exhibit of the State Fellows, we are able to share their dynamic work and highlight the breadth of style cultivated throughout our region.” The State Fellowship juror panel included:
  • Mora J. Beauchamp-Byrd, visiting assistant professor with Oklahoma State University;
  • Katherine Jentleson, the Merrie and Dan Boone Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art with the High Museum of Art;
  • Radhika Subramaniam, associate professor with the Parsons School of Design;
  • Ben Thompson, deputy director with the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville;
  • and Joey Yates, curator with the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft.
Visual artists living in South Arts’ nine-state region and producing crafts, drawing, experimental, painting, photography, sculpture, mixed media, and multidisciplinary work were eligible to apply. The awards will be presented to the artists as unrestricted funds. To view the 2019 State Fellows’ submissions and learn more about the competition, visit www.southarts.org.

About Virginia Scotchie

“I am a ceramic artist and Area Head of Ceramics at the School of Visual Art and Design at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina, USA. I received my Bachelor of Art in Sociology and Religion from UNC-Chapel Hill in North Carolina and in 1985 completed my Master of Fine Arts at Alfred University in New York. “My ceramic sculpture has been extensively exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, and has received numerous awards including the Sydney Meyer Fund International Ceramics Premiere Award from the Shepparton Museum in Victoria, Australia. I have lectured internationally on my creative research and have worked as an Artist in Residence in Tainan, Taiwan, Rome and Florence Italy, Sydney and Canberra Australia, Kecskemet Hungary, Fuping China, Vallauris France and Hertogenbosch Netherlands.  My ceramic work resides in numerous public and private collections and reviews about my work appear in many prestigious ceramic publications.”

About South Arts

South Arts South Arts advance Southern vitality through the arts. The nonprofit regional arts organization was founded in 1975 to build on the South’s unique heritage and enhance the public value of the arts. South Arts’ work responds to the arts environment and cultural trends with a regional perspective. South Arts offers an annual portfolio of activities designed to support the success of artists and arts providers in the South, address the needs of Southern communities through impactful arts-based programs, and celebrate the excellence, innovation, value and power of the arts of the South. For more information, visit www.southarts.org.

Abandoned books altered into art

The idea for an exhibition now on view at the Lexington County Public Library began with a book---or rather, 15 books. Stacked haphazardly on the curb outside a public library in Orangeburg, 15 oversized trade journals had exceeded their life span and were being offered to any passer-by who could foresee a use, or in this case, a rebirth. Fiber artist Susan Livingston worked at the library and discovered the books. Large and cumbersome, the books were deemed uninteresting, except to Livingston, who knew they could be "something" and decided to rescue them. It took her three trips to load the books into her car and another three trips to haul them up to her second-floor studio, where the books sat for a few years. Soon afterwards, I met Livingston. She gave me a book and shared her thoughts that the books' size allowed for many possibilities -- and perhaps a group project. Together, we created the idea of an altered book show by women artists. After brainstorming possible titles and taglines, we settled on "volumes," with artist Janette Grassi suggesting the word "bound." Thus volumes: women bound by art was created. Thirteen books were altered for the exhibition, leaving one to be used as a guest register and one to remain intact to display along with the altered books. Thirteen artists from a diversity of mediums, ages, ethnicities and career stages were invited to participate. The artists -- art professors, potters, fiber artists, graphic designers, illustrators, painters, photographers and mixed media artists -- were given total creative freedom. The show opened at The Portfolio Art Gallery in Columbia on September 20, 2012. Many of the book artists painted the wall for the exhibition and installed the show. All of the artists chipped in to cover the costs of the printed materials and provide the food and wine for the opening reception. From inception, the show has been about women working together to create art opportunities and support for women artists. The altered books' journey from library curb to library exhibition came about when Lolly Petroft, branch manager of the Cayce-West Columbia library, attended the opening reception and wanted to share the altered books with Lexington County residents. She encouraged Mark Mancuso, branch manager of the Lexington County Public Library, to view the installation, and plans were made to exhibit the works. The artists:

  • Volume 1: Eileen Blythe
  • Volume 2: Cynthia Colbert
  • Volume 3: Jessica Cruser
  • Volume 4: Janette Grassi
  • Volume 5: Doni Jordan
  • Volume 6: Susan Lenz
  • Volume 7: Susan Livingston
  • Volume 8: Yukiko Oka
  • Volume 9: Kay Reardon
  • Volume 10: Liisa Salosaari Jasinski
  • Volume 11: Virginia Scotchie
  • Volume 12: Lani Stringer
  • Volume 13: Laura Windham
volumes: women bound by art is on view at the main branch of the Lexington County Public Library until Feb. 28. The exhibition will travel to USC Upstate in 2014 and talks are underway to travel the show to the Upstairs Artspace Gallery in Tryon, N.C. in 2014. [caption id="attachment_4238" align="alignnone" width="600"]Volume 10 From Engines to Fittings The Essence Liisa Salosaari Jasinski, Volume 10 From Engines to Fittings The Essence[/caption] The Lexington County Public Library is located at 5440 Augusta Road in Lexington. Hours are 8:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday - Thursday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Friday - Saturday and 2 - 5 p.m. on Sunday.  For more information, contact Mark Mancuso at (803) 785-2673. Doni Jordan is a visual artist who works in multiple mediums.

Doni Jordan

New studio and gallery a place to “see and make art”

Artists Virginia Scotchie and Bri Kinard envision their new venture, Redbird Studio and Gallery, as a place where experienced and budding artists can work in a supportive and accessible environment and where regional artists not yet represented in the community can show their art. “Redbird is a place both to see and make art,” says Scotchie, a University of South Carolina professor. “We will provide a unique and creative space for the community.” Redbird's grand opening on Dec. 7 will provide a look at artworks rarely shown in Columbia, a drawing for several free works of art and hands-on art activities. The event is free and open to the public and runs from 5 to 8 p.m. Redbird is located at 2757 Rosewood Drive. Classes in ceramics and printmaking will be taught in a fully equipped studio with 10 pottery wheels, kilns and a small press. Options include six-week classes, introductory one-night classes, a date-night class for couples and ceramics-making parties. Children’s classes will be held weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. The full schedule of classes starts in early January, and prices will include all materials and tools. Zak Helenske The gallery will feature ceramics, wood and metal sculpture, prints, drawings, wearable art and video. Among the artworks are tea pots and vases by Jim Connell; ceramic sculptures by Paula Smith; ceramics by Zak Helenske; wood sculptures and paper collages by Paul Martyka; drawings and performance videos by Jon Prichard; prints and drawings by Tom Nakashima; and wearable art by Courtney Starrett. Work by Scotchie and Kinard will also be shown at the gallery. Redbird will mount a new exhibition every six weeks. Redbird artistic director Virginia Scotchie's ceramic sculptures have been shown extensively throughout the United States and abroad including at the C-Ram-X @ Galerie Helenbeck in Paris and the Biennale Internationale de Vallauris International Ceramic Invitational in Vallauris, France. She is winner of the Sydney Meyer Fund International Ceramics Premiere Award from the Shepparton Museum in Victoria, Australia. Studio manager and instructor Bri Kinard earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the University of South Carolina and a master of fine art from Rochester Institute of Technology School for American Crafts in New York. Her work will be included in the upcoming 69th annual Scripps College Ceramics Annual in California. For more information, visit Redbird Studio and Gallery or call (803) 727-2955. Photo: work by Zak Helenske Via: Redbird Studio and Gallery