Chapman Cultural Center to celebrate Youth Art Month
February 22, 2016
SPARTANBURG, SC – There will be two separate exhibits held at Chapman Cultural Center to celebrate national Youth Art Month, March. As a venue, Chapman will host one very large exhibit, displaying hundreds of student artworks from nearly every school in Spartanburg County. The other exhibit — Focus on Youth — will be held in the Artists’ Guild of Spartanburg Gallery, which is also located at Chapman Cultural Center. Both will be free for public viewing, Monday–Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 1-5 p.m.
“It’s always exciting to see the quality of artwork coming from kindergarten to high school all in one place,” Arts Education Director Ava Hughes said. The Student Galleries are located in the Moseley Building on both floors and will feature unique artworks by students in grades k-12. This year, Youth Art Month will be hosted by Spartanburg County School District 2 and sponsored by SunTrust bank.
Guild’s juried exhibit will feature the artwork of Spartanburg County high school students. “With events like these, we are getting more involvement from the community in the support of arts education in Spartanburg,” Executive Director of the Guild Caitlin Boice said. There are more than 100 applicants from all seven Spartanburg high schools that the Guild will narrow down to around 40 pieces to display in the gallery.
A reception for the Guild’s exhibition will be held during ArtWalk on March 17, 6-8 p.m. Local artist Trey Finney will judge the artwork and will choose seven winners to be given awards and cash prizes. A few teacher awards will also be given out. Finney, a South Carolina native, is a fine artist, illustrator, and professor in the arts. He attended the College of Charleston from 1981 to 1983. In 1984, he transferred to the Ringling School of Art and Design in Florida where he graduated in 1987 with a degree in illustration. He is most famously known for his work on Disney movies such as The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, and Aladdin.
Youth Art Month was started in 1961 through The Art and Creative Materials Institute, Inc. Traditionally, art shows, fundraisers, exhibits, and activities are held in schools and the community every year in March to celebrate art education for grades K-12. Youth Art Month encourages and supports the need for quality school art programs and provides a way to recognize skills like problem solving, creativity, observation, and communication, developed through visual arts curriculum subjects.
For more information on this event, visit ChapmanCulturalCenter.org or call (864) 542-ARTS.
