Columbia College presents “Creative Couples,” an exhibition of Nine Artistic Partners in South Carolina

The Goodall Gallery at Columbia College continues the Georgia O’Keeffe Centennial Celebration withCreative Couples. The exhibition opens on Valentine’s Day, February 14, and runs through March 27, 2016.

Inspired by the relationship of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, Creative Couples will feature nine contemporary couples who are professional artists working in a variety of mediums and disciplines, all with strong ties to South Carolina. The exhibition includes works by Kristy Higby and Mark Flowers; Sharon and Jim Campbell; Scotty and Salley Peek; Bretta and Alvin Staley; Enid Williams and Paul Yanko; Ellen and David Yaghjian; Betsy Havens and Jim Calk; Terry Jarrard-Dimond and Tom Dimond; Lindsay Wiggins and Nathan Fiveash.

On Friday, February 26, 2016, the Goodall Gallery will host a reception recognizing the artists featured in the exhibition from5:30-7:00 pm. The exhibition and reception are free admission and open to the public.

“The bond between painter Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz represents one of the most important artistic alliances of the 20th century,” said Stephen Nevitt, professor of art and head of the Division of Arts and Communication Studies. “Stieglitz’s response to O’Keeffe’s early abstract drawings done while she was a teacher at Columbia College became the catalyst that prompted the eventual development of a richly complex personal and business relationship. The partnership of O’Keeffe and Stieglitz is the inspirational springboard for Creative Couples.” Their relationship is dramatized onstage in the play, “Hanging Georgia.”

On January 1, 1916, Georgia O’Keeffe’s charcoal drawings were delivered to famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz at his Gallery 291 in New York City. During this time, O’Keeffe was a young, unknown art teacher working at Columbia College in South Carolina. The drawings sparked a lively correspondence by letter between the two and ultimately led to an artistic alliance that would have a profound impact on the development of modern art in America.

The Georgia O’Keeffe Centennial is a yearlong celebration of the artist’s transformative time as a professor of art at Columbia College in 1915. The Centennial is presented by the Michael J. Mungo Foundation in memory of Jennifer Mungo and is sponsored in part by the South Carolina Humanities Foundation. For more information, visit www.ideasofmyown.com.

About Columbia College

Recognized by U.S. News and World Report as a best value institution and ranked among the best regional universities in the south, Columbia College is a dynamic learning and living community; where students, faculty and staff work together to build leaders our communities need most. Founded 161 years ago by the United Methodist Church as a women’s, liberal arts college, Columbia College also offers evening, graduate and online programs serving both women and men. Columbia College is known for its emphasis on leadership and service and is home to a nationally renowned honors program led by the 2010-2011 United States Professor of the Year. Learn more at columbiasc.edu or connect with @columbiakoala