Largest exhibition of State Art Collection works now on tour

January 17, 2013

CLEMSON, SC – January 31, 2013 – For the first time, both installments of the largest traveling exhibition of State Art Collection work are on the road and on display at the same time.

Contemporary Conversations Part II is on view now through Jan. 31 at the Arts Center of Greenwood. Contemporary Conversations Part I runs through Feb. 6 at three locations in Clemson: The Arts Center, and Clemson University’s Lee Gallery and the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.

Curated by Eleanor Heartney, author and contributing editor to Art in America and Artpress, Contemporary Conversations is composed of 118 works by 95 contemporary South Carolina artists. The exhibition is designed to suggest both the quality and diversity of the state’s cultural heritage and includes everything from hard-edge geometric abstraction to surrealist-tinged dreamscapes. Works are inspired by social issues, memory, local and national history, imagination, art of the past and aesthetic theory. Together these works reflect the many voices and diverse concerns of South Carolina artists.

Visit the South Carolina Arts Commission’s website to preview the Contemporary Conversations gallery of work and the list of artists, and read more about the State Art Collection, including how to bring the collection to your community. In addition to Contemporary Conversations, two additional traveling exhibitions are available: The African-American Voice and Points of Departure: Vessels Forms from the State Art Collection.

Established in 1967 as one of the first programs of the South Carolina Arts Commission, the State Art Collection is composed of 448 works in a variety of media and styles produced by 277 artists.

For more information, contact Harriett Green, (803) 734-8696.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.