Look What’s Hiding in the Museum’s Art Storage

Paul Matheny
Chief art curator, South Carolina State Museum
February 28, 2014

This Saturday we’re bringing back the 2nd Annual Art Day at the South Carolina State Museum.  It’s an opportunity for you to learn about art that you may not know about from all across the state. 

Did you know that on average, only 10% of our collection is on display? That’s because objects have to be rotated so they can be preserved for generations to come. Unless you work at the museum, you don’t get the opportunity to see the remaining 90% of our collection.  So we’ve decided it’s time for you to see the hidden gems of our art collection during our behind-the-scenes tours at Art Day. 

For one day only, you’ll get special access to see a portion of the approximately 4,000 works of art that are currently in storage.  Our art collection spans over 400 years and represents the great cultural diversity of artists and art from across the state. There are tons of great pieces in the collection, but I thought I’d share a couple that we’ve pulled out for Art Day…

1.    Ernest Lee, The Chicken Man’s first traveling art studio.  This eclectic trailer, used to house some of The Chicken Man’s first paintings, joined our collection in 2008. This is an incredible work of art that the museum was fortunate to acquire and certainly a Midlands icon for people traveling at the corner of Harden and Gervais!

 
2.    Preparation of the Feast by Theodore De Bry.  This painting represents the earliest piece in our art collection, dating to circa 1590.  This is where our collection of South Carolina-related art begins.

3.    View of Columbia by Eugene Dovolliers.  This important painting was completed around 1850 and shows what Columbia looked like in the 19th century.  Come see if you recognize anything from the #FamouslyHot city.

4.    Death of the Star II by Peggy Rivers.  Although this piece is on loan and is not included in our permanent collection (yet), we chose to highlight it because it offers a sneak peak into our next major changing art exhibit, Building a Universe. This painting and exhibit represent artwork that reflect the idea of space either directly or conceptually and also connect with our future observatory and planetarium opening this summer. Click here to learn more about this project…it’s really exciting stuff.

5.    Moses by L.C. Carson. This is a polychromed relief carving (in layman’s terms: painted wood) and dates to 1975.  Carson was best known for his folk art environment Concrete City, a sculpture environment built in his yard.  The installation was originally in Carson’s home in Orangeburg, but was moved to the museum in the 1990’s.

 
We’ll also have live music, hands-on creation stations and live art demonstrations from Paul Moore (pottery), Gene Speer (printmaking), Brian Rego (painting), Alicia Leeke (painting), Herman Thompson (sculpture) and Rick Wells (painting) at Art Day.  And last but not least, have you tried the delicious food served up by the Wurst Wagon?  They say their wurst is the best, come taste it for yourself at Art Day.  

This is a day for guests of all ages and is included with general museum admission or membership. Click here to learn more.  We hope to see you there!