Krista Jones

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

SC State Museum

      During the beginning of this project, Nathan and I spent many hours tracking down the artists we interviewed plus others. In the process, we found a few sites are taken down such as those by Heron Briggs of Greenville, SC and Clayborn Bolt of Westminster, SC, both who are now deceased but individually known for their whirligigs. In the midst of this detective work, Nathan and I also learned of a local resource for folk art that is not widely publicized, the South Carolina State Museum. 

SC State Museum (photo from Google search)

      Located in downtown Columbia a few blocks from the state capitol on Gervais Street, the State Museum is housed in an old textile mill. The museum's focus lies within the disciplines of art, history, natural history and science/technology. During our travels we met with Chief Art Curator, Paul Matheny, and learned that the arts portion of the museum is focused on preserving works of folk self-taught artists in our state. This is great news for SC since as far as we know, there is no other entity that is preserving or showcasing our state's local folk artwork.

      Thanks to the preservation efforts of the SC State Museum, the works of L.C. Carson, Heron Briggs and Clayborn Bolt, all deceased, are now part of the museum's collection among many other artists. L.C. Carson is known for his Concrete City comprised of famous buildings around the world which are all on the same scale as Tiny Town. These 30 plus pieces are part of the museum's collection which we were also able to see “behind the scenes.” In addition to these artists, we also saw works of William Thomas Thompson and Pearl Fryar at the museum as well, both artists we visited this month and are included earlier in our blogs. (Pearl's pieces are the topiaries at the museum entrance).

LC Carson in front of Concrete City (photo from Google search)

      So, if you are looking for one location that houses information concerning SC self-taught artists, the State Museum is a great beginning point. In fact, Paul Matheny is opening up an exhibition showcasing self-taught artists at the end of this month called Uncommon Folk. Make sure not to miss it! It opens February 26th and runs until January 15th of 2012. Here is the web address for the exhibit (http://www.museum.state.sc.us/exhibits/uncommonfolk.aspx) and below a sneak peak video by ETV on Uncommon Folk.




Until next time,
Krista