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A Few Words From Down Under continued from Page 6 / back to Page 6 Festival, or to put it more correctly, we all practice the Cultural Cringe. I’m sure you know what an “art festival” entails but perhaps you may not understand just what constitutes the Cultural Cringe. Basically it means; “If he, she or it originates here - he, she or it can’t be any good,” and refers to anyone in the arts. The Cultural Cringe is a no win situation. Allow me to explain: If you have talent and choose to remain in your own hometown, it’s assumed you’re not good enough to make it “out there”. If you do leave, make good and don’t return, you’re accused of being ashamed of your heritage. If you go “out there”, make it big and come back the celebrity, you’re showing off. I can’t figure it out. With this in mind, consider our annual Art Festival of the International kind. Its purpose, as I see it, is to perpetrate the notion that we do indeed appreciate “kulcha” as we annually present an Art Festivals where 99.9% of the art is imported from some place, any place, beyond our own city, state and/or country’s borders. As for visual arts, well that isn’t even on the agenda, except if an unknown painter from Anywhere finds himself inadvertently time festival entertainers (groups of performers who make it to all the international gigs representing a country they haven’t lived in for more then a decade) just how honest is their cultural presentation? I’m not the only one to note how the influx of alien artists to this town in summer pushes the local talent beyond the periphery. In the past, marginalised artists got together and presented an artistic tantrum in the guise of an annual “fringe” festival. The Fringe presented a broad program of free, open to the public, events and exhibitions that ran outside the parameters of the International Art Festival’s costly elite events. Just about the only thing the Fringe had in common with its International twin was both festivals had some real “clangers” in their program. The Fringe survived more then a few years with word of mouth promotion, volunteers, private contributions and good audience attendance. Then, do to the lack of assured financial aid, it faded away. Meanwhile the yearly International festival continues, with vast amounts of state funding, despite showing financial losses on a regular basis. I still can’t figure it out. Is it really the same everywhere or is all modern architecture - urban, suburban, even rural - is alienating. Why doesn’t he fill backyards in the “burbs” with balloons or send them bouncing across parched wheat fields? Never mind, this one I can figure out myself. Ellen came home, just for a visit to get the winter chill out of her system, but will return again for the Northern Hemisphere summer. Although I know she is a very good artist, I have to wonder if the uniqueness of her Australian accent, amid a plethora of Scottish brogues, is opening doors for her. Is some struggling highland lad, with paintbrush in hand, being pushed aside to let the sunny southern lass through? I’m afraid to ask only because I’m sure the answer will be yes. In a way that’s comforting, to know the folk of my town are not the only “reverse” snobs in the world. But then again it’s discomforting, to entertain the idea that Cultural Cringe is a universal malady. I firmly believe exposure to art from other cultures has a positive effect. At first it seems strange, especially if the play is in a foreign tongue or the music is high pitched and monotonous. Our response when we can’t engage with the presentation, or if it’s not to our taste, is to dismiss it as “bad”. It’s a natural reaction. However by experiencing new things, like them or not, we broaden the mind and that’s good. stranded in Australia with a steamer trunk this art snobbery the result of my town full of works, or a highly celebrated sculp- being the Most Isolated Capital City in the tor from Someplace wants to erect a styro- World? Why do we pay top dollar to see foam effigy of himself, in the nude, seven an aging British rock star stomp across a miles out in the desert, then it’s hey, come weirdly lit stage, and ignore the local song- on down and show us your stuff. Nope, it ster who puts on a free show in the park just doesn’t compute. under the stars? Why is it that Ellen, who Not wanting to sound like a parochial has a natural talent for drawing but didn’t snob, I appreciate the opportunity to ex- complete art school, needs to go to Scotperience cultural activities from another land to find an appreciative audience for nation, and certainly understand the advan- her colourful contemporary graphic works tages local performers reap from dialogu- on paper? Why do we ignore her and give ing with visiting artists. However when the kudos to a well-educated European artist price of admission to some events are be- who filled a city construction site with balyond the reach of the average citizen, when loons while explaining how modern urban local professional practitioners are treated architecture is alienating? He has a valid like amateurs or locked out of participating point but since the invention of CCTV, se- in events, how valid is the exchange? And curity shutters and electronic entry codes, when many of the visiting acts are by full continued above on next column to the right Page 8 - Carolina Arts, February 2013 Table of Contents By all means bring on the weirdest and most wonderful of art practitioners - singers and dancers, musicians and composers, painters and sculptors, actors, authors, and acrobats - from all corners of the earth so we can experience their performances, discover new tastes, be inspired or question their motives, and learn another way of expressing the self. But please, not at the cost of our own, those whose talents we talk down but secretly enjoy between festivals. We don’t want them all to be lost to Hollywood, some Parisian atelier or become a Highland fling. We all have to help prevent Cultural Cringe from becoming a global artistic epidemic. Go to a local galley, say something nice about the art. I figure it’ll help. Judith McGrath lives in Kalamunda, Western Australia, 25 minutes east of Perth. She received a BA in Fine Art and History from the University of Western Australia. McGrath lectured in Art History and Visual Literacy at various colleges around the Perth area, and was an art reviewer for The Sunday Times and The Western Review both published in the Perth area. McGrath was also a freelance writer and reviewer for various art magazines in Australia. She also co-ordinated the web site Art Seen in Western Australia found at (http://www.artseeninwa.com). McGrath is currently enjoying retirement. Sign up to follow Tom’s Tweets, click below! twitter.com/carolinaarts
“Scream” Some Exhibits That Are Still On View Our policy at Carolina Arts is to present a press release about an exhibit only once and then go on, but many major exhibits are on view for months. This is our effort to remind you of some of them. Work by G. Carol Bomer SCALA Surrealist Painter www.peterscala.com Studio: 843-225-3313 The winter exhibition, Art of Faiths – Religions of the World: Diversity and Tolerance is on view at the Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, NC, through Feb. 9, 2012. Art of Faiths features three solo exhibitions by artists Syed Ahmad, Alice Levinson, and Robert Radin, and a group show with featured artists Shireen Alborno, Carol Bomer, Robert Crum, and Betti Pettinati-Longinotti. Through an assemblage of photographs, paintings, and mixed media works, these artists express their personal relationships to their faiths including Muslim, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. The visual images communicate the breadth and complexity of ideas of acceptance and social inclusiveness through art. For further info check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call 704/636-1882 or visit (www.waterworks.org). The Spartanburg Art Museum (SAM), in Spartanburg, SC, is hosting the exhibit The Hog Series, featuring paintings by the popular South Carolina artist Tarleton Blackwell, on view through Feb. 16, 2013. The exhibition features 20 paintings of hogs in unique settings. The Hog Series began more than 28 years ago, while Blackwell was a graduate student at the University of South Carolina. It has evolved into an ongoing suite of approximately 290 works on paper and canvas. This series explores the rich iconography of the rural southeastern United States, incorporating elements of art history, children’s tales, persistent stereotypes, and even commercial imagery. For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call 864/ 582- 7616 or visit (www.spartanburgartmuseum.org). The Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, in Durham, NC, is presenting the exhibit The Restraints: Open and Hidden: Gordon Parks’ Life Magazine Segregation Series, on view in the Lyndhurst Gallery, through Mar. 2, 2013. Renaissance man Gordon Parks would have been one hundred years old on Nov. 30, 2012 (he died in 2006, at 93). As a young man during the Depression, he joined the Civil Conservation Corps, the New Deal work relief program; played semiprofessional sports; and did various odd jobs until 1942, when he joined the Library of Congress’s Farm Security Administration (FSA) as the first [Julius] Rosenwald Fellow in photography. For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Center at 919/660-3663 or visit (cds.aas. duke.edu). The University of South Carolina in Columbia, SC, is presenting Step Right Up! Sideshows in American Culture, featuring works by Rebecca Davenport, on view at the McKissick Museum, through May 21, 2013. Featuring the work of Beaufort, SC-based visual artist Rebecca Davenport, the exhibition explores the sideshow as a cultural located in the Chapman Cultural Center continued above on next column to the right Table of Contents Fracture Oil on Canvas, 72 x 66 inches Eva Carter Studio By Appointment Only 6696 Bears Bluff Road Please call (843) 478-2522 Wadmalaw Island, SC 29487 www.EvaCarterGallery.com Work by Rebecca Davenport phenomenon during the late 19th century and continuing today. Focusing on several key themes, the exhibition will explore the dynamic nature of sideshow culture, the concept of “the other,” and the public perception of showmanship and exploitation. For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings, call Ja–Nae Epps at 803/777-2876 or visit (http://artsandsciences.sc.edu/mckissickmuseum/ index.php?q=welcome). Editorial Commentary continued from Page 4 / back to Page 4 better suited with SCPRT. And that way they could cut a lot of fat out of the Arts Commission. And, please don’t retain the folks who have been doing nothing at the Arts Commission by “folding” them into these other agencies. If you’re going to make a change - make a change. Artist, arts groups and arts organizations could still apply for funding, but perhaps under PRT the agency could ask when reading the applications - what will SC gain from this funding - beyond supporting the local arts. It’s not a bad question to ask when using the taxpayer’s money. Wells Gallery Moves Out of Charleston to the Island Some people wait to retire before they move to some tropical island, but Hume The Pink House Gallery To personalize this Alice Stewart Grimsley print with your year and company numbers click this link http://pinkhousegallery.tripod.com/id25.html Always lots of new work by Alice Stewart Grimsley, Nancy W. Rushing, Detta C. Zimmerman & Exclusive Dealer for the Gaillard Plantation Prints in the oldest building in Charleston, SC at 17 Chalmers St (843) 723-3608 • Mon-Sat 10-5 http://pinkhousegallery.tripod.com/ Killian, owner of the Wells Gallery in downtown Charleston, SC, has consolidated the two Wells Galleries to the Wells Gallery in the Sanctuary Hotel on Kiawah Island, SC. Killian says, “We have enjoyed 20 wonderful years in downtown Charleston and are sad to say goodbye at this time, but we are very excited to be concentrating on our Kiawah Island gallery.” I bet he is! I remember when we moved our headquarters in downtown Charleston to the resort area of Bonneau Beach, SC - what a change it was. We went from summers when it might take 15 minutes to wait for a break in traffic to cross the street to a community where I could sit in the middle of our street before a car came along. But the difference between Bonneau Beach and Kiawah Island continued on Page 41 Carolina Arts, February 2013 - Page 9
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