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S C H O O L N E W S
Glenda Guion Retires After 25 Years
Glenda Guion, Fine Arts Center Ceramics teacher for 25 years and Art Department
Chair for 13 years, is retiring at the end of this school year. What she has meant to the
school, to Greenville, the state, and to countless numbers of our visual arts students cannot
be measured. She came to the Fine Arts Center in 1988 and, since that time, established
herself as one of the leading ceramicists in the Southeast. She joins Jim Campbell, Drawing
and Painting teacher, who retired last year after 34 years; Susan Willis, our 3-D Metals
teacher who retired six years ago after 33 years; and Debbie Cooke, our Photography
teacher, who retired two years ago after 14 years. Among them, they formed one of the
finest visual arts faculties to be found at any level in this part of the country.
Glenda’s first career began in a bank in Nashville, her hometown. Starting as a teller,
she quickly moved to head teller and then branch manager. Obviously, she was good at
it, but she found it unfulfilling and went back to school, receiving her BFA from Middle
Tennessee State University in 1985. She continued her studies at Clemson, getting her
MFA in 1987. In 1988 she replaced long-time Fine Arts Center Ceramics Teacher Bob
Chance, who accepted a similar position in the art department at Furman.
Once at The Fine Arts Center, her commitment to her art, her students and the school launched a career that saw her
artwork featured in “Handbuilt Ceramics” by Kathy Tripplett (1997) and “500 Teapots” by Lark Books (2002). Her work
with Fine Arts Center students for the Children’s Wing of Greenville Memorial Hospital was featured in “Pottery Making
Illustrated Magazine” (2004), a publication of the American Ceramic Society. She served as instructor at the Greenville
Museum of Art, Clemson University and USC Upstate. She worked as a studio assistant for Ellen Kochansky, lectured
at Furman and Tri-County Technical College, and did ceramic workshops for 16 different Greenville County Schools. In
2002 Glenda was part of the original group of artists who began Greenville Open Studios, one of the most successful
programs of its kind in the country, and served as its chairperson for five years.
Ms. Guion’s work is included in numerous public collections, such as the South Carolina State Art Collection, the
Pickens County Museum, Columbia College, Clemson University, Sumter County Museum of Art, Elliott Davis, LLC
and Middle Tennessee State University. She has received 13 first place awards and has been exhibited in more than
120 regional shows, 19 national juried exhibitions and 12 solo exhibitions. Her clay work has been exhibited in venues
such as Hickory Museum of Art in Hickory, N.C.; Galleria Mesa in Mesa, Ariz.; Danforth Gallery in Portland, Maine; The
Holter Museum of Art in Helena, Mont.; Eastern Washington University in Spokane, Wash.; The University of Memphis
in Memphis, Tenn.; Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah; Gallery of Artifacts and Treasures in Daytona Beach,
Fla.; Capital University in Columbus, Ohio; and The Museum of Modern Art in Miami, Fla.
The beautiful stainless steel John Acorn sculpture on the west side of our new building was obtained due to Glenda’s
efforts. Roper Mountain Science Center, where Acorn’s sculpture could be seen as part of the Holiday Lights exhibit each
December, wanted ceramic sculptures for its Japanese Butterfly Garden and traded the sculpture for the three beautiful
pieces she and her students designed and executed.
One of the highlights of her time at FAC was when she received a Surdna Foundation Grant (now the National Arts
Teacher Foundation) to study Native American clay techniques in New Mexico with the Acoma Indians. That led to a
curriculum unit that became a regular feature of her work and that of her students. It also led to a collection of 24 Native
American pottery pieces that now forms one of the finest collections of its kind of any high school in the country. The
collection, a gift of Joe Comin obtained with the help of Sharon Campbell and now on view at FAC, stands as a testament
to Glenda’s career as an artist, teacher and colleague. Scores of students will attest to what she meant to them and how
her unwavering belief in their talents led them to discover in themselves the excellence she knew was there. Her example
and her love of the school and everything it stands for will impact what we do long into the future. Enjoy your time, your
new home and your new studio, Glenda. You have more than earned it!
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Glenda Guion, Fine Arts
Ceramics Teacher for 25 years