The Art Museum was conceived by a small but visionary group of local art enthusiasts, among them a group of artists formed in the late 1960s called the Waccamaw Arts & Crafts Guild. Beginning in the spring of 1969, a pattern of art exhibitions was established that continues today. To honor the integral role that the Guild played in the Museum’s establishment, the Museum proudly hosts the Guild’s annual spring juried art exhibition, which is now in its 23rd year. A diverse array of media, including ceramics, collage, drawings, graphics, mixed media works in both two and three-dimension, paintings, photography, sculpture, textiles and wood carving, all completed by local artists within the past two years, will be exhibited.
This year’s judge is professional artist, author and educator Steven Bleicher. Bleicher is the Director of Special Programs and Projects for the Thomas W. and Robin W. Edwards College of Humanities and Fine Arts at Coastal Carolina University in addition to being a tenured professor of visual arts and a previous associate dean. He received his BFA and MFA from Pratt University in Brooklyn, NY. Before moving to Conway, SC, Bleicher was a senior faculty member at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, FL, and taught at several schools in New York, including the NY Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, the State University of NY, Brooklyn College, Marian College and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he served as assistant dean of the School of Art and Design. Exhibiting internationally, one of Bleicher’s most notable projects is his collaboration with fellow artist Jennifer Wen Ma on Man and Nature in Rhapsody of Light at the Water Cube, a permanent public art installation in Beijing. His book, Contemporary Color: Theory and Use, now in its second edition, is considered a must-have color theory text for students.
© 2016 Franklin G. Burroughs • Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
Myrtle Beach’s Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum strives to be one of the finest visual arts museums in the Carolinas. With 11 galleries that change throughout the year, Myrtle Beach’s only art museum offers exhibitions featuring paintings, textiles, sculpture, photography, video, ceramics, assemblage, collage and more. A visit to the Art Museum’s exhibitions can be enhanced by its lively programming, including artist receptions, tours, lectures, workshops and classes for both adults and children.