Villa Voice Winter 2018

Museum Musings
A Message from our Board Chair

Hi, friends and community!

One half-block from the ocean sits a local gem, the Art Museum of Myrtle Beach.

Open daily to the public (except Monday) with free admission, all are invited to enjoy and explore new visual arts exhibits, permanent exhibits, class and educational offerings, lectures, openings, a reference library and (soon) a pottery studio.

Please come for a visit of cultural enlightenment and spiritual refreshment as you encounter beauty and expression through art.

I encourage you to mark your calendar and attend the many offerings of 2018.

I am excited to serve as the new chairman of the Board. I love art. I believe we all are creative by our very nature. We express our creativity in different ways; and for all of us, art and art appreciation are vital to our creative selves. We find wholeness, completeness. Voids are filled that words can’t express. Our spirits are awakened. Our differences are understood. Walls come down.

For these and so many other reasons, we all need our Art Museum. I look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Benton
Chair, Museum Board of Trustees

At the Art Museum, Everything’s Coming Up…Ceramics
A Message from our Executive Director

Spring may be a long way off, but something new is blossoming at the Art Museum: the first-ever community pottery studio in Horry and Georgetown Counties, now under construction on the ground floor of our facility.

To be named the Lineta Pritchard Pottery Studio, the 1,000-square-foot facility will occupy previously underutilized space directly under our first-floor offices. The fully-enclosed, all-weather studio will include six pottery wheels, a hand-building area for up to 10 students, a glazing surface with storage for a colorful assortment of glazes, a cleaning station and a separate room for a kiln. The studio will offer pottery classes for both children and adults, five days a week year-round beginning in early spring. Students registered for any of these sessions will also be able to take advantage of open-studio hours where they can work on their own.

The project began with conversations between board members and Arielle Fatuova, the Art Museum’s Education Coordinator and ceramicist, whose enthusiasm was instrumental in moving the idea forward. Having marked our 20th successful year, we felt the concept not only filled a need in the community-at-large but also provided a new medium of creating art at the Museum.

The new Lineta Pritchard Pottery Studio honors a committed Museum leader whose hard work, dedication and sense of community – since the Museum’s earliest days – have helped make the Art Museum what it is today. Over the years, Lineta conceived and led the efforts to stage many of the Museum’s most recognizable annual fundraising events, including the Spring Tour of Homes and the Bag Ladies Luncheon.

We are very grateful to The Chapin Foundation, along with additional support from The Brittain Family, Carolyn Burroughs, Nancy Cave, Sharon and Mike Clayton, Cynthia and Eddie Dyer, Vern Hearl and Bill Pritchard, who have provided funding for this wonderful new facility.

Meanwhile, two new exhibitions have “sprouted” at the Museum: William H Miller: What You See Is What You Get, now open, and Steven Bleicher: The Kings Highway, both exhibits run through April 22.

Besides being a prolific artist – creating abstract works that merge two strikingly different media, traditional painting and digitally-generated images – William “Billy” Miller has been a gallery owner, a mentor to other artists and a tireless advocate for the arts. He is also a member of our Museum’s Board of Trustees.

His exhibition’s title is a definite misnomer, as Billy’s abstract work is so much more than what appears on the canvas, as he paints (in his words) “to communicate complex themes and emotions … meant to stir a viewer’s visual mind – activating, adding to and remixing notions of imagery and meaning.” Viewers will undoubtedly find much in these 35 works to stimulate and intrigue them.

Steven Bleicher, a professor of visual arts at Coastal Carolina University, has long studied the American fascination with travel as viewed through the lens of our coastal landscape and roadside attractions, both past and present. His impressions of US Highway 17, or the King’s Highway, are distilled into mixed-media compositions that combine photorealistic graphite renderings developed from site sketches and photographs with corresponding road maps and found objects. Both new and longtime residents of our coastal community will surely find them fascinating.

And in our second-floor gallery is an exhibit that is both old and new. Titled Collection Connections: A Visual Exploration of Southern Heritage, the 37 works by more than 20 artists have been selected from the Museum’s Permanent Collections. Comprising antique maps, historical prints, works on paper, fabric quilts and photographs, these works have one thing in common: they are meant to cultivate a greater understanding and appreciation of the uniqueness of Southern culture.

Chosen primarily as a means of introducing school students to Southern history through the vehicle of the visual arts this exhibit is a wonderful way to introduce visitors and newcomers to our area to the many facets of our local and regional culture.

We offer thanks to The Chapin Foundation, the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Georgia-based Watson-Brown Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving Southern history and culture, for their generous grants enabling us to compile and present this exhibit.

Looking forward to seeing you at the Art Museum. Thank you for your support.

Sincerely,
 

 
 
 
 
 
Patricia Goodwin
Executive Director

Education Corner
with Arielle Fatuova and Tracey Roode

During the fall of 2017, our KidsArt workshops were bursting with fun and creativity as they created projects inspired by Grand Strand Collects, a large exhibition of artworks from the collections of over 50 Grand Strand residents. While exploring the collection of works in all different media, colors and dimensions, our students were inspired to learn a variety of techniques.They also got to work with visiting artists and musicians and participate in projects that give back to the community on both a local and national level.

Teens that participated in T.A.P. (Teen Art Program) this fall were given the opportunity to become part of a worldwide art movement. The Sketchbook Project began in 2006 in Atlanta, GA, and moved to New York City in 2009. Since then, it has grown into a worldwide community of more than 70,000 artists. In our part of the program, each student was given a blank sketchbook (ordered through the Brooklyn Art Library) and together we worked on them during class. The sketchbooks, now complete, are being sent off to New York City where they will be cataloged into a traveling exhibition from around the world!

Our younger participants had a visit from a local musician, Angie Capone, who played different beats and rhythms for a series of three lively paintings. Angie and Ms. Arielle talked with the children about finding the connection between music and art, and the kids were even given the opportunity to play the bongos!

As part of our ongoing outreach efforts this fall, Ms. Arielle introduced the topic of the importance of adopting pets from local shelters. By contacting All4Paws in Pawleys Island, she received images of some of the dogs that have been up for adoption for at least a year. We learned about their stories, painted their portraits and posted them on social media in hopes that these sweet pooches would find loving homes. The children felt very proud of themselves for their good deeds!

Meanwhile, Ms. Tracey has been visiting her daycares and preschools, teaching them the elements and principles of design. The children used textured stamps to create fish after reading Rain Fish; and expressed emotions through colorful abstract paintings after reading I Don’t Draw, I Color! They also mixed colors in a collaborative marble painting art project after reading Monsters Love Colors; and they explored the many beautiful things one can make with a simple square in a paper collage art project inspired by the book Perfect Square.

As many of you know, we have been anxiously waiting the completion of the Art Museum’s Pottery Studio and we are finally in the home stretch! Classes will begin in a few short months, and Ms. Arielle will be moving to the downstairs studio, where she will instruct the hand-building courses in the Pottery Studio along with John Johnson, a local ceramist who we know as “Mr. Mud Bucket.” Beginning in January, Ms. Tracey will be taking over full responsibility of the KidsArt programs.

Thank you to our generous sponsors:

Tami Springs Brooks in Thanksgiving for her children,
Christi, Jerrett and Boni Belle; and grandson, Landon.
and PNC Growing Up Great and Krispy Kreme

Museum Shop Welcomes Shari Corley

Next time you visit the Museum Shop, you’ll see a few changes – in the layout and displays of merchandise, and, most notably, in the person who manages the shop. She’s Shari Corley, newly named Special Projects Coordinator, who replaces the just-retired Karen Olson.

A native of Annapolis, Maryland, Shari brings a wealth of experience in retail management – more than 20 years, much of it in national chains such as Jones New York, Dillard’s and Lillian Vernon-as well as spending the early part of her career as a gallery director. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect candidate to take over the Museum Shop. Ironically, she virtually fell into our laps.

Shari and her husband, Bob, had relocated to Myrtle Beach in 1998, when she had been recruited to manage the Jones New York store in the Tanger Outlet Center. When that job ended, she moved on to Lillian Vernon as a District Manager but she was itching to get back into the art world and offered to volunteer at the Art Museum. From working the front desk, she was soon helping out with Museum events like the Spring Tour of Homes, assisting Karen in the Museum Shop and subbing for her during vacations. With her gallery background, it was just a matter of time before she was assisting curator Liz Miller to hang new art exhibitions.

Shari describes her new job as melding her retail background with an art “hat,” but with an important difference.

“At the Museum I have the opportunity to have a more personal relationship with the artists who create some of our merchandise,” she says, noting that the Shop sells not only prints, note cards and other items commissioned by the artists who exhibit in the Museum, but some original items as well. Artist William Miller, whose exhibition What You See Is What You Get currently is on display in the first-floor galleries, has created some special pieces for sale in the Museum, she notes. There are also handmade, one-of-a-kind dolls by Georgetown artist Zenobia Washington, which she says “really have a strong story to tell” and offer a personal experience for buyers.

“I love the merchandising aspect of running the Shop,” she says. “When you create a display, you’re telling a story that gives your customers a bit of inspiration. That’s always been one of my favorite aspects of retail.”

How does she choose what to include in the Shop? First, she aims for a variety of types of merchandise: some fashion items; some artwork, both from classic and contemporary artists; and some practical items like stationery. She keeps an eye on what’s happening in the fashion world as well as the art world through publications and through her own research. And she looks to changing seasons as well as the Museum’s changing exhibits for inspiration on the look of the Shop as well as the merchandise she selects.

For example, the upcoming summer exhibit Making Waves | A Drew Brophy Retrospective. “So I’m thinking what I can find with a surfing theme that would complement the exhibit and ensure our summer guests have something unique to take home with them.”

In between managing the gift shop, helping with events and with new exhibitions, Shari also wears the “hat” of Volunteer Coordinator. How does she juggle all those hats?

“It’s never boring,” she says with a laugh.

18th Annual Spring Tour of Homes

On Saturday, March 10, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., we host the Museum’s 18th Annual Spring Tour of Homes. This year’s tour features six stylish homes from modestly-sized to palatial and brand-sparkling new. Visitors will get to see some spectacular architectural and interior design details as well as some clever and practical ideas that apply to the everyday home.

A perennial favorite of residents and visitors alike, the Spring Tour of Homes is also the major fundraiser of the year for the Art Museum. Tickets are $45 in advance – by calling the Museum or purchasing online – or $50 day of the tour. Tickets are also available at a number of outlets around the Grand Strand; contact the Museum for locations. A luncheon, from 11:30 – 3 p.m. at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club, complements the tour. Tickets, $22 per person, may also be purchased from the Museum. Reservations are required.

18th Annual Spring Tour of Homes

The Pepe Home | Black Creek Plantation
The Pettus Home | N. Ocean Blvd.,
The Riley Home | Coyledom Ct., Plantation Point
The Skelley Home | N. Ocean Blvd
The Thompson Home | Bellasera Cir., Grande Dunes
The Warren Home | N. Ocean Blvd.

All ticket buyers – Please Note:

Due to parking restrictions along Ocean Boulevard, the Art Museum is providing a free shuttle service and parking for Tour homes #2, #4 and #6. We ask that all visitors to these three homes use the parking lot at 70 th Avenue North and Kings Highway: The Shoppes at 70 th . You will then board a Museum shuttle bus and be transported to and from the homes. Tour homes #1, #3 and #5 will all have street parking available.