The SCSM Traveling Exhibits Program—TEP

The Traveling Exhibits Program at the South Carolina State Museum provides museums, art centers, universities and other qualified institutions with high quality, affordable traveling exhibitions. TEP provides an array of stimulating shows for institutions of any size, from large exhibitions designed for major museums to smaller, South Carolina-specific exhibits for local museums and galleries.  The TEP goal is to advance appreciation for and understanding of the art, history and cultures of South Carolina by offering exhibits on a variety of topics and disciplines, ranging from the turbulent history of Native Americans in South Carolina, to unique photography and contemporary fine art.

List of all available exhibits

New Exhibits!
 

Honoring Zora: Stitching Wise Words; Art Quotes and Art Quilts

Twelve fiber artists, a quilting bee of the spirit, and a challenge.  This year’s traveling quilt exhibit honors Zora Neale Hurston, one of the pre-eminent writers of twentieth century African American literature and folklore.  The 15 fiber pieces explore and depict themes and images of the Harlem Renaissance through cloth using a variety of techniques from traditional to non traditional quilting, including the art of batik.

 

Each artist was asked to create a work inspired by one of three themes from Hurston’s published work.  How have you “jumped at de sun”?  How do you explore the “eternal feminine with its string of beads?”  What answers did you find from “years that ask questions and years that answer?”

 

The exhibit includes a 30 minutes documentary video, The Wayshowers, produced by Portia Cobb and the College of Charleston. On the video, the artists talk about their lives, their art work and about Zora Neal Hurston.

“Honoring Zora” is ideal for venues wishing to create reading partnerships with local schools and community organizations. A list of Ms. Hurston’s publications as well as a link to the National Endowment for the Humanities Big Read project can be found on the official Zora Neale Hurston website www.zoranealehurston.com. Ms. Hurston’s work was selected by the NEH for inclusion in The Big Read.

Specs:
• 15 fiber art pieces range in size from 31” x 31” to 61” x 48”
• Hanging dowels included
• “Wayshowers” CD may be played in gallery
• Requires gallery lighting, no direct sunlight
• CD with label copy and artists’ statements
• Press release information with digital picture

 

Cost:
• $300 for one month rental
• $450 for two months rental
• $500 for three months rental

 

Security: High

Transportation: car or van, fiber art is folded and wrapped in packing quilts. Dowels are wrapped in bubble wrap.

 

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The Lonely Shadow: Silhouette Art by Clay Rice

Original illustrations from “The Lonely Shadow,” a new children’s book created by nationally-known silhouette artist Clay Rice are now available to travel.  In this exhibit, Clay Rice blends the elegant black and white silhouette tradition with a colorful world in the story of friendship between a lonely shadow and a little boy. 

 

Rice is as much a folklorist as he is a visual artist, collecting stories from people he meets and preserving their tales. He has listened to stores about root doctors, folk tales and ghost stories. These stories most recently influenced his career through his own story and book, “The Lonely Shadow.” Mr. Rice is available for programs at your venue.

 

Specs:

• Twenty-three wood framed original illustrations ranging from 20” x 24” to 20” x 36”
• Press information and digital photographs of Clay Rice

 

Cost:

• $300 for one month rental
• $450 for two months rental
• $600 for three months rental

 

Security: High
Transportation: van with no seats

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Mud, Sweat and Cheers: Football in the Palmetto State

Bring the excitement, drama, history and fun of American football into your gallery. The exhibit includes information about both high school and college football and features Carolina players who have gone on to the professional game.  “This exhibit examines the history of the game in the Palmetto State,” says Fritz Hamer, chief curator of history at the South Carolina State Museum. “It looks at how the rules have changed over the 20th century and examines how football expanded from being largely a collegiate sport in the first half of the century into the huge spectator sport it has become since the 1960’s.” The exhibit also includes a cut away version of the X1 Football Helmet from Zenith® and text panels describing concussions and how new shock absorber technology helps reduce injury.

Specs:
• Approximately 100 linear feet
• 12 text panels describing the game 36” x 48”
• 20 college panels 24” x 32”
• 13 biography panels of players and coaches 24” x 32”
• 11 photo panels of various sizes
• 3 text panels for the Zenith® helmet
• One lighted display case for helmets 17” x 47” x 53”
• Zenith® helmet and cut away version of helmet

Cost:
• $300 for one month rental
• $450 for two months rental
• $600 for three months rental

Security: medium
Transportation requirements: van

Jim Harrison’s America from the Reaves McCall collection

A collection of  Jim Harrison’s, framed prints is now available to art centers and art galleries around the state.  The prints comprise a nearly complete record of Harrison’s published work and serve as a visual archive of the artist’s portfolio. “Harrison is known for his rural scenes of ‘disappearing America’ as well as for scenes of the south Carolina coast. Many of his pastoral paintings feature buildings sporting painted advertisements, which once were common in the South but are now rare” says the State Museum’s Chief Curator of Art Paul Matheny. Harrison began his career as an apprentice to sign painter J.J. Cornforth, who created hand-lettered signs on the sides of buildings and barns as advertisements. “Harrison began to see these original ‘works of art’ disappearing as the barns and buildings began to decay.”  Harrison documents these places in his artwork.

 For more information contact the Traveling Exhibits Program at (803) 737-4159 or email tep@scmuseum.org