GREENVILLE — A new exhibit coming to the Greenville County Museum of Art examines the culture and traditions of South Carolina through a series of intimate portraits of Palmetto State artists.
In “At This Moment: Portraits of South Carolina Artists,” photographer Jerry Siegel continues his decades-long work documenting and celebrating the visionary creatives of the South.
The 78 featured artists span every region of the state and a varied collection of mediums — from painters to basket weavers to sculptors to photographers.
Siegel told The Post and Courier his effort to create a visual history of some of the South’s most important artists began in the early 1990s, when he photographed his friend, the celebrated Alabama writer Mary Ward Brown. The collection evolved organically from there, as he made portraits of other friends throughout Alabama, before a friend and museum director from Georgia saw the photos and noted he had the beginnings of a collection.
At that point, Siegel said the project began to expand across the South.
Photographer Jerry Siegel documents and celebrates the artists of South Carolina in a new collection of portraits coming to the Greenville County Museum of Art.
That work culminated in the 2012 book “Facing South: Portraits of Southern Artists.”
In this new collection, Siegel said he partnered with Charleston curator Mark Sloan and Greenville County Museum of Art Director Tom Styron to showcase some of the state’s most important artists.
“It’s just open, just connecting with people and learning,” he said. “And that’s really what it’s all about.”
The visual exhibit is accompanied by a catalog designed by Gil Shuler, with artist biographies written by Joshua Massey and an essay by critic Eleanor Heartney.
Heartney, who is also a curator and art historian based in New York City, wrote in a statement the new exhibit exemplifies the relevance and importance of South Carolinian art.
“Art created in South Carolina reflects and often anticipates global artistic trends,” she wrote. “The artists pictured here employ a remarkable diversity of media, sources, genres, and conceptual strategies, yet all share an unwavering commitment to their craft and vision.”
For Siegel, the project was a creative whirlwind through South Carolina’s cities and small towns in which he was able to explore the work of artists he admires.
“Everybody brings something different to the table,” he said. “It was a wide variety of artists and traditions and different kinds of work.”
The exhibit runs from Nov. 12 to Jan. 12 at the Greenville County Art Museum.