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Exhibition
Archives
The
Color of Money: Acrylics by John W. Jones
Aug. 17 – Oct. 29, 2006
Opening reception 5:30pm-7:30pm on Thursday, Aug. 17
Gallery Talk by the artist at 6:30pm
While
working in a Charleston blueprint shop in 1996, graphic artist John W.
Jones saw something that changed his life and launched a career: the image
of slaves picking cotton, printed on the face of a Confederate banknote.
On further investigation, he found dozens of similar images on the currency
of antebellum Southern states – a detail never mentioned in any
historical account of the Confederacy Jones had seen.
The discovery inspired Jones to interpret those tiny and obscure images
as a series of boldly colored acrylic paintings that expanded on the scenes
and restored the essential humanity of their subjects. These works make
up this remarkable exhibit called The Color of Money: Acrylics
by John W. Jones.
In his artist’s statement, Jones notes that his research on slave
images – or 'vignettes', as he calls them – convinced him
that such images were in fact propaganda by pro-slavery advocates in an
era of increasing controversy on the subject. These images, depicting
healthy and happy-looking slaves at work in various occupations, belied
the harshness of the slaves’ real existence while making a subliminal
connection between slavery and prosperity in America.
“Symbols of legitimacy on the currencies and within the slave vignettes
themselves connected slavery with America’s national story, associating
it with the American flag and George Washington, the Father of our Country
. . . himself a slave owner,” Jones notes.
In The Color of Money exhibit, Jones’
colorful paintings are displayed side by side with the currencies that
inspired them. Aside from his use of vibrant colors, Jones’ paintings
depict the images in the same way they were shown on the money, bringing
the tiny scenes irrefutably to life.
Jones has said he believes the currency images demonstrate the enormous
economic importance of slave labor to the Southern economy, and that they
prove that the Civil War was not about states’ rights or other pseudo-issues.
Rather, it was about preserving the basis of slaveowners’ wealth
and privilege: their slaves.
For more information about the The Color of Money: Acrylics by John W. Jones visit the companion website at colorsofmoney.com.
The Art Museum wishes to gratefully acknowledge that this exhibition of
The Color of Money: Acrylics by John
W. Jones is underwritten by The
Hoffman Group, Inc and The Chapin Foundation.
A Public Symposium: “On
the Money, from the Fields and in the Music: Stories of Slavery
Coming Alive”
Friday and Saturday, September 15-16, 2006
Advance Registration: $25 for Members, $30 for Non-Members. After September 8, if available: $35
In
conjunction with The Color of Money: Acrylics
by John W. Jones, the Museum will host a public symposium featuring
a panel of speakers who will explore the issues raised by the exhibit
about race, economics and the continuing legacy of slavery. These
voices of slave life come alive as artist John W. Jones joins Arne Flaten
(CCU Department of Visual Arts and History), Veronica Davis Gerald (CCU
Department of English), and Ann Caldwell for our discussion.
Call the Museum at 843-238-2500 for reservations and information.
| Friday, September 15 | |
| 6:30-8:30 pm | Reception, Gallery Tour, and Conversation with John W. Jones |
| Saturday, September 16 | |
| 9:00am | Registration, Coffee and Refreshments |
| 10:00am | "About Money" Arne Flaten takes us on a 5,000 year journey to discover forms and functions of money that might make us think that we have opened a Pandora's Box. |
| 11:00am | "Stories Code Resistance" Veronica Davis Gerald explores how voices of resistance are expressed in oral histories, folk stories, trickster tales and other means of 'coded' communication. |
| Noon: | "Songs Provided the Strength" Ann Caldwell captures an experience of coping and hope in the Spirituals that served as the 'life music of slavery'. |
| 1:00pm | Lunch (included with registration) |
| 2:00pm | Round Table John W. Jones, Arne Flaten, Veronica Gerald Davis, and Ann Caldwell explore the conversation opened up by these "stories behind the stories". |
| 3:30pm | Close of the Symposium |
Sequences
and Events: Mixed Media Paintings, Short Documentaries and Artists Books
by Kristy Higby and Mark Flowers
Aug. 24 – Oct. 29, 2006
Opening Reception from 5:30 to 7:30 pm on Thursday, Aug. 24
Artist's
Talks beginning at 6:30pm
The ‘artistic' temperament is the stuff of legend, but two such personalities living under the same roof? The formula apparently works for artists Kristy Higby and Mark Flowers, who celebrate their recent 30-year wedding anniversary with this joint exhibit of their work, comprised of about a dozen of Higby's artist books along with two short documentaries she has created, and some 30 mixed-media paintings by Flowers.
Higby and Flowers, who are parents of two grown sons, also artists,
find the labeling of artists as 'temperamental' mildly amusing. Higby
notes that having two artists in the same family actually makes it easier
for each to empathize with the other's workload and creative process.
Both Higby and Flowers teach art at a residential preparatory/high school
in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, but also have strong roots in the Carolinas.
Both received undergraduate art degrees from the University of South
Carolina, and they recently acquired property near Asheville, NC, where
they plan to retire.
The Myrtle Beach exhibit will be the couple's seventh joint show. Perhaps
one reason for the couple's compatibility lies in the difference in
scale and subject matter of each artist's work. Flowers concentrates
on large paintings with abstract, at times architectural themes, many
with other objects including smaller paintings, attached.
Higby is known for smaller more intimate works: handmade, intricately
designed books which complement works of poetry or are created to hold
personal journals. She particularly enjoys merging her art with the
work of poets she knows personally, “whose work I admire and who let
me have my way with it.”
Nevertheless,
both artists stress the value of storytelling through their art. Higby's
intimate books seek to draw the reader into their literary subjects,
creating a multidimensional experience to be absorbed and nurtured.
Her books feature a multitude of colors, textures and shapes that create
a labyrinth of visual surprises. And her short digital video documentaries
reach out and tell stories that seek universal experiences.
Flowers describes his constructed mixed media paintings as visual poems that bring together elements both realistic and abstract, often with three-dimensional as well as two-dimensional elements. Recent works have explored the use of various shapes for the works themselves in addition to the shapes that are the subjects of his paintings.
Flowers notes that he makes use of images and symbols that clarify his
relationship with the world in his paintings, creating a “visual vocabulary”
that creates a dialog with the viewer.
For more information
on the art of Kristy Higby and Mark Flowers, visit their website at
CalhounStudios.com.
Components of Museum programs are funded in part by support from the City of Myrtle Beach, the Horry County Council and the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum
3100 South Ocean Boulevard
Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
phone 843.238.2510
fax 843.238.2910
artmuseum@sc.rr.com