The Department of Fine Arts sponsors the Art Gallery Series in the Hyman Fine Arts Center’s Adele Kassab Art Gallery, hosting varied shows of two and three dimensional works showcasing local and regional artists. The Art Gallery Curator selects exhibitions that support and enhance the academic goals of the visual arts program at Francis Marion University, providing a non-profit institutional setting in the service of both students and the wider community. Information about previous exhibits may be found in Kassab Art Gallery Archive and additional exhibitions are displayed downtown at FMU’s University Place Steven F. Gately Gallery.
Giovanni Difeterici: graphics, paintings, multi-media
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
May 9 – September 28, 2023
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Thursday
Currently the Senior Director of Education at the Flatiron School, he uses his background in formal and graphic design in his role as an educator while maintaining a steady stream of frelance design work for everything from conferences to tarot cards. In his spare time he still like to experiment with sketching and painting to keep his eye active and feed the creative impulse. Creative thinking and the fundamentals of design are something Giovanni believes can be beneficially applied to all areas of life, a mindset he likes to share with his students.
Brittany Gilbert: Ephemeral
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
October 3 – November 9, 2023
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Gallery Talk and Reception 5:00 pm Thursday, October 12, 2023
Statement:
Through sequential and perceptual landscape painting, my work creates a record of my experience with perpetually fluctuating environments.
I paint the same space again and again building an intimacy from which I can respond to fluctuating conditions. With each noticeable change in appearance, I put the work aside to begin a new panel. I am interested in the shape shifts within my subject, as well as the freshness, decisiveness and immediacy of my response. The resulting image corresponds with the pace at which changes occur.
Nameable objects disappear and are replaced by shifts of colors and abstract shapes vying for attention before nestling back into obscurity. Sustained engagement allows me to respond to the unexpected.
Series are installed chronologically as a singular piece.
Bio:
Brittany graduated from Union College in Schenectady, New York earning a BA in Studio Fine Arts, with minors in Art History and French. In 2015 she attended the Mount Gretna School of Art in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for its intensive six-week summer program focused on painting landscapes on location, as well as life drawing from models.
She is a 2018 MFA graduate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a concentration in painting. Her MFA thesis exhibition Prolonged Encounters was grounded in direct observations of changes in specific landscapes. In 2020 she participated in the Four Pillars Artist Residency in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania. During 2022 she was an artist-in-residence at Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT.
Recent group exhibitions include the Four Pillars Mount Gretna Artist Residency at the Susquehanna Museum in Harrisburg, PA, Painting: 2011-2021 through Site:Brooklyn, New York, NY juried by Peter Frank and Chasing Light through Gallery 263 Cambridge, MA juried by Leah Triplett Harrington.
She is currently Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Painting at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina.
Work in this exhibition has been supported by Francis Marion University’s Professional Development Grants.
This project is made possible through funding from the Florence Regional Arts Alliance’s Quarterly Grants Program, which is funded in part by HONDA and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Thank you to these supporters.
Works by 3-D Design Classes
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
November 14 – December 7, 2023
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Students taking Three-Dimensional Design classes investigate organization techniques, with special emphasis on the plastic controls of form and space. They learn to use a variety of tools and various sculptural media, including wood, plaster and clay.
Equilibrium: Senior Show by Graduating FMU Visual Arts Majors Anna Boyce, Carmen Hunter, Chasity Johnson, Erin Pacay and Samuel Wachter
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
November 14 – December 7, 2023
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public.
Consolation Prize by Colleen Critcher
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
January 16 – February 22, 2024
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
“What is a drawing? For some it is the final step, the end goal. In my personal creative pursuits it is the preliminary step – the first in a series of steps towards physically manifesting a creative idea after it reveals itself. When a drawing is merely part of the artist’s process, it is often stowed away out of sight and rarely meets a visitor. While sorting through studio inventory, I recently discovered that sometimes a stack of drawings is all I have left of a series once the paintings have gone out into the world. They are a lovely consolation prize of sorts.
“I find the simplicity and ephemeral qualities of drawings to be most intriguing. Paper and pencil, or paper and simple pigments are generally one of the first means that we use to express ourselves. Long before we develop sophisticated spoken language, we can move crayons or watercolors and make marks. With very limited means a drawing can emerge. It requires no special training, no fancy materials or tools. This exhibition is the first time I have displayed only drawings for a solo exhibition. They express imperfection, impermanence, and a delightful kinship to the many paintings I have made about consumer culture over the years.”
Senior Shows by Graduating FMU Visual Arts Majors
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
April 16 – May 2, 2024
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Senior shows are required of all students majoring in Visual Arts. These shows give students hands-on experience in selection and installation of artworks, publicity of exhibition, and external review by the University community and the general public.
Works by Ceramics and 3-D Design Classes
Kassab Gallery, Hyman Fine Arts Center
April 16 – May 2, 2024
8:30 am – 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday
Students in ceramics classes learn processes and techniques in both wheel-throwing and hand building in the art and craft of pottery. Throwing leads progressively toward stoneware clay tooling, decorating, glazing and firing. As they advance through the curriculum, students add ceramic fabrications methods of slab-work, modeling from solid masses, and press molding. Multi-part forms and porcelain formula clay bodies are created as artistic discipline develops along with the individual’s philosophy, critical awareness and aesthetics.
Students taking Three-Dimensional Design classes investigate organization techniques, with special emphasis on the plastic controls of form and space. They learn to use a variety of tools and various sculptural media, including wood, plaster and clay.
