Favorite Things

small paintings

Sam Mitchell & Nancy Corbin

November 1 - 27, 2018, Guild Gallery

Art Walk TONIGHT

5 pm-8 pm

Nancy Corbin:

Making lists of subjects for Favorite Things was fun. "Lemons, and tulips, and beaches, OH MY!" The list kept growing. Working small allowed for a short attention span and for experimentation. It was freeing to be able to do several paintings in a week and to not think too much about representation. Simply finding beauty and mystery in small things was enough.


Photo by Mike Corbin

After teaching in Spartanburg County School District 7 for 14 years, Nancy joined the Spartanburg Day School visual arts faculty in 1991 and taught students a range of subjects from Studio Artto Art History from introductory levels through Advanced Placement. While at SDS she was awarded the Mildred Harrison Dent Endowed Chair, an honor she held until she moved on at the conclusion of 27 years at the school. Nancy says, "I am currently transitioning from being a teacher who paints to a painter who exhibits."

In addition to Favorite Things in the Guild Gallery in November 2018, Nancy Corbin Retrospectivehangs in Ellis Hall at Spartanburg Methodist College during fall semester 2018. In February 2020, Nancy will install an exhibit of new paintings in the Nita Milliken Art Gallery on the campus of Converse College in celebration of Susan B Anthony's 200th birthday (February 15, 1820) and the 100th anniversary (August 26, 1920) of the ratification of the 19th amendment giving women voting rights.

Sam Mitchell:

Favorite Things was dreamt up when my long-time friend and co-exhibitor, Nancy Corbin and I realized it was time to celebrate and express the many, many things we hold dear in our lives. When we decide on this small scale in our planning stages, it seemed exciting and doable. While it still is, I quickly realized it is quite a challenge. Picking up brush sizes I barely use was the first taxing physical issue, then came the mental issue of translating my sketches and photographs to a canvas size I traditionally treat as thumbnail sketch. "Am I Done?" The fear of overworking at this scale is real.

Within this body are three central themes: cityscapes, landscapes, and female figures. The cityscapes range from photos taken by Liz Richardson in Quito, Ecuador to a street scene on Ann St. in Charleston, South Carolina. Landscapes titled with an M are rural scenes from Upper Michigan, while the others are from the marshes of the South Carolina low country. The female figures are a study in women's heads and shoulders asserting power and pride in their gesture of confidence.

Favorite Things may be one theme, however, it is freeing with its many possibilities and challenges.

As well as being a professional artist, and after teaching art in Spartanburg County School District Seven for six years, Sam joined the Spartanburg Day School faculty in 2007 as the Lower School Art Instructor. This year, Sam has been given the honor of being named the Mildred Harrison Dent Fine Arts Endowed Chair and Coordinator of the Dent Fine Arts Endowment for the Spartanburg Day School. As well she has joined the Upper School division as the studio art and art history instructor.

2018 exhibitions include her M.Ed. Graduate show in the Milliken Gallery at Converse College, and this November's Favorite Things with fellow friend and artist Nancy Corbin at the Artist Guild Gallery. Past exhibits include The Unstill Life 2008, Southern Contemporary 2009, The Urban Unstill Life 2010, and a four-person tribute show in honor of Elaine Freeman at the Dent Fine Art Gallery in 2104. In 2012 Sam was honored to be published in Artists Among Us, highlighting 100 Regional professional artists from Spartanburg, South Carolina and nearby. Private and Public collectors include The Johnson Collection, Carolina Alliance Bank, TD Bank, The New Orleans Museum of Art, The D-Day Museum and The Jeffords Family Collection.

4x6_landscapejeffcallahamdesign3black487272193

Home

Membership

Support

Gallery Info