On Saturday, November 17th, Winthrop’s Union of Student Artists (USA) embarked on a journey to Greensboro, North Carolina. Our plan was to check out the Weatherspoon Museum of Art at UNC Greensboro and the Greensboro Artist Residency/Collective called Elsewhere. The Weatherspoon Art Museum was founded in 1941 as a part of the women’s college that is now UNC Greensboro. It is open to the public, with free admission, and it aims to provide easy access to the arts in the community.
We opted out of a tour, but led ourselves through the museum learning about the pieces each of us took interest in. One of the current exhibits is titled “Dread & Delight: Fairy Tales in an Anxious World” and features artworks in all sorts of media, with each piece done by a different artist.
One of the most arresting pieces, in my opinion, was an installation of a 1,800 foot long braid hung from the ceiling. The braid dipped down and tangled all around itself. The spiderweb forest of hair looked inviting, like there was space under it to find a place to stand in the middle and observe the entanglement from all angles. There were little pieces of cloth (bandanas) tied in the hair, with personal messages expressing things or ideas that people the artist interviewed said were worth protecting. Every bandana scrap had different handwriting, featuring words that ranged from “angry sex” to “family photos.” The piece, titled “Ties of Protection and Keeping,” was originally created for the 2008 Whitney Biennial by MK Guth, but has been traveling since then. Other artworks ranged from film to photography to painting by some well known artists and by some lesser known artists.
After soaking up all we could at the Weatherspoon, we stopped for lunch and headed to Elsewhere. Before the street number is even visible, you can see feet swinging out into the sidewalk, and you know you’re there.
Elsewhere is nestled on Elm St. in downtown Greensboro. It started as a textile store, turned to a thrift store, and now preserves the spirit of the widower whose store it once was. Elsewhere now takes in as many as 30 artists at time for summer residencies and other special programs. It is also a non-profit museum and functions as a home for the resident artists. The most special thing about the museum is that as it changes exhibits, the artists use and build on pre-existing creations, and they could only use found objects within the space.
The woman who inspired this unique community was an extreme collector and when she passed away, a family member felt her collections were worth saving. Those collections of materials, toys and other common items became the foundation for the collective’s guiding principle that all work is to be created from what can be found or repurposed on site. All the pieces were deeply personal and most involved race, gender, and sexuality and were all installation-based or sculptural.
Having an opportunity like this to take small trips with a school-related club is really essential to the college experience. Making connections with people in your same area of interest or major and getting to see the work of current artists is a wonderful way to spend a Saturday.
