Both exhibits shared a reception event in Rutledge’s main gallery.
By Gabriela Griggs
AC&T Editor
AC&T
On Thursday, September 17, Rutledge hosted a reception for two simultaneous gallery exhibitions. Brittany M. Watkins’ series of installations titled “Accumulation,” was on display on the main floor of the Rutledge Gallery. Above that gallery space, in the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery, was “Hidden Gems,” a series of various artist’s “sequential” illustrations.
Watkins, an interdisciplinary artist, is a gallery director and educator currently based in Columbia, South Carolina. She is the director of the Goodall Gallery at Columbia College while also teaching three dimensional design courses at the University of South Carolina.
“Brittany’s large-scale installations have received notable accolades including the South Carolina Arts Commission State Fellowship FY24, South Arts State Fellowship FY22, and ArtFields’ Juried Panel Prize 2017,” Watkins’s website reads. “Her work as an educator, community advocate, and artist are shaped by personal experiences with mental health, cognitive impairments, and trauma; the idea of home remains a foundational thematic thread across her work.”
For “Accumulation,” Watkins continues to work with themes of home and also explores the impact of consumerism on American society.
“Accumulation imitates the accumulation of emotional, material, and political detritus overflowing in contemporary America… Watkins interrogates the relationship between private and public space, an examination of their parallels in American governance and contemporary culture,” Watkins’ artist statement reads.
Curated by Megan Bickel, “Accumulation” consists of various installations composed of recycled materials. Watkins’ piece, “Structural Remnant III (The Brink of Collapse)” was created using corrugated board, chalk, house paint, roofing shingles, wood, and pastel.
Another piece, “Helpless to Corporate Rule,” is composed of couch upholstery, roofing, carpet, a ratchet strap, and foam.
“Growing up in the American South, Watskin witnessed family members ‘collect, preserve, and reuse material goods far beyond their intended purpose. This shaped her understanding of accumulation as something more than excess; it is also a long-held response to scarcity and, for many, remains a means of survival.’ Accumulation is as much an entrance into the fantasy of the American middle class as it is about a fear of losing a position within it,” the artist statementcontinues.
Above the Rutledge Gallery and Watkin’s exhibition is the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery where “Hidden Gems” shared in this event reception. Five artists, John Burgin, Mirelys Colón, Marcus Kiser, Wolly McNair and Rico Renzi had their work on display and for purchase at this event.
Taglined “Sequential Illustration and Beyond,” the “Hidden Gems” gallery is defined by the Winthrop College of Visual and Performing Arts website as “[an] exhibition featuring a diverse group of professional illustrators that explores representation, design, animation and more.”
Many of the artists featured in “Hidden Gems” are freelance artists based in the Carolinas.
Colón, one of the illustrators, is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and primarily creates fantasy-inspired art that “incorporates diversity, body positivity, and [Puerto Rican] culture,” according to her profile on the Durham Arts Network website.
Another illustrator, McNair, is originally from the Charlotte area. His work, defined as “a mesh of influences from the artworks of Ernie Barnes, to anime/manga, graffiti, and western comic [art]” has been displayed in a variety of galleries, including the Charlotte MINT Museum.
Renzi, a comic artist originally from the D.C area, is also the art director of Comics! Magazine. A color artist who’s worked on the Marvel comic series “Unbeatable Squirrel Girl” and “Spider-Gwen,” Renzi primarily works with comic style illustrations.
Both exhibitions are available to the public during gallery hours, which are Monday through Friday 10am to 5pm and on Saturday from 10am to 4pm. Both galleries will be hosting their respective exhibitions until October 10.
