With the world in the shape it is, normality has become very skewed from what it would typically be. There are many places such as most theaters and galleries that are still closed almost six months after COVID-19 began impacting the United States. This is due to many of these places being unable to properly enforce CDC recommended healthy and safety guidelines to keep their patrons safe. However, Winthrop University Galleries are showing the true resilience of art by not only remaining open with the proper precautions in place, but by also taking their gallery to a brand new level of accessibility.
The Winthrop University Galleries are composed of three galleries on campus: the Rutledge Gallery and the Elizabeth Dunlap Patrick Gallery in Rutledge Building and the Lewandowski Student Gallery in McLaurin Hall. According to the Winthrop University Galleries Director Karen Derksen, all three galleries “are open physically this year Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.”
Any visitors to the gallery are asked to wear a face covering at all times and practice proper social distancing. The Galleries are taking another precaution by limiting the number of people in the Galleries at any one time to ten and setting them on a designated path starting at the front of the Rutledge Gallery and leading visitors through all three exhibitions.
The Galleries are aware, however, that not everyone would be comfortable going to a physical gallery or may not even get a chance to with the limited number of guests allowed at one time. To give everyone interested a chance to see the art created by members of the Winthrop University community, the Galleries and their partners in the College of Visual and Performing Arts have worked together to make their current exhibitions available online for viewing by anyone.
Currently, there are two exhibitions available for virtual viewing. The first is titled “Still in Touch,” which, according to the Winthrop University Galleries website, “showcases the ingenuity of Winthrop’s faculty and students during these weird quarantine times.” This exhibition was created in collaboration with the Union of Student Artists and LOOM Coworking. This exhibition will be open until Sept. 26.
The second is the 2020 BFA Senior Exhibition, titled “What Was & What Will Be.” According to the exhibition’s web page, it “features the work of 17 graduating B.F.A. seniors from the Department of Fine Arts. Working across a variety of media, these artists explore themes unique to each of them. Uniting them is their nostalgia for what was and their hope for what will be.”
Both of these exhibitions are also available for in-person viewing along with the MFA Thesis Exhibition, “Dust & Shadow” by Anna Dean. According to the Galleries’ website, Dean’s exhibition “explores the intersection of chaos and order through the use of complex layered imagery and moving parts to create hybrid forms that exist somewhere between two and three dimensions.”
The MFA Thesis and BFA senior exhibitions are open until Aug. 28 and will feature a closing walk-through on that same date by appointment only. Visitors interested in this walk-through can reserve their spot on the Galleries’ website: winthrop.edu/galleries/. On Aug. 27, the Galleries are hosting Dean for a Virtual WUG Artist Talk. This is only the first of many of these artist talks planned for this semester.
Despite the world’s current situation, Winthrop University Galleries continue to give artists a platform to display their work and plans to push through this semester with many more exhibitions planned.
Photo by Gwen Manten
