Layers of Us

Layers of Us

 Exhibition Dates: May 22, 2019 – June 2, 2019

Reception: 5pm – 7pm, Thursday, May 23 

Location: Stormwater Studios @ 413 Pendleton Street, Columbia, SC 29201 

Exhibition Hours:

Monday & Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday to Saturday: 10am - 5pm
Sunday: 1pm - 4pm

The works in Layers of Us were created by participants of community art projects in Columbia, SC, which were offered through “Program Development in Art," a course taught in the spring of 2019 in the School of Visual Art and Design and the Women’s and Gender Studies program at the University of South Carolina. Eleven instructors including one faculty member and ten Master’s students from Art Education, Music History, and Creative Writing taught art at six different sites: the Lexington County Juvenile Arbitration Program, the Harriet Hancock LGBT Center, the ARC of South Carolina (an advocacy organization for people with intellectual and developmental disabilites), Hannah House and Killingsworth (two women's shelters), and the Sexual Assault Survivors Group at UofSC.

The participants, who have felt silent and invisible due to their sexual orientations and traumas, perceived abilities, statuses of home ownership or as first-time offenders, share their lives and experiences with us through a variety of different mediums including painting, sculpture, collage, crafts, and printmaking. The uniqueness of these participants and their artworks reveal the countless layers of who they are, but such uniqueness also embodies a common strength behind this project — a sense of community. 

This exhibition is supported by Stormwater Studios, the School of Visual Art and Design, and the Women’s Well-Being Initiatives in the Women’s and Gender Studies program at the University of South Carolina, as well as by a grant from the Knight Foundation fund at the Central Carolina Community Foundation.