Converse College Undergraduate Academic Programs

Milliken Art Gallery

New hours of operation for the gallery:

Monday - Friday: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Contact:
Kathryn Boucher
Director of Milliken Arts Gallery
864-596-9214

Click here for the complete Art Calendar

South Carolina native Leo Twiggs is widely considered one of the most important South Carolina artists over the past 40 years. He has had dozens of solo exhibitions in museums and galleries in the South and beyond. In 1981, Twiggs was the first visual artist to receive the South Carolina Governor's Trophy known as the Elizabeth O'Neil Verner Individual Award. Twiggs’ paintings are done in a unique batik painting process which he began developing in 1965. In September of 1989, Hurricane Hugo devastated the low country of South Carolina. Twiggs began creating a series of 9 works, with two diptychs, that were eventually called the “East Wind Series.” In 1991, this series was shown at the Hampton III Gallery and all nine works bought by Mr. and Mrs. Jack E. Shaw of Greenville, SC. To mark Hurricane Hugo’s 20th anniversary, all nine of the original “East Wind Series” will be exhibited together for the first time since 1991. In addition to this series, the Milliken Art Gallery will display about 15 of Twiggs’ batiks from his personal collection.

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Meg Aubrey is an Atlanta-based painter who was born and raised in Massachusetts. She has a MFA in painting from Savannah College of Art and Design and a BFA in Illustration from Rhode Island School of Design. “Home Sweet Home: Recent Paintings by Meg Aubrey” will feature her current body of work which examines and deconstructs the environment she lives in, pulling apart the individual elements to tell stories of daily suburban existence. The exhibition will showcase about a dozen new pieces that are 12”x36”. Aubrey has illustrated many children’s books for publishers including Clarion Books, Houghton Mifflin and Scholastic Books. She has been awarded the Hambidge Residency Award from the Fulton County Arts Council and the Encore Series Award from Savannah College of Art and Design.

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In this exhibition, Teresa Prater will highlight her creative work from her 2008-09 sabbatical from Converse College. She began her sabbatical by attending the Studio Camnitzer in Italy in the summer of 2008. Also during this year, she was an artist resident at the Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, Georgia. Works in the exhibition vary in media and include encaustic painting, manipulated digital photographs, and artist books. Building upon the Sumerian myth of Inanna, Prater documents her own "descent into the underworld" through her creative endeavors. Using the descent into the underworld as a metaphor for delving into one's own mental, physical and spiritual journey, she draws upon personal imagery, intuitive exploration of the media, and insight gained from her sabbatical activities and freedom from academic responsibilities to create haunting and complex images. Prater is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Studio Art and Chairperson of The Department of Art and Design.

*This program is funded in part by The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, its donors, the County and City of Spartanburg and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment of the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.

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Glen Miller is a native of Northeast Tennessee. He received his BFA in drawing andpainting from East Tennessee State University and his MA in art and education from the University of South Florida. Miller currently teaches drawing and painting at Converse College and is a member of the Faculty of the Greenville County Museum of Art. The artist has received numerous awards for his work in regional exhibitions. His most recent solo exhibition was “Ruminations with a Charred Vine”, a room-sized narrative drawing installation at the Greenville Fine Arts Center, 2007-2008.

Miller often draws on an Appalachian Tradition of storytelling, finding inspiration in personal experiences and wandering the local mountain trails. He works in a variety of two and three dimensional media, often balancing intuitive markings, painterly surfaces, and pictorial illusion within the images. The artist will be creating a new series of works for the Milliken Art Gallery featuring paintings and mixed media drawings.
Miller maintains a studio in the Pendleton Street Arts District of Greenville, SC, and is represented locally by Hampton III Gallery.

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Converse College is pleased to feature this exhibition of the artist Claire Miller Hopkins’ collection of paintings by regional women artists, which was recently donated to the college. Claire Miller Hopkins is highly respected as an artist for her portraits and still life paintings. She began collecting art in 1967, mostly by artists whom she knew over the years. According to Hopkins, she wants to donate her work to Converse because she has “a lot of work that I believe should be in the public view and a lot of artists haven’t been in public view although they are really fine artists.” Also, Hopkins notes, a number of the artists have died, so it’s a way for their artwork to be seen by the public. As a tribute to these artists and a way to preserve their legacy, a small catalog will be available in the gallery during the exhibition.

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Interiors showcases the talents of the Converse College Art and Design faculty. Previous exhibitions included such diverse media as printmaking, photography, sculpture, painting, drawing and ceramics. The art faculty comprises of individuals with backgrounds in studio art, interior design, art education and art therapy producing an exhibition that reflects a broad range of creative expression.

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Native New Yorker, John Fitzgerald, will present his unique abstract paintings in the Milliken Gallery during October. Growing up in New York, Fitzgerald explored a wide range of media for his artwork. He frequented New York City’s East Village, surrounding himself with artists and studying the works of abstract painters such as Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Willem de Kooning and Wassily Kandinsky. The energetic and eclectic life in and around NYC served as inspiration for Fitzgerald’s own evolving art, a mixed-media combination of living colors and asymmetrical lines. In 1994, he and his wife, Diane, moved to Western North Carolina to pursue a less chaotic lifestyle. Working in acrylic and mixed media, Fitzgerald says his abstract creations now come more freely than ever. He says, “Abstract, no matter how you hide from it, it finds you; it’s colors and vibrant balance enchant the obvious.” Fitzgerald has displayed his work in galleries in New York City, Dallas and Detroit.

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Curated by The Johnson Collection’s Intern, Monica McKiernan, this exhibit will focus on the impact, or lack there of, between art students and their teachers within the collection. Some students show clearly the influence of their instructors, while others remained largely independent in their style. Many students used the principles and theories of their teachers, but applied them in their own unique way. This sample of works within the collection will focus on two distinct cities: Charleston and New York, in approximately the same time period (1915-1960). Both cities had a tremendous impact on American art, with Charleston being of particular interest to the collection due to its close proximity to Spartanburg. Also, many artists lived and worked in both locations and the impact of this will be shown wherever possible. Artists included in this exhibition will be: William Halsey, Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, George Luks, W.H. Johnson, among others.

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Click to view more pictures of the exhibit Nearly 25 pieces of fine art from students of southern women’s colleges are being showcased during the 2008 Southern Women’s Colleges Art Exhibition in the Milliken Art Gallery through March 2. A reception, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for March 2nd from 2-4 p.m. in the gallery.

Brenau University (Gainesville, Georgia), Converse College (Spartanburg, South Carolina), Hollins University (Roanoke, Virginia) and Salem College (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) will be represented during the exhibit.

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work by Jeremiah Miller The Milliken Art Gallery at Converse College will host an exhibit of works by Jeremiah Miller January 10-February 7. Miller will present a discussion in the gallery February 7 at 3 p.m. and a closing reception is scheduled for that evening at 6:30 p.m.

A native North Carolinian, Miller is noted for his paintings of the Carolina and Virginia landscape. His work is distinguished for its sensual brushwork, vibrant color harmonies and visceral textures. Miller’s paintings of out-of-the-way places in the wild evoke a mood of silence and solitude and tend to dissolve into abstraction. In the Milliken Gallery, he will exhibit his large landscape paintings of familiar places, people, and things as well as a few drawings.

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The Milliken Art Gallery at Converse College will host “Notes from Underground: The Basement Projects” by David Zacharias Nov. 8-Dec. 6.

A member of the Converse art and design faculty since 1991, Zacharias has taught all levels of ceramics, three dimensional design and, for a time, Art for the Child. This particular exhibit, consisting of 30 ceramic jars, will showcase works completed during a winter and spring sabbatical.

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A Soulful Journey The Milliken Art Gallery at Converse College hosted “A Soulful Journey: Mixed Media from Four Decades by Lloyd Toone” Oct. 4-Nov. 1. Originally from Virginia, Lloyd Toone is a Harlem artist and art teacher. His soulful expressions are celebrated internationally for the organic kinship and love that derives from growing up in rural Virginia raising livestock and cultivating the land. As well, his career as art therapist, educator, activist, historian, and his world travels influence his work greatly.

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"Ordinary Icons" is the latest exhibit in the Milliken Art Gallery. It features recent work by Jo Carol Mitchell-Rogers. The Exhibit will run from August 30 to September 27. A reception will take place in the Milliken Art Gallery on Thursday, September 6, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm.

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"Secrets & Dreams: Before & After" by Suzanne Gernandt features recent works of colorful fiber art by the highly regarded textile artist Suzanne Gernandt. Reception - March 1, 2007 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Gallery hours are 9:00 am - 5:00 pm, Monday-Friday. The Gallery is closed during school holidays.

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Sherri Fleck Tool: Images by Sheri Fleck Rieth, an associate professor of art at The University of Mississippi, where she teaches printmaking and drawing, coordinates the foundations program, is chair of the gallery program and serves as a Student Art Association Advisor.

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The 35th Annual Faculty Exhibition features current work by members of the Converse College Art and Design Faculty. Opening Reception - November 9, 2006 from 6:30-8:30pm. Gallery hours are 9:00am - 5:00pm, Monday-Friday. The Gallery is closed during school holidays.