Featured Alumna
Vallarino, '09, earned an Interior Design major with a minor in business.
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Permanent Collection
The Department of Art and Design maintains a fine collection of artwork that assists in the educational and artistic training of its students.
The Milliken Fine Arts building houses the J. Frank Toms Permanent Collection, which enables art aficionados in Spartanburg to see the works of some of the most famous artists of the twentieth-century without leaving town. The collection of 52 prints, given by Spartanburg resident Frank Toms, includes works by Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Alexander Calder and Helmut Newton. The collection is international in nature, featuring art from England, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Ukraine, Hungary, the United States and elsewhere.
Frank Toms chose these prints solely on what he liked; therefore, the artists, styles, mediums and themes vary. For example, there are several works by Surrealist artists, including Dali, Miro, Paul Delvaux, Giacometti and Rufino Tamayo (a Mexican artist loosely affiliated with the Surrealists). Pop art is another area represented and includes works by Andy Warhol, Jim Dine, Allen Jones, Mel Ramos and Roy Lichtenstein. There are two works by the Amsterdam artist Karel Appel, who was a significant member of the Cobra group, which was comprised of artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam. Other well-known artists include the American Social Realist Raphael Soyer, and the sculptor, printmaker Leonard Baskin.
Local artist Claire Miller Hopkins has given Converse many of her favorite works by a variety of artists. A selection of art from the Claire Hopkins Collection is on display in Kuhn Hall and may be viewed by the public. To view a few photos, go here.
Many of The Elliot Offner gift of works on paper are used for classroom instruction and displayed in the main Department of Art and Design office. The collection includes prints by Rembrandt, Goya, Daumier, Leonard Baskin and Rico Lebrun. Additional works from the Offner gift are on permanent display in Kuhn Hall.
Additional pieces in the permanent collection include works by Judy Jones, Doug Whittle, August Cook and Lucinda Bunnen. The collection also includes the major theoretical book The Interaction of Color by Joseph Albers.
