Gallery West featuring Will South and Contemporary Jewelers

Gallery West is pleased to announce an exhibition featuring the work of Will South, as well as a sale of art jewelry during the month of October. Gallery West is no longer a brick and mortar retail space, but rather a mobile gallery, allowing shows to move from one location to another.

The public is invited to an opening reception on Friday, October 5 from 5-8 pm. Stormwater Studios, 413 Pendleton Street, are located directly behind One-Eared Cow Glass Studio which faces Huger Street in Columbia, not far from the intersection of Huger and Gervais.

During the month of October, there will be a special event each week, offering the opportunity to enjoy an evening of art and fellowship.  Friday October 12  5:30-8:30 – Champagne, Chocolate and Jewelry, Thursday October 18 5:00 – 9:00 brings an evening of poetry with Libby Bernardin sponsored by Stormwater, and USC’s SVAD Kristin Roles will speak about her work, and Friday October 26 5:00 – 8:00 a “Talk Back” between Sara Cogswell and Will South about their work and the life of two artists sharing a life and a home.

During its five-year time as a retail space, Gallery West was known for our unusual and innovative contemporary art jewelry, featuring jewelers from across the country and including Argentina. It also featured many regional jewelry makers. For this show, the work of at least thirteen jewelers will be available for sale. These artists include Boo Poulin of Rochester NY, Pat Callahan of Columbia SC, Jennifer Lippman-Bruno of Lisbon WI, Mary+LouAnn of Concord NC, Nikki Nation of Denver CO, Marja Germans Gard of Oakland CA, Kristin Lora of Portland OR, Sara Cogswell of Columbia SC, Lisa Wood of Asheville NC, Fulcrum Jewelry of Los Angeles CA, Carla Pennie McBride of Santa Fe NM and Doris Vinas of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Each artist has their own distinctive style and works in various materials, all of which will surprise and delight.

Will South makes art, organizes exhibitions on it, and very frequently talks about it. Art has been the single constant thread in his life.

Like most of us, Will drew as a child. He simply never stopped. With a degree in studio art from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, his professional life began managing a gallery where he organized shows on painters and wrote their biographies. This led to a Masters Degree in art history, which led to a PhD from the Graduate Center of the City of New York. Living in Manhattan, Will took courses at the Art Students League while steeped in art theory at the Graduate Center. Today, he remains an art historian and an artist in equal measure.

As a museum curator, Chief Curator at the Columbia Museum of Art, Will is known for making art accessible, whether in writing, on the wall, or in public talks. He shares his passion for art freely and sees museum work as an ongoing opportunity for public service. Back in the studio, however, he reverts to the artist who has made art his entire life, only now one who has learned a great deal from art history.

“I enjoy narrative, abstract and innovative art forms” he says, “but as an artist myself I’m not interested in telling a story or inventing something new. Topical art comes and goes, the cleverness holds no appeal. What is enduring about an image is the sensuality of color, the refinement of the shape, the human intelligence contained in line. The challenge for me is to edit out all but the essential. And the ongoing problem is to know what the essential is. If he or she keeps working, once in a great while an artist will touch on what it means to be human.”