Hog Paintings, Glass Pieces Currently on Display at WCU

Students browsing the Chelsea Gallery in the A.K. Hinds University Center may have noticed a set of near photo-realistic paintings featuring an unlikely subject– hogs.

The paintings are part of Manning, S.C., artist Tarleton Blackwell’s “Hog Series,” which he started work on over 17 years ago. The paintings are currently on loan and displayed in the University Center.

Blackwell’s art has been presented in over 170 solo and group exhibitions worldwide. In 1987, his oil portrait of the late Senator I. DeQuincey Newman of South Carolina was unveiled at the state house, the highest honor that South Carolina gives any artist.

In addition, Blackwell is an art instructor for Clarendon County School District Two and South Carolina State University. He is also manager, funeral director, and embalmer for Blackwell and Jenkins Funeral Home.

Blackwell chose to showcase hogs as the main part of an examination of life in the rural southeast. His paintings blending mediums of graphite, prismacolor, watercolors, and oils also feature other animals, rural settings, and familiar traditional clothes and concepts.

“I have tried to portray hogs with dignity and respect, while at the same time revealing and sharing some of my past personal experiences,” said Blackwell.

The display opened on Jan. 31 and will remain on display until March 1. For more information, call the University Center at (828) 227-7206.

Another artwork exhibition that should be of interest to students was put on display Feb. 14, in the gallery of the Belk Building. The exhibit features works that were created by various artists taking residency at Littleton Studios in Spruce Pine.

World-famous ceramics artist Harvey Littleton founded Littleton Studios in the late 70s to create vitreographs, a form of creating lithographs on glass surfaces to prevent the interaction of pigments with metals that come in traditional plate lithographs. The result is a clear, colorful image that is unhindered by many of the problems that occur with other mediums.

Since then, the process has grown in popularity, and artists from around the world have created hundreds of limited edition prints while working with the studio’s resources, printers, and technicians.

Organizers say that the works show the versatility of glass, as a print medium, in a number of styles. As part of the exhibition, Littleton Studio’s master printer Judith O’Rourke will present a talk on the vitreographic process and art at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, in room 104 of the Belk building. A reception will follow.

The Littleton Studios exhibition of vitreographic prints and images will remain on display until March 16. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. – 12 p.m., 1 p.m.- 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (828)227-3591. Both exhibitions are free of charge to the general public.