A mid-career retrospective of drawings and prints entitled The Grid Turns the Corner

October 30–November 30, 2010

Artist’s Reception with Book Signing: Thursday, November 11, 5:30 –7:30 pm

Goodall Gallery
Spears Center for the Arts

The Grid Turns the Corner, a mid-career retrospective of drawings and prints by Terry K. Hunter will be on view at the Goodall Gallery, on the Columbia College campus from October 30-November 30, 2010.

The exhibition, which covers nearly forty years, showcases Hunter’s work from early non-figurative abstraction to his current involvement with a grid configuration. Dr. Hunter is currently the executive director of the Fine Arts Cultural Enrichment Teaching Studios, a professional development institute in the arts associated with Clemson University. He also has a long legacy of art education in South Carolina and beyond and has mentored numerous high school and college students who have become established artists. This collection of 52 works is the first comprehensive exhibition of Hunter’s work and chronicles the influence of the socio-cultural milieu that shaped the artist’s vision and steered him toward social commentary as a vehicle for creative expression.

According to exhibition curator, Angela Corbett, “This retrospective captures a pivotal moment in Dr. Hunter’s career because the works span from college to the present and express his passion for art and teaching. While the works reveal Hunter’s attachment to various media like drawing, graphic design, screen printing and printmaking it also reflects personal experiences, as well as the impact of societal events, national movements and music on his work. His ability to infuse these elements into to his artwork intrigues the eye and challenges the mind.”

Born in Tallahassee, Florida, Dr. Hunter grew up in the South during 1960’s and was influenced by a commitment to family, church, and education. Among his early role models and influences, Hunter credits his parents as the initial inspiration for achievement. He cites relatives, many of whom were educators, as well as other professionals drawn from his immediate community for providing additional motivation. These influences, coupled with the advent of television with its coverage of the cultural and social revolution of the sixties, played a dominant role in the development of Hunter’s values and mores, and subsequently his approach to image making.

The exhibition traces the artist’s works through several phases which parallel his shifting ideologies relative to his world view. From geometric abstraction to representational realism to his current gridded social commentary, The Grid Turns the Corner provides a clear view of Hunter’s growth and aesthetic maturation. Additionally, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the reciprocal relationship between Hunter’s work as an artist and his role as a teacher. In the introduction to the catalogue, William E. Colvin writes “There can be no more fitting tribute for the artist-educator than to operate at this level of connection, wherein the work of the artist is in synch with his practice as a teacher. It is precisely this combination of artist-educator that informs Hunter’s work as both artist and teacher and allows him to operate at optimum levels of creativity.” Dr. Colvin is professor and curator of Art for the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African American Culture in Montgomery, Alabama. He was the curator for Hunter’s 2007 exhibition Gridded Connections, which was presented at the Center in Montgomery.

Hunter completed most of the works in this retrospective exhibition during a tenure that includes his early career as a public school art teacher, a middle respite as an MFA graduate student, and finally in his capacity as a professor of art, a graphic designer, museum director, and arts administrator. The Grid Turns the Corner fuses these periods of productivity into a presentation that provides a context for their influence on Hunter’s work.

In his catalogue essay for the exhibition, Dr. Henry G. Michaux writes, “I cannot imagine finding a more poignant, pre-dispositional example of pedagogical commitment than that demonstrated in this artist-educator’s approach, one that weds personal creative efforts with individual student growth. This should be a mainstay of universally accepted conditions of artists as humans who have learned how to maximize components of our learning capacity. In doing so, one can chart a path to a clearer vision that under girds the absolute potential of the teaching-learning dynamic. The fact that this structure is employed as an approach within the context of arts education, given the nature of the discipline, places it squarely at the core of humanistic endeavor. That Hunter uses this approach as a cornerstone for his studio endeavors as well, establishes a certain kinship that serves as a recipe for artistic and educational success.” Michaux was a colleague and former officemate of Hunter’s for more than 20 years.

Hunter received a bachelor of science degree in art education from Florida A&M University, a masters of fine arts degree in printmaking and drawing from Ohio State University, and the doctor of philosophy in art education from Florida State University.

His professional experience includes serving as the former director of the Arthur Rose Museum and professor of art at Claflin University and former professor of art and visual arts coordinator at South Carolina State University.

The Grid Turns the Corner is scheduled to tour three states during its more than two year tenure. The tour will include seven cities among the states in which Dr. Hunter has been professionally active: Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina. The exhibition was organized by the Fine Arts Cultural Enrichment Teaching Studios (FACETS), Florida A&M University, and Ohio State University. The exhibition has been featured at the Foster-Tanner Fine Arts Gallery, Florida A&M University and Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, Florida.

The Columbia College’s Goodall Gallery is located in the Spears Center for the Arts in downtown Columbia on North Main Street, 1301 Columbia College Drive. Gallery Hours are Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday through Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For further information about exhibits please contact 803.786.3899.

Image Title: Tellievision: Details Next!
Medium: Mixed Media Drawing
Date: 1996