Sculpture artists from across the nation applied to the 12th Annual National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition, displayed at the picturesque North Charleston Riverfront Park and presented as a component of the 2017 North Charleston Arts Fest. Organized annually by the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department, this unique, eleven month exhibition offers established and emerging artists the opportunity to display their thought provoking, extraordinary sculptures, as well as compete for up to $19,750 in honorariums and awards.
Twelve out of 59 submissions were pre-juried into the exhibition by the juror, Robin Salmon, Vice President of Art & Historical Collections and Curator of Sculpture at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Once installed at the exhibition site, Salmon then made her selections for Best of Show, Outstanding Merit, and Honorable Mentions. After determining the award winners, she offered the following juror’s statement:
I never cease to be amazed by the creativity of sculptors. Although my career has focused on figurative sculpture, my training embraces both objective and nonobjective art as well as folk art. As a result, my enjoyment and appreciation of sculpture is eclectic. I always look first at the sculpture’s silhouette — those interesting lines created by positive and negative space. The overall mass of the sculpture is important, too. Not just in terms of the space that it occupies, but the power or the delicacy that it imbues. Texture and color draw me into the sculpture’s design. Surfaces always beckon, whether silky smooth, softly draped, or roughly carved. Color is achieved mechanically or through use of the material itself. The sculptor transforms the sculpture by his creative choices to patinate, paint, stain, or do nothing at all. Lastly, composition impresses and pleases me and can make or break a sculpture. In selecting these works for the exhibition, my goal was to achieve an overall balance in the choices of material, technique, and composition. In the prize-winners, I look for high quality in all of these attributes. There were additional works that I thought worthy of a prize, but there was a limited number of prizes.
The sculptures selected for exhibition are by twelve artists from seven states. Congratulations to the winners of the 2017/18 National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition:
Lightning Over the Mississippi by Ed Walker (Seagrove, NC)
Outstanding Merit: Sustain by Charlie Brouwer (Willis, VA)
Honorable Mention: Gypsy Passion by Hanna Jubran (Grimesland, NC)
Honorable Mention: Night in the Forest by Gregory Smith (North Pownal, VT)
Honorable Mention: Draped Fabrication by Jacob Burmood (Springfield, MO)
Aurora by Paris Alexander (Raleigh, NC)
Twisted Botanical Wave by Mary Angers (Long Branch, NJ)
Red Guitar by Carl Billingsley (Greenville, NC)
November Leaves by Bob Doster (Lancaster, SC)
Conductor by Jordan Fowler (Mt. Pleasant, SC)
Windsong by Bob Turan (Earlton, NY)
Community by Adam Walls (Hope Mills, NC)
Sculpture sites are located throughout North Charleston Riverfront Park, located at 1001 Everglades Avenue on the former Charleston Naval Base. The park is set on the banks of the beautiful Cooper River. In addition to the sculptures, visitors may enjoy ten acres of walking paths, a performance pavilion, picnic shelter, a fishing pier and boardwalk, an oversized sandbox, and children’s play fountain. Park is open daily during daylight hours. Admission and parking are free. The 2017/18 National Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition will be on display through March 25, 2018. For more information or to be added to the application mailing list for the 2018/19 competition, please call the City of North Charleston Cultural Arts Department at 843-740-5854 or email [email protected]. For more information on the sculpture exhibition, visit NorthCharlestonArtsFest.com/national-outdoor-sculpture-competition-exhibition.