Pets In America

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association recently estimated that sixty-one percent of U.S. households presently own a pet. In fact, pet keeping is the only practice through which most Americans have a close, daily contact with animals. Pets In America presents viewers with a history of pet keeping and a guided consideration of the social, cultural, and ethical nuances of this crucial relationship between animals and people. The exhibition of nearly 2,000 square feet includes an interactive web site (www.petsinamerica.org) which offers lively, family-friendly information. The exhibition is also available for USC students of various disciplines including sociology, psychology, biology, behavior sciences, and more.

Traveling schedule:

Boy with dog, unknown photographer, 1930s

"...A Portion of the People":
Three Hundred Years of Southern Jewish Life

A joint project of McKissick Museum, the College of Charleston and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, this exhibition presents the untold story of South Carolina's prominence as a center of Jewish life in the South.  The  tale's dynamic is found in the tension between the ways in which Jews have worked to become a part of Southern society and the efforts they have made to sustain a separate Jewish identity.  Supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Bank of America.
Shalom Y'all!

More information at these Links:

Click to read gallery handouts
The Jewish Heritage Collection website
Hear about the exhibit on NPR...

Theodore Sidney Moise,
Portrait of Caroline "Caro" Agnes Moise Lopez (1876),
detail. Private collection.

In search of the history and beauty of many forgotten and neglected places along US 1, photographer James "Jimmy" Henderson set out to travel the 2.390 mile-long road. When construction of the superhighway I-95 started in 1957, US 1 slowly became a road less taken by those traveling along the Atlantic coast.

Available beginning May 2007, A Road Less Taken will lead the viewer on a reflective journey along US 1. A Road Less Taken, in the words of the artist, “is both about what was lost and what is found.” As society changes, the world around the road itself changes. Pockets of history still stick out from the modern creation and the modern creation continually replaces the old.

Samples of these images can be seen online at www.members.aol.com/roamingus1/

Specifications:

-Approximately 43 framed photographs

23 approximately 19 ½” x 24 ½”

14 approximately 26” x 21”

6 approximately 36” x 20”

-Five text panels 30” x 20”

-One text panel 36” x 24”

-One map 23” x 13”

-Optional CD with interview of photographer from NPR radio

-1,700-2,000 square feet of space (250-300 linear feet)

Costs:

-$2500 for a 9-12 week display period. $4000 for a 20-25 week display period.

-Price not inclusive of transit costs.

Ending of US 1, Key West, FL.
Photograph by Jimmy Henderson

The Middle Passage:
Drawings by Tom Feelings

A series of drawings from Feelings' provocative and powerful book, "The Middle Passage," depicts African slaves' journey across the Atlantic Ocean. His monochromatic images tell numerous tales about the crossing. Feelings, also known for his children's picture books, was an art professor at USC from 1988 to 1996.

Carolina Country: Live Radio in South Carolina

The Carolinas have long been known for their musical traditions. Southern musicians traditionally performed before local crowds, families and friends in regional pockets. However, people across North and South Carolina were eager to hear what had become known as “country” or “hillbilly” music. With the advent of live radio in the 1920s, a large network or musicians developed to satisfy this desire, winning fame in the process. Live radio broadcasts brought a larger audience to southern musicians making local music accessible to people all over the state.

Specifications:

6 framed text panels (28 1/4” x 20 1/4”);
4 framed photo panels (20 1/4” x 28 1/4”)

One audio CD is available. Borrower is responsible for CD player.

Approximately 500 square feet.

Rental Fee: $500 plus any insurance and transit costs.

Currently available!

A tasty exhibit of stew-cooking artifacts and video footage from Stanley Woodward's new film "Brunswick Stew: A Virginia Treasure" that brings to life the Southern tradition of one pot meals and treasured community foodways. Beaufort Stew from South Carolina and Georgia Brunswick Stew are also featured along with Kentucky burgoo - a relative of Sheep Stew.

Specifications:

Seven text panels, twelve photomurals, one stew paddle, one 10-gallon iron cooking pot, and a documentary video.

Approximately 700 sq. ft. of exhibit space.

Rental Fee: $2,000 plus any insurance and transit costs.

Current traveling schedule:

Mountain Heritage Center Cullowhee, NC September – October, 2007

An Intimate Look: Works by Sigmund Abeles

Focusing on works from the last fifty years of Sigmund Abeles’ life, “An Intimate Look” offers a view of the artist’s figurative works. Borrowing almost exclusively from his life, Abeles projects his experiences in drawings, prints, sculptures, and paintings. His scenes are often intimate and subdued, presenting himself, his loved ones, friends, and others in moments of introspection, relaxation, joy, love, pain or loneliness.

Abeles’ physical and psychological fascination with the human form can readily be seen throughout his works. Here he expresses his “interest in the specificity of the figure from life to death.” These works are not just about his subjects, but a glimpse into the life and spirit of the artist himself.

A Soldier's Legacy

This exhibition chronicles the rich musical heritage of Ralph Smith, a musician, soldier, and family man from the South Carolina piedmont. Throughout his 78-year journey (1921-1999), music was the constant, binding thread of his life. It took him from the mill villages of South Carolina’s upstate into local radio stations during radio’s infancy. Music carried him through the front lines of Germany in World War II, back to the communal and familial life in upstate South Carolina, to the hills of eastern Tennessee and back to the South Carolina upstate.

More than simply documenting his life and music, the exhibit addresses the influence of the economic environment, importance of the family “homeplace,” and the social context of mill villages in the South Carolina piedmont.

Specifications:

Approximately 60 photos (up to 24” x 24”);
6 framed photo murals (up to 60” x 42”);
7 framed text panels (up to 30” x 22”).

One documentary video and 2 audio CD’s are available. Borrower is responsible for VCR and monitor, and CD players.

Approximately 700 square feet.

Rental Fee: $1,500 plus any insurance and transit costs.