Artists, art enthusiasts, and art educators from across the Southeast will celebrate and learn about sculpture during the Tri-State Sculptors 39th Annual Conference at Converse College Thursday, Oct. 19 through Sunday Oct. 22. The conference includes art exhibitions, artist talks, and presentations, with many events open to the public free of charge. For more information, visit www.converse.edu/TriStateSculptors.

The conference is designed to meet the needs and interests of sculptors and educators working in a variety of 3-D media, including metal, clay, glass, fibers, stone and mixed media. The first day features gallery visits, followed by two days of technical and educational presentations, demonstrations, workshops and round-table discussions. Acclaimed artist Lesley Dill will give the keynote address. A 2017 Guggenheim Fellowship Award recipient, Dill has artworks in the collections of over fifty museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

The conference is hosted by Converse College and The Spartanburg Art Museum, with support from the Spartanburg Chamber of Commerce, and the Department of Visual Arts at Greenville Technical College, USC Upstate and the Women's Caucus for the Arts of Georgia. It is also funded in part by Chapman Cultural Center, its donors, the County and City of Spartanburg and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.

Tri-State Sculptors is an education organization whose mission to promote public awareness and appreciation of sculpture in the Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina area. Membership is open to anyone interested in sculpture, regardless of style, medium, education or location.

PUBLIC EVENT INFORMATION

Open Studios
Participating Artists include Ann Stoddard, Vivienne Carey, and Ralph Páquin.
Maps to studios will be available in Milliken Gallery.
October 19, 7:00-9:00pm

Art Talk: Susan Lenz
Upstate Gallery on Main
October 19, 6:00pm 

Women’s Sculptor Panel
Participating artists include Alice Ballard, Naomi Falk, Meg Stein, Diana Farfan, Andi Steele, Fleming Markel, and Linda McCune.
October 20, 3:00-4:30pm, Daniel Recital Hall, Converse College

Art Talk: Charles Clary
October 20, Spartanburg Art Museum, 5:00-6:30

Tri-State Student Show Reception
October 21, 2:30-3:30, Hazel B. Abbot Lobby, Wilson Hall, Converse College

Tri-State Member Show Reception
October 21, 4:00-5:00pm, Milliken Gallery, Converse College
Note: In addition to indoor work at Milliken Gallery, Outdoor Sculptures will be on view on the campuses of Converse College and University of South Carolina Upstate. A listing of sculptures will be available in the Milliken Gallery.

Keynote Speaker: Lesley Dill
Lesley Dill is a prominent American artist working at the intersection of language and fine art. Exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche, Dill invests new meaning in the human form. Intellectually and aesthetical engaging, the core of her work emerges from an essential, visionary awareness of the world.
October 21, 2017, 7:00-8:00pm, Daniel Recital Hall, Converse College