The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art presents Young Contemporaries 2012, featuring artwork created by students at the College of Charleston. The exhibition will be on view March 30 – April 28, 2012, and is juried by New York artist, Julie Heffernan. The gallery is located in the Marion and Wayland H. Cato, Jr. Center for the Arts (161 St. Philip St.). Admissions is free and open to the public.
Each spring, Young Contemporaries enables current College of Charleston students to have their work chosen by a nationally prominent juror and displayed in a professional gallery setting. For the 2012 Young Contemporaries exhibition, N.Y. visiting artist, Julie Heffernan, has been chosen to select the student works. The annual exhibition shows off the brightest talents coming out of the College’s School of the Arts, including painters, sculptors, printmakers, and photographers. This unique show gives students the opportunity to learn how to prepare for future gallery exhibits and helps them to practice the type of professionalism necessary for success in such a competitive field.
“I am impressed each year by the professionalism demonstrated by the students in their approach to this show. I think the very fact that we host such an exhibition raises the level of expectation on both the student and faculty sides of the equation” says Halsey Gallery Director and Senior Curator, Mark Sloan. The Post and Courier calls the Young Contemporaries exhibit, “one of the highlights of the year.”
Concurrent with “The Young Contemporaries” show in the gallery is the “Salon des Refuses” in the student gallery. The origin of the “Salon des Refuses” dates back to Paris in 1863, when an exhibit was held by command of Napoleon III for artists whose works had been refused by the jury of the official Salon. In 1863, the Salon rejected paintings, which caused such a protest from the painters and their supporters that they formed their own exhibition, “Salon des Refuses.” Among the painters in the “refused” show were Camilled Pissaro, Henri Fantin-Latour, James M. Whistler and Edouard Manet. These annual exhibitions are jointly produced by the Halsey Institute, the studio art department, and the Student Visual Arts Club in the College of Charleston School of the Arts.
Julie Heffernan is an associate professor of fine arts at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. She received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking at Yale School of Art and Architecture. Heffernan has been exhibiting her paintings actively throughout the world since 1988 and is represented by PPOW Gallery in New York City, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, CA, Mark Moore Gallery in LA, CA and Megumi Ogita Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. In 2010-11 she had solo exhibitions at PPOW Gallery in NYC, Megumi Ogita Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, and Catharine Clark Gallery in SF, CA. In 2009-11 Heffernan was invited to participate in 26 group shows including The 183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art” at the National Academy Museum in NYC; “Old School”. At Hauser and Wirth Gallery, London, England and Zwirner and Wirth Gallery in NYC; and “Arcimboldo-Artista Milanese tra Leonardo e Caravaggio,” at Palazzo Reale in Milan, Italy. Heffernan’s work has been published and reviewed in major newspapers and periodicals including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Observer, Artforum, Art in America, Art News, Flash Art, Harpers, The Chicago Tribune and Art and Auction.
Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is open until 7 p.m. on Thursdays during exhibitions, or by appointment.
Guided group tours are offered through the Halsey Institute’s Looking to See program. Contact Lizz Biswell at BiswellL@cofc.edu for inquiries.
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is a non-collecting contemporary art museum located on the campus of the College of Charleston, on the corner of Calhoun and St. Philip Streets. HICA offers a comprehensive contemporary arts program that is committed to providing a direct experience with art works in various media, in an environment that fosters creativity, innovation, and learning. The Halsey Institute serves as an extension of the undergraduate curricula at the College of Charleston and as a cultural resource for the region by producing exhibitions, lectures and panel discussions, film series, publications, and a comprehensive website. In addition, the Halsey Institute seeks to foster meaningful partnerships with local organizations in order to further the reach of contemporary art within the Charleston community. Admission into the galleries and to most programs is free with the public encouraged to attend.
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is administered by the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston and exists to advocate, exhibit and interpret visual art, with an emphasis on contemporary art.
