The Florence Regional Arts Alliance is pleased to announce artists participating in this year’s Small Works Competition. For its nineth year, 74 entries by 36 artists were received from South and North Carolina.  Twenty-seven pieces by 20 artists representing eleven cities will compete in the Small Works 2025 Exhibition.

The following pieces and artists have been juried into this year’s competition:

Glass Plant 35 by Katlyn Cornelius, Concord, NC

Red Line XIX by Roger Halligan, Lake City, SC

Matriarchal Threads by Mary Ellen Judge, Florence, SC

Emergence 10 by Jan Chenoweth, Lake City, SC

Portrait of a Fledgling Fern by Christine Shaw-Rittmeier, Florence, SC

Life Blueprint by Tina Vincent, Charlotte, NC

American Idol by Colleen Critcher, Florence, SC

Tide’s Embrace by Delaney Shin, Florence, SC

Forme Brute by Douglas Gray, Florence, SC

Blinded by Faith by Cecil Norris, Mooresboro, NC

Enterprise by Mel Schnur, Beaufort, SC

Misery Loves Company by Uschi Jeffcoat, Florence, SC

Genesis Tiles by Elizabeth Borowsky, Andrews, SC

Reliquary of a Mended Corvid by Susan Hansen Staves,Columbia, SC

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. by Julie Mixon Florence, SC

Untitled by Amy Clyde, Hendersonville, NC

Things Not Easily Seen by Caleb Braxton, Johnsonville, SC

Blue Puffer by Maria Tassios, Florence, SC

Def mourn_the_touch(memory=hand on mine) by Tiffany Thomas, Lake City, SC

Rip Tide by Delaney Shin, Florence, SC

Sensing “Flowers” by Cecil Norris, Mooresboro, NC

Tamboti Sunset by Patricia Schoelkopf, Hilton Head, SC

Entangled by Elizabeth Borowsky, Andrews, SC

Prevention by Julie Mixon, Florence, SC

Molt by Mary Ellen Judge, Florence, SC

Shapeshifting by Tiffany Thomas, Lake City, SC

So Many More by Caleb Braxton, Johnsonville, SC

 On August 1st at 6pm the show opens at Acline Studios in Lake City, SC with a reception at 132 North Acline Street awarding the final prizes $600 (First Place), $350 (Second Place), and $250 (Third place)

 These works by artists are no larger than 12” x 12” x 12” and will be available for purchase. The exhibit is open through September 20th. Gallery hours are Tuesdays- Saturdays 11am to 5pm

The show provides a place for the emerging artist to place alongside the professional artist. Organized by the Florence Regional Arts Alliance the show is hosted by ArtFields at Acline Studios. The show aims to support the downtown economic revitalization efforts by highlighting new arts space in the area. The size of these pieces allow for an affordable way for local art patrons to either compliment, add to or begin a personal art collection.

About the Juror

Michaela Pilar Brown is an image and object maker. She studied sculpture and art history at Howard University, though she has always been a maker of things. Born in Bangor, Maine and raised in Denver, Colorado, she cut her teeth in the halls of a museum where her mother worked as a security guard, and has been immersed in the culture of objects, their making and interpretation ever since.Brown is an independent curator and multidisciplinary artist using photography, installation, collage, painting and performance. Brown in a 2024 Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellow. She is the 2018 grand prize winner of Artfields juried art competition. She is a 2018 inaugural resident artist of the Volcanic Residency, Whakatane Museum, Whakatane, New Zealand. She was one of the six American artists selected to participate as a Resident Artist for OPEN IMMERSION: A VR CREATIVE DOC LAB produced by the CFC Media Lab, The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and JustFilms | Ford Foundation in Toronto, Canada, an Inaugural Resident Artist at the 2016 Sedona Summer Colony and a 2016 Artist in Residence, Kunstlerwerkgemeinschaft Kaiserslautern, Germany.Brown has been a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center and the McColl Center for Art and Innovation. Her work can be found in private and public museum collections in the United States. She is the former Executive Director of 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, South Carolina., where she has served since 2020-2022. She has served on the board of directors for One Columbia SC, One Columbia for Arts & History is a non-profit organization formed to support and promote tourism in Columbia, South Carolina, and the Barabara Deming Memorial Fund, the oldest ongoing feminist granting agency. She is the owner/director of Mike Brown Contemporary Art Gallery formerly If ART. 

ArtFields Acline Studios is the community hub for artistic conversation and creativity. In addition to its gallery space, Acline Studios houses 9 studios and a shared ourdoor workspace. It aims to serve the ArtFields artist community and provide year-round programming. Acline Studios is located at 132 North Acline Street in downtown Lake City, South Carolina.

About the Hosting Venue