“Found Family: Queerness and Community in the South” runs through Nov. 15 in Thompson Gallery.
The Furman University of Department of Art has announced dates for its 2024-2025 exhibitions. Exhibitions are free and open to the public and take place in Thompson Gallery of the Roe Art Building on campus. Thompson Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday.
Furman Department of Art
Thompson Gallery Exhibitions
2024-2025
“Found Family: Queerness and Community in the South”
Ongoing through Nov. 15
Closing reception: Friday, Nov. 15, 5:30-8:30 p.m.
Juror’s talk by Marty Epp-Carter at 6:30 p.m.
This juried exhibition is organized by the Thompson Gallery in collaboration with the Queer Arts Initiative, which champions queer arts in the Upstate. Representing six states, the show features 14 queer artists whose work explores contemporary queer identities and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ communities in the South.
“Found Family” is on display through Nov. 15 in Thompson Gallery.
The exhibition showcases 22 artworks, each created within the last three years, including painting, sculpture, photography, drawing and video media. The artists range in age and career trajectory, gender and sexual identity, and artistic style and critical tone, but they together they represent a cross-section of the Southern queer art scene’s vibrant heterogeneity. Their work brings visibility to the authentic experiences of LGBTQIA+ communities in the region. “Found Family” celebrates these stories – from the individual to the shared, the triumphant to the disheartening, the aspirational to the anxiety-inducing – to explore how queer communities function and thrive in the often tenuous, sociopolitical environment of the South. “Found Family” amplifies the new, emerging generation of Southern queer artists and attests to the exciting potential direction of the region’s queer art scene in the coming years.
The Thompson Art Gallery will host a closing reception for “Found Family” on Friday, Nov. 15, from 5:30-8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The exhibition will open for viewing in the Roe Art Building at 5:30 p.m., and at 6:30 p.m., Marty Epp-Carter will give a talk on the exhibition’s major themes, the jury’s selection process and the state of LGBTQIA+ art in the Southeast. At 7:30 p.m., the event will conclude with a reception of light hors d’oeuvres and drinks outside the gallery in the Roe Art Building.
“Leticia’s Dear Friend” by William Paul Thomas.
“After You,” William Paul Thomas
Jan. 6 – Feb. 7, 2025
Artist talk and reception: Thursday, Jan. 23
Filled with enigmatic family portraits and other personal mementos, “After You” is a living archive created by Thomas for his young daughter to one day explore the visible and unseen aspects of her genetic inheritance. The show is curated in partnership with the students of Furman’s ART 340, who have created a participatory and multi-media experience that prompts questions into the broader ways we come to know family history, seek our heritage and establish human connection.
True Inspiration Artist in Residence exhibition with Derek Reese
Feb. 17-March 28
Derek Reese has been selected for the artist teaching fellowship at Furman University for spring semester 2025. He will collaborate with Furman’s Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities, LiveWell Greenville and underserved Greenville County residents to create a new body of interdisciplinary artwork that aims to amplify the efforts of organizations addressing food insecurity in rural South Carolina. The exhibition features mixed media and found object sculpture, photography, video installations and performance art.
Senior Show
April 7-May 9
Opening Reception: Friday, April 11
Art students from the class of 2025 will showcase their collections.
For dates and times of artist receptions to be scheduled, visit the Thompson Gallery. For more information, please contact Stephen Mandravelis at [email protected], or 864-294-2282.
