Photo Exhibit Celebrates Water
THE UMPTEENTH GALLERY
Location: Arts & Letters Building
Hours: M-F, 8:30 a.m. -5 p.m.
The University of South Carolina Sumter will feature “water colors” by Margaret van Bulck Smith in the Umpteenth Gallery through December 15, 2014. The exhibit is free and open to the public.
Originally from Sumter, Smith is an award-winning fine-art nature photographer with a career spanning academia, photography, public accounting and economics. She conducts photography workshops and is an adjunct instructor at Central Carolina Technical College. Her photographs and essays have been published regionally and nationally.
Smith’s work has won regional, national and international awards and has been exhibited in a wide variety of venues. Her current work involves printing large-scale (40" x 60") images of water reflections on paired layers of charmeuse and chiffon with acid-dye inks. She also works with encaustic to create tactile images of intimate ocean encounters and enjoys printing on metal and metal leaf, working with Van Dyke Brown, image transfers and various other alternative processes.
“ I have been drawn to water for as long as I can remember. It is all around us. It is in the air that we breathe, it is under the ground where we walk, it is in the oceans, lakes, swamps, and marshes on this round ball we all call home. It has been a part of us since conception. Semen carrying the sperm that generates new life is 96 percent water. The amniotic fluid surrounding that new life begins as 99 percent water. The body at birth is approximately 75 percent water and remains around 60% for the rest of our lives. Without water, life as we know it could not exist. We may live for weeks or months without other nutrients, but without water, we can survive only a few days. Water flows through our veins as the water on our planet flows through its rivers and streams. Science tells us we cannot survive without that amazing combination of hydrogen and oxygen. Yet, we take it for granted,” says Smith.
Smith is completing her Masters of Fine Art (MFA) in photography at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She now resides in Bishopville and Pawleys Island. She is married to Martin Smith, a retired principal from Florence, SC. She has two grown children, Marc and Sydney van Bulck.
