Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) is excited to announce the opening of their Main Gallery exhibition, Past/Present. The exhibition features the artwork of acclaimed artists Lee Malerich & Dwain Skinner. This exhibition opens on Friday, April 7th, 2023 from 6-9 PM. There will be opening remarks for the exhibition made by GCCA’s CEO, Jess Burgess at 6:30 PM. Admission is free and open to the public.

On Tuesday, May 9th, join Past/Present exhibiting artist, Lee Malerich, in GCCA’s Main Gallery at 6 PM for our ARTalk event discussing her artwork. Past/Present will be on display in the Main Gallery until Wednesday, May 24th, 2023.

In Past/Present, artists Lee Malerich and Dwain Skinner use patterns and myriads of cultural imagery to explore how personal history’s impact us. Through lived experiences, journeys are chronicled and work confronts the past to reconcile the present. Lee Malerich repurposes old furniture, toys, or tools into large wooden sculptures that suggest ways of having lived. Malerich’s history in textiles provide insight into her use of patterning to unify the complex compositions in each sculpture. Beginning in 2019, after years away from art-making, Dwain Skinner created over 100 pieces in what would be his last year of life. This proliferation of mixed media, collage, and found objects largely embodies a deconstruction of nostalgia surrounding ideals of Americana.

Lee Malerich

Lee Malerich is a sculpture and textile artist from South Carolina. Malerich received her BFA in 1979 & MA in 1981 in Studio Art-Textiles from Northern Illinois University. She is a retired teacher and has taught at Coker College, Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College, & Columbia College. Malerich is the recipient of many major grants and fellowships including the South Carolina Arts Commission Fellowship in Crafts and the National Endowment of the Arts Regional Fellowship. Her work can be found in the South Carolina Arts Commission State Art Collection as well as in the collections of the City of Charleston and the SC State Museum, among many others. Being originally trained in textiles, Malerich has over the past decade transitioned to sculpture and woodworking. “I started patterning using colored pencils on the surfaces of the sculptures and then I began to play with value in the same way I did in my textiles. I construct reclaimed wood in layers, shadowing the actual construction of my [history in] textiles.”

Dwain Skinner

Dwain Skinner was born in Greer, SC in 1969. He attended the Fine Arts Center, as well as the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. He received his B.S. in graphic design from Winthrop University. After completing his degree, Dwain worked as an illustrator and graphic designer until the beginning of 2019, when he and his wife, Meredith, left the corporate world to pursue their mutual dream of opening an art gallery and working as full time artists. As a full-time artist, Dwain constantly explored and refined his personal style. He developed an impassioned interest in mixed media, and would often journey to flea markets and rummage sales to collect small objects for his unique collages. He prepared well over 100 pieces for the opening of Woodbine Studio & Gallery in November 2019. That same year, his illustrations were published in a children’s book, he won the cover of Greenville’s Visitors Guide, and participated in Open Studios for the first time. His experiences provided the impetus for Dwain to continue to move forward as an artist. Tragically, Dwain passed away on November 20, 2019, just ten days after showing his work for the first time.

About GCCA

Greenville Center for Creative Arts is a non-profit organization that aims to enrich the cultural fabric of the community through visual arts promotion, education, and inspiration. GCCA’s galleries are open Tuesdays-Fridays from 9am – 5pm & Saturdays from 11am-3pm. For more information, visit www.artcentergreenville.org, call 864-735-3948, or check out GCCA on Facebook (Greenville Center for Creative Arts) & Instagram (@artcentergvl).