The 37th South Carolina Juried Arts Competition opened at the Pickens County Museum on Oct. 19 and continues through Dec. 12. First place went to Carole Tinsley, second to Scott Cunningham, and third to Annette Giaco. Honorable mentions went to Ali van den Broek and Scott Cunningham. Five Anderson Artists Guild members had pieces in the show: Debbie Bzdyl, Julie Lamp, Brenda McLean, Al Morris, and Diana Walter. Each shared information about his or her artwork. Debbie Bzdyl, C

Art is a recent entry into Anderson Artists Guild member (and treasurer) Mary McAlister’s evolving life. Growing up near the Atlanta airport, she spent a lot of time playing outside and making mud pies. She has a bachelor’s degree in English education from Georgia State University (and later a master’s from Clemson University) but after graduation spent 15 years as a homemaker raising three young children. After moving to Seneca, South Carolina, for her husband’s job in 1967,

Art came naturally to Margaret Mattox as a child. She sold her first painting—of a clown—to her third-grade teacher for $30. It was Mattox’s interpretation of an old paint-by-number image she’d found, and she felt rich and appreciated. In high school, she attended the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts when it was a summer program, then enrolled at Wake Forest University, where she majored in psychology and minored in studio art. When she moved back to her native C

The 2019 Juried Art Show opened at the Belton Center for the Arts on Sept. 28 and runs through Nov. 8. The $750 First Place Award went to Dustin Massey for Gordon Has Plans (acrylic). The $500 Second Place Award went to Terry Jarrard-Dimond for Convergence (acrylic). The $250 Third Place Award went to Ashley Waller for Room (oil). Seventeen members of the Anderson Artists Guild were in the show: JoAnne Anderson, Matthew Brophy, Debbie Bzdyl, Marion Carroll, Barbara Ervin, Car

When Anderson Artists Guild member JoAnne Anderson underwent cancer treatment in 2001, she had two key survival tools: humor and art. Friends supplied the humor, especially in a send-off ceremony for Anderson’s left breast before surgery. “We called the one that was lost Sweet Chariot; the one I have left is Swing Low,” she said. Up in the mountains, they released a papier mache breast tied to balloons and sent it towards heaven as they sang “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.” Howeve