Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art

Hours
Open 11 - 4 pm, Monday through Saturday (during exhibit dates) and by appointment

Admission
FREE and Open to the Public

Parking is available on adjacent streets and in nearby parking garages

Looking to See guided tours of the exhibitions are available by appointment. Call 843-953-4422 or email halsey@cofc.edu for more information.

Mission
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is administered by the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston and exists to advocate, exhibit and interpret visual art, with an emphasis on contemporary art. The Halsey Institute is committed to providing a direct experience with works of art in all media within an environment that fosters creativity, individuality, innovation and education. In addition to producing exhibitions, lectures, film series, publications, and a comprehensive website, the Halsey Institute serves as an extension of the undergraduate curricula at the College and as a cultural resource for the region.

General info and brief history
In September 2009, the Halsey Institute moved from it’s former location within the Simons Center for the Arts into an expanded gallery, anchoring the first floor of the 5-story, College of Charleston School of the Arts building addition, The Marion and Wayland H. Cato Jr. Center for the Arts. With new facilities including two interlinked, state-of-the-art gallery spaces, an intimate media room, and a cozy library/resource area, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art can now truly offer a worthwhile contemporary art experience for the regional and national community.

Since 1984, the gallery bearing the Halsey name has presented hundreds of exhibitions by regional, national, and international artists. In 2005, the gallery changed its name to the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. This change was designed to more accurately reflect the range of programming, which encompasses visual arts, film, musical performances, artist residencies, commissioned installations, publications, and lectures. Conceived as a non-collecting contemporary art facility, the Halsey Institute has evolved but remained a vital cultural resource for the City of Charleston, the State of South Carolina, and the region.

The Halsey Institute hosts between 5 and 7 exhibitions per year that highlight contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists of national stature. All exhibitions are accompanied by programming such as lectures and gallery talks by artists and curators, commissioned films, and performance pieces. In addition, the Halsey Institute has maintained a strong international component over the years, bringing in artists from Italy, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, China, India, Africa, and Slovenia. Throughout the year the Halsey Institute hosts supplementary programs and events in collaboration with the College of Charleston, and numerous local and regional arts organizations.

Exhibitions

Aggie Zed – KEEPER’S KEEP

From the Moon: Mapping & Exploration

Events

Aggie Zed – KEEPER’S KEEP
January 20 – March 10, 2012

This exhibition is composed of sculpture, installations, paintings, drawings, and sketchbooks that chart Aggie Zed’s unique working methods in a variety of media. Born in Charleston and raised among farm animals on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, Zed graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BFA in painting and sculpture. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Richmond and, later, Gordonsville, Virginia, where she lives and works today.

Zed’s studio practice is eclectic and varied. Often starting with images from her sketchbook, she may develop some of these concepts into paintings and others into sculptural tableaux or installations. Her subject matter is nothing less than the sum of human civilization, with an emphasis on our relationship to the animal kingdom. Human and animal figures collide with furniture or landscapes; rabbits sprout wheels or wings, while horses drown in collapsing scaffolding. Zed’s dreamscape narratives probe the inner reaches of the subconscious mind.

Although Zed’s work derives much of its meaning from literary associations, her imagery teems with invention and startling leaps of imagination. Her visual poetry conjures a world in which logic and rationality take a comfortable backseat. Human foibles and impulses are placed in the foreground. And even though she works in different media, her conceptual approach remains consistent throughout.

Derived from the title of one of the artist’s works, Keeper’s Keep alludes to British usage of the term “keeper” for “curator,” and plays on the double meaning of “keep” as both noun and verb. Aggie Zed is a storyteller whose works take us out of our consensual reality and into a world filled with absurdity, ambiguity, and the gifts of artistic imagination.

Mark Sloan
Keeper

Opening Reception: Friday January 20, 5 – 7pm
Gallery Walk-through with Artist: Saturday January 21, 2pm

From the Moon: Mapping & Exploration
PART I - November 14, 2011 - March 3, 2012

From the Moon: Mapping & Exploration addresses our visual perceptions of the Moon, from Earth and from space, and demonstrates how advances in optical technologies have increased our understanding over time. This is an exhibition exploring our relationship to the Moon through the lens of the sciences. From Galileo's first observations to today's powerful telescopes, this exhibition will include a broad range of man's attempts at mapping and understanding lunar history. A key component will be NASA's documentation of the Apollo lunar landings as well as current research and missions. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a Moon rock collected during the Apollo 15 mission from June to August 1971. Tours of the exhibition will be available. The exhibition will be housed at the College of Charleston's New Science Center Building and at the Special Collections Department of the Marlene and Nathan Addlestone Library, 3rd Floor, 205 Calhoun Street.

Co-curators Roger Manley and Mark Sloan have traveled throughout North America and Europe gathering materials for the exhibition from some of the world's oldest and most prestigious observatories. Some of these objects, maps and images have never before been exhibited. The exhibition's Lunar Science Consultant is Dr. Cassandra Runyon, Professor of Planetary Geology at the College of Charleston. Organized by The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston. Produced by The Halsey Institute and the Northeast Planetary Data Center at Brown University, in cooperation with NASA, the NASA Lunar Science Institute, the Lunar Planetary Institute, Houston, and the School of the Arts, Addlestone Library, and School of Science and Mathematics at the College of Charleston.

Calendar