SENECA, SC - For the first time, the traveling exhibit from South Carolina’s Watermedia Society will visit Seneca. Opening on Friday, May 2, 2008, in conjunction with BRAC’s POP Artists Exhibit, it will be open to the public at the Seneca Woman’s Club’s Historic Ballenger House at 212 E.S. Third Street until the end of May. Local artists whose work is being shown are currently being contacted to a “Meet the Artists” reception to take place on Saturday, May 24. This will be yet another exciting event during the Memorial Day festivities.

Of the 185 entries that were submitted by society members statewide, the juror, John T. Salminen, selected 70 paintings for the original exhibition. Of those selected, 26 percent of the exhibition features work by members who have never been selected before or who just earned their Member With Excellence signature status (juried into 3 SCWS exhibitions). The top thirty paintings have received $9,500 in awards and are touring the state for a year.

In his juror’s statement, Salminen said, “I think of jurying a show as a process of inclusion rather than elimination. I tried to choose works that represent watermedia in all of its creative aspects: from realism to abstraction; from traditional subjects to experiments; from paintings dependent on precise technical control to fast and loose styles; and from paintings that convey the artist’s love of his or her subject matter to paintings that celebrate the expressive nature of paint.”

Works included in the show feature a number of local artists from Seneca and the surrounding areas as well as some well-known Greenville artists. For more information call Donna at 654-4043 or e-mail donna@ballengerhouse.com.