About
Our Mission
The Sumter Gallery of Art is a non-profit, community-based institution with a mission to present and promote the visual arts, to increase the knowledge and appreciation thereof, and to provide visual art and art education opportunities to Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties. It shall be an institution dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of our community.
Our History
February of 1969
During its fourth year in existence, the Sumter Artists Guild decided to establish a local gallery in which they could display their work as well as host exhibits from artists outside the community. After over a year of planning and fundraising, the Sumter Gallery of Art opened it’s doors on January 5th, 1970. The Gallery was first housed in the Old Carnegie Library on Liberty Street, with the school district agreeing to lease the building to the Gallery for a fee of $1 per year. The opening exhibit featured works from the South Carolina State Arts Commission with assistance provided also by this group.
1977
In 1977 the gallery moved to a new location, an antebellum Greek-revival style home on North Main Street. The home was built in 1850 by Dr. Anthony White. His granddaughter, Elizabeth White, became one of Sumter’s most talented artists and went on to gain national and international recognition. Upon her death in 1976, White requested that her home be made “available to the public in a manner that will promote the arts.” The house, no. 78002531 on the National Register for Historic Places, remained the gallery’s home for the next 26 years.
1980s
By the mid-1980s, the county of Sumter renovated a portion of the former Edmunds High School into a center for the performing arts, Patriot Hall. At this time, it was suggested that the science wing adjacent to patriot hall be converted into a new home for the Sumter Gallery of Art.
February 23rd, 2003
The Sumter Gallery of Art opened its doors to the public on February 23rd, 2003 in the newly renovated, two-story, 24,000 square-foot facility at the Sumter County Cultural Center. 2007 marked the change of name to the current Sumter County Gallery of Art, keeping alive the mission to provide the finest art exhibits and arts education opportunities to Sumter and its surrounding communities.
Today at SCGA
With three exhibition galleries downstairs—open Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm, and always free—a giftshop full of one-of-a-kind treasures, and seven classrooms comprising the Elizabeth White School of Art upstairs, SCGA is proud to offer something for everybody, on all budgets, at all walks of life.
Meet The Team
Karen Watson
- Executive Director
- scgadirector@sumtergallery.com
Eric Lachance
- Curator/Assistant Director
- curator@sumtergallery.com
Zoe Monnier
- Director of Art Education
- education@sumtergallery.com
Washan Clayton
- Art Education/Gallery Assistant
- galleryassistant@sumtergallery.com
Elizabeth White
The Sumter County Gallery of Art begins with professional artist Elizabeth White. Born in 1893, white was a lifelong Sumter resident until her death in 1976. Her etchings and paintings of Southern landscapes and scenes, architecture and woodlands, and informal portraits make up much of our permanent collection. Images created by White adorned postcards which were sold around the world in the early 20th century. In 1976, she bequeathed her home (listed on the National Register of Historic Places) to the--then named--Sumter Gallery of Art, moving from the Carnagie Library where the gallery had been housed since 1969.
A graduate of the class of 1914-‘15 from the College for Women in Columbia, South Carolina (predecessor of Queens College), White received a certificate in design in the 1913-’14 academic year when she was still a junior. By 1930, she was working as an instructor, resident, and etcher at Laurelton Hall, a school for artists with the Tiffany Art Foundation in Long Island, NY.
On the suggestion of a friend, White began to produce postcards, gaining the attention of musician and philanthropist Marian MacDowell. White worked in New Hampshire at the MacDowell Colony in 1933, 1934, and again in 1936. It is believed that her postcards were forwarded to William Cameron Menzies, production designer of “Gone with the Wind”, inspiring the expressive backdrops used in that film.
In 1939, her aquatint “All God’s Chillun Got Wings” was selected for exhibition at the 1939 World’s Fair. This piece was also selected for exhibition at the American Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, lost and likely destroyed when it was looted by the Nazis.
White continued significant work, exhibiting through the 1940s and 1950s at the Mint Museum and Smithsonian, among others, teaching Sumter artists and painting portraits until her death.
The Elizabeth White School of Art at SCGA continues her legacy of promoting and teaching new generations of artists in Sumter and the counties we serve.
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