Photo contributed by the S.C. State Museum Placed among the statewide juried art in Lipscomb Gallery is Paul Martyka's Totemic Talk (far right) and next to it is Columbian Lee Sipe's Vessel No. 60. Richland County artists submitted 278 works of art for the jury's consideration. Lexington County artists offered 111; Greenville County, 79. The juried exhibition of S.C. art to commemorate the S.C. State Museum's 20th anniversary attracted 925 entries from 504 S.C. artists. On display at the State Museum on Gervais Street are the jury's selection, 122 accepted entries from 116 artists. Among the state's 46 counties, 25 have art in the exhibition.

Whenever 122 entries are accepted from 925 entries, that means only the cream of the crop gets through.

The varied art from all over the state is on display in the Lipscomb Gallery downstairs in the back of the State Museum. Albeit a small percentage of the museum's floor area of 175,000 square feet, the art gallery of 7,500 square feet is credited with about 6,000 visitors since it opened April 26. The exhibition closes September 7.

By the end of the fiscal year next June, the State Museum expects at least 150,000 visitors altogether, and by then there will have been a second major exhibition of art in the Lipscomb Gallery.

The jury's chosen "Best in Show/First Place

and a Recipient of the South Carolina State Museum Purchase Award" is a collage called Totemic Talkby Paul Martyka of Rock Hill. And another "South Carolina State Museum Purchase Award" goes to Columbia's Lee Sipe for Vessel N,o. 60a vase in copper wire.

The two jurors for the exhibition were Brian Rutenberg, originally from Myrtle Beach and now living in New York City, and Lia Newman, the director of programs and exhibitions at Artspace in Raleigh, N.C.

Rutenberg earned his BFA from the College of Charleston, where he studied with William Halsey and Michael Tyzack. His MFA is from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In 2006, the State Museum exhibited "Brimming Tides: Paintings and Drawings by Brian Rutenberg," while Rutenberg was the artist in residence at USC's art department in McMaster College on Senate Street. Rutenberg exhibits his work regularly across the country, and he is represented in numerous museum, corporate and private collections.

Lia Newman received her BA in art history and her BFA in general studio from Winthrop University. Before joining Raleigh's Artspace, Newman was the visual arts director for Arts United, Davidson County, N.C. She has served as a resident panelist for the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, N.C.

The Lipscomb Gallery is not a commercial operation, but visitors are encouraged to get directly in touch with the artists or their galleries to inquire for purchases.