Get a Good Look: Spartanburg’s Art Galleries
Spartanburg is full of art.
There’s public art nearly everywhere downtown, with popular murals, the eye-catching Creative Crosswalks, sculptures and much more. There’s also a great selection of art galleries, proudly showing off historical pieces and the work of local artists, working to fuel Spartanburg’s status as an arts hub.
Opened in 2011, The Art Lounge specializes in custom framing and features the work of 20 local artists at its gallery. Named the 2019 Independent Small Business of the Year by Independent We Stand; The Art Lounge works with artists to sell their work while creating a thriving arts community in Spartanburg.
The Art Lounge prides itself on providing a relaxed space for both artists and guests. During Spartanburg’s monthly ArtWalk events, The Art Lounge embraces the motto that it’s not only a good place to hang, but you’ll find yourself shopping for art to hang back at home.
The Artists Collective Spartanburg is home to dozens of working artists from Spartanburg and the surrounding area, all creating in a 20,000-square-foot former Baptist Church building. Thirty-two studios showcase the work of more than 50 artists in sculpture, painting and more. There’s a gallery shop and artists’ work can be purchased online, and there are monthly workshops available for anyone looking to embrace their artistic side.
Artists working at the Artists Collective offer workshops periodically, and the gallery hosts monthly exhibition and juried shows, in addition to its rotating exhibition schedule.
The Spartanburg Art Museum, housed inside the Chapman Cultural Center, showcases rotating exhibitions and a permanent collection on display year-round. The Spartanburg Art Museum also hosts a variety of educational and community programs, like art classes, Family Fundays, Art Parties and more, for all ages and demographics.
The Spartanburg Art Museum sells DIY kits for all ages, including a create-with-clay kit for children between 7-11, and a ceramic berry bowl kit for any age. The gallery also gets in on the holiday fun, selling craft kits for DIY-ers to embrace artwork at home. During the Christmas season, you can find a DIY snow globe kit as well as several holiday ornament kits to add some creative fuel to your tree.
Spartanburg-based artist Lucy Boland has brought several murals to the Hub City, including her #100Women mural on Broad Street, and a floral mural on Dunbar Street in collaboration with fellow Spartanburg artist Aimee Wise.
Boland has a studio space at 146 E. Main St. in Downtown Spartanburg, where she creates visual art representing the connection people share through the human experience.
Like Boland, Maggie McDonald, co-owner of The Kindred Spirits in Downtown Spartanburg, has a studio space at 870 E. Main St. next door to Arrowhead Design Company.
McDonald, a painter, printmaker, and muralist who has also dabbled in ceramics and other art forms, has studio visits available upon appointment only.
The Johnson Collection showcases the cultural evolution of the American South, and features important works of female and African American artists in its rotating exhibit. The Johnson Collection has grown to encompass more than 1,200 objects that span centuries.
The Johnson Collection is a private art collection dedicated to showing the cultural evolution of the American South. TJC Gallery is the Johnson Collection’s downtown exhibition space, and it showcases rotating exhibitions featuring works drawn exclusively from the Johnson Collection.
In addition, the gallery houses art at the AC Hotel downtown. The hotel showcases modern pieces created by internationally-renowned artists associated with Black Mountain College. A total of 40 works, curated by The Johnson Collection, is on display at the AC Hotel’s first floor and mezzanine.
Mayfair Art Studios, located in a dynamic arts incubator in the Arcadia village of Spartanburg, inside a historic mill building, brings together a community of artists. The Chapman Cultural Center initiative features artist studios and unique space for creatives to work and embrace entrepreneurship by selling their creations.
The studios host art fairs, performances, exhibitions and other events that serve to create a new, art-fueled destination on the west side of Spartanburg. Along with visual arts creation space, there are spaces for dance. Studios can be rented by the hour, making them accessible to artists of all kind around Spartanburg.