Green at Myrtle Beach museum

Although many still think of the Grand Strand as the traditional purview of the Sun Fun Festival, shagging contests and miles of fried seafood restaurants, culture in the area continues to mushroom.

All summer, internationally known Lowcountry artist Jonathan Green has exhibited 31 of his paintings in the exhibition "Jonathan Green: The Artist and the Collector" at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach.

In addition to his own work, Green has allowed the museum to borrow paintings from his art collection, which allows a rare peek into the personal tastes of this celebrated artist.

Green's co-collector, Richard Weedman, has written about Green's formative years, noting that he continually was frustrated by major museums' lack of recognition of the work of African-American artists.

Selections from the Green-Weedman collection include many artists who painted during the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration period from 1935-43. Weedman adds, "The images created by these artists reflected experiences and values that spoke to Green's own sense of history and cultural identity."

The 40 images are all by African-Americans, including Romare Bearden, William Carter, Elizabeth Catlett, David Driscoll, William H. Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Hughie Lee-Smith and Charles White.

In his artist's statement, Green, a Beaufort native, says, "These works reflect the themes of work, love, belonging and spirituality that support a home environment of space, dignity and privacy. They serve as inspiration to my own passion for painting and creativity."

One of Green's paintings on display is "African Memories," a 2007 oil on canvas that is in the collection of Barbara Burgess and John Dinkelspiel of Charleston.

The exhibit continues through Oct. 19.

The Chapin Art Museum is across from Springmaid Pier at 3100 S. Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach. Hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free, with donations welcomed.

Call 238-2510 or visit www.MyrtleBeachArtMuseum.org.

Bunce Island

A new exhibit titled "Bunce Island: A British Slave Castle in Sierra Leone" has opened at the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library. Sponsored by the Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Friends of the Library, the exhibit will run through Aug. 14.

The exhibit tells the story of the Bunce Island Slave Castle, one of about 40 large commercial forts built by Europeans at strategic points along the West African coast, where kidnapped and enslaved Africans were imprisoned before being loaded onto ships bound to cross the Atlantic.

Exhibition curator professor Joseph Opala of James Madison University in Virginia says that most of the captives who were transported from Bunce Island were destined for the Caribbean and North America. Opala points out that Bunce Island has particular significance for Charleston since Sierra Leone was in the heart of the so-called "Rice Coast" from which captives skilled in growing rice were shipped to the rice plantations of the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. The curator notes that the exhibition draws attention to the unbroken links between Sierra Leone and the Charleston area that created the Gullah culture.

The exhibition also will travel to South Carolina State University's I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium in Orangeburg.

In January it will be shown at the Old Slave Mart Museum on Chalmers Street, and in March will be moved to the Fort Moultrie National Historic Monument on Sullivan's Island.

Admission is free, with donations accepted for the Bunce Island Project of the Friends of Sierra Leone.

The Addlestone Library is at Coming and Calhoun streets.

Holy City Craft Bazaar

The Holy City Craft Bazaar, an event focusing on locally handmade arts and crafts, will raise money for the Yo Art Project, a nonprofit local organization with the mission of mentoring inner-city youths.

Sponsoring programs to build self-esteem and job skills, Yo Art focuses on academic and community service through art workshops, public art projects and exhibits.

The bazaar will be held from 11 a.m. to dusk Aug. 9 in the backyard of Read Brothers at King and Spring streets.

Entertainment will include a talent show with live bands, raffle and kissing booth.

Reach Dottie Ashley at 937-5704 or dashley@postand courier.com.