Coastal Collaboration
Collaboration is one of those buzz words that gets defined in so many ways it loses meaning. To me, it’s more like one of those you know it when you see it ideas. To that point, a recent “Community Collage Project” event at Hilton Head’s Coastal Discovery Museum (CDM) qualified as a prime collaboration, with aspirations to extend from its 20-person beginning to encompass hundreds of museum visitors and community members over the next couple of months.
Explained as an extension of the exhibition This is Not: Aldwyth in Retrospect (through March 23rd), the instructions are simple: put stuff on the large piece of Okawara paper hanging in the room adjacent to the exhibition by “channeling the whimsy and intrigue of Aldwyth.” Given the genius on display in that show, it’s kind of a daunting directive. Elizabeth Greenberg, CDM’s Director of Exhibitions, explains further.
“What we’re trying to do is to really help people understand Aldwyth’s work a little bit better. What she does is an immense amount of thinking and planning, along with the actual work of cutting and placing. We hope to give people the sense of both how hard it is and how much fun it can be.”
Greenberg gives credit to Tori Lusik, Aldwyth’s assistant and a CDM employee, for the idea of doing this kind of community event and admits they have no idea how it is going to go. If the opening night is any indication, it’s going to be a great few weeks of collaborative art-making. Participants on this night were focused and busy picking through Aldwyth’s stash of sorted cuttings that were provided or were cutting their own materials out of books and magazines provided. There were also buckets, boxes, and bags of all kinds of fabric, ribbons, beads, shells, flowers, plastic figures, and assorted flotsam and jetsam provided by the organizers.
One participant, Grace Elliott, had a kind of head start on the whole endeavor. She recently graduated with an art degree after studying photography at the University of Dayton and has been making small collages on a daily basis for over two years. She now lives in metro Detroit, but her mom lives in Hilton Head and let her know about the event and the two attended together. Elliott immediately launched into action with a smile on her face.
“The collaborative-ness of it I think is really interesting and awesome. We’re taking stuff that people already made and then we’re remaking it as a community, which is very beautiful.”
Greenberg joked that despite appearances, Elliott was not a ringer arranged for the evening. Greenberg herself displayed a smile as she watched art in action among strangers in the room.
“Everybody here is diligently working…there’s just something about getting people to participate in art that I think is just special.”
The breaking down of the separation between artist/art maker and audience/viewer is also part of the goal of this kind of event. Greenberg says that the mission of the CDM is to inspire people to care for the Lowcountry, and that includes the arts ecosystem as well. She points out that Hilton Head Island has a rich arts history, with a wave of artists moving here decades ago and places like the Red Piano Gallery becoming hubs for roundtables and celebrations of art, which directly leads to the current Aldwyth exhibit.
“Aldwyth represents that unique, very excellent group of artists that moved here in the 60’s and 70’s. She deserves to be recognized in her hometown, and she definitely deserves to be recognized regionally, nationally, even internationally. This is next-level, really remarkable work.”
Participant Pat Kilroy, a retired nurse, agreed that the CDM is performing a great service to the community with its exhibits and programs.
“I think we need to pay more attention to the caliber of art here, coming from New York that was one of the things that I feared—that I wouldn’t be able to go to museums or see art, but to have places like this to go and gather with like-minded people, it’s wonderful.”
Somewhat unexpectedly joining the event was the artist herself. Aldwyth walked in a few minutes after it started with her son and greeted the assembled in a low-key fashion. I don’t think I was the only one starstruck (is genius-struck a thing??). I’ve met and interviewed prominent politicians, business leaders, and creative types over the years, but there was something surreal about seeing this unassuming, friendly, and radiant individual who was responsible for such incredible artistic expression just standing there in the flesh. It threw me off for a moment, but I gathered myself and went in for the chat.
After introducing myself and gushing about her creative brilliance, I was treated to a big smile, humble acknowledgement, and, after some additional conversation, a hilarious mention of teenage hormonal activity. Aldwyth informed me, after learning how much I loved the beach out at Hunting Island, that that was her favorite “make out spot” as a teenager. It was a perfect layering of effect, a collage in the moment that brought in personal history, passion, and a shared laugh.
Besides the opportunity to add to the collage going on over the next several weeks, the museum is hosting a screening of the film “Aldwyth: Fully Assembled” on February 11 at 5 pm. This 2022 PBS documentary was made by award-winning filmmaker Olympia Stone. Rumor has it that the artist may make an appearance there as well.
Luke Frazier is a writer and award-winning media producer who recently transplanted to the Lowcountry. He runs NOW Communications, which focuses on the needs of mission-driven organizations (nowandfuturecomms@gmail.com / (216) 633-6970).
