Island School Council for the Arts (Hilton Head, SC)

The outdoor installation, Home Sweet Home, by environmental sculptor Patrick Dougherty at Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina. Photograph by Kristin Goode, courtesy of THE ISLAND PACKET

The Island School Council for the Arts received an NEA Visual Arts grant of $10,000 to support the installation of a site-specific outdoor sculpture by North Carolina artist Patrick Dougherty. Sited at Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina --a 20,000-acre tract of land containing 150 archaeological and historical sites -- the original work of woven and twisted tree saplings was installed during a month-long residency by the artist. The residency, which took place from March 5-25, 2007, included two public lectures by the artist and seven hands-on workshops with middle and high school students. The project also included a series of field trips to the active project site by students from the Beaufort County Public School District, during which students could ask questions of Dougherty, make comments, and participate in the construction process. More than 829 students benefited from the workshops and field trips. The temporary sculpture, Home Sweet Home, was completed on March 23, 2007, and will be on view to the public through November 2007.

Active since 1971, the Island School Council is an organization of parents, teachers, principals, and other supporters committed to academic achievement through arts presentations and education programs in the visual, performing, and literary arts. Regular activities sponsored by the Island School Council include grants to classroom teachers to support teacher-directed arts programs, artists-in-education classroom residencies, a scholarship program for high school seniors to support post-secondary studies in the visual, performing, and literary arts, and Promising Picassos, an annual public exhibit of student-created visual art projects.

(From the NEA 2006 Annual Report)

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National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
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