One year after our thirtieth birthday celebration on 07-07-07, we are about to embark on the final phase of renovations. Our two buildings will be joined with a walkway, a wall will be removed to make the shop larger and more inviting, and there will be a beautiful new wood floor in the gallery, shop, and office.

If all goes according to plan, we hope to welcome you to our grand reopening on Saturday, October 4, 2008. We’ll have refreshments, entertainment, lots of exciting new merchandise in the shop, and an exhibition of work by Emmy Bronson’s McClellanville painting students. We’ll be sending you an invitation when the work is nearly complete.

Attention artists! We will be restocking the shop, and we are actively recruiting new work! If you have art, crafts, or books to sell, please let us know.

Free Piano Lessons
Thanks to the Jeanne Edwards Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation, we will offer free piano lessons to students from second grade up. Lessons begin Tuesday June 17 at the Arts Center. Students should expect to practice every day, but anyone who does not have access to a piano or keyboard at home is welcome to schedule practice times at the McClellanville Arts Center. Each student will receive a weekly 30 minute lesson (a $20 value). Call 887-3157 to register for a time slot between noon and 4:30 p.m.

Come help us make silk banners to celebrate our reopening—and while you’re at it, make yourself a scarf to take home! We’ll use simple salt and tie-dye techniques that produce spectacular effects—no drawing or design skills are required. Sunday, July 13, from 2 to 5 p.m. Fee is $10 members; $15 non-members.

Art camp for kids ages 5 to 10 (kids under 5 need an adult helper). Students will do daily craft projects and create and eat snacks. Camp meets every Monday in July (7, 14, 21, and 28), from 1 to 3 p.m. Activities will include homemade sidewalk chalk, t-shirt decoration, painted flower pots, papier mache, salt painting, fish lanterns, and face painting. Class fees: $80 members; $95 non-members. Single class fee is $20 members; $25 non-members. Class size is limited. Please call to register.

Collage
Mary Walker will lead a fun and easy collage workshop on Saturday, July 19, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Students will paint a background using watercolors, and then apply cut materials to create a collage. Subjects can include still life, faces, landscapes, aquatic scenes, and political or humanitarian statements. There is no age limit, but participants must be able to tolerate a six hour workshop. Class fee includes supplies, members $35, and non-members $45. Participants can bring a lunch or dine in one of our local restaurants. Call to register, 887-3157. This class has been rescheduled for November. Date TBA.

Glass Fusing
Carrie Spahr will lead a workshop on making jewelry with beginning glass fusing techniques on Monday evenings in August, 4, 11, 18, and 25, from 6 to 8 p.m. Class fee includes materials and kiln firing, for members $65; non-members $80. Call 887-3157 to register, as class size is limited.

Olivia Williams will present a slide show about her recent trip to Africa with a group of students and professors from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. See the people, animals, and art of Senegal and the Gambia, famous for their coiled basketry, batik fabrics, and exotic wildlife. August 9, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.

Run or walk in memory of Ruth Uhlmann and her generous service to the Seewee to Santee Youth Runners. The 5K race will start at 7:00 P.M. on Saturday, July 26, 2008, at Lincoln High School Race fees: before 7/19/08, $15 with T-shirt, $10 without, race day fee, $20 with T-shirt, $15 without. Please call the Arts Center to register, 887-3157. All proceeds benefit the Seewee to Santee Youth Runners.

Protest the increasing level of inactivity that infects our world! Meet in front of Lincoln High School at 7:00 P.M. on Thursdays, from June 5th through July 24th to walk or run with all ages. This is also a great way to prepare for Ruth’s Run.

Eagle Scout Zack Stroman has marked three running/walking trails around the McClellanville area. The three-mile McClellanville Town trail, which starts and ends at the town landing, is all on pavement and is marked at half-mile intervals. The wooded three-mile Francis Marion Forest trail begins at South Tibwin and runs over grass and dirt paths. The two mile Buck Hall trail is all on pavement except for a small portion that runs along the Palmetto Trail. For maps and more information go to http://www.townofmcclellanville-sc.net/zack/Home.html

During his 29 years in the South Carolina House of Representatives, Alex Harvin was a dedicated supporter of funding for the arts. In his honor, we have established a scholarship/internship fund to give students the opportunity to take classes and workshops at a substantial discount. Contributions to this program should be made out to the McClellanville Arts Council and labeled Alex Harvin Memorial Fund. To apply to this program for any of our classes, please call for an internship application.
Thank you to Thomasine H. Rogas for her contribution to this fund in honor of Ms. Thomasine Harvin for Mother’s Day.

Join us on the second Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to buy or sell baked goods, books, videos, art, decorative items, antiques, household items, plants, crafts, toys, local produce, clothes—anything you can think of! Space and a table inside the annex rent for $15; bring your own table and set it up outside for just $5. Tables and space are free if all proceeds are donated to the Arts Council. Call 887-3157 to reserve a space for July 12, and/or August 9.

Help us keep our shop open more hours a month. If you are willing to tend the shop for a few hours, weekly, semi-weekly, or even once a month, please call us at 887-3157. Whether you volunteer alone or with a friend, the process is easy and training is simple. As a special thank-you, regular volunteers receive 10% off all merchandise.

To Nancy Marshall and Sara Nell Scott for setting up the pottery studio, to Sam Watson for fixing our sign, to Linda Walraven for providing landscape materials, to Hayden and Richard Geer for the compost, to Anita Callert for landscaping, to Lee Leland for carpentry, to Carrie Spahr for donating a glass fusing kiln, to Zack Stroman for measuring and marking the walking trails, to Gabe and Eddie Stroman for removing our tree stump, to Michael Bonner for being the soundman at the Celtic Concert, and to Aaron McClure, Sanders High, John Bigelow, Ian McConnell, Zack Stroman, and Gabe Stroman for moving the bulletin board.

Support your local artists and craftspeople—make the Pinckney Street Gallery the first stop for your special gift needs. Paintings, prints, silk scarves, handmade soaps, jewelry, pottery, sweet grass baskets, cards, wood work, shell art, stained glass, books, and more! Gift certificates are available and can be used in the gallery or for classes and workshops. The Gallery is open on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., or by appointment, 843-887-3157.