The York W. Bailey Museum at the Penn Center presents “Gullah Art: A Legacy of Preservation,” a traveling art exhibition by the Chuma Art Gallery of Charleston. The opening exhibition will be Saturday, February 11, from 1 to 5 p.m., with Artists’ Talks beginning at 2 p.m.). Museum admission is $5.

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The original paintings and sculptures in this exhibition examine the everyday lives of the Gullah people and their culture in the Southeastern region of the United States of America. It celebrates their cultural legacies, and deals with the struggles and issues they face in trying to sustain their culture in modern day America. The Gullah people are primarily, descendants of the slaves who worked on the rice plantations on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. They speak an English derived Creole language with vocabulary elements and grammatical features from several African languages.
The exhibition explores and defines what is now termed “Gullah Art” as embraced by collectors, critics, students and scholars.
The artists represented in the exhibition are all contemporary artists working today. Their art is about cultural heritage and cultural celebration. It’s about supporting and advancing the very notion of contemporary Gullah art while still acknowledging the rich Gullah history and artistic expression that came before it. The artists value their work not just for the aesthetics but also use their work as a voice to help preserve a rich cultural legacy. These artists are Legacy Preservationists.
The exhibition includes varied artworks from all Gullah culture areas, and is comprised of paintings and drawings executed in conventional art media and mixed media, basketry, sculpture, video artist, and storytelling. The exhibition utilizes a multi-media experience in visual art, video art and storytelling to place the viewer in the Gullah Islands.
The exhibition was organized by the Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston in collaboration with Chuma Art Gallery of Charleston.     All paintings will be sold by the artists.
For more information, call the York W. Bailey Museum at (843) 838-2474 or email info@penncenter.com.

Also at Penn Center: African American Civil War Lectures

The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission is proud to announce that its Foundation has been awarded a $7,000 matching grant from The Humanities Council SC for the “African American Civil War Lecture Series.” The goal of the lecture series is to enlighten the general public to the roles of African Americans during the American Civil War, moreover the series will provide opportunities for much needed dialogue about one of the most pivotal events in U.S. history.
The following lectures will be held on Thursday, February 9 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in Darrah Hall at Penn Center, 16 Penn Center Circle W. St. Helena Island.
• Dr. Eric Emerson:  “The Ordinance of Secession”
• Dr. Abel Bartley:  “The Causes of the War”
• Nicole Green:  “Slavery in South Carolina”
• Rosalyn Brown:  “The Port Royal Experiment”
For more information, visit www.penncenter.com. All lectures are free and open to the public.