Deborah Feiste Exhibit at the SCC Library

This Fall, the Library is proud to announce the official opening of the SCC Library Gallery, a new exhibit space for regional artists. Each semester, our new gallery space will showcase the rich pool of creative talent in the Upstate, and Spartanburg Community College is pleased to help expand exhibit opportunities for these remarkable artists.

"Jack"

Our current exhibit features work by collage and assemblage artist Deborah Feiste of Central, SC. Feiste has curated and exhibited extensively throughout the southeast and has work in private and corporate collections throughout Indiana and Upstate South Carolina. Her current work focuses on narrative themes as they relate to social, political, and cultural issues.

“My obsession with collecting found ephemera, discarded objects, and wooden boxes provide me with the tools necessary for creating visual commentary on contemporary issues,” says Feiste. “I thrive on the beauty of decay, which I find in the multiple layers and rich textures of old books, antique photographs, rusted objects, and organic matter.”

"Beverly"

A native of Connecticut, Feiste received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Painting from the University of Connecticut.  She served on the faculty at the University of Connecticut Community School of the Arts and Quinnebaug Valley Community College in Connecticut, and the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington, Indiana.

She moved to South Carolina in 1995 where she founded and served as Executive Director of The Arts Center, a non-profit community arts organization located in Clemson, South Carolina. Feiste is currently a member of The International Society of Assemblage and Collage Artists, National Collage Society, Atlanta Collage Society and the Metropolitan Arts Council.    

"Relic"

Deborah Feiste’s exhibit will run October 7 through November 30 at the SCC Library Gallery, located in the Central Campus Library of Spartanburg Community College. Ms. Feiste will appear at the gallery for an artist talk/Q&A session on October 16 at 10:00 am. The exhibit and artist talk will be open to the public.

John Roberts at the SCC Library Gallery

This Fall, the Library is proud to announce the official opening of the SCC Library Gallery, a new exhibit space for regional artists. Each semester, our new gallery space will showcase the rich pool of creative talent in the Upstate, and Spartanburg Community College is pleased to help expand exhibit opportunities for these remarkable artists.

John Roberts

Our debut artist will be Greer’s own John Roberts, former Chairman of the Department of Art Education at Bob Jones University. Roberts’ expressive and heartfelt renderings of foothills landscapes pay tribute to his Southern upbringing as well as his spiritual devotion.

“Many years ago, I realized that even my abilities in art are God-given,” says Roberts. “I am merely the paintbrush in the hands of the Master Artist.” Viewers will notice a direct tribute to the Master Artist in each of Roberts’ paintings; the inscription “…to the glory of God” appears in small print somewhere in each regional scene.

"California Creek Baptist"

Born in East Tennessee in 1950, Roberts began to learn his craft literally on his father’s knee, holding the elder Roberts’ paintbrush as they would “work together” on a design. As a high school student, Roberts’ attention turned to arts education, and he subsequently earned his master’s degree in Studio Art from Bob Jones University.

"3 Friends"


John Roberts’ exhibit will run September 3 through September 30 at the SCC Library Gallery, located in the Central Campus Library of Spartanburg Community College. Mr. Roberts will appear at the gallery for an artist talk/Q&A session on September 19 at 2:00 pm. The exhibit and artist talk will be open to the public.

Study Rooms Full? Try Our Study Pods!

The SCC Central Campus Library now has a new location to study, work, and relax. Introducing our new Study Pods!

These new luxury desks have a sleek, space age design. They feature a built in lamp, foot rest, adjustable desk for your laptop or books, and even additional storage for book bags and purses. Pure comfort and plenty of work space. What more could you ask?

Stop by and give our new Library Study Pods a spin. It's the study space of the future ... today!

New Books at the SCC Library

     New Popular Fiction and Popular Non-Fiction have just arrived at the SCC Library. Browse our New Books display or check  this link for a complete list of new titles. Here are just a few intriguing new selections:

     S.A. Lelchuk’s new thriller introduces Nikki Griffin, a bookstore owner who secretly tracks abusing men to help protect their female victims. Things get dangerous when Nikki gets involved with Karen, a disgruntled tech company employee who might be selling secrets. Griffin finds herself trying to escape from men far more dangerous than any she’d known before. Save Me from Dangerous Men marks the beginning of a gripping new series and fascinating lead character.

     For the child who wishes to learn the legend of the King of Rock ‘n Roll, Jonah Winter and Red Nose Studio present Elvis the King, a lushly illustrated retelling of Elvis Presley’s life story. From his birth on the wrong side of the tracks in the Deep South to conquering the world of entertainment, Elvis is King recreates Presley’s tale through humorous, hand-sculpted miniatures, artfully photographed. It’s the perfect book for any oddball child with a dream to show off their talents.

     Charting her own journey from apprehensive baby boomer to pro-aging radical, Ashton Applewhite explores the media images and messages that serve to discredit the art of aging. By debunking the myths about late life development, Applewhite examines how the stereotypes divide the culture, cripple our brain and body functions, and help to foster an unequal society. This Chair Rocks champions age pride and looks toward an all-age-friendly world.

     An inside man in the beverage industry, Jack Buffington proposes significant innovations that would allow the supply chain to continue utilizing plastics while minimizing the harm synthetics pose to the environment. In Peak Plastic, Buffington views the continued use of plastic as critical to our future, hoping to innovate its production and use rather than eliminating it.

     When sixteen-year-old Starr Carter witnesses the fatal shooting of her best friend at the hands of a police officer, the uneasy balance between her poor neighborhood and fancy prep school is shattered. While the killing becomes national news, with protesters demanding action, only Starr knows the real story of what happened that night. What she chooses to reveal could send her community into an uproar and even endanger her life. The Hate U Give is now a major motion picture.

     Irregardless of your previous experience, Dryers’ English is an indispensible guide to how proper grammar impacts your writing and helps you make less mistakes. For all intensive purposes, Benjamin Dryers’ book is based off of the how, why and when of myriad English difficulties. Its literally the penultimate guide to English language learnings!!! Perhaps your even chomping at the bit to utilize this very unique book to correct all the mistakes in this paragraph?!


For more new releases at the SCC Library, check our New Books listing. And as always, ask an SCC Librarian for help locating or requesting a title.







Endangered Safari

Earth Day 2019 is rapidly approaching, and with this year's crucial Earth Day theme of "Protect Our Species" the SCC Library has created a fun activity to help us all do just that.

Join us at the Central Campus, Tyger River Campus, Downtown Campus, and the Cherokee County Campus Libraries on Monday, April 22 for the Endangered Safari. Ten endangered species will be hidden throughout the Library. Find the endangered animals, then use the QR reader on your phone to answer quiz questions about the species you've found. A prize winner will be selected from those who identify all ten animals.

What kind of animals? Well, to give you an idea of the kind of wondrous species on the current critical list, here are the currently-ranked

 Top Ten Most Endangered Species

1. Amur Leopard



Often hunted for its beautiful fur, the Amur Leopard has topped the critically endangered list since 1996, with only 70 individual cats known to exist.

2. Cross River Gorilla



With both Cross River Gorillas and Mountain Gorillas classified as critically endangered, two out of five gorilla subspecies are in danger of extinction. There are only 200-300 Cross River Gorillas estimated to exist.

3. Sea Turtles



In the last 100 years, the Leatherback Turtle and the Hawksbill Turtle have lost up to 90 percent of their population, 10 percent of which has been lost in the last ten years.

4. Orangutan



With approximately 80 percent of their population lost in the past 75 years, the Sumatran Orangutan has become endangered through mass deforestation. Only 6,600 Sumatran Orangutans are known to exist.

5. Sumatran Elephant



Deforestation has reduced the Sumatran Elephant population by 70 percent in the past 25 years. Less than 2000 are thought to exist.

6. Saola



Discovered in 1992 in Vietnam, this previously-unknown species was already critically endangered, making it one of the rarest animals on Earth.

7. Vanquinta

With less than 100 thought to exist, this rarely-seen marine mammal's extinction is predicted at any time.

8. Tiger



Both the South China Tiger and the Sumatran Tiger currently face the threat of extinction. Three of the nine tiger subspecies have already disappeared, and there are only 500 Sumatran Tigers known to exist.

9. Rhino



Three of the five species of Rhinocerotidae, the Black Rhino, the Sumatran Rhino, and the Javan Rhino are all endangered, with only 60 - 100 of each Rhino species remaining.

10. Pangolin



Widely hunted for their scales, the Pangolin are the most trafficked animal in the world. Eight species of Pangolin are currently threatened with extinction.

Help us round up vulnerable species in our Endangered Safari at the SCC Library, all campuses on Monday, April 22 - all day!

Works Cited

Earth Day. EarthDay Network, 2019.

“Endangered Species.” AnimalPlanet, Discovery Communications, 2019.

Kovach, Robert and Bill McGuire. "EndangeredSpecies." Guide to Global Hazards, Philip's, 1st edition, 2003. Credo Reference.

“Top Ten Most Endangered Animals.” One Kind Planet, Onekind, 2016.





The Treasures of Kanopy

The SCC Library has recently added the mighty Kanopy to our growing stockpile of digital resources. This streaming video service offers 30,000 movies and documentaries, available for free to all SCC students, staff, and faculty.

To help spread the word about Kanopy, we asked members of our Library staff to browse the Oscar winners, HBO documentaries, Criterion classics, Great Courses, world cinema, and other collections and share their personal Treasures of Kanopy. Here's a few selections they found.

Julie Gilmore’s Treasures

Marwencol

This documentary was recently made into a movie with Steve Carell, but the original seems more compelling.  After being severely beaten and suffering from PTSD, Mark Hogencamp made a miniature WWII village and brought it to life with dolls and photography.  His work has become well known and influential throughout pop culture.

Tell Them We Are Rising

Originally shown on PBS, Tell Them We Are Rising explores Historically Black Colleges and Universities, their history and where they are going in the future.  I'd love to know more about HBCUs and why people choose to attend and support them.  And I'm excited to explore more documentaries on Kanopy, letting me learn and enjoy at the same time. 

Lady Bird

This won a ton of Oscars last year, and I still haven't seen it.  Everyone I know who has seen this movie has loved it, and I am excited that Kanopy has critically acclaimed movies to watch on demand.  

Jillian Collier’s Treasures

Ex Libris: The New York Public Library

This award-winning documentary by Frederick Wiseman goes behind the scenes of New York City's public library system. With its 92 locations across Manhattan and surrounding boroughs, the New York Public Library is one of the largest institutions of knowledge in the world and also one of the most democratic. NYPL serves an extremely diverse group of communities and everyone is welcome. This film explores the library's inner workings and reveals the principles that guide its operations; including the library's commitment to the American ideal of an individual's right to be informed. This documentary film runs almost three and a half hours, so I haven't finished it yet, but it's definitely on my watchlist!

Miss Representation

This film, first released in 2011, "challenges the media's limited and often disparaging portrayals of women and girls, which make it difficult for women to achieve leadership positions and for the average woman to feel powerful herself." Packed with compelling interviews from teenage girls and some of America's most influential female leaders, this 90 minute film is a must see for anyone interested in topics surrounding gender equality, mass media, and representation. The Kanopy library also includes documentary films on how media representation affects young boys (The Mask You Live In) along with many other interesting titles in the areas of Media Studies and Popular Culture.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way

This hour-long video is a segment of a longer PBS documentary about the history of superheroes and comics in America. Hosted by Liev Schreiber and filled with interviews from experts on the topic, this film gives a fun and informative look at how superhero characters came into popularity at an important moment in U.S. history. Other videos in the series discuss other aspects of the topic, but this one was my favorite, since it showed the beginning of superhero comic's popularity in America and how their content related to the historical context. 

Barbara Scala’s Treasures

Kedi: The Cats of an Ancient City

This documentary follows the lives of individual cats in Istanbul—their travels through the day, their friends, and the perils they face. There is stunning footage of Istanbul, a beautiful city, and of course, lots of beautiful cats who navigate through their city with amazing gymnastic ability.

Dark Money

I read the book, Dark Money by Jane Mayer, and it was really eye-opening. I want to watch the PBS documentary Dark Money that continues the exploration of the effect of corporate money in our elections and how it challenges our democracy.

In Pursuit of Silence

 I also want to watch the documentary In Pursuit of Silence. Silence is getting rarer and more precious in our noisy, chaotic world. Stores and restaurants are all filled with loud music and noise. This documentary is about how necessary silence is to our mental and physical well-being, which I think is a fascinating concept.

Ashley Holt’s Treasures

Beuys

I’ve been interested in the legendary conceptual artist Joseph Beuys for decades, but I never knew this documentary on Beuys existed until finding it on Kanopy. Beuys told a lot of wild stories about his own life in interviews, attempting to explain his weird fascination with felt and coyotes, so I’m hoping this film will help separate some of the myths from the true history of the man. And maybe this documnetary will help me brush up on my German!

Hal

Hal Ashby was an American film director who left a legacy of highly influential films made over a very short period. From Harold and Maude to The Last Detail to Shampoo to Being There, Ashby’s films have inspired generations of filmmakers and are considered some of the best films of the last century. Ashby’s career marks the rise and fall of the “auteur” period in Seventies Hollywood, where visionary directors were given the freedom to showcase their personal vision and just as quickly had that freedom restricted again.

Othello (Orson Welles)
Filmed in fits and starts over the course of several years, and at great personal expense of the director, Orson Welles’ screen adaptation of this Shakespeare classic is a true masterpiece. Of all the treasures of Kanopy, I’m most excited that it includes a huge number of titles from the Criterion Collection. Criterion restores the great works of cinema to present them in the highest possible quality, from Chaplin to Bergman, and we can watch them for free on Kanopy!

Set up your account at www.sccsc.kanopy.com and find your treasures today!