Upstate artist Andy Donnan is using his acrylic paintings to interpret shell carvings from Native Americans in the hopes of reminding us “that complex societies are fleeting. His works will be shown in the exhibition “Andy’s Gone Native: Art Based on Native American Shell Carving” Nov. 3 through 30 in Gallery III of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg.
An artist’s reception will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, as part of Spartanburg ArtWalk. The reception and exhibition viewing are free and open to the public. The 20 pieces in the show will be offered for purchase with prices ranging from $150 to $300. All profits from the sale of artworks will be donated to the Osage Nation Foundation.
“Lack of compassion can wipe out societies and then we can forget them over time, this should never happen,” says Donnan, a native of Frederick, Maryland, and a retired board-certified physician assistant. “This exhibition is in a different style than my usual work. It is based mostly on indigenous shell carving from Arkansas and Mississippi. Most of the shell carvings were done on conch shells and depicted important moments, images and people in their society. The carvings had no color; therefore, the color was my interpretation. Spiro mound artifacts were incomplete due to their being looted from 1933 to 1935 by treasure hunters. These paintings are based on preserved artifacts at the University of Arkansas.”
Donnan says he hopes viewers of the show will “reflect on the terrible looting that occurred. This site was considered one of the worst archaeological tragedies in history, and many people do not know about it.”
He became inspired to create the works by his son, an archeologist. “When he showed me the carving at the University of Arkansas from this society dating to about 1000 C.E. and the fact that theirs was a complex society I was in awe. I want people to come away with a sense that there was a complex society that came before us and that art, carvings and spirituality were important to them.”
Donnan adds: “Art is a way to escape the daily slog that we all walk through. Art gives us a chance to look into our past, both good and bad, and express the way we feel about it. When viewing art, it should arouse something within us, hopefully challenging or encouraging to us. Art should have an effect on our walk through life and the way we perceive life.”
Donnan is a self-taught artist who began painting in the early 1990s. He has been a member of the Artists Collective | Spartanburg since 2017. His art was accepted by the Albany Artist Guild Juried Show and the Spartanburg Library Show. This is his third exhibition at ACS. He and his wife, Sarah, maintain the Collective’s grounds and flowers.
“I’m excited about showing at the Collective,” he says. “I love the ACS and the community of artists. It is a hidden gem and deserves more recognition.”