Carly Drew started on her path as an artist by constantly drawing in sketchpads made of leftover paper from her grandfather’s printing press.  Spending hours outside as a child covered in the signature red clay of South Carolina and playing in the woods has always led to a fascination with natural forms and the tendency to collect things found around her home in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  This fascination with the world around her has led her to use natural materials, such as red clay, mixed in with traditional drawing and painting media. Her current focus in her work is on the concept of natural history and the human element within it.  Her education started at Greenville Technical College and now she is currently working toward her BFA in studio art with a concentration in drawing and printmaking, as well as pursuing a BA in art history, both at Converse College.  She has been in several exhibitions including the McNeese State Works on Paper, Emerging Carolinas Exhibition at HUB-BUB’s Showroom and most recently the Kentucky National Juried Biennial.  Carly also the recipient of the Greenewald Award for Best in Show and the Cleveland Award for painting at the 2011 Converse College Juried Student Exhibition, as well as the Converse College School of the Arts sponsored studio award at the West Main Artists Cooperative in Spartanburg.

   My experience growing up as a Southern transplant and spending summers at the family farm in Pennsylvania has always instilled an independent and wandering spirit.  Thus I have never felt a connection to a specific place, but rather a collection of memories and stories in my family history that weave together to create a natural history of my life. 
My first subjects were little ‘treasures’ I gathered from the woods to draw.  These early experiences with natural forms developed into my love for such ideas as the Renaissance cabinet of curiosities and the natural history museum. I have chosen to create a natural history of self by becoming a curator of all of the different mementos from a youth spent immersed in my grandfather’s National Geographics, covered in the signature red clay of South Carolina and drawing for hours on paper scraps from my family’s print shop.  Subjects range from family heirlooms to my mother’s penchant for peach floral print curtains, often combined with fauna and texts from inherited books. Every subject or material used has a personal meaning, whether it is from an actual memory or comes from the typical fantasy involved with childhood perception, it has slowly developed into a form of remembrance of what used to be in the wake of recent family turmoil.

   The work is created by combining traditional drawing and print media, in a continual layering process with natural materials, such as dirt, salt, or pine straw, as well as man-made materials that can be found around farms like rusted nails and gears.  Recently I have begun to add stitching to include another dimension of line quality than can be achieved solely through drawing. I use these materials to give a textural element to the two dimensional surfaces and to not only visually reflect back onto my past, but include a tangible element from the environment as well. My intent is to create work that represents both family memories and relationships, while exploring the forms and ideas that have been a large part of my life and continue to be an essential part of who I am.


Heather Neff is a Spartanburg based photographic artist. Born in Boynton Beach, Florida, Neff relocated to the upstate of South Carolina in 1997 with her family.  Neff previously attended Greenville Technical College and the Art Institute of Charleston and is currently studying at Converse College. She will graduate in May 2011 with her BFA in Studio Art and while graduate school is not in her immediate plans, Neff does plan to attend in the next couple years.

Neff’s work is a mixture of many photographic based processes, and most recently she has added silkscreened plexi-glass to her art. This process gives her the ability to alter the visual depth of her work in a non-traditional way.  Her work has been shown in a few group exhibitions and included in 3 print exchanges.


   For as long as I can remember, I have been influenced by music. My father is a musician and when I was young I would sit outside his door and listen to him practice. I loved how the music could inspire feelings within me without my having to do anything but listen; I loved the feel, the touch, the sound, the perfect rhythm of a song balancing on a fine edge. When I closed my eyes, I could feel the notes in my heart, singing a song that was mine alone to hear. I believe that life is a lot like the music I listened to as a child. Every person’s life has its own rhythm that is created out of the experiences in their lives. Every person’s song is unique

   This show is a journey through my memories and my realities, through the places and experiences that have made me the person that I am at this very moment, at this very time, on this very day. This show is an opportunity for me to examine the mantras that give my life direction and I invite you, the viewer, to join me on this path of exploration.

   I utilize many processes in my search for my art; silkscreen, alternative photo methods, watercolor, gouache, and plexi-glass to name a few; but one thing I always include is photography. Photography allows me to mould my mental image into tangible reality. When I mix my photographs with other media, I feel my art truly becomes what I intended it to be. It takes on a life of its own. I don’t set out to create a specific image, I set out to create a vision, and the images just naturally fall into place.