Local artist Scott Neely will be featured at Carolina Foothills Artisan Center in Landrum during November. His free opening reception will be Friday, Nov. 6, 6-8 p.m.

In a new collection of paintings, These Hills: Color & Abstraction, Neely explores the South Carolina Piedmont and North Carolina mountains through layers of color and abstraction. Folds of paint develop a three-dimensionality, suggesting geological movement, only to be stripped back into bands of pure color. Through raw application, brushwork, and pouring, building and scraping, these paintings enunciate our luminous world.

Neely writes, “My method balances expression and simplicity. I make visual poems: succinct, present, for the heart.” In addition to individual work, Neely has led literary and visual community projects on issues of diversity, race, and religious pluralism. He directs the Project for Community Transformation, an initiative to strengthen congregations to transform our communities, especially focusing on the issues of poverty and racism. He is a graduate of Wofford College and Harvard Divinity School. In April he presented a TEDx talk on race and racism entitled “What Will I Teach My Son?” His work may be viewed at www.neelyprojects.com.

This exhibit will run Nov. 5-30. Sales from this exhibit benefit Carolina Foothills Artisan Center. The Center is located at 214 East Rutherford Street in Landrum. It is open Monday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., and Thursday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information, please call (864) 457-1189.

– Submitted by Steve Wong