Art on The Museum Grounds

As if the museum’s spacious textile mill building were not large enough, art has spilled out onto the museum grounds.

Heart Within A Heart, a 20-foot-tall topiary by Bishopville artist Pearl Fryar, anchors one corner of the lawn. Made of living juniper, the sculpture was a gift the artist moved from his garden to the museum to celebrate its 8th birthday in 1996. This mature topiary gives us a glimpse of what will be, as his garden planters in front of the museum begin to develop their imaginative form. Begun in the summer of 1997, these commissioned pieces are works in progress that are being pruned and shaped by Fryar. This small spot of Fryar’s topiary magic gives only a glimpse of the spectacular environment created by this self-taught artist in his own garden in Bishopville.



Herb Parker, Charleston, S.C. created a Site-specific installation consisting of a dome, 10-12 feet high and 12 feet in diameter, covered in lyme grass. A sumac tree emerges from the top near a skylight. About a dozen people can sit inside comfortably, on, or around, a river stone. The shape suggests growth – a condition that has been on Parker’s mind since his second child was born.

These works and others made by self-taught artists of the state and the region are a strong component of the museum’s collection of 20th century art, an area of focus and strength in its art collection.