The Koger Center Project Winners’ Exhibition

About This Show

The Koger Center Project Winners’ Exhibition is an upcoming group exhibit in the Gallery at the Koger Center. The exhibit features the winning artists from our 2024 call for art sponsored by the Koger Center: Kelley Pettibone, Staci Swider, Jordan Dantzler, Jean Lomasto, and Marion Mason.

Kelley Pettibone (1st Place) is an instructor at the University of South Carolina’s School of Visual Art and Design; she also received her MFA from USC in 2023. Her artistic practices include woodcut and linoleum relief, intaglio and collagraph printmaking, lithography, mixed media collage, painting, paper making, pyrography, and assemblage. She enjoys the fusion of inherited family ephemera within her work and the use of repurposed materials. She has an affinity for architecture, dilapidated dwellings, rural churches, barns, birds, anatomical illustration, and botanicals.

Staci Swider (2nd Place) began her career as a textile designer in the home furnishings industry where she was known for her innovative designs and won many accolades. Today, her award-winning collage paintings infused with fiber art are exhibited in galleries across the Southeast. She is a juried member of the National Association of Women Artists and is trained as a Certified GOLDEN Artist Educator. Her book, Acrylic Expressions, along with four instructional painting videos, were published by Random House. When she is not traveling around the globe in search of inspiration, she makes her home in Aiken, SC.

Jordan Dantzler (Honorable Mention), a native of Rock Hill, discovered her love for visual art early on, participating in programs like the ST-ARTS program at Winthrop University. She pursued her passion at Spelman College, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art with a minor in curatorial studies. Dantzler’s journey includes prestigious art internships at institutions such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, ZuCot Gallery, and Sotheby’s. She received her MFA from the University of South Carolina, and also shares her expertise as a graduate instructor and teaching assistant. Her artistic versatility spans mediums like ceramics, photography, and printmaking, often combining them in her work.

Jean Lomasto (Honorable Mention) was born in Brooklyn, but when she was 15 years old her father took a job in Greenville, SC and moved the family to the SC upstate. After attending college at the University of South Carolina and pursuing costume design, two of her undergraduate professors encouraged her to go to graduate school. With an MFA in costume design and a cover piece in Theatre Design and Technology magazine, Lomasto traveled to NYC where she worked in many costume shops, including the Juilliard School as well as for a few Woody Allen films designed by Santo Loquasto. She became wardrobe supervisor for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and toured the world with the company, designing Dudley William’s finale costume for his performance at City Center. She returned to Columbia in 2014, where she began to develop an affinity for painting.

Marion Mason (Honorable Mention) lives in Lexington and works primarily in the non-objective style. This allows him to be totally unencumbered by expressive content, allowing the viewer the freedom to understand and interpret his sculpture any way they desire. His preferred media consists of various woods and soapstone, which he carves and assembles. He also creates one-of-a-kind “wearable sculptures” (pendants and earrings) that are both beautiful and works of art. Each piece is handcrafted with care, using natural materials sourced locally and from Edisto Beach. He is a retired U.S. Navy officer as well as a retired high school art teacher, who taught art history and all visual artforms for 42 consecutive years in public high schools across the South Carolina Midlands. He has also served as a Fine Arts Department Chair for 23 years at two different high schools.