Ed Streeter Awarded SC Arts Grant

Ed Streeter has been awarded a $1000 Quarterly Project Support for Artists Grant by the South Carolina Arts Commission for the 2016 fiscal year. The support will allow Mr. Streeter to present the First Saturday Glassblowing Demonstrations. The demonstrations are free and enable the public to see and learn about the traditional craft of glassblowing.

The Quarterly Project Support for Artists, which is funded in part by the National Endowment of the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, will allow Ed Streeter and Conway Glass to host glassblowing demonstrations free to the public on October 3, November 7 and December 5, 2015.

Mr. Streeter is proud to continue the tradition of offering free glass demos and is honored to be recognized by the South Carolina Arts Commission for his dedication in bringing art to the public. He says, "On the First Saturday I create colorful bowls, vessels and sculpture with 2000 degree glass and demonstrate various traditional and experimental glass techniques. Assisted by Barbara Streeter, our demonstrations are both educational and entertaining."

Conway Glass, Inc. is helping Ed Streeter meet his obligation of matching the Arts Commission grant with local dollars. Those who are supporting the grant project are: Conway Glass, Inc., Ed Streeter, Barbara Streeter and Dr. Dennis Stevens.

Local residents can see how the Arts Commission grant and local funds are benefiting the First Saturday Glass Demos and see how Ed Streeter brings art to his community by visiting Conway Glass, Inc. at 209 Laurel Street in downtown Conway, S. C. on Saturday, October 3, November 7 and on December 5. Demonstrations are free, open to the public and held each hour 10 am until 4 pm.

About SCAC: The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission is working to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina and by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.

Ed Streeter is a visual artist and co-owns Conway Glass with his wife Barbara. In his studio, he creates custom stained glass windows and blown glass vessels and sculpture. The studio welcomes hundreds of visitors to each First Saturday Glass event, who then spend the day shopping and dining in downtown Conway.

In addition, he has enjoyed teaching glass classes and demonstrating various glass techniques to the community for over 25 years. The First Saturday Glassblowing Demonstrations educate the public and establish an appreciation for the craft while raising the awareness of how artists work to create quality handcrafted products. The studio events serve as a catalyst; Conway Glass is a hub for the arts and is a positive economic anchor for downtown Conway. For more information, visit us at 209 Laurel Street or call 843.248.3558.

Sculpture Commission in Brookgreen Gardens

We are delighted to announce the commission of a series of glass sculptures as part of Brookgreen’s 2015 Nights of a Thousand Candles, December 3rd-5th, 10th-12th and 17th-19th. Our installation will consist of unique glass sculptures that are hand-blown, fused, cut and sculpted.

The site-specific, sculptural glass work will be installed in Anne’s Garden, an intimate walled garden located in the Huntington Sculpture Garden at Brookgreen Gardens. Barbara Streeter said, “Our sculptures for Anne’s Garden will celebrate the wonder and playfulness of childhood. We hope our glass sculptural installation will amuse and delight visitors to Brookgreen Gardens during the holiday season. We hope our sculptures add to all the great memories created during the holiday season relevant to Christmas, family and fun at the beach.”

Brookgreen Gardens opened in 1932 as America’s first public sculpture garden. Its garden spaces and the collection of sculpture displayed within them have continued to expand through the years. The collection now contains over 1400 works spanning the entire period of American sculpture from the early 1800s to the present, and its placement in over 35 acres of garden and landscape settings creates an extraordinary combination of art and nature. Brookgreen Gardens is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit whose mission is to display sculpture by American artists and to preserve regional plants, animals, and history.

To find out more visit Conway Glass at 209 Laurel Street in downtown Conway, SC or give us a call at 843.248.3558. 

Can Conway Be A Cool Art Town?

If you had told me a year ago that I would be creating glass in this beautiful studio, I probably would have said, “I wish!” But, through planning, hard work (with the help of friends & family), artist collaborations, a SC Arts Grant, customer and sponsor support and a bit of serendipity, we pulled it off. The expanded studio is really better than we imagined. It’s a joy to work in the new space...the workflow and positive chi is inspiring. We now have an organized work area for everything we do.

This all began with a meeting in Myrtle Beach hosted by the Myrtle Beach Museum and the South Carolina Arts Commission. Joy Young, SC Arts Commission Coordinator for Horry County, presented an informative seminar outlining the grant opportunities available for artists and nonprofits. A few months later Joy sent me a link to the upcoming SC Artists' Ventures Initiative Grant. She thought this grant would be a good fit for our business. Had I not attended that meeting, I probably would have missed that opportunity. Joy’s email gave me hope, I was fired up!

The process of applying for the SC Artist Ventures Initiative Grant was at first intimidating...until I looked at it in a completely different way. I realized that the documents they were asking for were items I should have readily available anyway. So I did that part first. I struggled over and wrote my artist statement, I polished and updated my resume, I assembled my best photos in the required formats and I added the grant and upcoming art show deadlines to my calendar. I updated my portfolio as well. These are all the basic items I would need for grant applications and art show entries for the upcoming year. With that, half the job was done! I applied and was awarded the SC Artists' Ventures Initiative Grant in August 2014. I’ll write about how I tackled the program proposal and the budget part of the application in a future post.

Leveraging the money for the project matching funds proved to be the most challenging aspect of pulling my plan together. The SC Arts Commission releases funds based on expenditures. In other words “spend the money, then we’ll reimburse you.” The grant is for $5000. with a requirement for matching funds of $2500. When I applied for the grant I assumed the $2500. matching funds would be available through our business, Conway Glass. Unfortunately, we had an unexpected expense that took those funds. I didn’t want to postpone our renovations and our upcoming projects, so I decided to create a KICKSTARTER campaign. The campaign’s goal was to raise the matching funds. It was a super success!

The KICKSTARTER helped us gain new customers, raise over $3000 and create an art buzz in the community. With total funds of $8000, I was able to begin the installation of new technology, energy efficient lighting, advertising, fuel for the glass furnace, color and glass batch. We now had everything we needed to kick off the Conway Open Studio Project. In addition, we can now record our classes, demonstrations and other events, right from the studio floor. We’ll soon be able to live-stream our events. Yes, we are moving into the 21st century.

Tom Anderson Construction and John Isle Construction played a big part in making this all happen. We couldn’t have completed the renovation without their help. I left the demolition, bathroom, plumbing and electrical work to the experts and they did an excellent job. Tom Anderson Construction (our landlord) also installed a new firewall, which completely transformed the studio space.

In addition, this semester I am completing an Independent Study at Coastal Carolina University. The study documents art events, workshops, and artists collaborations in downtown Conway, SC. It also provides written analysis on how processes developed during the study could help other rural communities through the arts. My goals are to: 

1. Successfully coordinate new initiatives into existing Conway Glass Studio environment.

2. Collaborate with others to achieve successful marketing outcomes.

3. Expand and develop community involvement in the arts in Conway South Carolina.

4. Critically reflect on successes and disappointments during the South Carolina Arts Commission grant period in order to incorporate benefits into future initiatives.

Furthermore, the October First Saturday Glass Blowing Demonstrations were “standing room only” with over 400 visitors that day! Our Experimental Glass Theatre event held on November 8th was a huge success and glass blowing classes at Conway Glass are almost sold out for 2014! 

Overall, I heard many positive comments...the best being “I feel like I’m in a cool town that really cares about art!” I guess that sums up what we need in this sleepy little town. A little fun, cool art projects and lots of hot glass activity.