Art

Embracing, engaging and curating our local creative community. 

Featured Gallery

  • colorful but disjointed acrylic portrait of a person with blues, yellows and orange

Artista Vista Presents: Rooted

Various Artists
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Richland Library Main

Artista Vista’s annual curated art exhibition, Rooted, is a testament to the abundance of unique voices and undeniable creative power coming from South Carolina’s Midlands. 

The role of art in daily life is revealed at the center of this compelling display, demonstrated by the diversity of material, subject matter, and varying experience levels.

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Richland Library's galleries inspire, engage, and enrich our customers, local artists, and community partners through the visual arts. We believe that access to and interaction with art is essential to nurturing a growing, thriving, culturally and historically rich creative community. Through a variety of flexible gallery spaces, the library is able to exhibit and promote local artists as well as welcome nationally recognized artists, illustrators, and traveling exhibitions.

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Artist-In-Residence: 

Richland Library’s Artist-in-Residence Program aims to connect the community with local working artists and to provide creative and educational opportunities to the community in a way that supports cultural and artistic exchange.

Created in 2015, the residency program gives artists, performers, and makers of all types and disciplines the ability to work freely in their own studio space, share their works and artistic process with the community, and provide learning opportunities and programs for library customers.

AiR Proposals are reviewed yearly. Applications for Fall and Spring are typically reviewed by the Art Committee each Spring.

 Learn More

Richland Library Artist-in-Residence The Dubber performs at St. Andrews

Partnerships:

One Columbia works with Richland Library's executive leadership team, board members and community members to select proposals for art that fit with the needs of each of our library’s communities. Selected artists conduct workshops for the community related to their craft.

 

Public Art:

For each library, 1% of the construction budget is going toward public art. Inspired by our brand promises, we’re encouraging artists to serve the public good and nurture communities. One Columbia for Arts and History is helping us build your library by coordinating the selection of new pieces of public art for all of our renovations.

Ballentine Hyperbolic Crochet Wisteria Sculpture

Ballentine | Barbara Streeter

A stunning, kaleidoscope of color and energy, the Hyperbolic Crochet Wisteria Sculpture is a community driven project of knitted and crocheted yarn creating a sculpture that showcases the strength, individuality and diversity of the local community.

Ballentine Enid Williams

Ballentine | Ayako Abe-Miller


A textile/fiber installation of ephermal organza cubes where one side of every cube holds a "memory" provided by members of the Ballentine community. 
 

Cooper Art

Cooper | Loren Schwerd


Arcadia is a fabric sculpture inspired by a graphite rubbing taken from the trunk of a large felled tree. The crinoline used creates shadows and patterns and sparks imagination.

Where the Wild Things Are Mural

Main | Michael Hagen

Spanning nearly 40 feet, this unique mural was produced by Michael Hagen, Mr. Sendak's stage and set designer. It is the first and only Sendak-authorized mural of his work. Generous support from the Academy of Columbia made this mural possible.

Free standing wild things

Main | Michael Hagen

Made possible through the generosity of the Academy of Columbia, Maurice Sendak's stage and set designer, Michael Hagen, has brought the imaginations of thousands of children to life with these free-standing, three-dimensional Wild Things. 

Kimi Maeda Shadow Tunnel

Main | Kimi Maeda

Shadow Play is an interactive shadow installation that invites the audience to add their own shadows to the landscape of South Carolina's flora and fauna. Created by local Japanese-American theatre artist, Kimi Maeda, the piece inspires children of all ages to create and play with shadows.

Marius Valdes Mural

Main | Marius Valdes


Marius Valdes created a permanent art installation made from more than 5,000 hand-drawn bookmarks on a 50 x 9 foot entrance wall in the Teen Center. Many of the bookmarks were created by local community members of all ages.

Public Art

Main | Enid Williams

Staff fell in love with the work of SC artist Enid Williams. Our design team connected with Enid Williams and Milliken & Company and voila, custom flooring based on Williams' work was produced for the Main Library renovation.

North Main Public Art

North Main | Laurie Brownell McIntosh

Columbia-based artist Laurie Brownell captured the spirit of the participants' community in -panel installation composed of their deconstructed and reassembled creations.
 

Public Art at Richland Library

St. Andrews | Jarod Charzewski


The project titled The Band Shell comes from every community's basic need to meet, an intuitive human nature to create and perform. The structure is a performance space that will give the St. Andrews community a lasting sense of identity.

Jarod Charzewski Water Tower

Blythewood | Jarod Charzewski

"The Water Tower Pavilion was inspired by the Blythewood steam train water tower. This tower was a figure in the town's history and serviced the Blythewood railway industry. The pavilion nourishes the community and its culture while embracing its historic beginnings.

A colorful wall mural surrounds a row of office windows, depicting a lush garden filled with bright pink, purple, yellow, and white flowers. Gray tabby cats hide among the plants and lounge atop the window frames. A red house with a steep roof sits on the left, while a large leafy tree frames the right side. Through the windows, desks, computers, and fluorescent lights are visible. Small framed interactive panels line the lower part of the mural.

Main | Anita Lobel

This interactive space for babies and toddlers features a vibrant mural inspired by beloved characters illustrated by Anita Lobel. Fourteen rotating, hands-on panels invite children to explore through touch, movement, and sensory discovery. This engaging experience was made possible through the generous support of the C. David Warren Fund.

A framed black-and-white photograph shows a large group of African American men and women standing closely together on brick steps beneath an arched entryway. Four middle-aged men in suits and ties stand in front, facing forward with serious expressions. Behind them, formally dressed adults fill the steps outside a public building, conveying a sense of unity and purpose.

Main | Cecil Williams

Civil Rights Activists at Zion Baptist Church, Washington Street, Columbia, SC, 1963. Photographed in 1963, this image features Lincoln Jenkins, Matthew Perry, Co Spann, and I. De Quincey Newman standing with fellow community members during the Civil Rights Movement.

A large painting depicts a dreamlike nighttime scene of classical ruins in a wooded landscape. Tall, weathered white columns rise from brick bases, some broken and crumbling. A dark, twisting tree stretches across the foreground. A full moon glows in a blue sky, casting soft light. Near one column, a young woman with short reddish hair in a long pale dress leans against a brick pedestal, calm and contemplative in the cool, mysterious scene.

Main | Blue Sky

Millwood Ruins is an oil on canvas painting created in 1984, spanning 77 × 60 inches. It portrays a dreamlike nighttime scene of classical ruins in a wooded landscape.

A framed landscape painting shows a small dam along a wooded river in late autumn or early winter. Brown water spills over a low concrete spillway, forming white foam as it falls into a deep blue pool. A narrow wooden walkway runs beside metal gates that control the flow. Bare trees and a few evergreens stand in the background, reflected in the cool, quiet water.

Main | Bill Stroud

Corley Mill Speedway is a watercolor painting of a small dam along a wooded river in late autumn.

A large black-and-white historic photo shows a busy street market from the early automobile era. Vintage cars are parked bumper to bumper along both sides and down the center of a wide street. Vendors sell produce from wooden crates and baskets on sidewalks and small medians. Well-dressed men, women, and children fill the scene. In the foreground, a child stands by stacked vegetable crates. Storefronts and utility poles lead toward a distant church steeple, capturing a lively small-town marketplace.

Main | Charles Old, Sargeant Studios

Assembly Street Market, photographed in 1934, captures what was once known as the Curb Market. This image was previously displayed in the Charles Old exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art.

A framed black-and-white photo shows a 1930s street corner with small brick storefronts. An Economy Drug Store features prominent Coca-Cola signs and a Biltmore Ice Cream awning. Vintage cars line the curb as a few men stand nearby talking. Signs for a delicatessen and meat market appear along the row of shops, and a large tree rises behind the buildings, capturing a lively neighborhood scene from the early automobile era.

Main | Charles Old, Sargeant Studios

Five Points, photographed in 1939, shows a street corner lined with small brick storefronts and early automobile traffic. This  image was once displayed in the Charles Old exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art.

A framed surreal artwork shows a stylized, human-like figure balancing in a yoga tree pose on one leg in a small pool of rippling water. The figure has elongated red limbs, a torso topped with a melting, sculptural form, and a large brain for a head crowned with green fern leaves. Across the center, the words “CREATE FREELY” appear in bold, layered multicolored letters against a clean white background, reinforcing the imaginative and expressive tone of the piece.

Main | Dogon Krigga

Created by past Artist-in-Residence Dogon Krigga, this work emerged from a teen Make and Create workshop, where participants collaborated on a large-scale collage that ultimately inspired this piece, Create Freely.

A large framed antique map depicts North and South Carolina with their Indian frontiers, rendered in fine, detailed linework. The map shows rivers, towns, roads, and coastal inlets, with the Atlantic Ocean labeled along the right side and Georgia to the southwest. Decorative cartouches and inset maps appear in the corners, and the aged paper and ornate frame emphasize its historical character.

Main | Henry Mouzon

Purchased in 1993 through a generous gift from the Ben Walker Family Foundation, Mouzon's Map of North and South Carolina, presents a detailed and historically significant depiction of  North and South Carolina, including their Indian frontiers.

A large framed abstract mixed-media artwork features a vertically split background—deep green on the left and vivid red on the right. At the center, a raised textured cluster of layered paint, resin, and collage elements stands out. Below it, an irregular glossy pale blue shape, outlined in black with white vein-like cracks, contrasts sharply with the flat, bold color fields and sculptural surface details.

Main | Declan Mahoney

Generously donated, Pondsy is an abstract mixed-media piece by Declan Mahoney, brought to life through layered acrylic and vibrant color.

 

This large corner mural spans two adjoining walls, featuring vibrant, layered portraits of Black children and women against bold red, yellow, green, and blue backgrounds with graphic patterns and circular motifs. Faces range from detailed and painterly to sketched and silhouetted, forming a dynamic collage that celebrates identity and growth. Integrated text panels enhance the design, transforming the library hallway into a vivid, immersive space.

Main | Multiple Artists

This large corner mural showcases book illustrations by Dianne Johnson-Feelings, Tom Feelings, Tyrone Geter, and Joyce Hanson. Three accompanying poems, displayed on colorful plaques alongside author bios, are integrated into the mural. Learn more about this artwork by visiting the link here.

A wall-mounted mixed-media artwork shows the silhouette of a child reading while lying on their stomach with legs bent upward. Outlined in black, the figure is divided into sections filled with small plastic objects arranged in a rainbow gradient—reds and oranges at the head and hands, shifting through yellow, green, blue, and purple, with white at the feet. Hanging by thin wires, the piece blends playful imagery with colorful recycled materials.

Main | Kirkland Smith

This collaborative, eco-conscious artwork, Boy Reading Collage, uses colorful children’s toys assembled within a wooden frame.

A large, brightly colored painting shows a cartoon-style cow with wide, round eyes and a big red-orange muzzle standing against a simple blue sky and green ground. The cow’s body is white with bold black patches outlined in thick black lines, and the words “Moo Freely.” appear in black lettering to the right. The playful, simplified style and vivid colors give the artwork a cheerful, lighthearted feel.

Main | Marius Valdes

Kindly donated by our first Artist-in-Residence, Moo Freely by Marius Valdes is one of several works by the artist that spark joy throughout our library.

An antique natural history book is displayed open inside a glass-topped wooden case. One page contains dense printed text, while the facing page features a detailed hand-colored illustration of an insect with elongated body and delicate wings perched among branching plant stems.

Main | Mark Catesby

This rare edition of Mark Catesby’s The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands has been a treasured part of the library’s collection since before 1928.

A decorative wrought-iron gate panel is mounted against a concrete wall, featuring symmetrical scrollwork, vertical bars, and geometric patterns. At the center, a stylized vine with metal leaves rises upward, adding an organic element to the structured design. The dark metal contrasts with the light concrete background, highlighting the craftsmanship and ornamental detail.

Main | Philip Simmons

This ornamental 6 x 6  foot ironwork was made possible by a gift from the Friends of Richland Library County Public Library. The artisan is Philip Simmons of Charleston, South Carolina, whose ironwork is in the Smithsonian, South Carolina State Museum, and throughout the city of Charleston. The design of the grill represents the coral vine which graced the old main library and is now planted at this location. The undulating lines are the Indian symbol for the Broad, Saluda, and Congaree Rivers in Richland County.

A wide, impressionistic painting depicts a seaside view from a terrace overlooking a calm turquoise ocean. In the foreground, a stone wall borders a small patio with light-colored chairs and a planter filled with bright flowers, while gentle white waves stretch across the horizon beneath a clear blue sky.

Main | Philip Mullen

Stone Patio and Ocean #4, on loan from Philip Mullen, is an acrylic painting featuring a stone patio overlooking the ocean.

A wooden square table with a smooth, light-brown surface sits in a library space, supported by sturdy black legs and surrounded by four matching wooden chairs with curved backs. Small black square inlays form a cross pattern across the tabletop. The table stands on a colorful patterned carpet, with glass walls and display cases visible in the background.

Main | Lewis Clark & Michael Craig

This set of four square tables, designed by Michael Craig and executed by Lewis Clark, showcases ebony inlay in a perpendicular pattern and can be found in the Walker Local and Family History Center.

 

A large abstract painting suggests a forest scene through expressive vertical brushstrokes in deep browns, muted purples, and smoky grays rising against a warm golden-yellow and pale blue background. The tall, tree-like forms appear layered and partially blurred, with drips and loose marks creating a sense of movement and atmosphere, evoking light filtering through a dense woodland.

Main | Mary Gilkerson

This untitled oil on canvas, on loan from Mike Brown Contemporary, measures 72 × 60 inches and features vertical brushstrokes in deep, warm tones.

These two long, framed illustrations reference Where the Wild Things Are, blending detailed forest imagery.

Main | Don Palmer

These art boards depict scenes from Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. These were used to create the mural and free-standing pieces for the Children's Room of the Richland Library County Public Library in 1993. They were created by Don Palmer, interior designer for RCPL and approved by Mr. Sendak.

A framed black-and-white photograph shows a small group of adults seated around a large wooden table, reading oversized books or ledgers in what appears to be a library or archival room. An older man sits at the head of the table while others—men and women dressed in mid-20th-century attire—study the open volumes attentively. A caption in the frame identifies the table as formerly a piano, adding historical context to the scene.

Main | Artist Unknown

The table in this room was made from a piano that was owned by Dr. James Woodrow, uncle of President Woodrow Wilson, also shown in photograph from 1935.

These two large abstract paintings feature heavily textured surfaces dominated by warm golden and ochre tones layered with vertical striations and subtle drips. Faint suggestions of flowers and vase-like forms emerge from the dense, scraped paint, with touches of red, green, and blue adding contrast. The thick impasto and rhythmic vertical lines create a sense of depth and movement, blending abstraction with hints of still-life imagery.

Main | Philip Mullen

On loan from artist Philip Mullen, Extended Praises and Extended Praises #2 feature richly textured surfaces and warm golden tones.

This artwork is a detailed architectural scale model of the Richland Library building displayed inside a clear glass case on a wooden base, shown from multiple angles. The model features a large rectangular main structure with a flat roof and a central skylight, surrounded by miniature trees, parked cars, sidewalks, and nearby smaller buildings arranged along a street grid. The clean lines of the building contrast with the carefully landscaped grounds, presenting a precise and thoughtfully planned represent

Main | Artist Unknown

This large antique glass-front breakfront cabinet, generously donated, serves as a display case for artworks and writings on the second level.

A framed black-and-white drawing shows two children seated beneath a large, spreading tree with textured bark and broad leaves. In the foreground, a young girl sits facing forward with a thoughtful expression while a younger child rests beside her, and open books lie on the ground. Behind them, shadowy silhouettes of other figures reach upward into the branches, creating a layered, symbolic scene that suggests themes of learning, community, and growth.

Main | Tyrone Geter

Featured here is the first charcoal illustration from The Little Tree Growin’ in the Shade by Camille Yarbrough. This collection was generously donated to Richland Library by the artist, Tyrone Peter.

Five small rectangular ceramic tiles in shades of teal and blue are mounted on a concrete wall, each featuring a raised, storybook-style scene in relief. The tiles depict animals and figures in domestic and woodland settings—such as creatures gathered around a table, rabbits beneath a tree, and animals walking along a bridge—rendered with detailed textures and framed borders. The glossy glaze and sculpted surfaces give the pieces a tactile, illustrative quality reminiscent of classic children’s tales.

Main | Artist Unknown

Tales on Tiles features ceramic tiles in various shades, each with a raised storybook scene in relief. The series of five tiles includes scenes from Alice in Wonderland, The Three Bears, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, Peter Rabbit, and The Shoemaker.

Two views show a freestanding door transformed into a graffiti-inspired art piece, painted on both sides with layered spray paint, stencil patterns, splatters, and graphic shapes. One side features bold pink and coral tones with teal, yellow, and blue accents, while the other blends softer greens, yellow, and gray with similar markings; a narrow vertical window and metal hardware remain visible, and the door stands upright on a wooden support in a modern indoor space.

Main | Cedric Umoja

Saved from our last renovation, these former library doors were transformed by Cedric Umoja into vibrant works of art. 


 

For more information, contact:

Ashley Warthen
Arts and Exhibitions Manager
803.929.3430
artful@richlandlibrary.com