The Florence County Museum is pleased to announce South Carolina contemporary artist Hollis Brown Thornton as the juror for 2018 Pee Dee Regional Art Competition, sponsored by Chick-fil-A.

Thornton is a professional artist and native of Aiken, South Carolina. He received his BFA from the University of South Carolina, and has been working professionally since 2000. His work has been exhibited in France, Germany and Japan, and has appeared in Elle magazine and The New Yorker.

Mr. Thornton became Gallery Director at Mongerson Gallery in Chicago in 2001 where he also worked for two years as an art preparator. Returning to South Carolina in August 2005, Thornton and his wife opened the clothing boutique Threads, in downtown Aiken.

His recent large scale drawings often examine the malleable nature of memory in both personal experience and popular culture. Thornton’s colorful compositions are carefully rendered to a near photo-realistic effect, at times using only permanent marker, a medium which alludes to the concepts at play beyond the artworks’ surfaces.

When asked about his approach to making art, he says, “Everything I do works with the balance between precision and the inherent limitations of making something by hand.”

Artists may enter online at the Florence County Museum’s website www.flocomuseum.org. Digital submissions for the 2018 Pee Dee Regional Art Competition will be accepted until 10 pm, Friday, November 3. Any artist native to the Pee Dee area or currently living in Florence, Horry, Chesterfield, Darlington, Dillon, Georgetown, Kershaw, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Sumter, and Williamsburg counties are eligible.

Questions about the competition and exhibition schedule, online registration, or details about this year’s prospectus and entry requirements may be directed to Florence County Museum, 843.676.1200.