The Winthrop Women's Coalition will host a Women in the Arts panel discussion on
March 1 at 7 p.m. Audrey Flack, Shanola Hampton, Deborah Obalil and Cary Perkins will discuss their
careers and the arts industry. The event is free and open to the public.
ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA — An internationally recognized painter and sculptor, a
Hollywood actress, a leader in the national arts and culture industry, and an architect
with a passion for theatre and arts education will headline the latest Winthrop Women's Coalition event entitled "Women in the Arts: A Panel Discussion."
The March 1 event will be held at 7 p.m. in Dina's Place in the DiGiorgio Campus Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Winthrop First Lady Laura Mahony, founder of the coalition that was launched in March 2017, said that she is proud
to have such a diverse panel of women on campus to share their perspectives and insights
related to their careers in the arts. "We are excited to have these accomplished women,
who come from different art-related backgrounds, together to share their experiences,"
said Mahony. "The panelists will cover a variety of topics from their creative processes
to the underrepresentation of women in many arts-related fields. We also appreciate
these women working with our students through a variety of Master Classes during their
stay. We're grateful for the enthusiastic support that this event has received from
the Arts Council of York County and the Women's Art Initiative. We're excited to welcome these talented women to
Winthrop and to Rock Hill.
Panelists are:
Audrey Flack
Flack is an internationally recognized painter and sculptor and a pioneer of photorealism.
She became the first photorealist painter whose work was purchased by the Museum of
Modern Art for its permanent collection. Her work also resides in The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art
and the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Among her public commissions is "Monumental
Gateway" to the city of Rock Hill. "Monumental Gateway" consists of four, 20-foot
high bronze female figures on granite pedestals located at the intersection of Dave
Lyle Boulevard and Gateway Boulevard. She also has taught and lectured extensively,
and authored three books. Flack earned a graduate certificate in fine arts from the
Cooper Union and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Yale University. She lives and
works both in East Hampton and in New York City.
Shanola Hampton ˜98
Hampton stars as Veronica on the hit Showtime television show "Shameless," which is in its
eighth season. Born on Long Island, New York and raised in Summerville, South Carolina,
Hampton moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and worked for nine years on several shows, such
as "Miami Medical," "Criminal Minds," "Strong Medicine," "Stalker," "Related," "Scrubs"
and "Reba," and movies, including "You Again," "The Mostly Unfabulous Life of Ethan
Greene," "They Die By Dawn," "Things Never Said," "Christmas in the City" and "The
Hanged Man." Hampton earned her undergraduate degree in theatre from Winthrop in 1998
and received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Illinois.
Deborah Obalil
Obalil has more than 20 years' experience as a leader in the national arts and culture
industry, having led multiple highly acclaimed organizations and served as a well-regarded
management consultant to the field. She was appointed the executive director of the
Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) in June 2012 and as president of AICAD in fall 2015. She leads the organization
in achieving its mission of strengthening and connecting its members schools, thus
advancing art and design education. Prior to her appointment with AICAD, Obalil operated
a successful boutique arts management consulting firm. Obalil received a Bachelor
of Arts degree in history and dance from Illinois Wesleyan University and a certificate
from the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders — Arts at the Stanford University
Graduate School of Business. She lives in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
Cary Perkins
Perkins is a licensed architect and associate principal at McMillan Pazdan Smith in Greenville, South Carolina. Her art and personal involvement in theatre and arts
education has inspired her natural interest in the design of visual and performing
arts spaces. She has overseen the Christ Church Performing Arts Center and the Rosalind
S. Richardson Center for the Arts at Wofford College. She has taught architecture
and 3-D design as an adjunct instructor at the S.C. Governor's School for the Arts
and Humanities for the past decade, and is a founding member of the Women in Architecture
SC Upstate. Perkins received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art from Converse
College and a Master of Architecture degree from Clemson University.
Support for this project is provided by the Arts Council of York County Small Grants
Program, the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation
of SC, and the SC Arts Commission, which received funding from the National Endowment
for the Arts.
About the Winthrop Women's Coalition:
The Winthrop Women's Coalition was founded on the idea that women's strength is at
its best when women work together and that a relationship with the institution is
mutually beneficial: the institution fosters the individual to succeed and the individual
helps to support the institution. In the coalition, one will find a connection to
other women of diverse personal and professional backgrounds, and opportunities for
personal and professional enrichment while helping to contribute to the university's
mission and philanthropic needs.
To learn more about the coalition, please visit Winthrop Women's Coalition.
