UPSTATE — A reception for “The Many Faces of Abstract,” a solo show featuring South Carolina contemporary artist Debbie Bzdyl, of Pendleton, will take place on Monday, Aug. 26 from 5-7 p.m. at Presbyterian College.

The Bailey Art Gallery Exhibition and Reception event will be held in the Mary Bailey Vance Suitt Rotunda in Neville Hall. The reception and the exhibit from Aug. 26 to Nov. 21 are both open to the public.

“I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember,” Bzdyl (pronounced “BIZ-dul”) said. “Mom once laughed and said, ‘Debbie was born with a box of crayons in her hand.’”

Bzdyl studied graphic design in college and enjoyed a 30-year career in the field. From 1983 until 1991, she worked as a graphic designer for several different organizations. She began her own business in 1992, one that continued until she retired in 2013.

Since her return to fine art, Bydyl has been accepted into many juried shows, has won several awards and has had paintings in several public and private collections throughout the country.

“When I started painting again, I went back to what I knew: painting in a realistic style,” Bzdyl said.

Bzdyl started moving more toward impressionism and abstract art nearly a year later.

“I especially enjoy abstract because it allows me to give form to the intangible and to express realities beyond what we can observe in everyday life,” she said. “The beauty of our magnificent and mysterious universe is especially appealing to me – its morphing, evolving, ever-changing dance of becoming.”

This approach led Bzdyl to create her “Cosmic Dance” series. Her latest series, “Early Earth,” pays homage to the wonder and power of how our earth came to be, according to Bzdyl.

“Whether it’s the mystery of the cosmos or our own private journey through life as we grow, change, and redefine ourselves — that is what touches my soul and keeps me coming back to the canvas,” she said.

“Robert Henri, an American painter and teacher in the early 1900s, said we all have a song inside us, and it is the responsibility of artists to be true to ourselves and sing with all our hearts.

“It is my hope that the song I sing through my art inspires those who see it and allows them to experience the world in new and beautiful ways,” she said.

“I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember,” Debbie Bzdyl of Pendleton, said. “Mom once laughed and said, ‘Debbie was born with a box of crayons in her hand.’”
https://www.sentinelprogress.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/web1_artist1.jpg“I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember,” Debbie Bzdyl of Pendleton, said. “Mom once laughed and said, ‘Debbie was born with a box of crayons in her hand.’” Courtesy photo

By Kasie Strickland

kstrickland@cmpapers.com

Reach Kasie Strickland at 864-855-0355.