By: Meghan Daniel, contributing writer
Julie Woodson says that when she came to Wofford, she, like many other overwhelmed incoming freshmen, had no idea what she wanted to do. However, her foundational appreciation for art helped point her in the right direction. She recalls that she first remembers learning about the arts and art history during her elementary education at Stone Academy in Greenville, S.C. Her appreciation for art continued to flourish through her senior project in high school working at The Children’s Museum for the Upstate, also located in Greenville. Here, she performed weekly volunteer work that included researching exhibits and designing her own exhibit on Autocad, a design software thar allowed her to create a 3D model of an exhibit of her own invention.
During her senior year of high school, Woodson toured Wofford and met Dr. Karen Goodchild. Goodchild, professor and chair of the art and art history department, introduced Woodson to the Course Plus program, which included a community engagement component. Participants and leaders within the program met biweekly and discussed topics such as “How can art affect a community and work as a powerful tool for change?”
Woodson’s participation in the Course Plus program also introduced her to Dr. Youmi Efurd, the curator at Wofford whom Woodson worked for as an intern during her freshman year. Woodson says “the internship was focused on educational outreach programs” and provided opportunities for meetings with groups such as Lifelong Learners and the Boys and Girls Club to discuss and create art. This collaborative community engagement program is what introduced Woodson to the art history department and was a critical factor in her decision to declare a major in art history. Woodson also picked up a business minor and gender studies concentration along the way.
When asked how her art history major and gender studies concentration came together, Woodson explained that the concentration came naturally as a result of a year-long research project for her major. She illustrated how her research of Southern artist Julia Elizabeth Tolbert not only illuminated the artist’s “unique perspective as a very prolific artist” but also gave rise to her own feminist inclinations in response to the artist’s own expression of feminism. Woodson highlights and praises the artist’s novelty and defiance of cultural norms at a time when “Southern art was a new realm of scholarship” and women were “largely excluded in the art historical narrative.”
Woodson’s research ultimately evolved into an exhibition of the artist’s works, which is on display in the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts from through August 4, 2018. The exhibit displays Tolbert’s art “through a gendered lens.” Woodson says the exhibition will include a variety of pieces from Tolbert, who worked in areas ranging from jewelry to paintings. The exhibition will include paintings and a few of the artist’s sketches.
The exhibit of Tolbert’s work is a comprehensive presentation of Woodson’s research as an art history major with the gender studies concentration. As a senior whose graduation is quickly approaching, she plans on doing a year of service following commencement ceremonies in May. This year will consist of working with nonprofit and community agencies while living at a “progressive, creative boarding school” teaching art. She has sent in her application for this program and hopes to be located in either Albuquerque, N.M., Boston or New Orleans. Like Tolbert, Woodson aims to use education as a way of pursuing art in a professional manner.
