Quietly residing within the new United Community headquarters at 200 E. Camperdown Way is a remarkable art gallery.
The collection is mostly made up of works from Southern artists. The majority are from artists from South Carolina: Philip Mullen, Jeanet Dreskin and architect Robert Mills, to name just a few.
The art is displayed throughout the building but only the lobby is accessible to the public.
United Community acquired Palmetto Bank in 2015, the latter of which was over 100 years old. The bank’s last CEO, Leon Patterson, collected a majority of the works over the span of decades. For Lynn Harton, United Community’s CEO, and his wife, Flavia, it was a perfect marriage of interests. Flavia is on the South Carolina Arts Commission Board.
“The bank has a foundation that supports different things in the community,” she explained. “One of the pillars of the foundation is artistic expression, because (the foundation believes) the arts makes such a big impact in the community.”
On May 9, Flavia Harton gave a tour of the bank and its works to David Platts, the Arts Commission executive director, and Deputy Director Ce Scott-Fitz.
Related: Photos and video of United Community tour and ribbon cutting
The works are displayed throughout the facility on multiple floors. Flavia Harton curated the artwork’s placement in collaboration with the building’s architects, McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture. As a trained interior designer, she thought about wallpapers and wall colors that were neutral to showcase the artwork.
“We at the South Carolina Arts Commission are really about promoting equitable access to the arts,” Platts said, “and this is a lovely example of a public space where anybody can walk into and see this art.”