The Greenville Center for Creative Arts will offer an “ARTalk” program on Friday, November 7, 2025. The talk corresponds to the current exhibit The Flood featuring work by Melissa Haviland. SC Humanities supported this programming with a Mini Grant.
Melissa Haviland’s The Flood draws on the long history of “bluing,” a process in which blue dyes were added to paper and textiles to counteract yellowing which improved perceived quality of the material. From 15th-century European paper made from worn rags to the more modern blue-tinted laundry brighteners, bluing has long suggested improvement, and value—even when it only disguised what may lay beneath. In The Flood, Haviland reimagines this history through the lens of climate disaster.
Melissa Haviland is a printmaking-based installation artist who lives and works in Athen, Ohio. Haviland’s works have shown in 30+ solo exhibitions over 20 years. Currently she is producing work for solo exhibitions at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum and the Greenville Center for Creative Arts. Haviland has received 4 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards (2009, 2015, 2019, 2025) since establishing herself in Ohio. Haviland has participated in artist residencies at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (2021), the Lloyd Library and Museum (2020), Kriti Gallery in Varanasi, India (2014), Ucross Foundation (2012), and Anderson Ranch Arts Center (2011). Haviland regularly receives internal project grants from Ohio University to fund her artmaking, research, and the fieldwork necessary to her practice. Her work is directly influenced by research and travels to archives, factories, mines, etc. in India, the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. She received her BFA from Illinois State University and MFA from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and currently serves as professor of printmaking and papermaking at Ohio University, where she also chairs the print area and directs study for the Honors Tutorial College Studio Art program.
The ARTalk program will offer a deeper look into the artist’s creative process, inspirations, and techniques. Attendees can ask questions, gain insights, and connect with the artists in a welcoming and interactive environment.
The Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) was established in 2015 by a dedicated group of artists, educators, and community leaders in response to the need for hands-on arts education in Greenville. Their vision is to be a recognized hub for accessible visual arts education and experiences through our work to energize and empower the arts community. Learn more: https://artcentergreenville.org/.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.