More Light By Doug McAbee

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Public Works Art Center

More Light By Doug McAbee

Doug McAbee | West Gallery: "More Light"

Opening Reception: July 17th from 5:30pm - 8:30pm

Artist install and live mural painting is open to viewing for the public July 15 & 16th

Artist Bio

Doug McAbee learned to weld at age 7. While his imagination was running wild, his father began teaching him practical construction methods with wood and steel. The sense of play and exploration he valued then is still with him as he creates whimsical and organic drawings and sculptures.

Doug earned his MFA at Winthrop University and works as Professor of Art at Lander University in Greenwood, SC. He lives out in the middle of nowhere with his family and their dogs and he creates drawings and sculptures when he’s not teaching.

Doug is interested in using humor, color, and narrative in his artwork. His father was a great storyteller and Doug is interested in the power of imagery and story in his visual communication with viewers. Doug creates indoor and outdoor murals, as well as indoor and outdoor sculptures and sometimes exhibits them together in immersive visual experiences in galleries.

He was also raised by wolves.

Artist Statement

Most people don’t realize that light is the reason humans are able to see. Various wavelengths of light bounce off of objects and enter our eyes, allowing us to see light, shadow, color and depth. That beautiful sunset? It’s just light bouncing off of dirt in the atmosphere. Without light, our experience of our immediate environment would be dark, cold and profoundly without what we consider to be beautiful.

Malcom X said, “We need more light about each other. Light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience, and patience

creates unity.” Waking up daily to a world that appears to be on fire and taking in a mass of upsetting news in heavy doses, it is easy to think that darkness is taking over. Light often feels increasingly difficult to find but it is the only way we’ll ever be able to see, to understand, to love and to really live.

The drawings and sculptures in this immersive exhibit are designed to bring you a moment of more light. The characters and entities here are learning to interact in ways that bring joy, community and light to one another. In offering a few moments of escape from the world outside, it is my hope that you find more light to take with you outside of the gallery.

More light, more understanding, more love, more patience and more unity.

This event runs from 17 July 2025 through 06 Sep 2025 from 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM.