At the first Greenville Family Symposium, we unveiled a sculpture (Family Gathering) that was commissioned by donors in celebration of the 10th anniversary of CU-IFNL and in honor of the volunteers and staff of STRONG COMMUNITIES for Children. This work by Guilloume, an award-winning Colombian American sculptor who lives and works near Santa Fe, New Mexico, echoes CU-IFNL’s theme of family in the context of community. The figures in Family Gathering inspired Debbie Bzdyl of Impacts Graphics in the design of the symposium logo.  The original casting of Family Gathering is on display in CU-IFNL’s offices at University Center of Greenville, the symposium venue.

Combining abstract and representational elements, Guilloume has a rare ability to communicate the personal meaning and social significance of relationships in the contexts of strong communities and strong families across the generations. Guilloume’s work uses distinctive Latin elements, but the themes, situations, emotions, and even physical forms are ones to which every person can relate, regardless of ethnicity, class, gender, or age.

Fourteen-inch copies of Family Gathering in a signed, limited edition — each sculpture individually created with unique patina and look — are available for sale.  The income will be used in CU-IFNL’s work at the Center for Community Services, a non-profit family resource center in Simpsonville, SC, just a few miles from the University Center.

The sculpture is available as a table sculpture or a relief sculpture. The special symposium price is $1500, inclusive of shipping cost. Autographed photographs of the sculpture — themselves works of art — are available for $95. To purchase copies or to seek further information, contact Lori Bailey (lbaile2@clemson.edu).