'Growing your own house' exhibit opens at the Halsey on Friday

The next installation at the College of Charleston art institute opens this Friday, October 19, with a 1970s vision on an all-organic home that exists in perfect harmony with nature.

About the exhibit: 

Pulse Dome Project: Art & Design by Don ZanFagna is curated by Mark Sloan, director and senior curator at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston School of the Arts. The exhibition presents a series of paintings, drawings, sketchbooks, and 3-D models by Don ZanFagna that explicate the futuristic concept of "growing your own house." Conceived in the 1970s, the artist imagined a home created, constructed, and maintained by all-organic processes and in perfect harmony with nature.

Don ZanFagna is an artist, architect, and designer whose lifework both defies established categories and challenges rote notions of the role of the artist in society. Now in his eighties, ZanFagna retired near Charleston, South Carolina. His family has uncovered a vast trove of writings, drawings, photographs, artworks, collages, models, and ephemera that the artist amassed over his long work life, much of which will be seen for the first time in this exhibition.

The opening reception at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art runs from 5 to 7 p.m. with free admission.

There will also be live music by Illuminations Trio, featuring multi-instramentalists musicians Ron Wiltrout, Bill Carson and Sam Sfirri along with snacks and drinks from Whole Foods.

You can read more about the exhibit on the Halsey's webpage.

The installation will remain on display through December 8, and will offer more events around it:

  • Panel Discussion: Wednesday, November 7, 6pm, Free Admission
    The Pulse of Charleston panel discussion will feature local architects and preservationists, including Mark Sloan, Winslow Hastie and Whitney Powers. How are Don ZanFagna's theories reflected in Charleston? One can argue that historic buildings and their preservation embodies the concepts that he was trying to promote - perhaps in surprising ways. Reception to follow.
  • Symposium: Saturday, December 8, 2 - 6pm, Free Admission
    Bio-Logical Architecture: Past, Present, and Future: Symposium with William Katavalos, Linda Weintraub and Mark Sloan in the Recital Hall, Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Phillip Street. Reception to follow in the Halsey Institute galleries.
  • Unveiling of Clemson Architecture Center in Charleston's semester-long design and build project: Saturday, December 8, 7pm, Marion Square, Free Admission