Seventeen years ago, Greenville artist Fleming Markel first found inspiration for her exhibit “Pent Up Pink” when her granddaughter was born.

Markel’s 12-piece collection will be on display at Greenville Center for Creative Arts beginning Dec. 1.

Exploring myths

Before creating her exhibit’s pieces, Markel also found inspiration from everyday life in the South and explored “defining prescriptions” that girls and women in the region have learned from birth.

For each “Pent Up Pink” piece, Markel established an 18-by-18-by-69-inch box — either an implied one or a structure built by a fabricator. She used everyday items that fascinated her to fill or build the piece, including boxes of dolls in the “Whatsherface” piece, or old linens and crystal Markel’s mother used for her bridge club in the “Tuesday Afternoon” art.

“I think that many of our culture’s prescriptive myths are perpetuated by marketing, advertising and packaging,” Markel said. “Sometimes ideas like ‘Barbie’s Burka’ begin as objects I want to see. Their political and/or cultural message does not really occur to me initially but makes its presence known through the repetitive, thus meditative, tasks required to realize the piece.”

Building the exhibit

As a mother of two boys, Markel says “Pent Up Pink” is an autobiographical exhibit, exploring the characteristics and traits of one woman, whether it is the peach pits representing her eggs from her premenopausal years in “Eggstra” or a piece reflecting on culture’s expectations about what women wear, as found in “Barbie’s Burka.”

“My work speaks of menopause, family issues, family dying (and) grandchildren,” Markel said.

“Pent Up Pink” will run from Dec. 1 to Jan. 24, 2024, at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts. The museum will also host an opening reception Dec. 1 from 6 to 9 p.m.

For more information, visit artcentergreenville.org.

Places ‘Pent Up Pink’ pieces have been shown:

• Spartanburg Art Museum
• Anderson University
• South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities
• York County Arts Council
• Upstairs Artspace in Tryon, North Carolina
• Curtis R. Harley Art Gallery at USC Upstate