The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 47

COLUMBIA SOUTH CAROLINA LIFE STARTS SUNDAY JULY 9 2006 SECTION Virginia Scotchie poses in her USC studio with pieces of what will become Spheres of an installation for the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan This will be the art professor's largest commissioned piece to date FIRED UP WHEN VIRGINIA SCOTCHIE SET UP SHOP outside the USC art building and poured wet sloppy plaster for her latest large-scale sculpture the eariy spring weather was biting Now in the heat of the summer Scotchie has 10 kilns burning almost nonstop firing the 100 or so ceramic balls that will make up the work By the time Spheres of is installed on the grounds of the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum in Taiwan the-Ieaves will be changing colors Scotchie has created installations in various loca USC ceramicist juggles crafting toting and glaring a massive work then shipping it halfway around the world ter glazed blue ochre purple orange yellow and green placed in and around an artificial pond The encounter first with Taiwan the small island nation founded in 1949 by Chiang anti-Communist Nationalist Chinese fighters In 2003 Scotchie was a visiting artist at Tainan National University for the Arts Last year her art was exhibited at the Yingge Ceramics Museum which documents the ceramic history of the region With 23 million residents Taiwan has a population density of more than 1600 people per square mile "There are so many people a crazy Scotchie said "It makes New York look like the county" Things are nearly as crazed in the university ceramics studio which has been christened ball by Scotchie and her assistants Bradford Davis and Beth Gass undergraduate art students A grid in the ceramics studio charts how many of the various-sized spheres are needed and in what colors solid or with holes and how many are finished Scotchie mixed about 25 glazes test firing them on small clay balls before settling on the seven final colors Because of their size the pieces must be sprayed with glaze rather than dipped tions and shown her art around the world but this effort is the biggest and most complicated Along with the magnitude of the artwork the distance language barrier and shipping arrangements have made the undertaking huge done commissions before but never on the other side of the said Scotchie an art professor at USC since 1991 been intense There are nights I wake up dunking am I going to do In February Scotchie traveled to Taiwan to make her proposal for the sculpture facing off against four other finalists all Asian for the $75000 commission "Floating Spheres of will consist of 100 ceramic spheres between 17 and 30 inches in diame- SEE SCOTCHIE PAGE E2 PHOTOGRAPHS BY KIM KIM FOSTER-TOBIN kkfosterthestatecom STORY BY JEFFREY DAY jdaythestatecom HARD ROCK PARK Proposed Hard Rock theme parkflB Rock roll gets a new place to play rock roll is the musk of dreamers so why we dream? GUITAR SHOP Hard trademark is the electric guitar When in one of the cafes surrounded by photos and souvenirs haven't yuu ever wanted to shred on a guitar? Hard Rock Park could have us lined up and willing to pay to make some noise JAMES BROWN ROLLERCOASTER The legend who famously said know karate but I know has had an up-and-down roller Cafes think of it like this: Unlike the cafe where you eat yuur meal and go you can stay all day at the Hard Rock Park More than 140 acres on the lot known as Fantasy Harbor will be used for the park which will feature six custom-designed zones more than 40 rides and attractions and of course restaurants A 15000-seat outdoor amphitheater will be the main attraction tor real rock fans It could turn Myrtle Beach into a rock roll destination Few details of the Hard Rock Park's rides and attractions besides the promise of music memorabilia have been announced so we put together some filings like to do there It probably happen but hey By OTIS TAYLOR JR otoyiorthMtatccom A NEW ERA IN HARD ROCK begins in Myrtle Beach Thursday Jl The first Hard Rock Park will be built cm die site of the Waocamaw Factory Shoppes where US 501 and the Intracoastal Waterway intersect Hard Rock International which owns 121 Hard Rock Cafes and 11 hotels and casinos announced the first-of-its-kind theme park in March The project's groundbreaking ceremony is this week The nearly $400 million park to be completed in spring 2008 will be a Carawinds or Six Flags for rock roll fans If you like eating at Hard Rock SEE PARK PAGE E4 tfOUNSmCSWE ARDS AHEAD £3 BOOKS E5 1 WEDDINGS E7 TRAyEL 1 4 WWWTpESTATECOM.