Limestone Gallery To Host Closing Reception For Al Clary Exhibit On February 25

The Limestone University Gallery, located on campus inside the Hines & Riggins Center, is now featuring the art of an alum and beloved community member, the late William Alvin “Al” Clary, Jr.

The retrospective exhibit celebrates Clary’s love of abstraction, his sense of personal reflection in his work, and his place in the Gaffney and Limestone communities.

A closing reception for the exhibit will be held on Friday, Feb. 25, at 6 p.m., and the public is invited to attend. Light refreshments will be served. The exhibit will officially conclude on Tuesday, March 1.

“The reception will also serve as a celebration of Al’s life and as a reunion for his classmates,” said Limestone Gallery Director Emily Tuttle. “It will be a time to toast to the power of art and healing. We invite the entire community to come out and admire his work and to celebrate what he meant to Limestone and Cherokee County, while we also bring together his classmates, family, and friends who cherish his memory.”

Clary was a native of Gaffney, and after serving with the United States Army during the Vietnam War, used his GI Bill to attend what was then known as Limestone College – where he quickly developed a love of art. Through his passion for art, he was able to transform it into a means of escaping the trauma of what he had experience while fighting for his country.

While at Limestone, he used art to reflect on his military duty, his childhood in the Upstate of South Carolina, and the sunny outlook he wished to pursue as he made plans with the love of his life.

Clary, who was residing in Inman at the time, died in October of 2020 at the age of 72. His wife, Dr. Jane Hellon Hyder Clary, donated his works to Limestone so that it could be showcased at his alma mater and in his local community. She is also in the process of establishing an endowed art scholarship in his name.