Hamburg exhibit opens with Third Thursday in North Augusta

Samantha Winn, Aiken Standard, S.C.
·2 min read

Jul. 16—The history of Hamburg exhibit opened to the public Thursday, July 15, during the North Augusta's Third Thursday event.

On the downstairs level, artists showcased their talents with music, pottery and paintings.

Father and son musical duo Henry Wynn and Henry Wynn III played their guitar and violin for everyone to enjoy.

"All these people are kind of friends of mine, we're kind of like a family," Wynn said. "It's a wonderful event and a great facility."

Wynn also created paintings of historic North Augusta locations, from the Star of Edgefield to the Amber House.

"It's called a stipple point technical fountain pen, and each one takes a month or so to complete," Wynn said. "... I worked for the Department of Defense as a technical illustrator; and I'm retired, so this is what I do in my spare time."

Angelika Selman-Bondar, who is the artist of the month with the North Augusta Art Guild, is happy to be amongst friends showcasing art.

"I'm a multimedia artist," she explained. "I do mixed media pieces, ceramic pieces, more sculptural than functional and then I also do two dimensional pieces and prisma color drawings."

Upstairs, the story of the forgotten riverside town of Hamburg opened to the public with volunteer George Forbes showcasing his hard work to visitors.

"It's encouraging to see the number of people coming out," Forbes said. "This Third Thursday that North Augusta has and people are just antsy to get out. We are just so happy that they get a chance to come in, see the history, view the artwork downstairs, we have live artists and paintings and it's just been wonderful."

Forbes is happy to pass on the knowledge of Hamburg to the people in the area. He didn't know anything about Hamburg until researching two years ago.

"They are mostly surprised to find as much industry in Hamburg as there was and to get an appreciation of how important Hamburg was to this part of South Carolina, especially the merchants in Charleston that were depending on it for trade goods and the number of businesses that were in Hamburg that employed people," Forbes said.

Mary Ann Bigger of the North Augusta Arts and Heritage Center was happy with the night's turnout.

"We have been very pleased with tonight's turnout and the number of people that have come and viewed the artwork and also the Hamburg exhibit," Bigger said.

Samantha Winn covers the city of North Augusta, with a focus on government and community oriented business. Follow her on Twitter: @samanthamwinn and on Facebook and Instagram: @swinnnews.