Benson Campus Galleries | Greenville Technical College

Belonging: works by Haley Floyd and Elizabeth Snipes
Now on exhibit through October 22, 2026

Artist Talks for Belonging
Monday, October 5, 2:00 pm & Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 pm
Benson Campus Galleries, Public Welcome

Haley Floyd and Elizabeth Snipes parse the basic human need to belong, not as a state of stasis but as an ever-evolving process in their current exhibition, Belonging. According to the duo, “The exhibition itself emerged as a shared inquiry between the two of us as friends, creative partners, and fellow educators. As the show developed, we created many more questions than answers…” Both artists use figurative imagery to contemplate how they belong to their time, geography, families, and histories.

Both Floyd and Snipes were raised in the South Carolina Upstate and have chosen to remain here, near family. That choice underscores their individual sense of belonging. Snipes’ paintings usually gather figures into intimate proximity implying the warmth and joy of a space filled with family and friends. Floyd photographs the nearby natural landscape and her family to gather these images with objects to build installations. They explain, “As artists and educators, we often contemplate the nature of belonging as we make our art and navigate our lives. We consider how we belong to ourselves, to others, to places, to our present, past, and to a hopeful future. This desire to belong is beautifully human. This exhibition is a site where our works can share space, where they can belong together as they also get to belong to the imaginations of the viewers in this present community, if only for a period. “Belonging” is an expression of our desire to be in fellowship more deeply with each other and with the academic and cultural communities around us. “

Haley Floyd currently works as a Visual Arts Instructor at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. She is a multi-disciplinary studio artist, holding a Master of Fine Arts from Clemson University in Photography. www.haleyfloyd.com

Elizabeth Snipes is a contemporary painter and currently a Professor of Art at Lander University. Her approach to painting is tactile, direct, experiential, and responsive. She exhibits regionally and nationally in commercial fine art and academic gallery spaces. Snipes is an alumna of Furman University (BA), Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy (Post Baccalaureate), and Clemson University (MFA). www.elizabethsnipes.com and @studio.snipes.art