About Gibbes, etc.

Gibbes, etc. is a group of Kiawah Island women dedicated to supporting the Gibbes Museum of Art. Members gather monthly to enjoy a variety of programs and speakers that range from medical research to current artists. The organization hosts two fundraisers a year: A Member Mingle involves dinners in private Kiawah homes and the Annual Art and House Tour held in the spring. Both of these events are held for the benefit of the museum.

Gibbes, etc. was founded in January 2001 by Ellen Walkley, Ruth Baker, Ann Trees and Cathy Marino, all experienced volunteers in the Charleston community. They saw a need for a cohesive volunteer organization to involve the women of Kiawah Island. Ellen Walkley was a board member of the Gibbes Art Museum (Carolina Art Association) and felt that Kiawah women could greatly enhance the museum by forming their own auxiliary and enjoy volunteer work and programs without leaving the island.

Since its inception and through the annual tour of Kiawah homes, Gibbes, etc. has presented the Gibbes Art Museum with approximately $515,000 to help fund traveling exhibitions and art education projects in the community. In 2007, Gibbes, etc. helped to sponsor "Rodin in His Own Words", an exhibit featuring bronzes and other works by Rodin; Photographs and Text Works by the Artist, Lorna Simpson; and an Exhibit of Color Photography from 1961-2005 by William Christianberry. Gibbes, etc. also supported "Art to go on John's Island", an outreach art eduction program taught by instructors from the Gibbes School of Art.

In 2005, Gibbes, etc., together with Merrill Lynch, sponsored Passion for Drawing: Poussin to Cézanne, a private collection of 100 works of French art from 1615 to 1900. In 2004, Gibbes, etc. sponsored Myths and Metaphors: The Art of Leo Twiggs as well as the first South Carolina exhibition of William Dunlap’s incredible and striking Panorama of the American Landscape, a fourteen paneled one hundred and twelve foot long cycle of paintings which debuted at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC before coming to the Gibbes Museum. It sponsored The Human Comedy: Portraits by Red Grooms in 2003 and Ansel Adams: A Celebration in 2002.

Officers of Gibbes, etc. are: President Ellen Walkley, Vice President Suzy Williams, Secretary Kathleen Parramore, Treasurer Diane Allen, Events Chairman Lee Anne Taylor, and Museum Liaison Ruth Baker.

Chairpersons for the 2008 Kiawah Art and House Tour are: Kathleen Kobel and Jeannie Dolson.