Art a Family Legacy for New Arts Center Director

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Pablo Picasso is reported to have said: “"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." If that is accurate, the family legacy of the new executive director of the Anderson Arts Center has done their part to chase the dust away.

Erin Spainhour - daughter of Alex Spainhour, an influential art educator who led the Greater Anderson Musical Arts Consortium, and art educator Ellen Spainhour who taught at Westside High School - cannot remember a time when her life was not immersed in the arts.

Growing up, she learned viola (which she continues to play), sang in the GMAC youth chorus and acted in local theater. After earning a degree in visual arts from Lander University, she moved to Seattle where she worked as a greeting card designer.

When she returned to Anderson three years later to be closer to family, she worked as a designer on the Arts Center’s famous “Fish Out of Water” project, before moving on to Bernhardt House of Violins in Greenville.

She continued her work with the Arts Center, teaching afterschool art classes and summer art camps as well as contributing freelance design. She returned to work as marketing director of the Arts Center in 2022 and became interim director in early 2024.

As executive director, she hopes to expand the center’s involvement in public art with both the City of Anderson and Anderson County.