Sasee Magazine

July 15 of this year, Patricia (Pat) Goodwin experienced two defining moments which affirmed all her efforts as director of the Myrtle Beach Art Museum since 2002. That Sunday morning, while glancing through the Charleston Post and Courier and savoring the last hours of her Folly Beach vacation, Pat saw these words in Dottie Ashley’s “Arts Around” column describing the current Jasper Johns exhibit: “While most think of Myrtle Beach as a place for swimming, shag dancing, and discount shopping, it is also becoming known as a place to savor fine art.” Whoa! Then a few hours later she stopped by the Surfside Piggly Wiggly to pick up post-vacation necessities, which she was loading into her car, when a shopper approached and offered to return her shopping cart to the store. As they chatted, the woman indicated that she recognized Pat but could not place how she knew her. When Pat identified herself, the woman suddenly hugged her and exclaimed, “Oh, I LOVE the art museum! My children love to go there so much. And I love you for making all this happen!”

Pat Goodwin would be the first person to clarify that she alone has not, and could not have, done “all this.” It has taken many years of dedication by a small but energetic group of local art lovers to achieve both regional recognition and community gratitude. Yet all would surely agree with both the Charleston newspaper and the local resident. In five short years, she has managed to bring in exhibits by nationally respected artists, and at the same time, draw the entire Strand community to events which celebrate its diverse and unique culture.

Springmaid Villa, which houses the gallery, is itself worthy of a novel. In the 1940s, Colonel Elliott Springs purchased the 1924 vintage Cabana section beach house from the Cannon family. The Springs family and Springmaid Industries executives enjoyed its use until 1975 when the decision was made to trade the property to the Cox Construction Company in exchange for a new home farther down the beach. Fearing the historically significant building would meet the same fate as the Ocean Forest Hotel, local artist Gaye Fisher, president of the Waccamaw Arts and Crafts Guild, led the charge to preserve this jewel of period architecture and resurrect it as an art museum. Through her hard work and much community support, in 1984 the Villa was loaded on a flatbed truck and moved to its present site at Springmaid Beach to await its new destiny. In 1996 the Burroughs and Chapin Company donated title to the land on which the building sits, and in grateful appreciation, Springmaid Villa Art Museum was re-named to honor the company’s founding fathers, Franklin G. Burroughs and Simeon B. Chapin. After 13 years of fundraising, planning, and renovating, the museum proudly opened its doors in June of 1997. The two-story front section is the original home with ten named galleries and a wing added in the rear to house the museum’s administration section and gift shop. Yet the struggles were not over for this hearty band of art lovers and preservationists. All their efforts seemed doomed by a hefty mortgage and maintenance bills, plus the costs of bringing in new exhibits and paying salaries for the minimal staff. Another group might have shuttered the building and quit, but not this stalwart crew who went to the Myrtle Beach community to seek support and, miraculously, found it. In 2000 the courageous and charming Lineta Pritchard went before the Myrtle Beach City Council which unanimously agreed to buy the building and pay off the very large mortgage. This was huge! Finally, the Myrtle Beach Art Museum was up and running. All it needed now was a dynamic director to lead it in exciting new directions. If the Muses were there for inspiration, surely the Fates were gently but persistently guiding Pat Goodwin this way.

A native of Philadelphia, Patricia Winstead Goodwin grew up visiting the great museums and walking the historic streets of this famous city. Pat’s very favorite museum was the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, where at age 12 she declared she was going to work when she grew up. To no one’s surprise, Pat did just that after spending a number of years as co-owner of an independent film company after college. Pat began as head of the museum’s membership department but was quickly promoted to Director for Special Events and Community Relations, a position that proved to be both exciting and exhausting. During the next eight years Pat hosted a Democratic Presidential Debate and worked with hundreds of groups using the museum’s facilities, including hosting events for Margaret Thatcher, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Dalai Lama. Then in the mid 1990s, during a serendipitous time in her personal life, Pat moved to Charleston where she became director of the Center for Women, an advocacy organization, after considering positions with the Gibbes Museum and the Historic Charleston Foundation. By 2001 she was again ready for a change and considering an offer to return to Philadelphia. Then 9/11 struck, and for the first time in her life, Pat wasn’t sure what to do. At that very moment the telephone rang. It was Lineta Pritchard in Myrtle Beach calling to ask if she might be interested in driving up to Myrtle Beach to see what they had to offer.

Pat says that as soon as she saw Springmaid Villa, a tiny voice inside her said, “This is it.” She loved everything about the old building and the hard-working, enthusiastic art advocates surrounding her. They gave her carte blanche to reach out to the community, to educate and celebrate using art. After six months of commuting between Charleston and Myrtle Beach, Pat came on board full-time in 2002. Her first full year at the museum was momentous indeed. In January, the museum’s first Family Day celebrating the Chinese New Year welcomed over 400 participants. Then, the Board of Trustees bravely voted to do away with admission fees, making the museum free and open to all. And biggest of all, 2003 brought the world-famous Jonathan Green exhibit, so exciting that the pilings of the grand old building may still be rattling. In just one year the Myrtle Beach Museum had grown in both breadth and depth to levels beyond anyone’s dreams – except perhaps those early visionaries and Pat herself.

In the five years since then the museum has continued to thrive in both the quality of its exhibits and ever-widening community participation through events such as the Gullah Culture and Dia de Los Muertos Mexican celebrations, as well as exhibitions by the legendary Charleston blacksmith, Phillip Simmons, and the hugely popular Myrtle Beach Collects, along with exhibits by nationally prominent artists Ansel Adams, John Audubon, Jasper Johns, the memorable Last Album Auschwitz display and the delightful inter-active Thacher Hurd’s children’s exhibit. Museum Board member, Jim Watson, points out that it has also become a popular tourist stop with repeat-visitors from all 50 states and several countries.

Museum docent and retired art history professor, Bobbie Lawson, points out Pat Goodwin’s unique abilities as both a business manager and a museum director: “So often a museum director is good at one of these, but rarely do you find one who can do both so well.” One of the greatest challenges is funding. Because of its name, many assume affiliation with the Burroughs and Chapin Company, but the museum is totally independent and each year must fund all projects through events like the Tour of Homes, galas and the Bag Ladies Luncheon, along with membership contributions, proceeds from the museum gift shop and grant funding. Pat has high praise for the community support the group has received, especially the town of Myrtle Beach for its care and maintenance of the museum building.

What’s next? Pat enthusiastically shares her plans for more educational symposia like the 2006 one on Confederate money, new ways to work with CCU and other like-minded groups and a brand new 2008 Jonathan Green exhibit which will include both his works and pieces from his personal art collection. And there’s so much more, including a mandala (sand painting) this October by Tibetan monks placing one grain of sand at a time!

Readers who’ve assumed this pretty little building by the ocean houses only driftwood carvings and painted shells, come see for yourselves. Located at 3100 South Ocean Blvd. adjacent to Springmaid Resort, the museum is open Tuesday-Saturdays from 10 am - 4 pm and Sundays from 1 - 4 pm.