{"id":567848,"date":"2026-07-04T00:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/567848\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T00:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T00:55:20","slug":"north-charleston-artist-uses-tin-from-freedmans-cottage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/567848\/","title":{"rendered":"North Charleston artist uses tin from Freedman’s cottage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Close-up<\/p>\n

This particular tin roof has been in Williams’ possession for nearly a decade and has been featured in a few other solo exhibits, including his 2020 installation at the Aiken-Rhett House.<\/p>\n

Marino\/Provided<\/p>\n

NORTH CHARLESTON \u2014 Salvaged from Charleston’s sordid history, a new solo exhibit<\/a> looks to put the past on full display.<\/p>\n

Using scrapped parts of tin from a burnt Freedman’s cottage, local artist Fletcher Williams III<\/a> has shaped the rusted remains into decorated wall reliefs, including reflections of the U.S. flag. The works are part of\u00a0“250 Years From Mr. Freedman,” which will be on view at Storehouse 8 at Charleston Navy Yard, 2154 Noisette Blvd., North Charleston, from July 5-14.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Arts<\/p>\n

Support Community-Funded Arts & Culture Journalism:<\/strong> Arts and culture coverage at The Post and Courier is made possible by community support. The Arts & Culture Lab allows us to invest in meaningful reporting that highlights creativity, history and cultural expression across South Carolina. Your contribution helps ensure this work continues.
Please donate today at postandcourierfund.com\/donate.<\/a><\/p>\n

The particular tin roof incorporated has been in Williams’ possession for nearly a decade and has been featured in other solo exhibits, including his 2020 installation at the Aiken-Rhett House<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in 2017, in what he called his “early scavenger days,” Williams walked onto a property in downtown Charleston after noticing a pile of scrap wood and metal.<\/p>\n

“While I was poking around, the property owner walked up thinking I was the contractor he was supposed to meet,” the artist recalled. “We started talking and learned the pile of metal was the roof of a Freedman\u2019s cottage. By the end of the conversation, he offered me the entire roof. I guess he trusted I’d do something meaningful with it.”<\/p>\n

The North Charleston sculptor and installation artist often incorporates materials with cultural and regional significance into his works. In past exhibits housed at the International African American Museum and the Gibbes Museum of Art, Williams has used native sweetgrass and palmetto fronds and salvaged tin and steel from historic sites.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Mr.<\/p>\n

Experience Fletcher Williams III\u2019s “250 Years from Mr. Freedman” exhibition held at Storehouse 8, Navy Yard Charleston, 2154 Noisette Blvd., North Charleston.<\/p>\n

Marino\/Provided<\/p>\n

Freedman’s cottages were built in droves in the years following the Civil War and well into the early 20th century to meet Charleston’s growing demand for housing. Recently freed enslaved people, as well as working-class laborers, often lived in them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drawing upon Revolutionary-era history, Black loyalist narratives and Lowcountry folklore,\u00a0“250 Years From Mr. Freedman”\u00a0sets out to honor and chronicle a chapter of the Charleston experience in Revolutionary-era America.<\/p>\n

\"230918-Fletcher-Williams-Rains-Shines-227.jpg<\/p>\n

Fletcher Williams III’s \u201cWhen It Rains It Shines\u201d exhibit was on display at the International African American Museum in Charleston in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n

File\/Sully Sullivan\/Provided<\/p>\n

Each piece on display introduces audiences to “Mr. Freedman,” a figure whose life has spanned centuries and whose accounts move across Charleston and the American South.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Creating the fictional narrative around Mr. Freedman actually gave me the freedom to respond creatively to the material,” said Williams. “The roof told me all I needed to know. I just built the lore around it, weaving together bits of documented history, local traditions and personal experiences.”<\/p>\n

“250 Years From Mr. Freedman” can be viewed from noon to 5 p.m. Thursday-Sunday July 5-14. Admission is free.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This particular tin roof has been in Williams’ possession for nearly a decade and has been featured in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[242229,242227,365,362,363,364,366,18,117,242230,242231,242228,19,17,242226],"class_list":["post-567848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-250th-anniversary","tag-art-exhibits","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-fletcher-williams-iii","tag-freedman","tag-historic-art","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-north-charleston-arts"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116858986969587055","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}