The
Fact Book 1998 Cover
Sand Spits, Low Tide, 1980
June McCoy Ball, 1939-
Oil on canvas
Georgia Museum of Art, The University of Georgia
GMOA 96.104
June McCoy Ball was reared in Nashville, Tennessee, and
presently lives in Athens, Georgia. Educated at Wellesley
College and the University of Georgia, Ball is a landscape and
seascape artist who works primarily in oil on canvas. Her
paintings are personal interpretations more than realistic
portrayals and arise from feelings about certain contexts and
times as well as from her deep love of color. Ball is widely
exhibited on the East Coast, and her paintings are a part of
many institutional, corporate, and government collections.
Sand Spits, Low Tide was one of the first in a series
of paintings of the Georgia coast, and the painting’s
history is mingled with that of the National Sea Grant Program
established by Congress in 1966. This program encouraged the
development, use, and conservation of marine and Great Lakes
resources by tapping expertise in university centers in
coastal states. The State of Georgia entered the program in
1971, and in 1980 the University of Georgia was awarded Sea
Grant College status in honor of almost a decade of sustained
excellence in marine research, advisory service, and
education.
During the fall of 1978, Ball applied for a grant to
produce a collection of paintings that would explore and
celebrate Georgia’s coast across changing seasons. As a
result, The Art Project of the Georgia Sea Grant College was
initiated in 1980. Sand Spits, Low Tide was one of the
first in this Sea Grant Series, which now contains works by
eleven artists.
Selected artists were invited to participate in the Project
and produce a body of artworks to focus the attention of
Georgia’s large inland population on the state’s coastal
and marine resources. The artists worked in the coastal
environment with marine scientists to gather background
material for their work. As Ball explained, "I tried very
hard when I was painting on the coast to capture a particular
island at a particular season, and I hope someone will get the
feel of being on Sapelo, for instance, in February when the
wind’s blowing."
Ball’s hope was that these paintings would document,
interpret, and educate, as well as provide aesthetic
enjoyment, and that public recognition of the fragile beauty
of Georgia’s coast would translate into action to protect
and preserve it.