Corrie McCallum, born in 1914, was an American artist and a native of Sumter, South Carolina. In 1932, she enrolled at the University of South Carolina, receiving a certificate in fine arts three years later. As a student, she chafed with the conservative cirriculum, which prohibited drawing from nude models. At the University, she also met her husband, the celebrated modernist William Halsey. He soon left for Boston to attend the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, after which she joined him upon earning a scholarship for two years of study. After the pair married, Halsey was awarded a fellowship to study abroad in Europe, though, due to World War II, the couple instead traveled to Mexico. Upon their return to the United States, the couple settled in Savannah, Georgia. Here, McCallum worked at the Telfair Academy. In 1945, she and Halsey returned to South Carolina, and McCallum worked as an instructor for youth art classes at the Gibbes Art Gallery until 1953, when she, along with Halsey and sculptor William Hirsch, established the Charleston Art School. Much of McCollum's work from the 1940s consists of compressed spaces and geometric shapes, bearing similarities to that of her husband. In the late 1950s, she developed a talent for printmaking, working mosty in woodblock and linoleum prints, as well as lithography and monotypes. Though Charleston initially served as her primary inspiration, McCollum's focus expanded thanks to her extensive travels to locations including Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, Morocco, Portugal, Cambodia, and Thailand. McCallum and Halsey collaborated on the 1971 publication of A Travel Sketchbook, which featured reproduced drawings from their journeys and placed their talents in conversation with one another. From 1959-1968, McCallum was Curator of Art Education at the Gibbes Art Gallery, often giving presentations at local schools, as art instruction was absent from the district's cirriculum. From 1971-1979, she taught in the studio art department at the College of Charleston. In 2003, McCallum received the South Carolina Governor's Award for the Arts.
