When we first saw the work of Ginny Merritt years ago at a Contemporaries exhibition at the CMA, we knew she had something special. That’s why Jasper awarded her the Best in Show prize (2018) and wrote a feature on her in the next issue of Jasper Magazine. In the years since, it’s been such a trip to watch this retired art educator pour herself into her own art, after decades of nurturing the art in her students, and grow and grow and grow.

That’s why we’re excited to welcome Merritt back to the Jasper Nook Gallery at the Koger Center this Thursday night from 5:30 - 7pm.

And we’re even more excited to invite you to her opening reception which will coincide with the Closing Reception for the Koger Center’s beautiful exhibition of the late Laura Spong’s work, as well as their Opening Reception for The Koger Center Project Winners’ Exhibition – all three happening at the same time!

About Ginny Merritt

Ginny Merritt was raised in Denver and settled in South Carolina in 1987. She graduated from the University of Georgie and has two master’s degrees from USC. She studied art education and taught art in public schools for 30 years, also teaching as an adjunct instructor at USC.

Her work is centered on mixed media collages inspired by the stylish women from her grandmother’s day which she recreates using vintage and contemporary papers. She has mounted exhibitions of her work all over town as well as in Charleston, Lake City, Augusta, Brooklyn, NY, and a solo show at the Etherredge Center Gallery at USC Aiken, SC. Merrett published her book Tall Women in 2024, which offered a collection of ekphrastic poetry based on her art.

About Laura Spong

Laura Spong (1926-2018) is remembered as one of SC’s leading Abstract Expressionist artists. Originally from Nashville, where she graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University, Spong took her first drawing classes in 1948 before moving to Columbia, SC and studying under Gil Petroff among others. Spong was a favorite of the late Wim Roefs and Eileen Waddell of the former If Art Gallery, Waddell wrote of the artist, “Laura was a genteel Southern woman with a Tennessee accent whose ‘Coming Out’ party as an artist was on her 80th birthday.” Spong died at the age of 92, painting until the end of her days.

About the Koger Center Project Winners’ Exhibition

The Koger Center Project Winners’ Exhibition is a group exhibition in the Gallery at the Koger Center. The exhibit features the winning artists from their 2025 call for art sponsored by the Koger Center: Kate Timbes, Lori Isom, Anna Schumann Byars, Colleen Cannon-Karlos, Max Hardy, and Wilma King.

This opening reception coincides with Third Thursday Art Night featuring Ginny Merett.

About the Winners

Kate Timbes (1st Place) is a South Carolina based interdisciplinary artist whose work investigates the narrative and functions of materiality. Working primarily in painting, video, and sculpture, she weaves mediums together, carrying objects, paintings, seeds, weavings, and sculptural handmade paper through physical, emotional, and digital landscapes. Timbes contemplates sourcing of resources, rethinking use as an individual effort to engage in a curious ecological practice. Timbes has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, with recent exhibitions at the Richardson Family Art Gallery, Greenville-Spartanburg Airport, the Spartanburg Public Library, and the DIS Student Hub in Copenhagen, Denmark. In addition to her studio practice, Timbes teaches papermaking workshops that have been supported by the Tri-State Sculptors Association and Wofford College. Timbes received her BA in Studio Art from Wofford College in 2023. (Read more about Kate Timbes in the current issue of Jasper Magazine, on newsstands now.)

Lori Isom (2nd Place) Artist Statement: It is fair to say that my life has been quite varied as an artist, and all around creative person. Years of my life were dedicated to working as a professional dancer, singer and actress in New York and Los Angeles, and I’ve had several interesting and fun entrepreneurial pursuits along the way, including owning and operating my own baking business! I am predominantly a self-taught artist, however, I studied illustration in high school, and later fine art and fashion design at Parsons School of Design. I would say that I walk the line between illustrator and fine artist. While I work to tell a story with my art, I also produce paintings that primarily express a particular emotion. Artists like Mary Cassatt, Andrew Wyeth, and John Singer Sargent were ones who greatly influenced my work early on. I suppose that’s how I came to love capturing people.

Anna Byars (Honorable Mention) is an artist based in Columbia, South Carolina. Anna grew up in Lexington, South Carolina, and received a BA in Studio Art and Art History at the College of Charleston. Her work has been shown in exhibitions at the Southern Graphics Conference, Sawtooth Visual Arts Gallery, and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. Anna primarily focuses in printmaking and is currently exploring the idea of transcendence within her work.

Colleen Cannon-Karlos (Honorable Mention) was born in Los Angeles, raised in New York City, and currently resides in Columbia, SC after living in Hawaii for 20 years. Over the years she has worked in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, photography and ceramics. Conceptually her work is based on quantum physics and ancient metaphysics exploring the illusive abstract nature of reality. Inspiration for her work includes indigenous African, Native American, Asian and Polynesian art forms. (Read more about Colleen Cannon-Karlos in the current issue of Jasper Magazine, on newsstands now.)

Max Hardy (Honorable Mention) Artist Statement: I’ve always loved to draw and paint and make things and have done so since I can remember. When I was in high school I took a few art classes but other than that I’m self- taught. Lately my paintings have been sculptural and deal with illusion in some way. My process is quite slow with visual art; I only produce a handful of pieces a year.

Wilma King (Honorable Mention) endeavors to combine her experiences of living in 11 states (including Alaska) with her educational background into a visual storytelling collaboration through her painting. Her pursuit and passion goes beyond a daily practice of technique and development. She believes that universality — seeking common ground — is what makes art purposeful. She taught public relations, communication studies, advertising design, publication design, and photography for more than 30 years in American universities in Kentucky, Tennessee, New York, Virginia, Texas, and South Carolina, and taught Study abroad courses in Italy several years. She was an associate professor of Public Relations at both Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green, KY) and Rochester Institute of Technology (Henrietta, NY), and served on faculty at Benedict College (Columbia, SC), where she wrote the curriculum for, and taught the first courses in the college’s now defunct commercial art program; O’More College of Design (Franklin, TN); Texas Southern University (Houston, TX); The Art Institute of Houston (Houston, TX). (Read more about Wilma King in the Fall 2022 issue of Jasper Magazine.)