Each year since 2011, Jasper has taken the opportunity to highlight some of the artists from our community who have had particularly good years.

We do this by asking you, our readers and patrons, to nominate potential candidates and let us know what made their years so good. Then we take all the info you share with us to a panel of experts and ask them to select the top three candidates in each discipline as our finalists.

Check out the

2019 Jasper Artists of the Year Finalists

and find the link below to cast your vote.

(SC voters only, please!)

Then join us on

Friday, January 31st at 7:30 at

The White Mule

to celebrate finalists and winners at the

JAY Awards Ceremony and Mardi Gras Ball!

~~~~~~~~~

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2019 JAY FINALISTS!

VISUAL ARTS

Krajewski participated in Collectively Supported Art (CSA) #2 @ F.O.M.: a sold out live painting show, as well as presenting live painting at the State Street Art Crawl (x2) in West Columbia and at Columbia Green. He designed the 2019 Derby Day official poster art and created the cover art for the book, What's Left Between Us by Gina Heron. He designed and created the art for Black Rooster (permanent art installation filling restaurant walls); designed and created art for drums at West Columbia Interactive Art Park; and worked on the art and props for THE MUSE which was the winner of the Audience Award at the 2019 2nd Act Film Project). He created art for Columbia City Ballet ballet shoe art (donation for gala / fundraising); Time for Art (COR), painting (donation for gala / fundraising), and served as an art teacher for summer camps and adult classes at Columbia Art Center. His shows included (Private show) 701 Lofts with Preach Jacobs, Jasper Street Gallery at the Meridian Building, Motor Supply, Jasper Tiny Art Gallery, Southern Exposure Series at UofSC, Anastasia and Friends, and Figure Out.

Lane was juried into group exhibitions, including the SC State Museum 30th Anniversary where he was asked to create a work of art live on the last day of the exhibition during a special event called Art Day, Piccolo Spoleto at City Gallery in Charleston, and A Sense of Place 39th Annual National Juried Exhibition at Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, Georgia. He was also invited and participated in Last First at Anastasia & Friends in Columbia. Lane’s most meaningful accomplishment was the creation of his solo exhibition, Resist Division, a reflection of his concern that our nation is being divided by rhetoric and propaganda and his desire to advocate for unity and inclusion. He debuted this exhibition in his hometown of West Columbia at Frame of Mind where he also held Collectively Supported Art #7, a sold-out live painting show, and then took it to the Washington DC area to Kyo Gallery in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. He also shared a portion of this exhibition titled Resist and Preserve at Harbison Theatre at Midlands Tech. Lane also had a solo show at Jasper Tiny Gallery at Tapp’s Art Center and created small pieces that tied in to his Resist Division exhibition. While participating in these group and solo exhibitions, Lane continued to create and completed an additional 33 works of art during this time.

Yukhno’s solo exhibitions included 24 Hours at the Tapp’s Arts Center, Southern Exposure at the University of South Carolina, and Beneath the Surface at Francis Marion University. Her Invitational Exhibitions included Around the World, Artfields Extended, Last First at Anastasia and Friends, Alternative Storytellers, The Language of Clay, and the Time for Art Gala. Her Juried Shows included Artfields, Trenholm Artists Guild Juried Show, and CCAL 24th Annual Juried Show. Her Group Shows included the TAG Art Showcase, Open Studios Exhibition, Palmetto Fine Arts Spring Show, Generations, and Strengthening Practice. Among her Awards are 1st Place/ Professional, SC State Fair/ Fine Art Exhibition, People’s Choice Award, Sail into Chapin, and 3rd Place, CCAL 24th Annual Juried Show, Chapin, SC. She was also invited to be one of 12 visual artists creating place-settings for the Jasper Project’s Supper Table project. She participated in residencies at Stormwater Studios and Tapp’s Arts Center, and gave Artist Talks at Stormwater Studios/UofSC, Penland School of Craft, SC State Library/ Commission for the Blind, Artfields at Lake City, SC, the Midlands Clay Arts Society, and the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.

THEATRE

Bush performed as Jacob Marley in Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol (Trustus); Performed as Larry in Montgomery (Trustus Playwright's Festival Winner); as David in Company (Trustus); and offered a number of various singing performances with the "Columbia Rat Pack" and singing performances at Villa Tronco. He is also the “town crier for UofSC Theatre and Dance... those bushes constantly need beating.”

Hammock was a Featured Performer in Trustus Theatre’s Love is Love Cabaret, she portrayed the alluring 1920s Golf Pro, Jordan Baker, in The Great Gatsby at Trustus Theatre, the villainous high school Queen Bee, Heather Chandler, in Heathers the musical at Trustus, and Amy, the neurotic bride-to-be, in Company the musical also at Trustus.

In the indie film SHED, Marini played the sheriff and in the indie film AZRAEL, she played a cat loving gun dealer, both of which were directed by David Axe, who is also nominated as Jasper Artist of the Year 2019 in Film. And in the Trustus play Marjorie Prime, she played the Lead role.

MUSIC

Gardiner is professor of Music at Lander University. As the founder and artistic director of the SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble his performances include Wycliffe Gordon Swings and Chris Potter Plays the Great American Songbook with the SC Jazz Masterworks Ensemble at the Newberry Opera House, Carolina Shout and Art of the Big Band at Harbison Theatre, Kenny Barron at W. Hootie Johnson Hall, and Big Band Holidays at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County. As Musical Director of the Lander University Jazz Ensemble as well as Musical Director of the Lander University Jazz Combos he has managed rehearsals and performances throughout the year, taught a full course load, and he also served as executive director of the SC Jazz Foundation a 501 c# supporting Jazz and Jazz education in SC. As the Director of the Capitol City Big Band, he performed 11 shows at retirement centers and churches and as the leader of the Robert Gardiner Jazz Quartet, 110 shows at local clubs, restaurants, and music venues across the region.

In addition to being the South Carolina State Fiddle Champion for 2019, Harris’s performances include the Jam Room Music Festival, the Freeway Music Festival, Arts & Draughts, Southeast Regional Folk Alliance, (Chattanooga, TN) Official showcase all with Boomtown Trio. She performed at The Mothlight and at the Crow and Quill, and Sierra Nevada Brewing, all in Asheville, NC, and at Prohibition in Charleston with Resonant Rogues; as well as at Haynes Auditorium (Batesburg-Leesville, SC) with Blue Iguanas bluegrass band; at Saluda Shoals Park Jazz Series, and Cola Jazz Fest with Flat Out Strangers; at the Papa Jazz Session for SceneSC and at the White Mule with Dirty Gone Dolas and at St. Pat’s in Five Points with Boomtown Waifs. She hosted the "Raucous Square Dance" (Columbia, SC) in January 2019, played at the First Baptist Christmas Pageant, and toured the United Kingdom with The Resonant Rogues from Asheville, including 24 performances throughout England, Scotland, and Wales in July 2019. Her recordings include pieces with the Resonant Rogues “Autumn of the World” May 2019, Kelley McLachlan “Misty Valley” June 2019, and Boomtown Trio “Wild Wanderer”. Harris is a Violin teacher at Suzuki Academy of Columbia, Midlands Arts Conservatory, and Freeway Music, a Masterclass Clinician at Suzuki Association of SC Festival, and an adjudicator for SC Music Educators' Association Orchestra Concert Performance.

Leitner began the year participating as a vocalist in the Love Is Love cabaret in the Pastors Study at Lula Drake to raise funds for Trustus Theatre where, a month later, she starred as Daisy Buchanan in Trustus Theatre’s The Great Gatsby. She then went on to start an alternative pop band “Say Femme” with Max Geiger and Desirée Richardson. Since the formation of “Say Femme” the band has played a number of local music venues including New Brookland Tavern, The White Mule, and Art Bar, as well as the feminist art festival Girls Block. Say Femme also just finished recording their first 5 song EP entitled “Souvenirs”. She spent the summer months starring as Veronica Sawyer in Trustus’ Theatre’s production of Heathers: The Musical. During the day she provides private voice lessons to those who seek to improve and understand the vocal instrument to further the art.

LITERARY ARTS

Clark published two mysteries, both in the Edisto Island Mystery series; Dying on Edisto (April 2019) and Edisto Tidings (October 2019), as well as Writing Contests with Hope, a FundsforWriters publication (March 2019). She served on the faculty at conferences at Henderson Writers Group - Las Vegas, NV, St. Louis Writer's Guild - St. Louis, MO, and North Carolina Writers Conference NW, Sylva, NC and conducted Book Signings at Newberry, Pelion, Chapin, Irmo, Saluda, Batesburg, Greenwood, Summerville, and Edisto Beach. Her reviews/interviews appeared in Chapin Magazine (December 2019) and Writers Forum, UK (March 2019). She narrates her novels at the SC State Library for their Talking Book Services for the sight and physically impaired, and in 2019 completed Palmetto Poison, Newberry Sin, and Dying on Edisto. Her work earned acceptance into the National Library System's BARD program, making the books available nation-wide. She ranks as the most checked out author in the South Carolina Talking Book system. Clark gives back to her writing community through her website FundsforWriters. The success of the website and newsletter earned it a place on Writer's Digest Magazine's 101 Best Websites for Writers for the 19th year.

McManus’s publications include “Where Bullies Come From” Fall Lines V, Fall 2019, “Angels Already Know” Binder Summer 2019, “Past the Banks” (Essay) Gather at the River: Twenty-Five Authors on Fishing, Anthology, Hub City Press, May 2019, “Diehards,” “Manifest Destiny,” “Caveman Bias,” “How to Forget a Nation,” We Had Lots of Specimens, but We Ate Them,” and “Undertow” Open-Eyed and Full Throated: Irish American Poetry. Ireland: Arlen House Press, Spring 2019. “Homo Habitus” and “In the Museum of Men and Machines” SC Review, Fall 2018, and “Smoke Signals,” “When the Men are Talking,” “Finding Teeth in the Yard,” “Jacking,” “Pioneer Diorama” Talking River, Fall 2018. He has also served as Writer in Residence, Columbia Museum of Art creating programs such as the Write-Around Series (writers included to date: Ray McManus, Ed Madden, Tim Conroy, Joy Priest, Nathalie Anderson, Len Lawson, Jennifer Bartell, Cindi Boiter, Michele Reese, Vurtis Derrick, Lisa Hammond, and Derek Berry), With Nothing to Hide: Four Writers Responding to Renée Cox and Imogen Cunningham (Writers included: Jillian Weise, Monifa Lemons, Maya Marshall, Liz Elliott), Tender Savages: The Masculine Construction of Jackson Pollock’s Destruction (writers included: David Joy, Adam Vines, Ray McManus), Stretching the Frame: Unconventional Ekphrastic Poetry Writing Workshop (writer included: Adam Vines), Poet’s Summit (writers included: Ashley M Jones, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs). McManus also serves as the Chair, Board of Governors, South Carolina Academy of Authors

Tuttle’s most recent book, The Trustus Collection, was published by Muddy Ford Press in March. It includes the six plays that have premiered at Trustus Theatre since 1994: The Hammerstone, Drift, Holy Ghost, The Sweet Abyss, Palace of the Moorish Kings and Boy About Ten. He discussed that collection and his career as a playwright at the 2019 Deckle Edge Book Festival. Boy About Ten was also a finalist for the Screencraft Stage Play International Competition and excepted in 100 Monologues From New Plays 2020. His short story, “Elsie Peaches Boulware,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize after being published in Short Story America Vol. VI and winning second place in the 2019 Porter Fleming Literary Competition. With Cindy Turner, he is the author of One Another, which was published in Smith & Kraus’ Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2018. Jon has spoken at a number of academic/scholastic conferences, serves on a number of arts and awards committees, and directed the creation of the position of Poet Laurate of the Pee Dee (now occupied by Jo Angela Edwins).

FILM

Axe wrote, directed, and edited the feature film SHED in March 2019. SHED premiered at the Motor City Nightmares film festival in Detroit in April before playing at nine festivals in 2019. SHED was selected for U.S. distribution by Wages of Cine in October. Axe wrote, directed, and edited the short film THERE’S NOTHING IN THE SHED in June 2019 which played at 19 festivals in 2019. He also completed the feature script MONGER which won the WriteMovies Horror Award 2019. He wrote, directed, and edited the short film WHERE’S THE FUN in July 2019 as well as the short film CLEVELAND in October. Cleveland was screened at the 2019 2nd Act Film Festival. Axe also wrote, directed, and edited the feature film LECTION ending in November 2019, the script of which was selected by the South Carolina Underground Film Festival. Axe says he proudly paid all his cast and crew on all productions for a total of around 150 people in 2019, helping to support and grow the Columbia film industry.

A “visual storyteller for over 30 years,” Cornfoot is responsible for the broadcast and Web distribution of the following segments for the News Magazine show Palmetto Scene: 10.28.19 - A Spooky Good Time at Deceased Farms; 10.16.19 - The SC State Fair’s Ride of Your Life Scholarship; 8.20.19 - Goat Yoga: From Om to Awe!; 2.19.19 - A Gentleman’s Ride; 11.15.18 - Comedian Ian Aber; and, 10.23.18 - Chocolatier Providing Free Lunches. Lynn was also a videographer/crew member on Betsy Newman’s Emmy Award winning documentary Charlie’s Place, as well as other SCETV shows throughout the year.

Robertson completed the short film WHISTLER’S MOTHER, a production of the SC Indie Grants program, in which Robbie was awarded funding based on his original screenplay. The film was screened at the Crimson Screen Horror Film Festival in May 2019 and won the Audience Choice Award. It was also screened at the Myrtle Beach International Film Festival in April, at the Russian International Horror Film Festival in Moscow,; the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction and Supernatural Film Festival in NYC. WHISTLER’S MOTHER was invited to screen on the streaming service SHORTS TV. YOUNG AMERICAN, Robertson’s comedy about a magazine writer's fear of aging, was optioned by producer Alexandra Hoesdorff of European based DEAL PRODUCTIONS in 2019. AT-RISK, a feature screenplay about race relations in Charleston, SC was optioned by L.A. based actress/producer Kristian Alfonso, and JUST FOR HIM, a new short screenplay by Robbie, was a semi-finalist and Top 20 winner in the Get It Made LA production contest.

(Editor’s Note: Jasper will not be awarding a JAY in Dance again this year due to a lack of nominations. However, we would like to recognize Stephanie Wilkins and Cooper Rust, both of whom were nominated and had exceptional years. Keep up the great work, Stephanie and Cooper! You are outstanding ambassadors for your discipline!)

Vote at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019_JAYS