It's FIRST THURSDAY & JASPER is BACK ON MAIN STREET - As well as at our LAST FIRST THURSDAY at SOUND BITES!

Artist - Jarid Lyfe Brown

Hey Jasper Family! We’re excited today because TONIGHT we’re celebrating that the Jasper Project is BACK ON MAIN STREET!

Please join us tonight as Jasper features not one, but two great Columbia-area visual artists sharing their talents with the world!

Start out by popping into Sound Bites Eatery for (sadly) our last First Thursday gallery opening event. We have loved our time at Sound Bites and can’t express enough gratitude for Terri Mac and the gracious Sound Bites team that has always made us feel so welcome. But due to a change in their hours of operation under new ownership, we won’t be able to continue our stewardship there any longer. (But you better believe we’ll still be stopping in for delicious lunches and great service!)

So, Jasper is celebrating our Sound Bites swan song by featuring the unique art of Jessica Ream tonight!

Unbinding: A Tale of the Book That Never Was – Jessica Ream Opening Reception - SOUND BITES 5:30 - 8

Jessica Ream was born in Columbus, Ohio early in the year 1990, but was raised in Carolina suburbia. She attended Savannah College of Art and Design where she graduated with honors and a BFA in Painting. A jack-of-all trades artist, she incorporates her knowledge of painting, photography, print, sewing and sculpture into her mixed media, abstract pieces.

In recent years, she has rediscovered her love of hand binding books. While mainly self taught, she was first introduced to the world of book arts in a workshop she attended while studying abroad. Her hand bound journals are made from a mix of traditional materials and rebound, vintage books.

After spending the time in the High Rockies of Colorado, she and her husband have returned to their southeastern, coastal origins, where they reside with their son and newborn daughter.
(Full disclosure —Jessica is also a new member of the Jasper Project Board of Directors, but this show has been scheduled long before she joined our board.)

After you’ve checked out Jessica’s work come on over to the Shoppes at Tapp’s for the opening of the Jasper Alley at Tapp’s. As mentioned, our featured artist for April is Jarid Lyfe Brown.

The Jasper Alley at Tapp's with April's Featured Artist - Jarid Lyfe Brown

Born in Atlanta and raised in Columbia, Brown has lived in Gilbert for the last 17 years. A construction worker by day for the past 30 years, Brown attended SCAD but is, for the most part, self-taught. His work will occupy the Jasper Alley which is located on the far right side of the building.

Jarid’s work is incredibly evocative and can run the gamut from whimsical to terrifying, but it’s always interesting and it always commands that the viewer spend some time with at the painting and enjoy the process.

We’re delighted to feature both of these fine artists and hope you’ll visit us at both venues.

Happy First Thursday from all of us at Jasper!

Announcing The Jasper Alley at Tapp’s With Our Inaugural First Thursday Opening Reception - April 2nd Featuring Jarid Lyfe Brown!

We’re Back!

In service to our mission of finding and programming gallery spaces for Midlands-area artists wherever we can, The Jasper Project is delighted to announce that we are back on Main Street starting on Thursday April 2nd and we’re featuring Jarid Lyfe Brown as our first First Thursday Artist!

That’s right, we’re back! In partnership with our host, the Shoppes at Tapp’s, Jasper will be presenting group and solo shows right on Main Street once again and we couldn’t be happier! Our friends at the Shoppes at Tapp’s have graciously allocated a nice long corridor to the right of the showroom where, starting in April, you’ll find Jasper-curated art from our beloved local artists—and we’re naming it The Jasper Alley at Tapp’s.

We’re so happy to welcome the art of Jarid Lyfe Brown to these welcoming walls!

Jarid Lyfe Brown lives in Gilbert, SC. He was born in 1974 and, as a young artist, earned a perfect score of 5 for the portfolio he entered into an AP art contest at Harvard University. Brown was awarded a scholarship to attend Savannah College of Art and Design in 1992. From 1994 until the present, Brown has mounted multiple shows in locations that ranged from galleries to coffee shops around SC, NC, and Michigan. Brown says, “I paint every day, and complete around 7-10 new paintings per month.” Brown is married and has three children. When he is not painting, he is doing construction work and thinking about what he'll paint next.

For his artist’s statement Brown writes, “All of my hard work is about everyday life. It is hard to predict or explain because I submit myself to create in an unplanned method. I paint from what I hear, learn, experience, opinions, perspectives, joy, hurt, and reactions. It may make sense or not at all, and that is similar to life. I just want to be raw and honest, but not crude. I try to paint directly and literally. I enjoy literature and writing so I apply that to my painting. I also enjoy an attempt to bridge expressionism to realism and I don’t want to be classified as either. I want to be better, different, or more in all of these experiences. I use animals to express mindsets and characteristics of a person.”

We’ll be announcing our full line-up for 2026 soon, but for now, be sure to add The Jasper Alley at Tapp’s to your First Thursday agenda. Stop by to have a beer or a glass of vino, view Jarid’s exhibition, chat with the artist, and bump into all your old and new First Thursday Friends.

We’re back on Main, y’all and we’re so happy to be there!

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Jasper Welcomes First Thursday Artist LUCAS SAMS to the Gallery at Sound Bites Eatery

Jasper is so happy to still have a home for First Thursdays at Sound Bites Eatery, and we’re thrilled to welcome our March First Thursday Artist, Lucas Sams!

The title of Sams’ new exhibition is Drawn & Quartered. In explanation Sams writes, “This show marks my return to my first and favorite medium, drawing. As I learned from my favorite art teacher in college, everything can be drawing, and everything goes back to drawing. Before entering the world of ‘fine arts,’ I was a comic and manga artist. Learning that painting was just drawing with paint helped me become a ‘fine artist,’ but the core was still drawing. Everything is abstraction; all representation is cartooning. It has brought me infinite joy returning to simple tools at this scale, and a challenge to build the biggest worlds I can in the span of a sketchbook page.”

Lucas Sams is a multi-disciplinary visual artist and experimental musician with works exhibited locally and regionally in major art festivals, galleries, and alternative spaces; he has been featured in Jasper Magazine, The State Newspaper, Garnet and Black Magazine, and the Timber Journal of the University of Colorado, Boulder. Born and raised in Greenwood, SC Sams spent most of his life in SC until his freshman year in college, when he studied painting in Tokyo, Japan and became heavily influenced by contemporary Japanese Pop Art. A graduate of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities and the University of SC, his post-graduate work continues explorations of postmodern abstraction and figuration with far-ranging influences, encompassing everything from religious art, alchemy, and the unconscious- to science fiction and anime. He is currently pursuing a graduate degree as an MLIS candidate at the University of SC.

Please join us this Thursday March 5th from 5:30 - 8:30 pm at Sound Bites Eatery at 1425 Sumter Street, just one block off Main. And come hungry! Sound Bites has a delicious menu of sandos, soups, snacks, and salads as well as good beer and wine. Plus, all the cool kids hang out there, so you’ll be right at home!

Jasper's First Thursday at Sound Bites Features Jarid Lyfe Brown

By Cindi Boiter

The Jasper Project is excited to welcome visual artist Jarid Lyfe Brown to our gallery space at Sound Bites Eatery as part of our First Thursday celebration this Thursday, November 7th.

A profoundly original artist, Brown’s technique has typically leaned toward surrealistic expression often by anthropomorphizing animals and visually annotating his subjects on the same canvas.

Born in Atlanta and raised in Columbia, Brown has lived in Gilbert for the -last 17 years. A construction worker by day for the past 30 years, Brown attended SCAD but is, for the most part, self-taught. His work has recently shown at both Soul Haus and Havens Gallery.

“About two years ago, life seemed to be unexpectedly and unusually busy and chaotic,” Brown says. “Between that and lazy excuses, painting and drawing started drifting because I was used to painting very large which can be time consuming. I grabbed a new sketchbook as a sort of documentation device for my current erratic thoughts and regular life experiences. Since a 10x7 book is a bit more portable, this would give me a chance to work anywhere. These small new works [in his Sound Bites exhibition] reflect about two years of sporadic expression, sometimes even forced so to not let go of something that means so much.”

First Thursday with Barbie Mathis - Coming up November 2nd

Please join the Jasper Project as we welcome Barbie Mathis to First Thursday at Sound Bites Eatery on Thursday, November 2nd!

Barbie Mathis, a native of Columbia, SC, has been working as a professional artist since 1980. Over the years, she has evolved as an illustrator, designer and painter working in various media with her main emphasis being Watermedia (Acrylic and Watercolor) painting. Barbie’s primary focus has been on realistic florals and landscapes immersed in layers of colorful glazes, dramatic lighting and rich, natural backgrounds. She has also created her own artistic renditions of people and animals. Most recently, Mathis has been experimenting with a variety of realistic, abstracted and mixed-media styles in Acrylic Paint.

Mathis studied Fashion Design and Illustration at Bauder Fashion College in Atlanta, GA. She has since worked in advertising, graphic design and mat design for various newspapers, printing companies and art galleries. She has been published by Bentley House Publishing and currently self-publishes a limited number of fine art prints. Barbie was awarded her Signature Membership in the South Carolina Watermedia Society in 2006. She has exhibited and won awards in numerous shows, and her work is in both public and private collections around the country. Barbie was an adjunct instructor at Midlands Technical College for 9 years. And, she currently teaches painting at City Art Gallery in Columbia, SC. She also teaches private classes and workshops for individuals and art leagues in South Carolina and throughout the Southeast. Her work and contact information may be found on FB: Barbie Mathis Studio or IG: @BarbieMathisArt
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Artist Statement:
“The Great Experiment,” a show of small, experimental Acrylic paintings by Barbie Mathis

My word for 2023 has been Experiment. Exploring Acrylic paint, and painting some of the many looks and styles that it can achieve has been my “Great Experiment”. This show represents a variety of ways that I have used Acrylic paint to look like Watercolors, Oils, Acrylics and Mixed-Media in all of its thick and thin, realistic to abstracted styles. I have also explored both hard and soft details and patterns in nature, shapes and artificial textures. It is my hope that the viewer will find pleasure in the differences.

Jasper Welcomes Lucas Sams to First Thursday at the Bourbon Courtyard

It’s the Jasper Project’s second First Thursday at the Bourbon Courtyard and, this time, we’re excited to welcome Columbia-based visual artist Lucas Sams.

Sams is a multi-media artist living and working in Columbia, SC; an alumnus of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, the University of South Carolina, and Temple University, Tokyo, working in painting, sculpture, film, digital/multimedia, sound and installation art, with works exhibited in major art festivals, galleries and alternative spaces, and featured in Jasper Magazine, the SC State Newspaper, Garnet and Black Magazine, and the Timber Journal of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Sams is bringing a selection of his work to the Bourbon Courtyard for a one-night-only exhibit on Thursday, October 6th, as part of First Thursdays on Main.

Start your evening as early as 5 pm with a cocktail from Bourbon’s cutting-edge bar offerings while enjoying the art and chatting with the artist, then move on down Main Street to Columbia Museum of Art and one block over to Sumter Street and Sound Bites Eatery where Jasper is also hosting the opening night reception for First Thursday Artist in Residence, Marius Valdes.

It’s just like old times and we can’t wait to see you on and off the streets!


Jasper Welcomes Marius Valdes to October's First Thursday at Sound Bites

We’re delighted to welcome one of Columbia’s most soul-lifting artists, Marius Valdes, to the walls of Sound Bites Eatery for First Thursday, October 6th, starting at 6 pm—no matter what Facebook says!

Happy-hearted Valdes has a reputation for finding and appealing to the child in everyone, and we’ve been excitedly awaiting the day when we could finally hang his art on the walls of one of the happiest places in town to feed your body and spirit, Sound Bites Eatery.

Marius Valdes is an artist currently based in Columbia, South Carolina. He is an Associate Professor in studio art concentrating on design and illustration at The University of South Carolina. He lives in Forest Acres, South Carolina with his wife Beth, daughter Emma, and very lazy but adorable dog, Mary.

Valdes received his BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Georgia and his MFA in Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2005.

Valdes has been recognized by design publications such as HOW, Print, Communication Arts, Creative Quarterly, STEP, and industry competitions including American Illustration, AIGA InShow, AIGA SEED Awards, and The South Carolina Advertising Federation Addy Awards.

Valdes' work has been featured in several books about contemporary graphic design and illustration. He has participated in solo and group exhibitions internationally. Valdes has presented at academic conferences about design and illustration related topics.

In 2017, Valdes completed a one-year residency as the first visual Artist in Residence at the award-winning and innovative Richland Library. Currently, Valdes putting the final touches on a mural installation at the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital. 

Sound Bites Eatery is the perfect place to begin or end your First Thursday Festivities with food and drink and happily-ever -after art by Marius Valdes!

CALL FOR JASPER FIRST THURSDAY ARTIST RESIDENTS @ SOUND BITES EATERY

********** CALL FOR ART **********

The Jasper Project is looking for 2D artists to show their work on a monthly basis as part of a partnership with Sound Bites Eatery, 1425 Sumter Street.

If YOUR WORK is vivid, whimsical, brightly colored, small-to-medium in format, and offered at modest price points and if YOU are fun, flexible, and chill, You might be a good fit as a Jasper First Thursday Artist Resident!

Jasper First Thursday Art Residents will hang their work before the first of a new month and celebrate their exhibit opening on the first Thursday of that month with a reception starting at 6 pm. Purchased is processed by the Jasper Project which takes a 25% commission of the price of the art. In return, Jasper promotes the show on the Jasper Project website and social media with articles, press releases, and frequent internet posts. (Humble reminder: the Jasper Project is an all-volunteer, non-profit, grass-roots organization and all incoming funds go directly toward the publication of Jasper Magazine and our many projects promoting and supporting members of the SC Midlands area arts community.)

If you are interested in applying to be a Jasper First Thursday Artist Resident, please send the following to JasperProjectColumbia@gmail.com:

  • Name and contact info

  • 4-5 samples of your work

  • Bio

  • Artist Statement

Previous First Thursday Artist Residents have included:

Next available residency is October 2022.

Celebrating Mark

Mark Plessinger Any other First Thursday evening for the past several years, if you were walking down Main Street and someone mentioned the name Mark, most anyone would know who you were talking about.

"Have you been to Mark's yet?"

"I just saw her at Mark's"

"What did Mark have to say about that?"

You wouldn't have to  use his last name, because anyone who knows anything about the arts in Columbia would know you were talking about Mark Plessinger, owner of Frame of Mind optics shop, and one of the founders and certainly the sustainer of the First Thursdays on Main arts crawl.

First Thursday got started back in the day when Mark Plessinger partnered with Mark Pointer who once ran a magazine called undefined. I met Mark (Plessinger) through Mark (Pointer) and we became instant friends. Like a lot of you reading this, Mark (Plessinger) and I share this sense of getting personal validation out of trying to make our immediate environment a place where we really want to live. We're selfish that way. I was lucky enough to watch Mark as he took over the undefined series and made it the FOM series, finally turning it into First Thursdays on Main.

I got to see Mark delve into areas of diplomacy that I'm sure he never thought would come with the job of doing something for the better good. I saw him negotiate with business owners, empower emerging artists, and bend over backwards to make sure that whoever wanted to share their creative gifts with the community were allowed to -- often on a stage he built himself. I don't know how many times I saw Mark reach into his own pocket to pay for security or publicity or any of the other errant expenses that accompany sustaining a major monthly arts event often on one's own. There is no telling how many things he ponied up for that no one knows about. And while he did it for himself, because it made him happy and because it felt good to him to be able to do so, he did if for a city and an arts community that desperately needed his specific contribution at the specific time he offered it.

Despite, or maybe because of his generosity, Mark is not a wealthy man. When circumstances with his Main Street shop and studio changed, he made the incredibly difficult decision to relocate his shop across the river, sadly leaving the business home he had opened for so many artists on Main Street. He will not be in his old space tonight -- though, happily, the precedent he set is being continued and Ivan Segura's art will be there.

Mark did what he was driven to do. He was brave. And he made Columbia a far better place than those of us who sit back and complain that our city isn't as perfect as we would like it to be.

Who knows how many people were impacted by the gracious generosity of time and spirit that Mark Plessinger gave to our city and our arts community. I'm guessing thousands.

Tonight, a few of us will gather with Mark to express our love and appreciation to him for all that he has done for us. We'll be at One Columbia about 6 pm, if you'd like to stop by. If not, and you see this tall, lanky dude on the street with a goofy smile and arms big enough to wrap around the world, you'll know its Mark. Because people will be repeating his name on Main Street, and throughout Columbia, for a very long time.

-- Cindi Boiter

Acclaimed Columbia Artist Stephen Chesley to Sign Claws at Nest - tonight!

Claws  

 

Columbia artist Stephen Chesley will autograph copies of his illustrated edition of the Archibald Rutledge adventure story Claws at Nest (Hampton and Main Sts.) during Columbia’s First Thursdays on Main.

First published more than a century ago, Claws is a harrowing tale of an encounter between a young boy and a giant bobcat in depths of a lowcountry swamp.

Chesley’s 24 charcoal sketches bring the story vibrantly to life. Claws is published by the University of South Carolina Press with royalties benefiting the South Carolina Book Festival.

Chesley will sign copies at Nest from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on November 6 as part of First Thursday on Main.

Get more information on Claws from http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2014/7422.htmlhttp://

For more information about the signing check out the Facebook event here.

Stephen Chesley - Artist

A Selected Listing of Chesley's Exhibits and Collections (Courtesy of Wim Roefs and If ART Gallery):

SELECTED COLLECTIONS Erskine College, Bowie Arts Center Savannah College of Art and Design Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman, Rock Hill, South Carolina South Carolina State Art Collection Columbia Museum of Art Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Charlotte, North Carolina Pioneer Electronics, New York, New York National Bank of South Carolina Southern Bell Springs Mills, Rock Hill, South Carolina numerous private collections

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS South Carolina Regional Sculpture Competition, Aiken County Museum, Aiken, South Carolina, 2005 "Stephen Chesley",Carolina Galleries, Fine Art Dealers Association, Charleston, South Carolina, 2004 "Stephen Chesley", Conn Gallery, Landrum South Carolina.2004 Sumter Gallery of Art, "Birds" exhibition, Sumter, South Carolina,2004 "Stephen Chesley", Jackson Gallery of Art, Aiken, South Carolina,2003 Spartanburg Museum of Art, 2nd Hub Juried, Spartanburg, South Carolina,2003 "Mit/Ohn Distanz", Joint international exhibition, Ducati Building, Columbia, South Carolina, 2003 "With Without Distance", Volksbank, Kaiserslautern, Germany, Woolmagazine Artist Group, 2003 "In Response"', National Juried Exhibition, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, 2002 Spartanburg Museum of Art, Hub City juried Exhibition, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 2001 Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, Street Gallery (mural), 2001 Savannah College of Art and Design, National Juried Exhibition, Savannah, Georgia, 1999 "Stephen Chesley", Opelika Fine Arts Center, Opelika Alabama, 1999 Spartanburg Museum of Art, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1999 Gertrude Hebert Institute of Art Juried Exhibition, Augusta Georgia, 1998 Savannah College of Art and Design, National Juried Exhibition, Savannah, Georgia, 1998 Oil painters Juried Exhibition, National Bank of South Carolina, 1989-1998 Savannah College of Art and Design, National Juried Exhibition, Savannah, Georgia, 1997 "Terrain" Exhibition, Carrillon Building, Charlotte, mural 15’x15’, 1997 National Endowment for the Arts, Southeast Regional Fellowship, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art, Winston Salem, North Carolina, 1996 Spoleto Juried Exhibition, Charleston, South Carolina, 1996 "Landscape Trilogy", Waterworks Visual Arts Center, Salisbury, North Carolina, 1996 Group Exhibition, Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, 1996 Gibbs Art Museum, Charleston South Carolina, 1996 "The New Landscape", Center of the Earth Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1995 Francis Marion College, Florence, South Carolina, 1995 "Southern Range", Converse College, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 1995 USC Gallery, University of South Carolina, Sumter, South Carolina, 1995 Spoleto Juried Exhibition, Charleston, South Carolina, 1994 Anderson Juried Exhibition, Anderson Museum of Art, 1994 Montgomery Biennial Exhibition, Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, Alabama, 1994 "Lure of the Lowcountry", Gibbs Museum, Charleston, South Carolina, 1994 "Grace and Symbolism", Nations Bank, Art in Public Places, Columbia, South Carolina, 1993 "Expressions", Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, 1992 South Carolina Arts Commission Triennial, Columbia South Carolina, 1992 National Juried Exhibition, Montana College Gallery, Dillion, Montana, 1991 South Carolina Contemporary Images, Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, Kentucky, 1991 South Carolina Coastal Watercolor Exhibition, Charleston, South Carolina, 1991 Springs Mills Juried Exhibition, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1990 South Carolina Coastal Watercolor Exhibition, Charleston, South Carolina, 1989 South Carolina Annual Juried Exhibition, Columbia, South Carolina, 1988 Southern Graphics Council Exhibition, Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, 1988 Springs Mills Juried Exhibition, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1988 Retrospective: South Carolina State Art Collection, 1988 Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Florida, 1988 Joyce Dickenson Invitational, Florence, South Carolina, 1988 Springs Mills Juried Exhibition, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1987 South Carolina Arts Commission Annual Juried Exhibition, Columbia, South Carolina, 1987 National Park Service National Juried Exhibition, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. 1987 South Carolina Arts Commission Annual Juried Show, Columbia, South Carolina, 1986 Springs Mills Juried Exhibition, Rock Hill, South Carolina, 1986 South Carolina Coastal Watercolor Exhibition, Charleston, South Carolina, 1985 South Carolina Arts Commission Annual Juried Exhibition, Columbia, South Carolina, 1985 " Emerging Artist", Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, 1981

TONIGHT! - Small Art/Big Heart -- blog by Jasper Intern Kirby Knowlton

Rescue by B.A. Hohman  

 

 

Like other aspects of our community, the ARC has been hit with huge budget cuts in the past several years. Anastasia Chernoff, owner of Anastasia & Friends, expressed that she could relate to these cuts, saying “Although some of us may not feel these cuts directly, indirectly they have a tremendous effect on all of us in our community, whether it’s the SC Arts Commission or the ARC, they are vital organizations in our state.” Local artists such as John Allen, Bohumila Augustinova, Savannah Bethea, Jarid Lyfe Brown,Toni Marcus Elkins, Nathan Fiveash have all contributed art work for the exhibit, and half of every sale will benefit the ARC. Friends of the ARC was started to help the ARC continue its vital and comprehensive work with our community’s sexually and physically abused children and continues to raise both funds and awareness in the community.

George by John Allen

 

Small Art/Big Heart will feature paintings, sculpture and mixed media pieces that are 12" x 12" x 12" in dimension or smaller. The opening reception will take place as a part of the First Thursday art crawl on Main Street on August 7th from 6 to 9 p.m. and run through August 31st.

Anastasia & Friends is located at 1534 Main Street, Columbia, SC 29201. Gallery hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

-- Kirby Knowlton