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.”

Art from the Ashes Book Launch and Gallery Opening on February 1st at Tapp’s - A JASPER Project

 

Over the course of four evenings in the summer of 2014, more than two dozen literary, visual, and musical artists gathered in the Jasper Magazine office with experts on the February 17^th, 1865 burning of Columbia. The artists immersed themselves in the events that took place the night of the burning as well as the days and nights leading to and immediately following it. Six months later, their inspirations have come to fruition in a multi-disciplinary series of arts events – Art from the Ashes.

Art from the Ashes: Columbia Residents Respond to the Burning of Their City is a collection of poetry, prose, and even a screenplay by some of Columbia, SC’s most dynamic writers, including Ed Madden, Tara Powell, Ray McManus, Susan Levi Wallach, Tom Poland, Al Black, Jonathan Butler, Rachel Haynie, Debra Daniel, Will Garland, Betsy Breen, and Don McCallister. Edited by Jasper Magazine’s Cynthia Boiter, it is a publication of Muddy Ford Press and the first in the press’s new series, Muddy Ford Monographs.

In concert with the book launch, Art from the Ashes: The Gallery will open on the same evening, also at Tapp’s, and will run throughout the month of February. Participating visual artists include Susan Lenz, Kirkland Smith, Christian Thee, Michael Krajewski, Jarid Lyfe Brown, Whitney LeJeune, Mary Bentz Gilkerson, Cedric Umoja, Michaela Pilar Brown, Alejandro Garcia-Lemos, and Kara Gunter.

Join us as we celebrate the book launch and gallery opening from 5 – 7 pm. Visual artists will be on hand to answer questions about their work and literary artists will be signing and reading from their writings. Musician Jack McGregor, who created a three movement musical composition in response to the burning, will premiere his work as well.

Additional events include a Visual Artists Panel Presentation on Thursday, February 5^th at 7 pm and a Reading and Book Signing on February 17^th at 7 pm, followed by a concert by Columbia-based musical artist, the Dubber.

All events take place at Tapp’s Arts Center on Main Street and are free and open to the public

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

 

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.

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

Muddy Ford Press Releases New Anthology - A Sense of the Midlands - on February 22nd

Furthering their efforts to both build a community of local literary artists and recognize the multiplicity of talented, professional poets and authors already at work in the South Carolina Midlands, local boutique publishing house Muddy Ford Press will release their tenth publication, A Sense of the Midlands, on February 22^nd, 2014.

Edited by Cynthia Boiter with poetry editor Ed Madden, A Sense of the Midlands anthologizes 33 Midlands area writers.

The feel of wet soil beneath the knees of the winter-weary gardener as she plants spring peas. The sound of the Carolina fight song echoing down Main Street. The smell of meat crackling in Crisco on the stove top. The taste of tea so sweet it curls your tongue. The sight of deer on the side of the road or the sun going down on the statehouse dome. All these things and more ground us in what it means to be from the South Carolina Midlands. Writer and editor Cynthia Boiter  and acclaimed poet Ed Madden asked more than thirty Midlands-area writers to share how the fidelity of place resonates from their own senses and into their writing in this collection of poetry, essays, and short fiction, A Sense of the Midlands.

Writers include James Barilla, Ray McManus, Tom Poland, Cassie Premo Steele, Kristine Hartvigsen, Darien Cavanaugh, Nan Ancrom, Nicola Waldron, Ruth Varner, Lauren Allen, Julie Bloemeke, Brandi L. Perry, Mahayla Bainter, Laurel Blossom, Matthew Boedy, Matthew Fogarty, Melanie Griffin, Linda Lee Harper, Terresa Haskew, Thomas Maluck, Rieppe Moore, Zach Mueller, Robbie Pruitt, Dianne Turgeon Richardson, Kevin Simmonds, Randy Spencer, Alexis Stratton, Frank Thompson, Ed Madden, and Ivan Young. Local artist Jarid Lyfe Brown created the cover of the book from an original painting.

The public is invited to celebrate the launch of A Sense of the Midlands on Saturday February 22^nd from 5 – 7 pm at the Columbia Music Festival Association Art Space at 914 Pulaski Street in Columbia’s historic Vista. Admission is $15 which includes a copy of A Sense of the Midlands, admission to the reception from 5 – 6 during which authors will be available for signing, and admission to a reading from the book from 6 – 7. (Two attendees sharing a book will be admitted for $20.)

Muddy Ford Press is the underwriter for Jasper Magazine – The Word on Columbia Arts. All Proceeds go toward the publication of Jasper. 

For more information contact: 

Robert Jolley at publisher@MuddyFordPress.com or

Cynthia Boiter at Cindi@JasperColumbia.com.

www.MuddyFordPress.com

S&S Art Supply Pays It Forward with 3rd Annual Silent Auction & Fundraiser

Continuing to pay it forward, S&S Art Supply on Main Street is hosting its 3rd annual fundraiser this coming Sat.urday, July 13th, benefiting Palmetto Place Children's Shelter.   Free and open to the public, there will be a silent auction of over 100 works of local art and other items from local businesses to bid on, all starting at just $25!

This is a family friendly event, so bring the kids.   Preach Jacobs will be DJ'ing, plus  The Plowboys will be playing live outside.    With an open bar and catered hors d'oeuvres  provided courtesy of The Whig and Rosso,  the motto for the day is Eat, Drink, Bid!

Since 1977, Palmetto Place has been a safe haven for children of all ages in need of a place to call home.  Whether the child was abandoned,  abused, or neglected, Palmetto Place has been there for them.  The mission of Palmetto Place Children’s Shelter is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for these abused and neglected children, offering them a broad range of services that encourage and promote healing through positive and healthy choices. The shelter is open 24 hours each day of the year and provides medical and mental health care, crisis adjustment/transitional counseling, after-school tutoring and recreational and social activities in addition to food, clothing and shelter. Visit http://palmettoplaceshelter.org/ for more information.

Sponsors for this event include: Ladybug Art Studios, Jasper - The Word on Columbia Arts, The Columbia Star, The Whig, Rosso, and Professional Printers.  Currently over 50 different artists are participating; also up for grabs are donated tickets from Nickelodeon Theatre, Trustus Theatre, Columbia City Ballet, and other goodies from local businesses. Best of all, the event is free and open to the public!

For more information, e-mail Amanda at lily581@hotmail.com.  The "event" page on Facebook is here.  S&S Art Supply is located at 1633 Main Street, just down from Mast General Store and the Nickelodeon. The event runs from 2-6 PM this Saturday, July 13th.