Tiny Gallery with Mana Hewitt – Aesthetically Pleasing, Conceptually Interesting

The month of June brings Mana Hewitt’s beautiful hand sculpted jewelry to Jasper’s Tiny Gallery. Hewitt is a recently retired Senior Instructor from the University of South Carolina’s School of Visual Art and Design, where she helped develop the jewelry making program in 2007. Other teaching endeavors include Columbia College for eight years and a year at a middle school. Her experience in painting, ceramics and metalsmithing has led to her cementing a prolific legacy in all disciplines. Hewitt grew up in a household surrounded by the arts; both her mother and grandmother studied art in college, and her and her siblings all grew to appreciate the arts through music and visual arts, passions that Hewitt eventually shared with her husband and daughter. Starting with oil paints and large-scale metals, she shifted to working with more small-scale media in 2006. This shift turned into the sterling silver/enameled jewelry work that Hewitt is so well known for to this day. Having an interest in the transformation of a section of metal can have lends to the endless possibilities for the jewelry design that Hewitt undertakes. “I am intrigued by metal’s transformation from rigidity to vibrant and fluid designs through hammering, etching, casting and effort,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt’s earrings are perfect statement pieces for those looking to spice up their jewelry collection. There are a variety of monochromatic pieces like the “Freeform” pairs, iridescent and colorful sets like “Drops” or “Fans” and even some statement piece sets like the “Rockets.” She always aims to meet her goal of creating jewelry that is both aesthetically pleasing and conceptually interesting. Working with metal for so long, Hewitt describes herself as someone who may just think with metal as well.

Aside from talent and drive, Hewitt has an abundance of ideas and inspiration when it comes to creating new works. “I have never had difficulty in finding inspiration or ideas,” Hewitt said. In fact, I probably have too many and feel there isn’t enough time to do everything I want to do.” Hewitt’s creations have been featured in both group and solo exhibitions across the Eastern U.S. She has collaborated with the Jasper Project before by being one of the featured artists in the Supper Table project, where she created a piece based on Eartha Kitt.

The marketability of jewelry and the small scale is appealing to Hewitt, who mentions that some of her favorite pieces are ones enameled in the champleve and cloisonne techniques. While very demanding, Hewitt says that "jewelrymaking provides endless challenges but provides such satisfaction when it all comes together.”

Hewitt’s earrings are available for sale on the Jasper Project’s Tiny Gallery site through the month of June. You can find more of her portfolio on her website.

Artists for Africa Postcaard Art Sale - Thursday Night - by Abby Davis

This Thursday, February 12^th, Artists for Africa will host their second annual Postcard Art fundraiser at Embassy Suites Columbia. There will be over 300 pieces of original, postcard-sized works to choose from. The postcard art has been contributed by over 100 artists, some established and some emerging. The pieces will be exhibited anonymously, each available for $65, and the artist’s identity will not be revealed until after the work has been purchased.

Featured artists include Tish Lowe, Mana Hewitt, Bill Davis, Barbie Mathis, Toni Elkins, Robin Gadient, Bonnie Goldberg, Marian Soule, Cami Hutchinson, Susilee Lamb, Julia Moore, K. Page Morris, Nini Ward, Carey Weathers, Charlene Wells, Jen Gorlewski, Steve Teets, Pete Holland, and Michael Krajewski. Additionally, 40 pieces from CA Johnson students will also be featured and sold for $15 each. Each student piece sold will provide a new school uniform for a student in Kenya.

This exciting event offers not only a unique and entertaining way to expand your collection at an amazing price, but it also supports a tremendously worthy cause. The money raised from the Postcard Art fundraiser will be supporting Artists for Africa. Artists for Africa is a non-profit organization created for the purpose of supporting Anno’s Africa, a non-profit organization which brings arts classes to children in the slums of Kenya. Artists for Africa strives to provide an alternative arts education to orphans and vulnerable children in Africa. In the past, funds raised by Artists for Africa have gone towards drums, leotards, guitars, watercolors, trampolines, juggling kits, crayons, sound systems, mono-cycles, and more. The program is currently operating only in Nairobi, but the goal is to spread throughout urban Kenya and eventually expand to other countries in Africa as well.

Enjoy a lovely evening, expand your collection at an incredible price, and support an invaluable cause all at once! The event will last from 6 – 10pm, with the sale beginning at 7. Artwork will be sold first come, first served, at $65 each ($15 for student pieces) and buyers are invited to purchase as many pieces as they wish. Tickets to the event are $15 and can be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com. For more information about Postcard Art and Art and Artists for Africa visit www.artistsforafricausa.org.

-by Abby Davis

A Sense of Self multidisciplinary art experience at Anastasia & Friends - Part Two (of three)

October is Domestic Violence Awareness month and in response, Al Black, Bonnie Goldberg, and Anastasia Chernoff have teamed up with visual and performing artists to bring you, “A Sense of Self.”  “A Sense of Self” is a three-part series and a combination of  visual works created by artists (who-happen-to-be-women)  focusing on work that both empowers women and exemplifies their strengths and vulnerabilities, along with performance art by poets and singer/songwriters in response to the topic.

“October is Domestic Violence Month, and I wanted to tip the month-long observance on its ear by uplifting women in these complimentary ways,” says Al Black, Columbia poet and author of I Only Left for Tea, a new collection of poetry from Muddy Ford Press.

"When Al proposed the show idea to me, I immediately said, yes," says Anastasia Chernoff, owner of Anastasia and Friends, where the show is exhibited, "because the concept hit so close to home.  Last year, I experienced a brutal attack by a man I had been dating. Through this experience and other times difficult times in my life, I’ve realized there’s a whole lot of light and knowledge to be experienced in the darkness if you’re willing to open your eyes and take a look at it. This show is in response to Domestic Violence Awareness month, but is not specifically about domestic violence.  It’s about women who have experienced tremendous, difficult times in their lives and, rather than becoming victimized by their experience, they have become stronger, wiser and more empowered.”

"A Sense of Self" opened on October 2^nd as  part of the First Thursday on Main Street art crawl. The second part of the series will take place on Tuesday, October 14^th, from 6pm to 8pm, with performance of original works related to the topic by three male poets and three males singer/songwriters. The closing reception for the series will fall on October 28^th, from 6pm to 8pm, and will feature a combination of 6 male and female poets and singer/songwriters who will create new pieces based on their response to the exhibited art being shown.

The visual artists represented include Michaela Pilar Brown, Anastasia Chernoff, Bonnie Goldberg, Molly Harrell, Mana Hewitt, Heidi Darr-Hope, Dawn Hunter, Lee Ann Kornegay, Laurie McIntosh, Virginia Scotchie and Kirkland Smith.

The poets and singer/songwriters performing throughout the month are Ron Baxter, Al Black, Debra Daniel, Mason Diction, Pretty Feet (Alexander Madison Hoffman), Hope, Anna Howard, Katera, Susanne KlapperSense, Ed Madden, Mario McClean, Deb McQueen, Jerlean Noble, John Scollon, Tammaka Staley, Cassie Premo Steele, Tabu, Kendal Turner, Tonya Tyner and Rev. Marv Ward

“A Sense of Self” runs from October 2^nd through October 31^st. Anastasia & Friends art gallery is open to the public, Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm and located at 1534 Main Street in Columbia in the front of the Free Times’ building, across the street from the Columbia Museum of Art. For more information, contact Anastasia Chernoff at 803 665 6902 or via email at anastasiachernoff@gmail.com.

Check Out Handcrafted Aliens And More This Week At Southern Pottery

A few years ago at a ceramics show at Vista Studios Gallery 80808, I fell in love with a colorful little bowl with a wonderfully retro-looking woman’s face on a blue background with a cartoon word bubble that said “Enjoy” and spoons floating around the perimeter. The purple rim had the words “EAT IT UP YUM” carved into the clay. Inside, I was greeted with another lush burst of green glaze. The whole work had this whimsical, imperfect feel to it, almost as if molded by a child, but this clearly was not a child’s work. It was the work of Georgia artist Vanessa Grubbs, the MFA-toting-accomplished-in-her-own-right daughter of celebrated Columbia artists Steve and Mana Hewitt.

I loved that bowl. I bought that bowl. And every time I look at that bowl (pictured), it makes me happy.

I can only imagine how it must feel to thrust one’s hands into cool damp slab of clay and shape it into something worthy of the kiln. I am so intrigued and amazed by the works of the clay artists we have right here in the Midlands, notably Anastasia Chernoff, Jeff Donovan, Sonia Neale, Paul Moore, Rita Ruth Cockrell, Mike Van Houten, Betsy Kaemmerlen, Diane Gilbert, and so many others.

So on a recent visit to Southern Pottery on Devine Street, I picked up a post card announcing the celebration of American Craft Week, which runs October 6-16. I know there are many choices for arts lovers this week. However, if you – like me – love pottery and the clay arts, you must make it out to Southern Pottery some time between today and Saturday, Oct. 16.

Tonight, Oct. 6, the Southern Pottery is hosting a reception from 6-9 p.m. for Cardinal Newman presents “Southern Icons,” hand-built clay works depicting social, religious, and cultural traditions through the eyes of teenagers. I know, it's First Thursday on Main, and there are shows at 80808 and City Art, too. But if you're a time-management wiz, you might be able to hit all of them.

And Friday, Oct. 7, the Southern Pottery will host another reception from 6-9 p.m. to celebrate “We Are Here,” clay and fiber works by Leanne Pizio and Paige Cox depicting aliens, UFOs, and quirky extraterrestrial visitors. Also on Friday, visitors to Southern Pottery are invited to participate in the “Made in China” mug swap. Those who donate their intact Chinese-made mugs (limit 4) will receive 20 percent off an American handcrafted mug.

The following week, on Friday, Oct. 14, Southern Pottery will feature artist demonstrations by Tuula Ihamaki-Widdifield and Susan Tondreau-Dwyer from 6-8 p.m. And on Saturday, Oct. 15, you can enjoy more demonstrations by Diane Gilbert and Paul Moore from 12-2 p.m.

Who knew? I urge you to check out some of this awesome clay-oriented action over the next 10 days. For details, visit www.southern-pottery.com or call the gallery at 803-251-3001. And tell them that Jasper sent you.

-- Kristine Hartvigsen

(Kristine Hartvigsen is an associate editor for Jasper Magazine. Read more of Kristine's work at www.jaspercolumbia.com)