The Jasper Project Welcomes Toni Elkins to The Nook Gallery at Koger Center for the Arts this Third Thursday

The Jasper Project is excited to welcome Toni Elkins to our Nook Gallery at the Koger Center of the Arts this week. The exhibition will run from this Thursday, February 20th until the week of the third Thursday in March when the work of our featured artist for March, Thomas Washington, will be installed.

Toni M. Elkins is a Columbia-based artist who was educated at Boston University and the University of Georgia. She is a member of the Trenholm Artist Guild and the 2023 recipient of the Missouri Watercolor International: J. Richeson Award and a “Top 50 Winner of the artsfortrumpcoalition.com,” the artist says. In 2014 she won the Clark Ellefson Merit Award and in 2013 the Susie and Caroll Heyward Purchase Award, both from the SC State Fair, among other accolades throughout her life.

Elkins says, “My work has taken on a whole new meaning since the death of my husband. I find I am more introspective and more interested in my environment. I actually LOOK instead of SEE. I examine our world in a different way, and I hope to make positive changes in this world through my art.”

Elkins is sponsoring her own personal opening reception for this exhibition at the Nook Gallery at the Koger Center for the Arts on Thursday, February 20th from 5:30 – 7 pm. She is planning to bring her own bartender and beverages for this event. The Jasper Project extends it’s gratitude to the staff of Koger Center for the Arts and Jasper board secretary and Jasper Magazine visual arts editor, Emily Moffitt, for working with the artist on this unique situation.

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