A message of Thanks from Cindi

It’s been a truly lovely week for the Jasper Project, and I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to so many individuals who contributed to our current state of grace.

On Thursday, the Jasper Project was honored by being awarded the Governor’s Award for the Humanities at the 32nd Annual South Carolina Awards in the Humanities Luncheon and Ceremony at the Pastides Alumni Center in Columbia’s Vista. It was an incredible joy to  accept this award on behalf of the Jasper Project’s Board of Directors, past and present. Thank you to Jon Tuttle, Ed Madden, Kirkland Smith, and Wilma Ruth King for your faith in us and for recommending the Jasper Project for this incredible honor.

The following explanation of our selection for this award was shared by SC Humanities:

After 25 years of serving as an adjunct instructor of Gender Studies and freelance writer for national magazines, in 2011, Cindi Boiter founded Jasper Magazine, a publication devoted strictly to arts in the South Carolina Midlands. As the magazine grew into a touchstone for a number of multidisciplinary arts projects commemorating events in SC’s cultural history, as well as projects like the journal Fall Lines – a literary convergence and the 2nd Act Film Project, the organization became a 501c3 in 2015. With a robust working board of directors, The Jasper Project has continued to create and facilitate innovative projects that meet the needs of state and local artists of all disciplines, such as Syzygy, the Supper Table, and Sheltered, while offering artists support, promotion, and the validation to say, “I am an artist!” The Jasper Project is a true grassroots organization with no paid employees and little overhead. Both Boiter and the board of directors serve the extended community of SC artists as a labor of love. Boiter is a six-time recipient of the SC Fiction Project, winner of the Piccolo Fiction Project, the Porter Fleming Award for fiction, the 2014 Recipient of the SC Governor’s Award for the Arts (formerly the Verner Award), and the 2018 recipient of Richland Library’s Lucy Hampton Bostick Award. She is the cofounder, with her husband Dr. Bob Jolley, of Muddy Ford Press, has written or edited more than ten books and is the editor of Jasper Magazine and co-editor of Fall Lines – a literary convergence.

As the above clearly demonstrates, the strength of the Jasper Project comes from our hardworking board of directors – a group of individuals who have internalized the ideal of service to one’s community. This same cadre of artists and arts lovers were on deck Friday night when we released the fall 2023 issue of Jasper Magazine at the Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center.

We are incredibly appreciative of the hospitality of our host Professor Nikky Finney, the author of On Wings Made of Gauze; Rice; The World Is Round; and Head Off & Split, which won the National Book Award for Poetry in 2011. Her newest collection of poems, Love Child’s Hotbed of Occasional Poetry, was released in 2020. Finney is Carolina Distinguished Professor at USC in Columbia where she is also Director of the Ernest A. Finney Jr. Cultural Arts Center. Despite her distinguished career and accolades, Professor Finney demonstrated a hands-on philosophy and practice Friday night when she joined our team of board members, interns, and volunteers in set-up and break-down for the event, lugging tables and chairs and even digging through trash to prepare recycling more properly for the center.

Thank you, Professor Finney, for your hospitality and generosity of spirit. It is good to be on the same team.

Other thanks are also in order.

Thank you to performers Lang Owen, TiffanyJ, and Ezymoonstones, and to Black Nerd Mafia for facilitating much of the performance.

Thank you to visual artists Anthony Lewis, Jordan Sheridan, Malik Greene, Benji Hicks , and Jean Lomasto for sharing your art with us.

Thank you to board members extraordinaire Bert Easter, Keith Tolen, Kimber Carpenter, Loli Munoz, Wade Sellers, Emily Moffitt, Christina Xan, and Rebekah Rice for set-up and break-down at the event, and to intern Liz Stalker for all her help, too. Thank you to Kristine Cobb and Al Black for being on deck as well as to Jon Tuttle, Libby Campbell, and Laura Garner Hine for being with us in spirit. Working with these loving and kind individuals is one of the greatest joys of my life. Their dedication to something larger than themselves restores my faith in humanity every time I have the pleasure of their company.

Thank you to our guild members and organizations who help sponsor the publication of  Jasper Magazine with their ads among the pages. This includes, Columbia Museum of Art, the Koger Center for the Arts. Columbia Arts Academy, Harbison Theatre, the Palmetto Opera, and the University of South Carolina’s Department of Theatre and Dance. Please remember these important institutions as you select how you will spend your arts and culture time and dollars.

Thank you to the contributors to this issue of Jasper Magazine, especially art director Brian Harmon, music editor Kevin Oliver, poetry editor Ed Madden, theatre editor Libby Campbell, and film editor Wade Sellers.

Thank you to the artists whose stories are included within the pages of this issue of Jasper Magazine. There are too many to list here as, at 76 pages, this is our largest issue to date.

Finally, thank you all for your kind support of the Jasper Project. If you aren’t already, please consider becoming a member of the Jasper Project Guild. We would love to have you as a member of the Jasper family.

All the best,

Cindi Boiter

executive director, the Jasper Project

 (Apologies to anyone whose contribution I failed to mention — please know that you are appreciated.)

Jasper is Thankful for YOU - a message from Cindi

From the bottom of our hearts, we are …

At this time of year those of us at the Jasper Project like to say thank you to the universe for the treasures that have come our way, just like everyone else.

In addition to all of you who support our mission by donating, volunteering, spreading the word, participating in our projects, and reading what we write, I am also thankful for our hardworking board of directors. The Jasper Project board of directors give of their time, energy, and their own wealth and blessings to keep Jasper afloat and actively serving the needs of our arts community at the grass roots level that we believe is so important.

Here are some of the things this board has done for Jasper this year: They have sold tickets, hung posters, hauled and delivered magazines, put up stages and run sound and light for performances. They have baked and prepared food, picked and arranged flowers, balanced our books, filed our taxes, managed projects, written articles, consulted with artists and donors. They have donated their own funds, and so much more.

They also shared with us the people, places, and things in the greater Columbia arts community that they are thankful for themselves.

Read on to see what they had to say..

—Cb

Jasper Project board vice president & director of Harbison Theatre, Kristin Cobb says, “I am thankful for Larry Hembree because he is always willing to lend a hand to all of us in the arts world.”

L-R Joe Hudson, William Cobb, Kristin

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According to USC professor Drue Barker, “I am thankful to live in a city with a thriving contemporary dance community with leaders like Erin Bailey, Martha Brim, Bonnie Boiter-Jolley, Stephanie Wilkins, and Wideman-Davis!” 

Christina Xan, who writes articles and manages the Tiny Gallery project, in addition to always being at the ready to help out wherever she can, agrees, saying, “I’m thankful for Stephanie Wilkins because she has used her compassion and skill to carve new, unique spaces for dancers and dance in Columbia.” 

Stephanie Wilkins and Bonnie Boiter-Jolley, co-founders of the Columbia Summer Rep Dance Co.

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Our intern Stephanie Allen, who is also an excellent writer and devoted to the cause, says, “I’m thankful for the CMA because they continually make themselves accessible to students like me and create open, welcome spaces for the community.”

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Web Maven and graphics guru Bekah Rice, says, “I'm thankful for the MANY outdoor markets in Columbia because they make buying local goods, especially art, more accessible and provide artists and artisans in our community more opportunities to make a living.”

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Jasper Project board president Wade Sellers says, “I’m thankful for an independent film community that continues to create and grow while supporting their fellow creators. The past ten years have seen imaginative new voices emerge in our city. More importantly we have seen those filmmakers get to know each other, share ideas, and share their skills. Our city and the surrounding areas are the rare place where roadblocks that usually hinder access for independent filmmakers don’t exist. I look forward to the new stories these filmmakers will tell in the coming years.”

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Bert Easter, who manages the Jasper Gallery in the Meridian Building in downtown Columbia, says, “I am thankful for ceramics artist Virginia Scotchie of USC who has partnered with me to show student work alongside her art at the Jasper Gallery at the Meridian on Main and the display windows along Washington and Sumter Street.

I am also thankful for the neighborhoods who have had art-in-the-yard events. These meet-the-artist events have been fun,” Easter continues. “I am thankful for the city’s poet laureate, Ed Madden. He’s so cute... oh and he does poetry and art stuff too.”

Columbia City Poet Laureate (and Cutie) ED Madden

artist - Virginia Scotchie

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Paul Leo says, “I am thankful that we have a lively Opera scene here in Colombia, between the productions of The Palmetto Opera Company and The Southeast Division Metropolitan Opera Competition which is starting back up in January 2022 at Columbia College. Columbia's art scene is rich in the preservation of the classical art forms as well as encouraging new and innovative art forms. That is what makes it a truly great city!”

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Board member and manager of the Lizelia project Len Lawson says, “I'm thankful for Columbia Museum of Art, Writer-in-Residence Ray McManus, and Drew Barron for the excellent work on the Hindsight 20/20 Series and Binder Podcast of which I'm grateful to have been a part.”

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Thanks to all of our diligent board members including Grayson Goodman, Al Black, Barry Wheeler, Diane Hare, Christopher Cockrell, Laura Garner Hine, and Preach Jacobs.

If YOU feel like you might have a gift to offer the Jasper Project by way of contributing to our publications, helping out at events, or even applying to be a member of the board of directors, please let us know! We’re always looking for sisters and brothers in the arts who want to join us in our labor of love.

In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Jasper Project!

My Time as a Jasper Intern by Christina Xan

I met Jasper Project’s Executive Director Cindi Boiter for the first time at Jasper’s Syzygy, an arts event which premiered original plays and poetry about 2017’s solar eclipse. At the time, I knew nothing of Jasper. I was just there to support my playwrighting professor & friend, Jon Tuttle, who enthusiastically introduced me to Cindi after the plays.

Cindi had no reason to think I was anything special, but she welcomed me immediately with open arms, setting up a coffee date and sending me home with some copies of Jasper Magazine. Over coffee shortly after, she introduced me to the basics of Jasper and what the art community in Columbia looked like, encouraging me to send her some of my work. I was so in awe that this person was welcoming me with bright eyes when she barely knew me. As a poet, playwright, and lover of the arts, I wanted to be a part of this world, but as a self-doubting new graduate student in the area, I shied away from it.

Even though I never responded or went to an another arts event in my first year in Cola, Cindi invited me to the many art & literary events Jasper was a part of, and every time, I made mental plans to go, but never did. My first year of grad school, I threw myself into studies, and while I loved my little community of fellow students, I felt something missing. I felt that urge to be part of the arts. When I saw Cindi post a need for interns for the 2018-2019 year, I felt the tug towards it, and messaged her about it. Soon after, Cindi set up a meeting time, and we chatted, and before it even started, the conversation felt like home, and that was it.

It’s hard to actually encapsulate in any amount of words how much I love being a part of Jasper. I can anticipate skeptics saying, “Of course she’s going to say good things about what it means to be a Jasper intern, on the Jasper blog.” And to that, I’d like to give you the phone numbers of anyone in my cohort or family to whom I am constantly raving about Jasper being the best part of my 1,000 jobs. What you get to do for Jasper is unlike what you get to do anywhere else.

The main activity I did upon starting as a Jasper intern was writing articles, which may not sound like the most exciting thing, but the people I have interviewed I have made lasting connections with. I’ve had interviews where the other person and I have ended up sitting at a coffeeshop for three to four hours after the interview because we’ve enjoyed each other’s company so much.

Xan with author Dorothy Allison at the Deckle Edge Literary Festival

Along these same lines, every event I attended as an intern brought this same opportunity to meet new wonderful people. Each event I participated in, I was inundated with awe at how loving, humble, and talented our artists and creators are. Everyone I met was so excited to not only be part of this community but to bring me into the community.

That’s always how I’ve countered what people have seen as the biggest negative when I tell them about being an intern – not being paid. It’s true. I’ve never brought home a penny from interning with Jasper, but I’ve never seen that as a negative. No one on the board brings home money; everyone who is part of Jasper does it because they love the arts, because they believe the artists in the Midlands are special and deserve to be noticed. We work for them not for ourselves, and knowing they are seen and loved is enough payment. As an intern, especially, I went in wanting a sense of community and place, and not just as an artist but as a human being. I’ve found that.

There is no price tag on meeting an artist and connecting and quickly becoming friends that meet regularly for coffee or exchange books with each other. There is no price tag on walking into an event and immediately being welcomed by warm smiles and hugs from people who are genuinely excited to have your presence there. There is no price tag on family. I’ve been paid in love to last a lifetime.

That’s why, this internship is not the end for me and Jasper. I have been so lucky to be asked to stay on with Jasper and have chosen to be a part of this community as long as I can. I get to be the Assistant Project Manager for The Supper Table, which became a project close to my heart the moment I heard of it. In the fall, I get to join the Board myself and become even more involved in the process of Jasper. Our new Tiny Gallery Series has become my own baby, and I already am thinking of new projects I’d like to see come to fruition.

Xan with visual artist Keith Tolen at the Tiny Gallery series

Anything else I could say would just be repeating what I’ve been saying, so honestly, just know that I love it here. I love all the little things like writing articles, writing for the magazine, interviewing artists, attending events, running events, etc. But really, I love the community. I love my Jasper family. I love all the people we touch, the people they touch, the tendrils we have that sweep across our world and make a change. I look around at what I’ve been able to do and what I’m able to be a part of, and I’m just humbled and grateful and glad.

I’ll end by saying that if you’ve ever thought about being a part of the Jasper family, I can only encourage it and promise that open arms will be waiting for you, and I’ll be first in line.

An Open Letter to Jasper's Advertisers

Rosewood Arts Festival ~ 701 Whaley

Columbia City Ballet ~ Trustus Theatre ~ Columbia College & the Goodall Gallery

Vista Ballroom ~ Ricky Mollohan & Cellar on Greene ~ Elite Framing

The Whig ~ USC Dance ~ Newberry Opera House

Doubletakes ~ House of Frames and Paintings 

Harbison Theatre ~ Columbia Marionette Theatre

Kristian Niemi & The Whiskey Fair ~ Sumter County Gallery of Art

Muddy Ford Press ~ First Citizens

Jasper leaf logo

Dear Jasper Advertisers,

I’m writing simply to thank you for supporting your local arts community and the magazine that covers it by advertising in Jasper Magazine – The Word on Columbia Arts.

Jasper Magazine is a home-grown labor of love, written, photographed, and published by local writers and artists for local writers and artists and a readership that welcomes and supports their works. We print the magazine in Columbia, too.

Over the past 13 issues of Jasper, we have covered the work of more than a thousand Columbia artists in our pages—musicians, dancers, poets, actors, filmmakers, set designers, costumers, novelists, painters, singers, sculptors, photographers, lighting designers, playwrights, choreographers, printmakers, ceramicists, directors, composers, conductors, fiction writers, and more.

Our Jasper Salon Series brings the likes of the cast, crew, and company members of Trustus Theatre, Columbia City Ballet and other artists and arts organizations to our studio where we deconstruct the process of creating art and enlighten audience members on how they can become more engaged in the arts they love.

Jasper also sponsors a monthly spoken word poetry event called Wet Ink, a Columbia-based book club, a writers’ group, as well as a yearly local book festival.

Our first film project, The Second Act Film Festival, debuts on October 10th.

In addition to promoting Columbia’s local art scene, we also show our appreciation to you, our devoted advertisers, by encouraging our staff and readers to patronize your businesses and organizations, as well as using our substantial social media presence to make it known that YOU SUPPORT THE HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COLUMBIA ARTS BY SUPPORTING JASPER MAGAZINE WITH YOUR ADVERTISING DOLLARS.

You see, we see you as an important part of the Jasper Family because we know that without YOU, we couldn’t do what we do. And we are so proud of what we do! You should be, too.

Thank you for joining us on our mission to make Columbia the newest Southeastern arts destination. Thank you for entrusting us with your message to our readers. Thank you for being a part of the ever-growing, multi-talented Jasper Family.

On behalf of all of us at Jasper -- Thank You.

All my best,

Cindi

Editor, Jasper Magazine

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2012 Resolutions for & by Columbia artists & arts lovers

We know that you all have your own resolutions to worry/quickly forget about, but we thought you might like a peek into what's going on in the brains of some of your friends and neighbors. Here's a small sample of what we heard from folks when we asked them

What would you resolve for 2012 for the Greater Columbia Arts Community?

Musician Chris Powell says,

“I'd like to see ColaTown artists in residence resolve to double their output and involvement in 2012. Isn't the world ending this year or something? May as well quit your dayjob and pump out some jams. Nothing to lose!”

Arts Supporter Tracie Broom says,

“For those who extol Columbia's virtues as a cultural destination already, keep it up! Positive talk adds to our city's collective unconscious and its outward appearance, making it more attractive to creatives, knowledge economy workers, investors, & companies who could, down the road, become arts sponsors! For those who range from kind of negatory to downright pessimistic about Colatown, I challenge you to employ my mother's old tactic when you feel the urge to denigrate our city: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.”

Visual and Performing Artist Alex Smith says,

“Work together, and if you can't, cut the backstabbing rumor-mongering bullshit and address the problem directly. If you can't be adult enough to do that, you are a community of one (or two if you can get your B.F.F. to go along with you) and you are dead weight on the barely floating boat of a community that the rest of us are trying to create here.”

Visual Artist Susan Lenz says,

“A great New Year's resolution for the entire Columbia arts community COULD be to use an all inclusive, good-looking, easy-to-navigate, totally complete arts calendar if Santa brought it to us!

Individually, I've always made "professional" New Year's resolutions. Past years were for Mouse House and dealt with trying to find personal time for art. Like the stereotypical "go on a diet" resolutions, they never worked. Finally, I forcibly downsized Mouse House and my New Year's resolutions started being about my creative process and artistic goals. Amazingly, I've been successful with every resolution. Three years ago my goal was to get "real, quality gallery representation". It took until September ... but I'm now in the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville. Two years ago my goal was to find a professional, juried or adjudicated affliation ... and now I'm a PAM (Professional Artist Member) of Studio Art Quilt Associates. Last year my goal was to get a solo show in an accredited museum ... and I had "Personal Grounds" with my Decision Portrait Series at Waterworks Visual Arts in Salisbury. I haven't set my goal for 2012 but I'm open to suggestions! It's got to be a "big goal" ... something really worth the effort!”

Performing Artist Chris Bickel says, (and we really like this,)

"I'd like to see the arts community resolve to be more self-critical and open to constructive criticism. While it's extremely important for a small and growing art scene to be a supportive community, that support can sometimes devolve into glad-handing which doesn't serve to create an atmosphere where artists challenge themselves. We should seek to be constructive with our criticisms and thick-skinned enough to take them.”

No matter what you reject or resolve, Jasper Magazine wishes you all a wonderful 2012 filled with new projects, cooperation, busy calendars, inspiration, productivity, community involvement, and accomplishment.

Happy New Year!

Love,

Jasper