Art Reception Double Feature at the Koger Center by Emily Moffitt

The Koger Center for the Arts underwent a large cosmetic upgrade during the summer months, including new carpet and the installation of telescopic seating in their large rehearsal room to create a black box theatre. Aside from the physical facelift of the building, the two gallery spaces now hold new exhibitions for patrons to enjoy before an event or any time throughout the day. The two new exhibits are “The Project 2023 Winners’ Exhibition” in the Gallery at the Koger Center, and in the Nook, one of our Jasper Galleries locations, Marius Valdes is the featured artist of August. A large-scale opening reception for both exhibits is scheduled for August 15, 2024, from 5:30 – 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.  

The Project 2023 Winners’ Exhibition features the winners of the Koger Center’s annual art competition. The 2023 iteration winners are Yvette Cummings, Roberto Clemente de Leon, Gerard Erley, Jo-Ann Morgan, and Susan Lenz. “The Project: A Call for Art” is a competition that began during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and is dedicated to uplifting and featuring visual artists across the state of South Carolina.

A variety of media is included in this exhibit: from oil paintings to sculpture, from collage to quilting. Stop by the Gallery at the Koger Center and mingle with artist peers from across the state!

 As a member of the Vista Guild Association, the Koger Center for the Arts is proud to partner with the Jasper Project in Third Thursday Art Night. We feature a different artist every month in our rotating gallery, The Nook, with an opening reception on the month's Third Thursday. August 2024's featured artist is Marius Valdes.

Marius Valdes is an artist currently based in Columbia, SC. Valdes has been recognized by design publications such as Graphic Design USA, HOW, Print, Communication Arts, Creative Boom, Creative Quarterly, Step, and industry competitions including American Illustration, and The World Illustration Awards. In 2022, the UK's Creative Boom website named Valdes as one of its "20 Most Exciting Illustrators" to follow.

Valdes is a Professor at the University of South Carolina. He teaches graphic design and illustration in the GD+I program in the School of Visual Art and Design. He lives in Forest Acres with his wife, Beth, and their daughter Emma. Mary, the dog, is always around for a good laugh.

Finney Center Kicks Off Black Philanthropy Month with an Open House August 15 6 - 8 pm

Bounded by two historic districts, the Robert Mills District and the Waverly District, The Finney Center connects the heart of the African American community, past and present, to an ever-changing downtown Columbia, South Carolina.

MIKKY FINNEY

The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center is hosting a drop-in Open House on Thursday, August 15th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM for the community at-large as it launches a $2 million capital campaign to transform the former Southern Electric Company historical building, originally a tobacco warehouse from the 1940s, into a gathering place for people of all ages who view art as community building.  

The Finney Center will break ground on the renovation this fall, using a plan developed by the Boudreaux architectural firm. It will include a stage with seating for 200, which can be opened to the outdoors, an exhibition space with a 360-degree view, a dance floor, studio rooms, and other spaces for multidisciplinary endeavors.  

Bounded by two historic districts, the Robert Mills District and the Waverly District, The Finney Center connects the heart of the African American community, past and present, to an ever-changing downtown Columbia, South Carolina. It is housed in a former tobacco warehouse from the 1940s, which was renovated and repurposed in the 1960s for the offices of the Southern Electric Company. 

“Black Philanthropy Month is an annual August reminder for us in the Black community to look behind and to also look ahead,” says Director and Poet Nikky Finney. “Both my paternal and maternal grandparents taught me that it was just fine to focus on my own dreams as long as I also donated time, attention, and money to the community in which I lived, worked, and dreamed, making sure it too prospered. Join us at The Finney Center on August 15th as we host an Open House for our community. We want to share with you more about what’s been going on in 2024 and what’s ahead for 2025 and beyond.”

The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center is a 501c3 organization located at 1510 Laurens Street, Columbia, South Carolina. The focus of this Cultural Arts Center is on the making of art, the keeping of community, living Black history, and the ongoing generational celebration of music, visual art, poetry, dance, theatre, the culinary arts, and other community building and life sustaining activities. The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center is an incubator for progressive notions of what it means to be an involved, informed, and engaged creative human being, no matter that human being’s age or background. 

Nikky Finney is a nationally-acclaimed South Carolina-born poet and 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. A graduate of Talladega College, Finney taught at the University of Kentucky for 23 years and holds a Carolina Distinguished Professorship and the John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair in Creative Writing and Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina. Nikky Finney is the daughter of the late SC Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney, Jr., for whom the Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center is named.

What's Up at Chapin Theatre Company -- New Work, Fundraisers, A Christmas Comedy, and a Classic

Jasper congratulates not only the writers of the winning plays selected for Chapin Theatre Company’s Ten Minute-ish Play Festival, but Chapin Community Theatre itself for creating another opportunity for South Carolina playwrights to see their work onto the stage! The winners of CTC’s 4th annual festival are

Lou Clyde, Jamie Carr Harrington, Chris Whitehead, Randall David Cook (the Jasper Project’s first ever featured Play Right Series author) Jonathan Cook, Jack Perry, Peter Dakutis, and Connie Mardis.

The festival will take place November 1 - 3 at the community theatre’s new home at 830 Columbia Avenue in Chapin with George Dinsmore serving as the emcee.

Auditions for the festival will be held at the same location on August 25 and 26.

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The announcement provides a great opportunity to have a look at what else the company will be presenting as their 2024 season wraps up.

August 15 – 25 Fundraiser – So Long Roscoe!

Written and directed  by Monalisa Botts

So Long Roscoe! is a comedic look at Texas, family dynamics, and a World War II military-issue motorcycle complete with sidecar. Read more and get tickets here.

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October 4 – 20 The 39 Steps

directed by Frank Thompson

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December 5 – 15 A Nice Family Christmas

directed by Glenn Farr

Stay tuned to Jasper for CTC’s complete 2024 – 2025 season announcement.

FREE ART & FUN at the KOGER CENTER FOR THE ARTS THIS SUMMER!

The Koger Center for the Arts is so much more than a ticketed venue featuring the best of both local and touring performing arts. In addition to being the home of the Jasper Project’s Nook Gallery space in the Second Tier Lobby, Koger boasts an impressive collection of rotating and permanent art and offers free performances on the Outside Stage directly in front of the building.

Recently, Koger hosted the multimedia arts troupe, Squonk, on the outside stage and the front lawn was filled with folks on blankets and in lawn chairs enjoying picnics and a free performance by the 30-year-old entertainment organization. And there’s more to come!

Read below for a quick look at some of the FREE ART offered by the Koger Center for the Arts this summer.

Jasper offers the work of new artists year-round (though we’re taking a breather while the Koger gets new carpet this summer), in our Nook Gallery space. Jasper shows run monthly with opening receptions on the First Thursday of every month in conjunction with the Vista Guild’s First Thursday celebrations.

In the Upstairs Gallery Space the Koger Center hosts exhibitions by local artists such as BEAT OF THE HEART through July 1st, featuring local artists Rodgers Boykins, Ryan McClendon, Jeffrey Miller, Keith Tolen and Fred Townsend

In addition to hosting the SOUTHEASTERN PIANA FESTIVAL, a ticketed event, the Koger will also host a FREE LUNCHTIME CONCERT at noon on Tuesday June 11th in the Grand Tier Lobby. (Check out Malik Greene’s visual art in the Nook while you’re up there!)

Make Music Day is a free celebration of music around the world on June 21st. Launched in 1982 in France, it is now held on the same day in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries.

Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music Day is open to anyone who wants to take part. Every kind of musician - young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion - pours onto streets, parks, plazas and porches to share their music with friends, neighbors and strangers. All of it is free and open to the public. Make Music Day Columbia is hosted in conjunction with Rice Music House and is funded through a grant given by the City of Columbia. 

This year's Make Music Day schedule includes: 

10 – 11:30am Petting Zoo & Ruckus Hour 

12 – 1pm Music Lessons with Columbia Arts Academy (Ukelele & Voice)

1-5pm Recitals (Rice Music House and Freeway Music)

5:30-6:30 Drum Circle 

Don’t want to leave the house? Check out the Center’s Virtual Tour of Columbia-based artist Philip Mullen’s work from the comfort of your own home.

Philip Mullen came to South Carolina in 1969 and is one of the most renowned artists in the state. His works have been hanging in the Koger Center for the Arts since 1990, filling the space with his pieces that examine light and air. Throughout his art displayed in the Koger Center, Mullen explores the juxtaposition of light and how light touches everything around it. He has been described as creating works with even distribution of thought-out technique and carefree fluidity. From the Whitney Museum to the San Francisco Museum of Art, Mullen’s pieces have showcased his abilities all across America and the Koger Center is proud to house a permanent exhibit.  

Philip Mullen Art at the Koger Center is located on all three levels throughout the building.

You may take a virtual tour here for FREE! 

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Visit the Koger Center for the Arts’ website for more exciting info on both FREE and ticketed events coming up this summer!

RICHLAND LIBRARY AWARDED NEA GRANT TO ENHANCE ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCY PROGRAM

Jasper is delighted to share some good news about one of our frequent partners in the arts—Richland Library—and invite our followers to take advantage of this career and community-changing opportunity!

Richland Library is the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts under the Grants for Arts Projects category. The funding will specifically support Richland Library’s Artist-in-Residence Program, furthering its mission to foster cultural and artistic exchange within the community.

“These projects exemplify the creativity and care with which communities are telling their stories, creating connection, and responding to challenges and opportunities in their communities—all through the arts,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “So many aspects of our communities such as cultural vitality, health and well-being, infrastructure, and the economy are advanced and improved through investments in art and design, and this funding at the local, state, and regional levels demonstrates the National Endowment for the Arts’ commitment to ensuring people across the country benefit.”

Since its inception in 2015, Richland Library’s Artist-in-Residence Program has aimed to connect the community with local working artists, providing a platform for creative and educational opportunities. The program is designed to support cultural and artistic exchange by giving artists, performers, and makers of all disciplines the freedom to work in their own studio space, share their artistic processes, and engage with the community through a variety of programs.

Richland Library is now accepting applications for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 residency periods. Interested artists are encouraged to apply by June 6th, 2024. For more information about the Artist-in-Residence Program and application details, please visit https://www.richlandlibrary.com/services/become-artist-residence.

For questions or media interviews, please contact Tacara Young at 803-351-5616 or tyoung@richlandlibrary.com.