Happy Birthday to Arts & Draughts AND The Whig!

Jasper August 4, 2015

The Columbia Museum of Art hosts the 21st installment of its Arts & Draughts series onFriday, August 14, from 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. The CMA's quarterly night of beer, music, and art activities is also celebrating The Whig's 10^th anniversary with tons of things to do. "Having a program still thriving and growing after five years says so much about how Columbia has responded to this idea, and we're excited to celebrate this milestone with the strongest installment to date," says Phil Blair, owner of The Whig. "We've got an incredible exhibit, paired with the most genuinely talented musicians and wonderful human beings we know in this all local lineup, and a beer we made ourselves with the first brewery to ever participate in Arts & Draughts. Without a doubt this is the way we want to recognize our long standing relationship with the CMA and our 10 years of being in business on Main Street."

Taste local food and drinks by The Wurst Wagen, Bone-In Artisan Barbecue on Wheels, Island Noodles, and Sweet Cream Co. The Whig's 10th Anniversary Ale brewed by Redhook debuts and a beer tasting of Kona Brewing Company's Big Wave Golden Ale is also featured.
Live music is provided by Jade Janay Blocker, Bologna Eyes, Mustache Brothers, and Say Brother.

The CMA is also going all out with DIY and creative activities inspired by the exhibition From Marilyn to Mao: Andy Warhol's Famous Faces. "There's a lot of art in this Arts & Draughts. We really wanted to celebrate Warhol - both his ideas and his aesthetic," says Adult Programs Manager Glenna Barlow. "At our DIY station you'll be able to make your own Warhol-style piece with a simplified printing process and contemporary celebrity faces. We want to explore the question 'Who would Warhol be depicting if he were still around today?' Beyond that you can make your own digital selfie with a screen printing app and take a picture in our photo booth inspired by Warhol's famous factory." Guests can also get their own "15 minutes of fame" as Multimedia Production Coordinator Drew Baron records candid personal responses to the exhibition.

The night also marks the opening of Identity in the Community Gallery. Identity, featuring works by Michaela Pilar-Brown, Ed Madden, Betsy Newman, Alejandro Garcia-Lemos, and each artist's chosen protégé. Artist groups are:

Betsy Newman

Alice Wyrd

O.K. Keyes

Michaela Pilar Brown

Ariel Flowers

Roni Nicole Henderson

Ed Madden

Alexis Stratton

Alejandro García-Lemos

Mary Robinson

Anna Velicky

Kyle Alston

Kaitlyn Shealy

Identity is a collection of collaborative works or installations that seek to answer the enduring questions posed by Warhol's themes of fame, celebrity, and the public persona.

Admission is $9; $5 for CMA members, or become a member that night and get in for free!

For more information, visit columbiamuseum.org

Fall Lines Contributors & Events Announced

Jasper May 20, 2014

The Columbia Fall Line is a natural junction, along which the Congaree River falls and rapids form, running parallel to the east coast of the country between the resilient rocks of the Appalachians and the softer, more gentle coastal plain.

It was almost a year ago when I first asked Tony Tallent, Lee Snelgrove, Jonathan Haupt, and Ed Madden to meet with me to talk about the prospects of a professional quality literary journal based out of Columbia, SC. My hope was for a yearly journal that we could publish as a summer reader in lieu of the July/August issue of Jasper Magazine. In the best of all possible worlds the book would be the same size as Jasper--but with more pages--perfect bound, and free, both to submit to and to take home. I wanted the advice of these gentlemen on whether this was a feasible endeavor. Once we had batted the ball around the room several times and decided it could and should be done, I wanted their help. They delivered it generously.

On June 8th, the city of Columbia will celebrate the launch of Fall Lines - a literary convergence. We chose the name Fall Lines because we wanted to honor our city and the energy that the falling waters of the Broad and Saluda Rivers bring our way. Almost 500 submissions were entered into consideration for publication in Fall Lines. From them, 30 were accepted and seven others came to us via invitation. In addition to winners in the fields of poetry and prose, Fall Lines will also publish work by the SC Academy of Authors 2014 fellowship winners Nancy Brock and Jo Angela Edwins; three essays from USC Press's upcoming second volume of Aida Rogers' State of the Heart (by Christopher Dickey, Josephine Humphreys, and Ray McManus); as well as poetry by SC Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth, (sponsored by Roe Young and the Roe Young State Farm Insurance Agency.) Local designer and Jasper art director Heyward Sims designed the cover of the book. It is 98 pages long and, as always, Muddy Ford Press made it all happen.

Thank you to Tony Tallent for bringing in Richland Library as a major partner on Fall Lines, as well as the Richland Library Friends who are generously awarding the cash prizes ($250 each) to the winners of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry and the Broad River Prize for Prose. Richland Library will also offer the book in its entirety as an E-Book through the library system. Thank you to Lee Snelgrove and One Columbia and to Jonathan Haupt and USC Press for partnering with us. Thanks to Tom Mack and the SC Academy of Authors and to Roe Young and the Roe Young State Farm Agency. Thanks to our advertisers: Trustus, Ed's Editions, Gallery West, and The Whig. Thanks most of all to Ed Madden who, of late, is more often my partner in crime than not. And my dear, dear friend.

It is with great pleasure that we announce the contributors to the 2014 inaugural issue of Fall Lines - a literary convergence literary magazine.

Dig and Delve – Nicola Waldron

April, 1965 – Betsy Breen

Soon – Jonathan Butler

Accidentals – Mary Hutchins Harris

Forgotten – Marjory Wentworth

Militants Ban School Bells in a Town in Somalia – Marjory Wentworth

Taste the Sound – Jennifer Bartell

Davy Crockett’s Last Stand – Nancy Brock

Like – Jo Angela Edwins

Island Time – Josephine Humphries

What I wish I had said to Billy Collins – Brandi Perry

Queens – Alexis Stratton

Almost – Angie Zealberg

Ghost Crabs – Hastings Hensel

Lap – Robert Petersen

Like a little bell he trembles III – Matthew Stark

Pilgrimage – Christopher Dickey

Want a ride? – Aïda Rogers

A Bike – Bob Blencowe

Cancer Voodoo II – Melissa Johnson

The Ache of Beekeeping – Tony Tallent

Ruts – Ray McManus

At Congaree Swamp – Nicola Waldron

My Father’s Chest – Jarred Coffin

Jumping into the Abyss of History, A Prologue – Megan Volpert

you burn me – Susan Laughter Meyers

The Gunpowder Craze – Doug Berg

One Quiet Morning – William Claxon

In May’s Blue Box – Linda Lee Harper

What Tassio Fulgrass Thinks of Life – Susan Levi Wallach

Letting You Die – Marlena Impisi

early November – Laura Rashley

Crazing – Lisa Hammond

Mission – Tara Powell

The Ride Back – Jo Ann Hoffman

Open Windows – Matt Mossman

Fishing for Bream – Ivan Young

Through a Glass Darkly – Debra Daniel

Please join us in celebrating Fall Lines and it's contributors with a signing and reception on one or both of the following dates:

Sunday, June 8th at 4pm at Richland Library, 1471 Assembly Street in Columbia

RSVP on the

Facebook event

Monday, June 9th at 6 pm (readings will start closer to 7) at Gallery West, 118 State Street in West Columbia

RSVP on the

Facebook event here

Pick up your Fall Lines this summer from one of the following primary distribution sites:

Richland Library -- all branches

One Columbia on Taylor Street

USC Press on Devine Street

Jasper Studio at the Historic Arcade

Ed's Editions in West Columbia

Gallery West in West Columbia

Trustus Theatre

HoFP

iF Art

701 Whaley CCA

Nickelodeon

The Whig

Congratulations to the winners and the contributors and thanks once again to everyone whose individual efforts made a very important thing happen. Columbia now has her own literary journal -- Fall Lines - a literary convergence.

-- Cindi Boiter

Art in Action: Noah Brock -- Art and Rummage Sale for Sister Care

Jasper June 14, 2012

Whether we’ve had to fulfill requirements for an honor society, pad a resume, or to try to convince the world that the Greek system is something other than a primal dating industry, most of today’s twenty-somethings have had some experience with volunteer work. The catch is, well, that there’s typically a catch. We pervert altruism into a self-serving mode of academic, professional, and/or social advancement. In short, we’re in it for the commemorative t-shirt.

Thankfully, this generalization doesn’t always hold water. Case and point: Noah Brock. This local musician admits that “there is little to no glamour in [his] life.” He lives modestly with his wife and puggle (a pug/beagle mix) in a rented house behind a fire extinguisher refilling plant. Though Noah disagrees, he’s done something rather noteworthy; he has organized an Art Show and Rummage Sale to raise money for and awareness of Sister Care, a local charity organization benefitting women and children who have fallen victim to domestic abuse. Sadly, the question that comes to mind is: why? What motivated Noah to organize such an event? When I asked him, he responded with a refreshingly candid, “I can’t really say.” To me, this inability or unwillingness to rationalize his charity reveals an unadulterated innocence of intention. He’s not in it for self-flattery or politics; he quite simply wants to use Columbia’s vibrant arts community as a vehicle to fundraise and promote “a great charity that is sometimes overlooked.”

Noah’s fundraiser is to take place this Saturday (6/16) from 10 am to 5 pm at Conundrum Music Hall (626 Meeting St., West Columbia). The event will include: live acoustic music from Alderman Douglas, Hope Clayton Cullum, Marv Ward, and The Dubber; a raffle ($2 per ticket) featuring prizes from local West Columbia businesses Bug Outfitters, Sun Spirit Yoga, and Scratch and Spin Records; beer and soda will be sold by Conundrum (no outside alcohol permitted), and KC Hot Dogs will be vending. Admission for this event is $3, and anyone interested in setting up a table or booth for the rummage sale can do so for $5. All proceeds from the door, table fees, and raffle tickets will go directly to Sister Care.

“There are certain things no one should ignore,” Noah told me. Battered women and children certainly fall into that category. So, too, do those folks like Noah who remind the rest of us to pay attention. So this Saturday, pay attention. Come to Conundrum, support a great local cause, and pay Noah a compliment he will likely dismiss.

-- Austin Blaze, intern, Jasper Magazine

Columbia Comics meets Columbia Soul at ColaCon 2011

mbolen August 30, 2011

Time to pull out your favorite super hero/villain costume, Columbia! Our progressive little city is hosting the first of its kind ColaCon at the Columbia Museum of Art from 5 p.m. to midnight this Friday. This isn’t your standard comic book convention, my fellow fantasy lovers. ColaCon is where hip-hop music and comic book culture intersect to create an evening of eclectic goodness.

Organized by the talented Preach Jacobs, ColaCon will feature all of the traditional elements of a comic book convention, including lectures and panels from some of the top professionals in the industry, as well as inkers, writers, graphic novelists, illustrators and more.

Columbia native Sanford Greene, an accomplished comic book illustrator, will be a featured artist and will speak on the panel “Indie Music & Art in Modern Culture.” Green has worked on many high profile comic books including Amazing Spider-Man, Army of Darkness, Deadpool and more. Also a Columbia native, Marvel Editor Jody LeHeup will be speaking on the panel “Want to Get Into Comics” and will give aspiring artists, writers and inkers portfolio reviews.

I took a little time to talk with LeHeup before he heads our way from the Big Apple. Here is what he had to say:

What is it like coming back to Columbia for the first ever ColaCon as a Marvel Editor? It’s great! I always enjoy coming home to South Carolina, but it’s especially exciting to be coming back for ColaCon. Preach Jacobs has put together an incredible show and I’m thrilled that as an editor working in comics I can be a part of it. I’m flattered to be asked.
What role has Columbia played in pushing you forward to achieve your dreams? When I was living in Columbia, it was not a city that pushed artists forward. The support just wasn’t there. Plenty of artists tried to get things going, put on events, that kind of thing, and people just didn’t come out. It was a very frustrating thing to watch and to experience. You’ve got people bitching that there’s not enough of an art culture in Columbia and then those same people don’t go out and support it, either with their presence or their dollar. It was that stagnation that actually pushed me out of Columbia. That was a few years ago though and things seem to be getting better now. The response to ColaCon and other recent events has been big so that’s very heartening. Much love out to everyone living here fighting the good fight.
What are you looking for in the portfolio reviews you will be conducting at ColaCon? I’m looking for a lot of things. First and foremost I’m looking for ways to help the artist whose portfolio I’m reviewing to become better. An artist that’s not ready this year might be ready next year if they work on their craft, so giving them good criticism and enabling them to improve is good for them and it’s good for me as an editor. Beyond that I’m looking at an artist's sense of page composition and layout, storytelling from panel to panel, anatomy, perspective, special relationships between characters and environments, consistency from panel to panel, ability to cartoon and to have characters emote, and a general idea for whether this person’s work is competitive with artists I currently work with.
Didn’t you just get a book nominated for a Harvey Award? Aren't the Harvey Awards like the Oscars of comics? Tell us a little bit about that. Hah! Well, they’re more like the Golden Globes. The Eisners are sort of like the Oscars if you want to follow that analogy. But yes, I was nominated for a Harvey Award for Strange Tales Vol. II and it was a huge honor.
What are you currently working on at marvel? I’m currently editing a title called UNCANNY X-FORCE along with three other projects that haven’t been announced yet.
Are we going to see any of your own comics anytime in the near future? Yeah, I hope so. Not for a while though. Got a few things I have left to do as an editor first.
Anything you want to say to those aspiring to work in comics? Stop talking about it, study the craft, and do it. Let nothing stop you. If you get your ass kicked trying, get up and try it again.

Jacobs has planned a solid comic book convention, as well as taking it a step further to ensure our senses are stimulated throughout the entire evening by bringing in some of the top hip-hop, soul and alternative sounds from the southeast. Also appearing is Talib Kweli, an MC from Brooklyn, NY, as the headlining act. Kweli first gained recognition through a collaboration with MC Mos Def called, Black Star. He is also a frequent collaborator with artists like Kanye West and has sold 2 million albums worldwide.

All around, this is going to be a one-of-a-kind event not to be missed. If you are interested in comics and/or good music, it is a great time for you to check out what is going on in the local and regional scene.

General tickets are $20 and $15 for Columbia Museum of Art members.For more information on ColaCon check out http://cola-con.com/. We hope to see you there (in costume)! So, until then, tell Jasper what super hero/villain you plan to impersonate at ColaCon on Friday. For me, I’m thinking Poison Ivy.