Exploring Jasper Tiny Gallery Artist Tennyson Corley’s Whimsical and Charismatic Ceramic Creations

Tennyson Corley has been making art in Columbia for years, but in the past couple of years, a chance encounter with clay led to an exciting journey rife with whimsical characters. Her current Tiny Gallery show features a snack-hoarding hoodie-wearing raccoon, a photography-loving frog in stripes and a young opossum boy playing a dead cowboy. 

A few years ago, when Corley signed her son up for a homeschool clay class at the Columbia Art Center, friend, and artist Bohumila Augustinova convinced Corley to take her own beginner wheel throwing class—and she did—eventually having her own wheel at the center. 

“By the end, I didn't want to stop so I put my name on a very...very long waiting list and a year later I was playing in the mud again. Cut to 2022, I had just completed a mural for The Audubon Society at Folly Beach and that felt like a completion to my painting journey,” Corley shares, “I began experimenting with sculpting creatures and I gave them little stories. Like a golem, or something, they needed a story to bring them to life.”  

Though her 2D art may not always have made this evident, Corley has “always been drawn to the illustrative art of children's books, and even deeper, descriptions of folkloric creatures and mythology,” made even more evident by her penning of companion stories.

“I never felt like those concepts fit easily into my 2D work. Clay opened a door for my true, weird essence to flow in some respect. I also have a dark sense of humor. I think giving my creatures certain traits acts upon a social commentary of society,” Corley intimates, “Like, is it ok to act like this just because they are cute? Or this one is quite different, but hey, they're just like me! Can we look past appearances and accept what is below the surface. I enjoy coming at it in a playful way.” 

The process for making these creatures is always different. Corley jokes that her mind is always running to the point she wishes she could shut it off. She may start with a specific animal and then create a story around it, or she may have a story in her mind that needs a creature. Something as simple as a song lyric or a quote may “ignite a spark that becomes a flame that [she] can't damper until it is out of the kiln.”  

Though all art has a story, Corley’s pieces have full narratives pulled right from her imagination that describe the identities, characteristics, and backgrounds of the characters. While everyone, including her, tended to ask, “what is this painting about,” she wanted the characters to speak for themselves. 

“I wanted to open the introductory door, so-to-say, for the viewer, the patron, to be able to compile upon the story. I also like the idea of making them more like a quick read children's story for adults. And maybe hope that if a child reads them, they wouldn't get the dark bits,” Corley details, “It's also fun to see people at events linger over the sculpture and their stories and even strike up conversations with complete strangers.”  

In this show, Lulu Leatherhead, Otis the Opossum, Snack-coon, and Artemis are Corley’s current favorites—but her decision always fluctuates: “It is actually really hard for me to pick a favorite. I spend so much time with each piece. From idea, to construction, to glazing, and story. I feel like they are all my weirdo children. I know them, and then I have to see them off to collectors.” 

Corley’s creations have been catching eyes even beyond Cola lately. She was recently published in San Antonio’s Pepper Magazine and asked to be an Arts Contributor. Each magazine will feature one of her ceramic illustrations (sculptures) along with its story as an evolved/revolutionized comic strip.  

You can find her works on Jasper’s Tiny Gallery until May 31st and continue to follow her on her Instagram @tennyson_corley_art. Corley is currently planning a small workshop with the Columbia Art Center for the fall to introduce people to her process.

Q&A with Cedric Umoja: Alchemical Change Through Art -Third Thursday at Koger Center by Liz Stalker!

This Thursday, May 16th, Third Thursday with Jasper presents a reception at the Koger Center for the Arts featuring the work of artists Cedric Umoja and Jarrett Jenkins. Umoja is a multidisciplinary artist based in Columbia who works in a wide variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpting, filmmaking, installation work, and performance art. Jenkins (AKA Lefty Unz) is also a Columbia based multidisciplinary artist as well as a tattoo artist. He describes his art as “largely focused on majestic depictions of Black people, reimagining subjects from popular culture, and sociopolitical commentary on current events.” 

The art shown at the reception will have a focus on Black culture, Hip Hop culture, the tattoo scene, and the corresponding overlap of cultural attitudes and ideas.  

The event will also feature Fat Rat da Czar, current president Love, Peace & Hip Hop, the organization responsible for Hip Hop Family Day, who will deliver a special announcement about that upcoming event.  

Before the show, Jasper was given the opportunity for a virtual interview with featured artist Cedric Umoja.

 

Jasper: Your work takes on quite a variety of mediums! What was the first medium(s) you found yourself drawn to when you began to create art? And how would you characterize your progression as an artist? 

Umoja: Pencils, pens and printer paper were the most accessible as a child. These made me feel as if I had graduated from being just a child, especially since crayons and markers were more age appropriate.

 

Jasper: how would you characterize your progression as an artist?  

Umoja: I went from thinking I understood how to make Art to reimagining what the Art I make could be. These ideas and practices are worlds apart from each other. There was a time when I was just a painter, but the need to convey my thoughts and ideas expanded as did my practice. Since then I’ve been a multidisciplinary artist for over five years. I’m constantly expanding how I engage others through my work. I see it as being able to speak different languages. The more languages you can speak, the more people you can communicate with. My Art is about engaging and communicating with its participants.

 

Jasper: In your artist bio on your website, I noticed that you say you seek to "enact alchemical change," which is a really interesting and expansive concept. Could you explain a bit about what that means to you? 

Umoja: Enacting alchemical change when it comes to my work has to do with aligning my intentions to impact there for positive growth in themselves with the proper visual stimuli that conjures those conditions which cause emotion to arise. It’s through medium, intention and imagery that this becomes possible!

 

Jasper: It's really cool that this show seems to be a reflection on really neat elements of Black culture, like Hip Hop. I think it's really cool that there is this sort of duality intertwined in Hip Hop as the music and the culture sprung up as a reaction to state sanctioned disenfranchisement and strife, but much of the genre, both early on and in the present, is also able to demonstrate a certain lightheartedness and lively fun. I found your art, with all of its vibrancy and, in many places, its pointed political messaging, very similar in that way. How do you find yourself balancing severity with playfulness as you create?  

Umoja: The balance is found in life itself! The opening to one of my favorite anime flicks “Fist of The North Star” speaks to this. The pendulum swinging in one direction must eventually swing in favor of its opposite. So, playfulness is necessary as it allows those who participate with my work the space to deal with what I’m communicating without feeling all the heaviness of the subject matter loaded into my work. I took a page from my Granny’s book, put the medicine in the candy. This is how you can guarantee it will be consumed!

 

Jasper: Lastly, for what about the upcoming show are you most excited? 

Umoja: I’m most excited to hear what Love Peace & Hip Hop’s President, Fat Rat Da Czar aka Masta Splinta, has to say. I know it’s gonna be some great news!

Pure, Childlike Joy in Pascale Sexton Bilgis’ Little Flat People

This month, Jasper’s Tiny Gallery has featured the work of Pascale Sexton Bilgis, a French mixed media artist currently located in Charleston, South Carolina. She is predominantly concentrated on expressionist landscape paintings, which are inspired by the vast majesty of the French countryside she grew up in, and sculpture. 

Bilgis’ sculpture work is highlighted in particular in Tiny Gallery, which is currently showing a collection of works from her Little Flat People series. These Little Flat People are all made of the same clay, same color, fired in the same kiln at 2000 degrees, and if it weren’t for their various poses—and their surroundings made up of shells, rocks, and other bits of painted clay—they would all look virtually the same.  

Still, through these aforementioned other elements, the Little Flat People take on lives and personalities of their own, reflecting many of the lives Bilgis notices around her. Of her inspiration behind the Little Flat People, Bilgis says on her website, “I found my inspiration in humanity and the people I see every day; especially, the purity and innocence of children, and their innate empathy for others.”

This childhood innocence and purity is certainly reflected in many of Bilgis’ works, including “Flying on a Mushroom,” which depicts two Little Flat People holding each other’s hands at the peak of an oversized mushroom, positioned in a sort of Superman-esque pose with their legs dangling off the mushroom’s cap; and “The Oyster Playground,” which depicts several childlike Little Flat People climbing up stone steps and sliding down a playground slide made out of an oyster shell, all in various modes of play, their limbs turned about in wild expressions of anticipation and enjoyment. 

Throughout the entire series, the Little Flat People take on a variety of activities, from fishing to reading to playing to drinking to simply being with one another, like in the piece “Golden Green Dad and Son,” which depicts a Little Flat Person standing proudly with his Little Flat son on his shoulders, looking out over a little clay pot. Each of the pieces is imbued with a kind of pure joy; no matter the occasion the Little Flat People may find themselves in, the kind of joy that can serve as a reminder of the wonder of life’s little things or simply provoke a smile in whoever may be so fortunate as to gaze upon it. 

All pieces are available at the Jasper Project’s Tiny Gallery until the end of April and are priced between $25 and $50.

Bits & Pieces by Olga Yukhno and Friends at Stormwater Studios

April 26 - May 7, 2023

Stormwater Studios

Featuring the work of 6 South Carolina artists, Olga Yukhno has curated an exhibition that brings her unique vision to life. Bits & Pieces, which opens on April 26th at Stormwater Studios at 413 Pendleton Street in the Columbia, SC Vista and runs through May 7th, focuses on artists whose work involves multiple parts—think woodworking, quilts, mosaics—hence bits and pieces.

In addition to Yukhno, the artists exhibiting include Cameron Porter, Janet Kozachek, Mary Robinson, Janet Swigler, and Jeri Burdick.

The opening reception is Wednesday April 26th from 5-8 with a public workshop on May 2nd from 6-7 pm, an Artists Talk on Thursday May 4th from 6-8, and a closing celebration on Sunday May 7th from 1-3 pm.

Yukhno also is currently showing an extensive collection of her own work at the Jasper Gallery at Midland Technical College’s Harbison Theatre on College Street in Irmo.

This exhibit was made possible due to the generous sponsorship by Dr. Bill Schmidt.


More About the curator Olga Yukhno:

Olga Yukhno is an artist originally from Pyatigorsk, Russia. It was in Russia her passion for art began. Inspired by the culture of her home country, she started by working with batiques, stained glass and enameling. She studied under world renowned enamellist, Nikolai Vdovkin for several years to hone her skills, before moving to the United States in 2008. 

In the US, she no longer had access to the tools needed to continue with her enameling, and quickly started expanding into any and every new medium she could get access to. What she fell in love with was ceramic sculpting. It allowed her to experiment, and fuse together old-world artistry with her skills and abilities across a wide variety of art forms to create totally new and unique mixed media pieces. 

Over the years, Olga has traveled to over 40 countries across Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and the Americas, and visited museums ranging from the world famous Louvre in France, to the smallest unnamed art displays in towns and villages few outsiders have ever seen. It is in these travels she gets the most inspiration, drawing on the uniqueness and culture of every new place she visits, she finds ways to incorporate those cultural nuances into each new piece she makes. The colors, shapes, and ideas of everything from tribal masks to modern street art can be seen woven into her work. She loves juxtaposition in her art, old and new, lustrous and weathered, and it’s in these contrasts she finds beauty.

Currently her work is a mixture of three dimensional ceramic and mixed media wall pieces, figurative sculpture, and larger scale installation works. The process used to create many of her signature looks is achieved by hand pressing each individual impression into the clay using small custom made metal tools. She hand makes all of these tools herself out of repurposed architectural metal scraps. She also loves to incorporate found objects, as well as utilize techniques from other art forms she’s studied and practiced, such as weaving, encaustic and metal working. The result of this process, different incorporated elements and techniques are what create her unique and visually interesting personal style. Her degree in psychology shapes the ideas and concepts behind many of her pieces, with the intention that observing her work encourages the viewer to think more about what they’re seeing, and the emotions it evokes.

(https://www.olgayukhno.com/about)

Jasper Project presents Keith Tolen at Sound Bites for April's First Thursday

THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2023 AT 6 PM – 9 PM

1425 Sumter Street in Columbia

You’re invited to help Jasper welcome Keith Tolen and his art to First Thursday this month at Sound Bites Eatery on Sumter Street.

Retired educator, protegee of Leo Twiggs, devoted husband, father, and full time artist, Keith Tolen is a man of surprises and his new show at Sound Bites, opening Thursday night as part of April’s First Thursday festivities, makes that clear.

According to Tolen, “My art experience has been both fulfilling and complex. I love the process of creating. In many ways I am more attracted to the process than the product that is produced. The artwork in this collection is an extension of my personal story of searching for meaning in the everyday activities that are around us. Music has always provided me with inspiration for new ideas. I am a big fan of live music, especially jazz. Jazz musicians have provided me with a wealth of subject content. Recently my art has taken on another turn as I explore the nature of the dot or point. The relation of the shape of the dot whether standing alone or clustered in groups has assisted me in finding a new language for my visual communication methods.”

The title of Tolen’s Sound Bites show is Mask-A-Raid III. The evening kicks off at 6 pm and we’re also welcoming instant-portrait artist Jamie Peterson back to help us save our memories of the night and the show.

Free and open to the public. Grab a soup, sandwich, or salad as well as a drink or two, and make yourself at home at Sound Bites, Columbia’s coolest arts cafe!

Vastness Captured in Small Scale: Nikolai Oskolkov's Tiny Gallery Art

St. Basil’s Cathedral

Jasper’s Tiny Gallery currently features the work of Moscow-born and Columbia-based artist Nikolai Oskolkov, also known as NikO. 

For this series, Oskolkov’s artistry met with the typical constraints of the gallery, most importantly that pieces must be under 15” x 15”, which is smaller than what is typical for an oil painting—Oskolkov’s preferred medium. The artist says that he “love[s] working on small artwork for every benefit that it offers,” and through this collection, he demonstrates a wide variety of approaches that actually utilize this size constraint. 

Interestingly, many of the pieces in this collection are landscapes, which evoke an impressive expansiveness for paintings that are so physically small. The perspective work in these pieces does a lot to contribute to this feeling.

In a painting entitled “Midwestern Plains,” the sky with its large puffy clouds looming over the diminutive strip of grassy plains down below, dotted with buildings in the distance, takes up most of the painting surface. In another painting, “Lagoon,” the lower part of the canvas depicts gently rippling water, which reflects a distorted image of the architecture in the painting’s upper third.  

Laagoon

“This expansiveness is also reflected in a number of pieces portraying Russian architecture from historically and culturally significant monuments, like St. Basil’s Cathedral and Kremlin, to more industrial features, like Downtown Moscow and War Train. These architectural features stretch across the canvas, impressing the viewer with their intimidating stature, seeming at once close and yet far removed from the natural world they’re in front of, in many ways rivaling it.  

In contrast to these vast landscapes, Oskolkov also examines significantly smaller subjects in close ups. The piece Fallen Angel depicts an angel figurine, lying face down, its golden head reflecting something indiscernible. Its upper back is chipped, just behind its wings, and the hole left behind is sizable, offering a glimpse of the darkness in the hollow of the figurine. These details evoke a kind of vastness as well, emphasizing just how much there is to even the smallest subject. 

Be sure to check out Nikolai Oskolkov’s work at the Tiny Gallery here through the end of March! All pieces are under $200, and the artistry is sure to amaze you.

Colleen Critcher and the T.Rex as Consumer and Consumed

Colleen Critcher is a Florence, South Carolina based artist who finds inspiration in consumerism, Tyrannosaurus Rex, and all things kitschy and gauche. She describes herself as a “painter at heart,” her favorite being oil painting, though she’s worked with a variety of mediums. She also finds herself turning to printmaking often, a process that matches much of her work thematically in the way that it, according to Critcher, “mimics the industrial production model in a completely inefficient way.” 

Critcher has known she wanted to be an artist since she “learned that it could be a profession” in Kindergarten. She’s always felt called toward it, and always found herself admirably aware of its capabilities. “I’m also addicted to the basic alchemy aspect of art making,” she says. “Making something from nothing feels like magic to me.” 

And make something from nothing she does, over and over again. Critcher’s recent series, entitled Consumed, is a scathing commentary on the American consumerist obsession with excess and features a series of pieces in which the subjects literally consume multicolored plastic dinosaurs.

“I love the fact that decades after I collected them, the T.Rex remains a pop culture icon,” Critcher says. “People are still obsessed with this dinosaur who was once the “ultimate consumer. It’s a bizarre cultural phenomenon.”  

“Beyond the connection from childhood toys and popular culture, I’m also interested in the fact that Rex was once the apex predator. It’s a reminder that humans pretend their dominance is somehow guaranteed to be permanent. There is also a sad irony to the fact that the remnants of dinosaurs (as petroleum) are what we make plastic with, and plastic is slowly killing everything. Yikes.” 

There is something to be said for the deadly consumerist infatuation with plastic, especially considering Critcher’s idea that our induction into consumerism starts with childhood– “I think for most of us it starts with toys.” 

Relatedly, Consumed also includes several pieces with children as the subjects. What A Good Little Consumer and Pretty Please both feature the full body images of children, a girl and a boy respectively, with T.Rex masks on their heads, dressed in what appears to be play costumes. Something about the way the children stand, the way the little girl in What A Good Little Consumer cradles the T.Rex toy in her arms, feels eerie, more sinister perhaps. Is there something to be said here about consumerism eating us back? 

Critcher answers this question with more questions: “I’ve been making work about American consumer culture for a decade now and I’m constantly asking questions about our participation. Are we passively implicated in the process? Are we fully engaged with both feet in this complex system? Are we consuming the things or are they consuming us? What are the benefits and what are the negative effects of a culture built on the necessity to constantly buy more things? When I had children it made me recognize that they, we, become consumers almost immediately.” 

Another unique facet of Critcher’s work is its ability to be self-referential–she puts the literal image of herself into her paintings. Within Consumed, she can be seen chowing down on a purple dinosaur in Devouring Her T. Rex and a neon green one in Keeping Up With The Joneses (Suburban Mom). Perhaps this is a nod to her own participation in consumer culture, a reminder of its inescapable impact on all of our lives. It certainly adds to the uncanny aesthetic of the series.  

Critcher received her MFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Since then, her work has been shown at numerous galleries, including The Southern, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Kai Lin Art, Gutstein Gallery, and 701 Center for Contemporary Art, and she has taught several arts foundations courses at Coker University, Coastal Carolina University, and Francis Marion University.  

Critcher is the featured artist in the Jasper Project’s First Thursday Series at Sound Bites Eatery at 1425 Sumter Street. Join us on Thursday, March 2nd as we celebrate the opening reception for her work which will hang throughout the month of March.

 

For more information about Critcher and her projects, and to check out her delightfully bizarre series Consumed, visit her website, colleencritcher.com.

Jasper Welcomes Lindsay Radford to the Hallway Gallery at Koger Center for the Arts for First Thursday this Week

The Jasper Project is excited to welcome our second Third Thursday artist to our Hallway Gallery at the Koger Center for the Arts. Lindsay Radford was born and raised in Alabama where she attended the Booker T. Washington Magnet Art School, Wiggins says that the experience helped shape her as a young artist. Now living in Columbia, SC, where she completed her BA in Studio Art at Columbia College, Radford says, “Art, for me, is a therapeutic way of moving what is inside me into a physical form. My hope is that my work uplifts, inspires, and empowers others to seek their own voice.”

Radford’s art will be available to view anytime the Koger Center is open and will remain on display through March 15th. The reception for this opening will run from 4 - 6 pm on the second floor of the Center just outside of the Donor Gallery.

Join us on the third Thursday of March for a new show by artist Quincy Pugh.

Announcing the Jasper Project Lineup for our First Thursday Sound Bites Gallery and our Third Thursday Koger Center Gallery

Lucas Sams ~ Colleen Crichter ~ Charles Hite ~ Cait Maloney ~ Steven White ~ David Dohan ~ Jean Lomasto ~ Amy Kuenzie ~ Lila McCullough ~ Barbie Mathis ~ Thomas Crouch ~ Lindsay Radford ~ Quincy Pugh ~ Cedric Umoja ~ Lauren Chapman

Artist - Colleen Crichter - March 2023

Jasper is excited to announce the lineup for 2023’s featured artists at our First Thursday Sound Bites Eatery Gallery as well as at our newly inaugurated Jasper Gallery Space at Koger Center for the Arts.

Check back in as their shows approach for more information about the featured artists but, for now, please mark your calendars for the First and Third Thursdays of each month to welcome the following artists and possibly to welcome some of their art to your home.

 Jasper’s First Thursday Gallery at Sound Bites Eatery

February – Lucas Sams

Join us Thursday February 2nd to welcome Lucas Sams as a first time First Thursday Artist

March – Colleen Crichter

Opening March 3rd

April – Charles Hite

Opening April 6th

May – Cait Maloney

Opening May 4th

June – Steven White

Opening June 1st

July – David Dohan

Opening July 6th

August – Jean Lomasto

Opening August 3rd

September – Amy Kuenzie

Opening September 7th

October – Lila McCullough

Opening October 5th

November – Barbie Mathis

Opening November 2nd

December -  Holiday Art Show TBA

 

 

Jasper’s Third Thursday Gallery Space at the Koger Center

January – Thomas Crouch

Crouch’s work will be on view through January

February – Lindsay Radford

Opening February 16th

March – Quincy Pugh

Opening March 16th

— April – Koger curated —

May – Cedric Umoja

Opening May 18th

June – Lauren Chapman

Opening June 15th

Lauren Chapman - Koger Center, June 2023

Cait Maloney - Sound Bites Eatery, May 2023

Lucas Sams is the Featured First Thursday Artist at Sound Bites for February 2023

Jasper welcomes Columbia-based artist Lucas Sams to our First Thursday Home Away from Home, Sound Bites Eatery, this Thursday, February 2nd starting at 6 pm.

Sams is a multi-media artist living and working in Columbia, SC; an alumnus of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities, the University of South Carolina and Temple University, Tokyo, working in painting, sculpture, film, digital/multimedia, sound, and installation art, with works exhibited in major art festivals, galleries and alternative spaces. Sams has been featured in Jasper Magazine, the SC State Newspaper, Garnet and Black Magazine, and the Timber Journal of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Sams says of the upcoming show, “Nothing has been more fun in recent memory than painting like I did before Art School. This organized mess is a collection of drips and splashes, recorded action, crystallized snapshots of steps in undefined processes. Imagery ranges from the completely non-objective to portraits from the Artist’s Unconscious, both the intimate and the unfamiliar. 

Announcing Jasper Galleries at the Koger Center Featuring New Work by Thomas Crouch, January - February

We are excited to announce the newest location in our Jasper Galleries series: Jasper Galleries at the Koger Center. As part of our effort to promote local artists and support local art endeavors, Jasper has teamed up with the Koger Center to craft this gallery space with hopes to draw more visitors to the Center and to create a new stop in the Vista’s existing Third Thursday.

Presently, Thomas Crouch is scheduled for January, Lindsay R. Wiggins is scheduled for February, and Quincy Pugh is scheduled for March. Each show will have an Opening Reception and Artist Talk on the Third Thursday of their respective month, and the work will remain up for the remainder of the 4-week period separating shows.

 
 

Thomas Crouch is a visual artist in Columbia SC. After studying at The Lorenzo De Medici School of Art 1990-92 in Florence, Italy he graduated from the University of South Carolina Bachelor of Arts in 1997. He was accepted into the inaugural Sedona Summer Colony Artist Residency 2016 in Sedona, Arizona as well as the Con Artist Collective Winter Residency 2017 in Manhattan NY. He is a member of Solas Studio NYC and has work in private collections nationally and internationally.

On Thursday, January 19th from 6:00pm – 8:00pm, Crouch’s Opening Reception will initiate the new gallery with a showing of his new work entitled Process Abandon. He will hold an Artist Talk at 7:00pm, and art will be available to purchase during the reception as well as throughout the month via QR codes on each individual label.

According to the artist, “This group of paintings focuses on the process. Composition, texture, and value become the subject matter. I’ve wanted to do large abstract nonrepresentational pieces where the viewer can interpret the paintings rather than the artist dictate their experience. This departure from the animal portraiture I’ve done in the past is refreshing to me. Incorporating the two has been both frustrating and rewarding. Painting this way is interesting to me because the end result changes from day to day. The final image is not known to me. There are no blueprints to work on top of and no animals to envelope the canvas. Instead, thick brush strokes create linear texture and wheat pasted prints demand attention from the rest of the canvas. The images shown here that serve as a subject are merely vehicles for the piece. My work has continually changed over the years. This recent change is a return to early form as well as a new direction. Every new piece builds on the last while exposing something new. This group of paintings are the most recent examples of an ongoing process of layering looking and leaving.”

 The work will hang in Koger’s Hallway Gallery, which is located on the 2nd floor of their main lobby. Many thanks to Nate Terracio (Director), Chip Wade (Marketing Director), and Emily Moffitt (Marketing and Administrative Assistant) at the Koger Center for their shared vision and their work in making this new location a possibility.

For more information about our spaces visit the Jasper Galleries page.

Jasper Talks with Sean Rayford on Inspiration, Favorite Photographers, and Tiny Gallery

“I rode my bicycle on Willie Nelson's ranch —” 

 

This month, we’re showing off some stunning photography from award-winning and Time Magazine Best Photos of 2021 feature photographer Sean Rayford. Hear more about his life and his current show with us below.

 

JASPER: Did art come to you young, or did you find it later in life? 

RAYFORD: Shortly after my birth in Annapolis, Maryland, my family moved to a small town in the center of the Australian Outback. If you draw crosshairs on the continent, you'll find the town of Alice Springs on the southern edge of the Northern Territory. Downtown, if you might call it that, there was a photo lab, and the print machine was placed in the front window of the storefront. I remember standing on the sidewalk watching with intrigue as tourists’ photos dropped out of the machine. Every errand downtown was highlighted by the opportunity to see this in action, and if there were no photos being printed, it was a disappointment. 

We moved back to Maryland when I was five. My older brother was into art and me, I was into sports. During one stretch, he was processing film in our basement closet. In high school I’d take an intro class to black and white photography, probably the same one that inspired him to process film at home, and I'd join the school newspaper. 

 

JASPER: Did you continue to study it officially or did it remain more so a personal project? 

RAYFORD: I came to the University of South Carolina in the late nineties as a computer science major and planned a career in that field. During my first week on campus, I joined the Gamecock Newspaper and by the Spring semester I had taken on the role of the photo editor. Here, I had special access to an endless stream of subject matter, a digital film scanner, and most of the time I'd get reimbursed for the film expenses.  

I earned a Bachelor of Media Arts degree from USC, but there's little art background in my education. Early in photography I was just experiencing life, playing (practicing) with a camera, being curious, documenting things, learning, and making mistakes. Art wasn't a concern of mine. I just enjoyed playing with light, shapes and color and experiencing what the world had to offer, in person. I didn't know what I was doing. I probably still don’t, and I guess that's the beauty of it. There’s always a chance to learn and apply it to the next time.

  

JASPER: What did you do after graduation? 

RAYFORD: After I graduated from USC, I interned and freelanced at The State Newspaper, where I came into regular contact with photojournalists approaching photography with different artistic approaches, definitely more thoughtful than I. They each had their strengths and weaknesses, and those different styles heavily influenced my approach. To my knowledge, I was the last contributing photographer at The State Newspaper who regularly shot assignments on film, processed and scanned negatives. Back then, whenever I processed photos on film, I thought about how I wasn’t making photos. The darkroom was awesome - but cumbersome.  

Here, photo editor Chuck Dye pushed me to look more into the traditional art components of photography. Chuck brought me in with Robert Frank’s American’s and pushed me to look at great painters. I watched a bunch of lectures and presentations on YouTube while I continued to freelance and take on personal projects. This gave me consistent opportunities to apply what I was learning. Now, I’m more likely to be listening to audiobooks about the creative process.

 

JASPER: And what kind of experimenting do you like to do now? 

RAYFORD: Before I became a full-time photographer in 2015, I bartended at New Brookland Tavern where I occasionally hosted arts and crafts night when we didn't have shows. At the least, most people would color in the weird coloring books I acquired. We’d paint and experiment with all sorts of mixed media in a very social manner. They were typically slow nights, so I had time to participate. But it’s been a while since I’ve consistently done anything like that. I took one of Michael Krajewski’s classes this year though. That was fun. Now, I feel too much pressure as a freelance photographer to find the next paying gig or find the next personal photo project to pick up those types of projects. 

 

JASPER: What makes photography such a special medium for you? 

RAYFORD: I kinda see photography as a five-dimensional Tetris game, with color and light joining our three standard spatial measurements. Introducing people to the mix, increasing the speed at which your blocks fall. n my primary field of photojournalism, my art form isn’t photography, but rather visual storytelling. And when it's time to "be creative" there is no backing out. You have to perform and deliver. It's somewhat like sports in a way, but there aren't measured winners and losers for each performance. The friendly competitiveness and the continuous repetition using cameras, taking lots of assignments, taught me a lot about photography and especially about photographing humans. However, you won’t see any people in the pieces here in this Tiny Gallery. Most of the photos here are what most folks might call landscapes. I would call them natural "scene setters" in my visual story-telling process. And for much of these, they were made for that purpose. 

 

JASPER: Along those line, are there any particular ideas you aim to express with your work? 

RAYFORD: I don’t think I’m trying to express many of my ideas with photography, but I can't escape the fact that I'm bringing all of my personal experiences into my photo making process. I'm organizing visual components to tell a story — and my life experiences heavily influence that process. I’m trying to take the viewer to where I’m at, at that time. And if I’m making photos as a photojournalist, I also have to do this within our ethical boundaries — like not moving items and not asking folks to perform for the camera (portraits excluded). 

There are always recurring themes and subject matter with my photography, but it's extremely varied because of what I'm tasked with as a documentarian. And all those different things that I photograph influence one another, both in how I approach it as a human and someone practicing an art form.

 

JASPER: Tell me a bit about the logistical aspects of your creative process.  

RAYFORD: My creative journey begins when I have my cameras in good working condition, batteries charged, and with appropriate memory cards ready to roll. I should be hydrated and fed. As technology advances so do the tools that I use. Logistics and planning are huge factors. With photography, you physically have to be somewhere at a specific time, and there are no do-overs. It’s typically impossible and would definitely be unethical.  

There's an old adage that luck sits at the intersection of preparedness and opportunity. My creative journey cannot ignore the preparedness aspect. That’s so key because once you get out into the field doing your thing, you shift into your highest gears and need to rely on the brain-hand-camera connection, where fractions of seconds matter.

 

JASPER: With all these “fractions,” how did you select the photos for this specific show?  

RAYFORD: For the Tiny Gallery I chose photos from recent visual explorations of the natural world here in the Carolinas, from the Midlands to the North Carolina mountains. 

The photos were made as recent as Oct 31st of this, and the oldest about 3 years ago. There is a group of single exposure photographs of "snappy syncs" or synchronous fireflies (photuris frontalis), a rare species that inhabits central South Carolina. 

 

JASPER: Is there anything specifically you hope people get from viewing these images? 

RAYFORD: I hope the collection will inspire people to explore. We spend a lot of time inside with technology. Go see neat things. Congaree National Park is a time machine. The mountains of North Carolina — epically ancient. 

 

JASPER: Hard question, I know, but could you pick a favorite photo in the show? 

RAYFORD: My favorite photo may be the most recent photo, the only one here from Congaree National Park. That excursion has been on my calendar for several months, and just when I was at the right spot, I was blessed with gorgeous light. So many times, it doesn't work out that way. 

 

JASPER: Speaking of favorites, who are your favorite photographers, or artists in general? 

RAYFORD: My favorite photographers are William Klein, Henri Cartier Bresson, Jill Freedman and Saul Leiter — to name a few. Outside of photography, Edward Hopper and Goya got my attention as a kid, and they still do. 

 

JASPER: Do you have any real “wow” moments in terms of recognition? 

RAYFORD: A photo I made covering the Ahmaud Arbery story was included in Time Magazine's "Best Photos of 2021." 

 

JASPER: Most random moment related to your photography career? 

RAYFORD: At some point in my journey as a photographer, I rode my bicycle on Willie Nelson's ranch. 

 

See Rayford’s Tiny Gallery show at Jasper’s virtual gallery until the end of November.

 

Announcing Tiny Gallery’s 2022 Ornament Show

Last year, Jasper had its first Tiny Gallery Ornament Show, and this year we’re doing it again with five artists across disciplines. From ceramics to acrylic to trolls, these handmade works make a perfect gift or addition to your own holiday decorations.

Check out our lineup and mark your calendars for when their work goes on sale December 1st!

Adam Corbett

Photo by David Russell Stringer

Adam Corbett is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and visual artist from Lexington, South Carolina. After releasing numerous records, helping to produce a musical, and taking a break from his career as a music teacher, Adam branched out into visual art as a way to cope with the COVID-19 lockdown. Throughout that period, he has experimented with various mediums in a variety of formats focusing always on exploration, play, and following his muse.

Tennyson Corley

Tennyson Corley is a contemporary artist from the heart of South Carolina. Her current work is what she describes as "ceramic illustration." Sculptural story-book creatures with a healthy dose of Beatrice Potter and Orwellian Animal Farm influence, each with their own, at times, humorous back story.

You can check out her work on Instagram @tennyson_corley_art and on her website: https://www.tennysoncorleyart.com/

Michael Krajewski

Michael Krajewski is a self-taught artist who has shown in numerous galleries, collaborated on large, commissioned pieces for museums, painted live at art events and been the subject of magazine and newspaper profiles. He was Jasper Magazine’s first centerfold in 2011. His style has been called neo-expressionist and compared to Jean-Michel Basquiat's, though Krajewski says he is less interested in defining, more interested in producing. He’s had solo shows at the HoFP Gallery, Frame of Mind, and Anastasia & Friends in Columbia, SC, and participated in a two-person show at the Waterfront Gallery in Charleston and in a group show at 701 Whaley.

Holly Rauch

Holly has always had a creative streak, starting as a child sketching characters from the Sunday comics, and enjoying cross-stitch needlework and paper crafts as an adult. Her recent interest in acrylic painting began by attending “paint parties” with friends. With no formal art education but wanting to learn more, she used online tutorials to teach herself dot art, palette knife work, fluid acrylics, one-stroke, and other acrylic techniques. She’s most enthusiastic about abstract designs, but also enjoys painting landscapes, scenes of nature, flora, and fauna. In 2006, Holly lost her only child, Lyssa, to cancer. Lyssa was 20 years old and a sophomore at Winthrop University in Rock Hill SC, studying technical theater when she passed away. The Lyssa Rauch Memorial Scholarship was established in Winthrop’s Department of Theater and Dance, funded entirely by private donations. But when the scholarship experienced financial difficulties, Holly decided to start selling her art and use her hobby to benefit a worthy cause. Now the proceeds from the sale of Holly’s art directly funds this scholarship. A $1,000 award is presented each spring to a rising 4th or 5th year student, keeping Lyssa’s memory alive, and helping future artists follow their own passions in the arts. Holly is a member of the Cayce Arts Guild. She lives in Lexington SC with her husband Todd Leger, Alexandra the Golden Retriever, and three crazy cats: Jaime, Tyrion, and Cercei. You can view Holly’s entire body of work at her Facebook page “Heartisan Love”: htps://www.facebook.com/HeartisanLove

Lucas Sams

Lucas Sams is an award-winning Columbia, SC multi-media artist working in painting, sculpture, film, digital/multimedia, and installation art. Sams works have been exhibited locally and regionally in major art festivals, galleries, and alternative spaces, and featured in Jasper Magazine, the SC State Newspaper, Garnet and Black Magazine, and the Timber Journal of the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Tiny Gallery Artists Debora Life Converges Love for Gardening and Pottery in Her Ceramic Creations

This month, we have been delighted to showcase Debora Martin Life’s ceramics during out October Tiny Gallery show. Learn more about her and her work below! 

Debora Life grew up in Adena, a small coal-mining town in Ohio. She recalls her father having his own trucks and employees—while her mother kept both the books and the home—and cites observing them as one of her early influences: “That may have been an early exposure to seeing how things worked and what it took to keep a business up and running.” 

Though her first real exposure to art, and pottery specifically, would come after a move to Marietta when she was 11. This larger school brought hands-on experience with pottery and various mediums. In terms of training, though, art is not what Life went to school for—on the contrary, she is a trained nurse. 

Her first love of creation was really with plants. Life remembers “early passions include[ing] seeing the country by way of motorcycle riding with our daughters in a sidecar, then progressing to backseat passengers as they grew. We made several cross-country trips, falling in love with the West.” 

After moving to Arizona, Life became a Master Gardner and then became involved with a Cactus Society that met monthly at the Botanical Garden in Phoenix. As she learned about the world and its nature, she came to a conclusion: “with plants you need pottery.” 

Life began taking ceramic classes with every instructor she could at Arizona’s community colleges, and even after she moved to Columbia a few years ago, she continued this new love, working with pottery regularly at the City of Columbia Art Studio, which she still frequents. 

“My work has evolved as I have improved with practice and having the time to explore new avenues. Working a few evenings at the City Studio every week, friendships have grown also,” she shares, adding that her love of gardening and pottery have begun to merge, “Using leaves and textures are often incorporated into my artwork. I also have chickens and vermiculture at my Rosewood home.”  

In this Tiny Gallery show, Life has presented a plethora of practical yet beautiful pieces. Butter dishes and serving trays are lined with bright hues of cerulean or carved with individual faces and cities. The occasional pendant, animal, and even creature makes an appearance too.  

This is only the most recent in South Carolina opportunities Life reflects on as poignant to her. She has attended various conferences, a pottery exhibit at the Chandler Center, and was a vendor at the Phoenix Botanical Garden during a Cactus Society Show and Sale. 

On creating ceramic work, she reflects as such: “While I think of myself as someone who can carry out a task in a prompt fashion, pottery has been the most humbling of crafts that I have taken up.” 

You can view Life’s work until October 31st at Jasper’s virtual gallery: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery  

In the future, you can see Life’s work at the State Fair (10/12-23), Sesquicentennial State Park (11/6), Melrose Art Crawl (11/20), and Midlands Clay Art Society and Cottontown Art Crawl (11/23).

Gina Langston Brewer is the First Thursday Artist in Residence at Sound Bites in November

First Thursday

November 3rd @ 6 pm

Sound Bites Eatery

Gina Langston Brewer

The Jasper Project is excited to announce that Gina Langston Brewer will be the November artist-i-residence at the Sound Bites First Thursday Gallery, with an opening reception on Thursday, November 3rd, beginning at 6 pm.

According to Langston Brewer, “Much of my art is inspired by the community of strong women all around me, women who lift one another up every day, who are constantly present, like the air, providing currents of nurturing support and love. My images celebrate our curves, our colors, our joys, and our sorrows — all that gives us dimension and hope and fire in this world.”

Gina Langston Brewer

Langston Brewer’s show will be up throughout the month of November, but the artist will be in house on the night of the 3rd to meet patrons and answer questions.

Sound Bites Eatery has a full menu of sandwiches, salads, and more plus beer, wine, and other beverages.

CALL for Jasper First Thursday/Sound Bites Artists

Since April, Jasper has been hosting a monthly artist at the restaurant with an opening on First Thursday evenings. Jasper schedules the artist and promotes the art and artist via social media and on the Jasper Project website. We manage any sales and ask that 25 percent of sales go to sustaining Jasper. (As you may remember, Jasper has no paid staff so 100 percent of any income goes directly into service of the Midlands arts community.) The remaining 75 percent goes to the featured artist.

We’re scheduling the next few months of artists-in-residence at Sound Bites Eatery whose work will show throughout the month with a grand opening reception on the first Thursday of the month you are chosen to show.

The gallery space is very small, so we recommend smaller 2-D pieces and easily affordable price points. However, additional art & prints may be brought in for opening night only.

We’re looking for artists whose work is small to medium in format, bright, colorful, and whimsical and is offered at a modest price point.

Right now, we are scheduling for November, December, January, February, and March.

 If interested, please send three examples of the work you’d like to feature along with their prices to JasperProjectColumbia@gmail.com.

Jasper Galleries Announces Art Shows at Harbison Theatre featuring David Yaghjian, Michael Krajewski, Lori Isom, and Olga Yukhno

David Yaghjian

The Jasper Project is delighted to announce the next several artists whose work will be featured in the Gallery Space of MTC’s Harbison Theatre at 7300 College Street in Irmo, SC.

Following the closing of the Steven White show on October 28th, we will be opening an exhibition by renown Columbia-based artist, David Yaghjian. Yaghjian’s work will show from early November through mid-January. We will celebrate Yaghjian’s art with a special reception on Sunday afternoon, December 11th in conjunction with the Holiday Pops concert by the SC Philharmonic. The reception will begin at 2:30 followed by the concert at 3:30. While the reception is free tickets to the concert may be purchased at Harbison theatre.

Following the Yaghjian exhibit, Jasper will welcome Columbia-based artist Michael Krajewski on Friday, January 20th, 2023. Krajewski’s exhibit will coincide with a concert featuring the comedy offerings of Tom Papa. A (free) reception for Krajewski’s work will begin at 6:30, followed by the Tom Papa show at 7:30. Tickets.

Lori Isom

On Friday, February 24, 2023, Jasper has invited Columbia/Camden-based artist Lori Isom to open a show of her work in conjunction with a concert by Camden native and country rockstar Patrick Davis. Reception (free) at 6:30 and concert at 7:30. Tickets.

And on Saturday, April 1st, artist Olga Yukhno will open a showing of her 2D and 3D ceramics at the Harbison Theatre Gallery in conjunction with a Concert by the tenor trio GENTRI. Reception at 6:30 and concert at 7:30. Tickets.

For more information on Harbison art please contact the Jasper Project at   jasperprojectcolumbia@gmail.com. For more information about performances please contact Harbison Theatre at  Harbisontheatre@midlandstech.edu

JASPER'S TINY GALLERY: Amber Machado Explores Beauty and Pain in Nature and Her Own Body

“Painting is my outlet to unapologetically show my pain”

— Amber Machado

Amber Machado grew up in Lexington, South Carolina, surrounded by art and a love for it, with parents and siblings who made art and music. As the youngest, Machado grew up observing this love for creation regularly.  

“Truthfully, the thing that led me to art initially was wanting to be exactly like them,” Machado recalls. “My relationship with art has since evolved and become much more personal, but initially, art to me was like breathing air. I loved it, but it was so readily available that I took it for granted.”  

What finally made Machado appreciate what art meant to her was a 2018 Lupus diagnosis, which brought life to “a screeching halt.” Among days of confusion and pain, painting became a centering force and method of control. 

“This is when I fell in love with art. And I fell hard. Painting became my primary language, my center of gravity,” Machado intimates, “It’s ironic, because I associate the onset of my illness with so much loss, but at the same time it was a rebirth of sorts. I was born to be an artist. I know I wouldn’t have come to that realization without the onset of my disease.” 

The medium she gravitated to, and still utilizes today, is watercolor. Completely self-taught, she is a master of imitation, inspired once again by her dad and sister, and her creative journey now is indebted to “hours, and I mean HOURS of practice.”  

Machado also emphasizes that watercolor is a particularly convenient medium, especially for those easily discouraged and who desire something portable. The unique texture of watercolor and the way it bleeds and blends with the colors around it, makes it perfect for expressing the “dramatic mood” in her work. 

Ruth

“Moody, expressive landscapes and seascapes have always been my main focus. I’m greatly inspired by nature, and watercolor is the perfect medium to capture nature’s subtleties, drama, and unpredictability,” Machado explains, “I gravitate towards vibrant colors and add expressive markings to evoke an unpredictable, yet familiar atmosphere within each painting.” 

Machado has three main types of creating in which she produces these expressive scenes: she works from imagination, where she can transport herself anywhere; she works outdoors/on-site/en plein air where she can “paint what she sees and feels at that moment in time,” and she works around a particular theme, often inspired by travels upon finally returning home.  

Regardless, she does often move in one particular direction. 

“I tend to gravitate toward dark themes. Pain, loss, death, the things in life that you have absolutely no control over. I like to explore themes that make the average person a little uncomfortable. Landscapes serve as a great visual translation of this because nature is completely uncontrollable. It’s lethal,” Machado emphasizes, “On the other side of that, though, is a silent relentlessness. Nature takes beating after beating and constantly evolves. Trees are whipped by the wind and their physical forms change, but they don’t necessarily die. When I made this connection, I was able to make peace with my disease. Painting is my outlet to unapologetically show my pain.” 

When it came to Tiny Gallery, it seemed a natural fit as the 2.5 x 3.5-inch trading card paper her father gave her was Machado’s first canvas for her landscapes. These tiny new landscapes were all made for the show, and all have female names, which Machado asserts “just felt right.” All of the pieces encapsulate this balance of ethereal, untouchable beauty and the darkness and fear that vibrates around us, and Machado’s favorites in the show are Ruth, Seraphina, and Darling.

Darling

Before this gallery, Machado had shown her work at three Cottontown Art Crawls, which have been invaluable experiences for her. 

“In 2020, I participated in the Cottontown Art Crawl for the first time. Almost immediately after setting up, a total stranger came up and purchased a painting,” Machado reminisces, “She picked up a painting that I had actually considered not bringing, because I questioned if it was good enough. I felt like I was going to faint! Watching someone who doesn’t even know me willingly give me money for a painting was and still is one of the most wonderful moments of my entire life.” 

Machado will be bringing this energy into the new, unannounced series she has underway and the upcoming holiday markets at Curiosity Coffee Bar. To follow along, follow Machado’s Instagram @artistamachado, and check out her website. 

To view and purchase her Tiny Gallery pieces, go to Jasper’s virtual gallery space at any time:.

 

Steven White Premieres Original, Stark Pieces Ahead of Purple Xperience Show at Harbison Theatre

Are you looking to get your fill of great art and fantastic music back to back? Mark your calendars for September 2nd, 2022. Preceding the Purple Xperience performance at 7:30pm, The Jasper Project is proud to help present the opening night for Steven White’s new exhibition at Harbison Theatre. 

When planning out which artist to feature at Harbison, particularly alongside the new season, Jasper’s own Christina Xan knew that White would be a perfect choice. “I’ve been following Steven’s work since sometime during the pandemic when Cindi [Boiter] put him on my radar,” Xan said,. “His stark images that play and imprint in the viewer’s mind I thought would be perfect for this upcoming Harbison show. In fact, when Kristin [Cobb] reached out to me about selecting an artist, Steven was the first to come to mind.” 

White is often inclined to create images of cultural icons and immortalized figures. Considering how the Purple Xperience show is dedicated to celebrating the cultural impact of Prince’s legacy, the juxtaposition of the two shows makes perfect sense. 

White’s latest body of work explores the presence of negative space in a work of art, and how those spaces can be manipulated into something bigger. “What draws me to a piece painted with the use of negative and positive space is the strange possibility that you will be able to see things that aren’t there,” White said, “The space in question, which is the area of shared edges, engages the viewer in an unexpected and fun way. I like the fact that it’s interactive.” 

White emphasizes the mysteries and intrigue that present themselves throughout his artist statement and masterfully captures everything he aims to. White stated, “I hope that many viewers of my work will begin to see that the positive and negative can come together in many ways to bring balance to a composition.” This eye-bending technique of White’s works excellently to keep the viewer engaged with his work, looking from corner to corner for something they may have missed, causing them to want to come back for seconds.  

The amount of conversation between the Prince show and the opening of White’s exhibition is truly up to the viewer themself. This particular body of work did not come to fruition specifically for the Purple Xperience opening; it just so happened that there was plenty of natural conversation to garner between the two. 

“I will let other people decide if my body of work is in conversation. I consider my participation in the Purple Xperience Tribute Show to be a fortuitous event,” White said, “Sometimes a bit of luck comes your way when you put your work out there.” White emphasizes how important viewer reception and opinion are to him, and hopes that everyone who views his art leaves with new thoughts and perceptions of art to take with them. 

There will be an opening ceremony for White’s show prior to the Purple Xperience performance, at 7pm on September 2nd. White’s work will be up for viewing until the end of October. More info can be found on our event page.