S&S Art Supply Pays It Forward with 3rd Annual Silent Auction & Fundraiser

Continuing to pay it forward, S&S Art Supply on Main Street is hosting its 3rd annual fundraiser this coming Sat.urday, July 13th, benefiting Palmetto Place Children's Shelter.   Free and open to the public, there will be a silent auction of over 100 works of local art and other items from local businesses to bid on, all starting at just $25!

This is a family friendly event, so bring the kids.   Preach Jacobs will be DJ'ing, plus  The Plowboys will be playing live outside.    With an open bar and catered hors d'oeuvres  provided courtesy of The Whig and Rosso,  the motto for the day is Eat, Drink, Bid!

Since 1977, Palmetto Place has been a safe haven for children of all ages in need of a place to call home.  Whether the child was abandoned,  abused, or neglected, Palmetto Place has been there for them.  The mission of Palmetto Place Children’s Shelter is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for these abused and neglected children, offering them a broad range of services that encourage and promote healing through positive and healthy choices. The shelter is open 24 hours each day of the year and provides medical and mental health care, crisis adjustment/transitional counseling, after-school tutoring and recreational and social activities in addition to food, clothing and shelter. Visit http://palmettoplaceshelter.org/ for more information.

Sponsors for this event include: Ladybug Art Studios, Jasper - The Word on Columbia Arts, The Columbia Star, The Whig, Rosso, and Professional Printers.  Currently over 50 different artists are participating; also up for grabs are donated tickets from Nickelodeon Theatre, Trustus Theatre, Columbia City Ballet, and other goodies from local businesses. Best of all, the event is free and open to the public!

For more information, e-mail Amanda at lily581@hotmail.com.  The "event" page on Facebook is here.  S&S Art Supply is located at 1633 Main Street, just down from Mast General Store and the Nickelodeon. The event runs from 2-6 PM this Saturday, July 13th.

"The Journey Home" - a guest blog by Jenna Sach

When the pilot announces that we are 30 minutes to our destination, I stare out the window.  I watch the country below slowly become visible through the grey clouds.   The land is a beautiful patchwork of varying hues of green.  The houses and cars slowly come into view as we get closer.  The wheels touch down, I’m filled with excitement.  I am home.

I began taking photos when I was 16.  My high school offered a darkroom course.  The smell of the chemicals, the look of film, the whole art behind photography drew me in.  Ever since then, whenever I traveled, a camera came with me.  Though all I had at the time was a little 35 mm point-and-shoot, I spent most of my time viewing Europe through a lens.  After the first few trips, my mom mentioned the lack of photos of family; it wasn’t until we were visiting Venice together that she stopped mentioning it.

For years, the only people who saw my photographs from my adventures were those who came into my Mom’s house.  She adorned her walls with images from England, Rome, and Venice.  I decided last September that I wanted to showcase photographs from England.  After running the idea by Mark Plessinger, we set up a show at frame of Mind.  My family and I were heading off the England, specifically North Derbyshire for two weeks, and it lined up perfectly.  So I lugged my camera equipment across the Atlantic Ocean and bought tons of film.  We had a few places outlined of where we were going, but I had no preset notions of what exactly I wanted to photograph.

The first few days there, I drew a blank.  However, when we went to visit Chatsworth, a stately home, something clicked.  From that point on, I was always behind the camera.  My mom and stepfather put up with me randomly asking to pull off the road, so that I could jump out and snap a few shots.  Everyone was so understanding when I wanted to spend a few extra minutes at a location, or climb up a hill to get a different vantage point.  And somehow the weather worked out perfectly, though I did stand in a shower or two to grab a shot.

I wanted to illustrate to everyone the beauty of the English countryside and the personal meaning it holds for me.  Each photograph in this show holds a story behind it (which I am always willing to tell.)  I have been in inspired by England for years, and I am hoping to  inspire others who view my work.

~ Jenna Sach

"The Journey Home" is the featured exhibition at Frame of Mind (located at 1520 Main Street, Suite 1e, right across from the Columbia Museum of Art) as part of this month's First Thursdays on Main.

Jessica Ream, Sean McGuinness, Jenna Sach, Jessica Christine Owen, and James and Michael Dwyer featured at First Thursday on Main Street

Charleston has Spoleto, and Jasper is bringing you day-by-day, event-by-event coverage, but let's not forget about Columbia's own monthly celebration of the arts, First Thursdays on Main.  Festivities officially run 6-9 PM this Thursday, June 6th.  Below are some facts, figures and images taken from assorted press material:

Jessica Ream is the featured artist at Wine Down on Main (located at 1520 Main Street,  Suite 1B.) She was born in Columbus, Ohio, early in the year 1990, but was raised south of the Mason-Dixon line, in Carolina suburbia. She is a jack-of-all trades artist, and incorporates her knowledge of painting, photography, print and sculpture into her mixed media pieces. She began her studies at Columbia College but transferred to Savannah College of Art and Design where she graduated with honors, with a BFA in Painting. She returned to Columbia shortly after graduation, and currently works for the Columbia Art Museum while continuing her work as an artist.

A couple of doors down, at 1520 Main Street, Suite 1e, Frame of Mind is delighted to announce the return of one of Columbia's favorite daughters and artists to the FOM gallery, Jenna Sach, a familiar face and vital fixture among the Main Street community. For this FOM Series, she is sharing images close to her heart and taking us all on "The Journey Home." Sach says:

For this show I wanted to ‘bring it home.’ Though I have always taken photographs on my journeys to Europe, I've never displayed them (unless you count my mom’s walls). With this series I maintain my style, keeping the rich blacks in contrast to the cool whites. All the photos are taken from North Derbyshire, which is located in the East Midlands of England. A large portion of the Peak District National Park is within this county, as well as part of the Pennines. Within this region, there are various stately homes, castle ruins, gardens, caverns, and the beautiful rolling hills, for which it is so well known.

During a recent two week visit home, I traveled around North Derbyshire with my camera, occasionally making my family pull off to the side of the road, just so I could jump out and capture the landscape to share with you! For putting up with my artistic endeavors on this, and many others trips, I dedicate this show to them. Places featured include Buxton, Chatsworth Stately Home, Bolsover Castle, Tideswell, Castleton, Peveril Castle, Hardwick Hall and Haddon Hall.

Born in Southampton, England, Jenna Sach immigrated to South Carolina in 1990. Ever since she was a young girl, she has shown a fondness for art. However, it was not until she was 16 that she began her passion for photography. Jenna’s high school offered a darkroom course; it was her first experience developing film, and she fell in love. Over the years Jenna took pictures of the places she visited, but it was not until she arrived at the University of South Carolina that she began to formulate her style. There, she connected with her mentor and darkroom professor, Toby Morriss. Under his guidance, she perfected her printing and found her style. Morriss taught Jenna how to combine her two passions, photography and psychology. She obtained her B.A. in Experimental Psychology and hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

Jessica Christine Owen is featured in "A Study of Self and Others"  at S&S Art Supply (located at 1633 Main Street.) Owen is an innovative photographer who uses herself as the subject matter. Through physical alteration as a performative aspect of the final photograph, her works are beautiful and eerie, funny and disturbing, all rolled into one. DJ B will be out front spinnin' some awesome family-friendly tunes as well!

Her artist statement reads:

The term grotesque has the contemporary definition of being something strange, fantastic, ugly or disgusting. The grotesque has formed an attachment to other terms proliferated to describe aspects of experience, among them, the abject. The abject is something that exists between the concept of an object and of the subject. The abject becomes a reaction to the threatened breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of distinction between subject and object or self and other. My intention is to create an emotional bond with the viewer through a combination of unlike things that challenges established realities or constructs new ones. By altering physical form through self-inflicted acts or complete physical alteration, the viewer is meant to see the blurred lines of what we perceive to be self and what is other.

Owen received her BFA in Photography and BA in Art History with honors from New Mexico State University in 2010. She currently resides in Columbia, South Carolina where she is pursuing her MFA in Photography at the University of South Carolina.

Anastasia & Friends (located at 1534 Main Street) is presents "Color Movement," an exhibition which features paintings by father and son, James Dwyer and Michael Dwyer, who have spent a combined nine decades creating abstract paintings, rooted in Modernism, with color as a primary focus.

Michael Dwyer:

I grew up in a home in which both parents were artists and paintings by them and their friends always hung on the walls. Although my mother mostly put aside her professional art career to raise a family, my father was an energetic and accomplished painter all the years I knew him, only giving up his studio work at the age of eighty-seven to care for my mother. My father also taught painting and drawing at Syracuse University for thirty-some years, including while I was there as an undergraduate. I never took a class with him, but I learned a great deal from my Dad, whether it was during dinner conversations or trips to museums. Probably, most of what I learned was just from the long-term exposure of having his paintings around the house.

As a kid, I loved to draw from the time I could pick up a pencil and I received enormous encouragement and support from both parents. Sometimes I’d visit my Dad’s studio and make little drawings while he painted. Once, when I was seven or eight, my father stretched a small canvas for me to work on (my first abstract painting!) while classical music played on the radio and he worked on a large canvas. The scale of his paintings – often seven or eight feet - made an early impression, too.

A few years before my father’s death in 2011, we had a couple of conversations about how we might be able to put together a two-man show, but we were never able to make that happen during his lifetime. Before he died my father shipped me about thirty of the paintings he’d made over the past few years. That shipment has allowed me to finally, and very happily, assemble this exhibition.

........

A sense of movement has been an important element in my work for a long time. Earlier pieces often conveyed a feeling of forms drifting in space. Then, there was a shift toward using linear composition to create direction. I wanted the viewer’s eye to move along a variety of circuits and have experiences along the way. I also found from my earlier collage work, that I like the crisp, definitive edges that result from cutting shapes with scissors, so I began using masking tape for a similar effect.

Recent works often have a sequential aspect that comes partly from a fascination with similarities between visual art and music. Thinking of musical composition as one note followed by another, and so on, I wondered if this might be a basis for a painting. Ultimately, I’m always after that transcendent moment when abstract elements come together in a way that‘s thrilling and somehow right.

Dwyer also provides this artist's statement from his father James Dwyer:

Since space is the fundamental characteristic of drawing, painting, sculpture, and architecture, I have long understood that eloquence in those forms is to be achieved through the structuring of space. Within the past ten years or so, I have stumbled my way into a style based on low relief as its principal component.

In low relief I have discovered that I can offer variable visual and tactile experience controlled only in part by me. The viewer is invited to share in control through physical viewpoint. Elements within a work change, or are perceived as changing when seen from different angles. This, I believe, can bring about an especially intimate and creative communication.

"Color Movement" will open as a part of the First Thursday art crawl on Main on June 6th, from 6 PM to 9 PM and run through June 28th.  Special thanks to Maria Kennedy Mungo for preparing delicious food for this very special opening.

Tapp's Art Center, located at 1644 Main Street, is home to several dozen artists' studios, as well as changing exhibitions inside and in the display windows on Main and Blanding Streets.  Included in those window exhibits is Sean McGuinness, aka That Godzilla Guy:

This will be a big event, marking Godzillafications all up in your grill, so to speak! I will have my largest window display ever, and I will also be in the Tapp's Courtyard selling my artwork. If that isn't enough, my art will also be hanging inside the Tapp's Arts Center as part of a charity event benefiting local police canines. Last year I held my first-ever "Meet Godzilla @ Tapps". The presence you guys helped me create got noticed by all the local merchants, and started me on the path to becoming "That Godzilla Guy" [in retrospect, it was like you helped lodge some shrapnel in my chest, so I could go on to build a wicked suit of armor in a cave with a box of scraps!] Please come visit, and be part of the magic.

And if there is any question as to the meaning of the term, McGuinness has helpfully provided a definition:

Godzillafications [noun] God-zill-a-fi-ca-tions (g d-zɪlə-f -k sh n):   An artwork or consequence growing out of That Godzilla Guy’s [Sean McGuinness] unique vision to interject his Godzilla Collectibles into established works of art, photographs, or concepts. It ranges from serious gravitas to social and political satire, yet always centers around a deep love of the kaiju [giant monster] eras of past, present and future. The purpose is to not only spread the love of Godzilla and his eternal, relevant messages, but to also connect people with art who would not normally appreciate traditional arts or even Godzilla himself.

Godzillafications are crafted through non-traditional means using kaiju collectibles, digital photography, Photoshop, and artwork covered and/or homaged under the Fair Use Act. If available, permission of the original artist is obtained. Godzillafications can also consist of inserting a kaiju into a photo with no digital manipulation at all. The artwork is then printed out on high quality cardstock or matte polypropylene, then sealed to a wood plank or inserted into a recycled frame. Godzillafications are also a movement, inserting themselves into art shows, galleries, window displays, street performances, internet videos and webcomics.

Use in a sentence: Art Appreciation Through Godzillafication.

Also, the cast of the upcoming Trustus Theatre production of Ain't Misbehavin' will be giving a sneak-peek performance at 7 PM in the courtyard, next to Tapp's!

The Art Room Queen: Nancy Marine on the Runway

“My name is Ms. Marine! I am the Art Room Queen!” Nancy Marine awes the crowd with her fashion creations.  A competitor in the Columbia Design League’s annual fashion contest, Runaway Runway, Marine is a featured guest at this year’s “Meet the Designers: Runaway Runway” event, held at the Columbia Museum of Art. Tapping her boot on the stage, Marine demands that the technical assistant click to the next slide.

“Hit it,” says Marine, flicking her fuchsia-dyed bob with the back of her hand.  In the photographs, Marine is dressed as an art room warrior, pacing on a runway and roaring battle cries. Her warrior’s helmet sports a paintbrush Mohawk, and her mace is spiked with Elmer’s Glue-All caps.

Marine, 48, is an art teacher at Killian Elementary School in Richland County. Marine is single, and her only children are her art students. When she isn’t teaching, Marine enjoys urban line dancing, painting murals in her house and constructing outfits recycled from art supplies.

This will be Marine’s third consecutive year entering Columbia’s fashion competition  Runaway Runway, sponsored by Palmetto Clean Energy and held April 6.

The Event

Participants in Runaway Runway create and model outfits made from recycled materials to win prizes. The Columbia Design League’s official website states that Runaway Runway is intended to broaden the local community’s understanding of design and prove that environmentally-conscious clothing “can be fun, fabulous, fashionable and funky, too!”

Since 1992, Runaway Runway has grown, and in 2011, the show moved from 701 Whaley St. to a bigger venue at Columbia’s Township Auditorium. The Columbia Star reported that last year’s Runaway Runway, its 10^th anniversary, attracted a crowd of over one thousand people.

This year’s lavish Runaway Runway after-party is funded by high-dollar sponsors, which range from Companion Global Healthcare, Inc. and Skirt! Magazine to organic alcohol companies American Harvest Distilling and Fetzer Vineyards.

The First Catwalk

Marine, a semifinalist in the last two Runaway Runways, lets loose her creativity at home. Her house is every bit as eccentric as she. A wooden zebra nests between the azalea bushes in her front yard, and the main hallway of her home features a collection of costume hats and dresses hung from nails.

Harry Potter trading cards line the baseboards of the walls.  Marine points to a full-length mirror painted as the Mirror of Erised. The mirror, from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, shows a person his or her deepest desire.

She pushes the coats on her coat rack aside and points at the mirror’s reflection of the Sorcerer’s Stone, which she painted on the opposite wall.

“You can see it, but you can’t get to it,” says Marine.

Runaway Runway 2011 was not spared from Marine’s artistic frenzy.  Marine made a flapper’s outfit, complete with matching hat and purse, entirely out of Juicy Fruit wrappers. She decorated her shoes with chewed bubble gum that she retrieved from students.

“I heard about Runaway Runway, and I went to the last one at 701,” says Marine. “I was like, ‘this is cool—I can do this.’”

Marine hadn’t expected such a high level of craftsmanship from the other entries, such as first-place winner Miles Purvis’ Mad Hatter outfit, made from re-purposed cans, curtains and peacock feathers.

“I was blown away by how good they were,” says Marine. “I wasn’t even top three in my dressing room.”

Marine went on to wear her Juicy Fruit outfit to several Columbia Museum of Art events later that year.

“She was wearing the foil wrapper necklace and carrying the Juicy Fruit box purse for a members-only reception,” says Shirley McGuinness, a friend of Marine. “That's what I love about Nancy. She puts full passion in creating her work. That kind of passion is really rare, and it's great to see it on the runway and beyond.”

Two for Two

Marine entered two outfits for Runaway Runway 2012: the art room warrior, which Marine christened AMortinka, and a woven paper dress called “Crayola64.”

AMortinka’s outfit, which Marine modeled herself, was made from leftover art supplies from Marine’s classes.  An Amazon-inspired chest piece featured a cone bra made from crayons.

“I’m very trial and error so I made, like, three sets of just the tits,” says Marine. “One was too small, one was too big, and being a schoolteacher in the summer, I would work for two or three hours in the morning, and then I could just put it away.”

Marine set the outfit aside for three months to refresh her creativity, then picked the project up again in fall 2011. She constructed an alter ego and back-story for her outfit. Her alter ego, AMortinka, was a warrior princess cursed for stealing a red Crayola crayon.

AMortinka, according to Marine, was her most time-consuming piece.

“It just grew and grew,"  says Marine. “When she has a name, now she has to have a font and has to have a logo, and she has to have a story, and it just grew and grew and became so in-depth that she’s really a real-life character, very real to me.”

Taking Project AMortinka to the next level wasn’t Marine’s decision.

“It took me,” says Marine. “It just took me there. I’m surprised I didn’t get a tattoo, to be honest.”

Marine’s alter ego graces the posters for Runaway Runway 2013.  Pictures of the snarling AMortinka are taped inside store windows throughout downtown Columbia’s Five Points and the Vista.

“Crayola64,” Marine’s second entry, was modeled by friend Karen Corbett. The two-piece outfit was made from student art projects, which Marine cut into strips and wove together. She melted crayons to create a neck piece and glued together empty crayon boxes and Crayola Classic marker caps to form a belt.

All three of Marine’s past entries have been featured at “Runaway Runway: Meet the Designers” events.

Third Turn

Marine will display her new alter-ego, PrismaGleana, on the Runaway Runway stage. A rainbow fairy, PrismaGleana, late in choosing her own fairy color, was left with white, says Marine. Being resourceful and environmentally conscious, PrismaGleana decided to collect and use the wasted bits of color left behind by other fairies.

PrismaGleana’s outfit features a bell skirt made from a patio umbrella, a handmade paper bodice studded with brass fasteners and a tiara of umbrella spokes and crayons. Marine is just as dedicated to this year’s design, and has made business cards, gifts of crayon jewelry, and a reliquary to advertise PrismaGleana.

Marine also made a reliquary for AMortinka. Inside the reliquary is a false bottom, holding the red crayon AMortinka was cursed for stealing and a folded piece of paper.

“Only the keeper of it knows the secret of it,” says Marine. She leans forward, her voice lowering to a whisper.

“AMortinka is not real. She is a legend. I created her.”

~ Giesela Lubecke, Jasper Intern

Alexander Wilds and Colin Dodd Show New Works at Vista Studios / Gallery 80808

New paintings by Colin Dodd and sculpture by Alexander Wilds are featured at a new exhibition opening Thursday, March 14 at Vista Studios/Gallery 80808 (located in the heart of the Vista at 808 Lady Street.)  There will be an opening reception Thursday night from 6 to 9 PM, and the show will run through Tuesday, March 19; the gallery will be open every day from 1 to 7 PM. Wilds and Dodd are both educators, the former at Benedict College, the latter at Midlands Technical College.  If those names sound familiar, both have shown work at Vista Studios previously.   Wilds was featured as the cover artist in the November issue of Jasper -The Word on Columbia Arts, while Dodd may be best known as the artist who created the huge, striking portrait of Kafka in Goatfeathers. Jasper also wrote about the show Wilds did with his wife, Yukiko Oka, last year here.

You can learn more about Dodd's career  here and here, and more about Wilds here  and here.  Both gentlemen are not only talented, but outgoing, and fascinating to talk with.  Jasper looks forward to this exhibition, and hoes to see everyone out at the reception tomorrow night at Vista Studios!

Marauding Zombies, Playful Amphibians, and That Mofo With the Hat - What to See on Stage This Weekend

George Romero's low-budget, cult hit from 1968, Night of the Living Dead, was the granddaddy of all modern zombie stories. Zombies had been around before, but were usually depicted as corpses animated by some controlling voodoo master. Romero took the basic idea of hordes of the undead from Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend, made them less vampires and more corpse-like, yet still eager to chomp your flesh and turn you into one of them, and his world-view of a zombie apocalypse took off, influencing everything from the Resident Evil and Silent Hill video games, to director John Landis's classic video for the Michael Jackson song "Thriller," to the current hit comic book and cable tv series The Walking Dead. We're still fond of this exchange from the Joss Whedon-produced series Angel, written by Steven S. DeKnight (now the show-runner for Spartacus) : CONNOR (Angel's mortal son, who hates him): He looks dead.

ANGEL (the "good" vampire with a soul) : He is dead. Technically, it's undead. It's a zombie.

CONNOR: What's a zombie?

ANGEL: It's an undead thing.

CONNOR: Like you?

ANGEL: No, zombies are slow-moving, dimwitted things that crave human flesh.

CONNOR: Like you.

ANGEL: No! It's different. Trust me.

Zombies are all the rage in Columbia too, with an annual Zombie Walk (Crawl? Lurch?) each Hallowe'en. High Voltage Theatre is currently producing a stage adaptation of the original Romero film, running this weekend and the next, Friday and Saturday nights, through Sat. Feb. 15th, at the Tapp's Art Center on Main Street. For information or reservations, call: 803-754-5244. And you can read a review at the Free Times.

Over at Richland Mall in Forest Acres, Columbia Children's Theatre is opening their new production of A Year With Frog and Toad, the Tony-nominated (seriously!) musical by Robert and Willie Reale, based on Arnold Lobel's series of children's books. The cast includes local favorites such as Jerry Stevenson, Lee O. Smith, Bobby Bloom, Sara Jackson, Paul Lindley II (doubling as musical director) Toni Moore, and Elizabeth Stepp (who also choreographs.)

From press material:

Arnold Lobel's well-loved characters hop from the page to the stage in A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD, the Theatre of Young Audiences version of Tony-nominated musical. This whimsical show follows two great friends -- the cheerful, popular Frog and the rather grumpy Toad -- through four, fun-filled seasons. Waking from hibernation in the Spring, Frog and Toad plant gardens, swim, rake leaves, go sledding, and learn life lessons along the way. The two best friends celebrate and rejoice in their differences that make them unique and special. Part vaudeville, part make believe, all charm, A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD tells the story of a friendship that endures, weathering all seasons.

The show runs through Sun. Feb. 17th; contact the box office at (803) 691-4548 for information.

Meanwhile, down in the Vista, Trustus Theatre opens Stephen Adly Guirgis's The Motherf@*#&er With the Hat, directed by Chad Henderson, with a score by Preach Jacobs, scenic design by Kimi Maeda, and featuring Alexis Casanovas, Shane Silman, Raia Jane Hirsch, Michelle Jacobs, and Joe Morales.

From press material:

ADULTS ONLY PLEASE: language, nudity, sexual situations, & violence

"This sexy and modern show was nominated for Tony Awards, Drama League Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and Drama Desk Awards – TRUST US, it’s more than the title that’s provocative about this show."

Struggles with addiction, friendship, love and the challenges of adulthood are at the center of the story. Jackie, a petty drug dealer, is just out of prison and trying to stay clean. He's also still in love with his coke-addicted childhood sweetheart, Veronica. Ralph D. is Jackie's too-smooth, slightly slippery sponsor. He's married to the bitter and disaffected Victoria, who, by the way, has the hots for Jackie. And then there's Julio, Jackie's cousin … a stand-up, "stand by me" kind of guy. However, when Jackie comes home with flowers to find a strange man’s hat by his and Veronica’s bed, these characters careen forward as Jackie goes in search of the hat’s owner. What follows is an examination of trust, lust, loyalty, and true love.

You can read an interview with director Chad Henderson here.  Contact the box office at (803) 254-9732 for ticket information.

Barefoot in the Park, Night of the Living Dead, Das Barbecu running this weekend!

Neil Simon's classic Barefoot in the Park runs another weekend at the Village Square Theatre in Lexington, this Friday, February 1st through Sunday, February 3rd. From press material:  Paul and Corie Bratter appear as different as they can be.  He's a straight-as-an-arrow lawyer, and she's a free spirit always looking for the latest kick. Their new apartment is her most recent find:  too expensive with bad plumbing and in need of a paint job. After a six-day honeymoon, they get a surprise visit from Corie's loopy mother, and decide to play matchmaker during a dinner with their neighbor-in-the-attic Velasco, where everything that can go wrong, does. Paul just doesn't understand Corie, as she sees it. He's too staid, too boring, and she just wants him to be a little more spontaneous, running "barefoot in the park" would be a start.

The show features the talents of Rachel Goerss as Corie Bratter, Michael Hazin as Paul Bratter, Gina Calvert as mother-in-law Ethel Banks, Dennis Kacsur as their eccentric neighbor Victor Valasco.  Harrison Ayer and Steven Nessel complete the cast.   For more information or tickets, contact the box office at (803) 359-1436.

Opening downtown on Main Street in the Tapp's Art Center on Friday, Feb. 1st is Night of the Living Dead, based on the 1968 film by George Romero.  From press material:  High Voltage Theatre, the Southeast’s premiere performance company dedicated to presenting classic and modern horror on stage, brings to Columbia the granddaddy of all zombie stories! The play is adapted and directed by Chris Cook and features Hollywood-level special FX make-up, stage combat,  firearms, and hordes of man-eating zombies! A true classic of American cinema is now the hottest theatrical event in Columbia of 2013! Reviving the edgy, off-beat, Chicago-style theatre that put High Voltage on the Midlands map in 2002.

Night of the Living Dead promises to shock, thrill, chill, and excite audiences currently on a steady diet of The Walking Dead. Yes, "We're coming to get you, Columbia!"

For reservations please call: 803-754-5244

Tickets: $15 per person

8 PM curtain for all the performances at the Fountain Room in the bottom of Tapp's Art Center.

Runs: Friday and Saturday February 1st, 2nd, 8th, 9th, 15th and 16th!

Starring: (In order of appearance)

Mary Miles as "Barbara" Harrison Ayer/ Michael Layer as "Johnny" Marques Moore as "Ben" Chris Cook as "Harry Cooper" Jenna Sach as "Judy" Evelyn Clary as "Helen Cooper" Mazie Cook as "Karen"

Meanwhile, over on campus, Opera at USC presents: Das Barbecu by Jim Luigs and Scott Warrender on Friday, February 1st and Saturday, February 2nd at 7:30 PM, and Sunday February 3rd at 5:30 PM, at Drayton Hall.    "A re-telling of Wagner's Ring Cycle. This time set in Texas.”

Featuring Jared Ice (recently seen as Don Giovanni) Jasper Theatre Artist of the Year Finalist Shelby Sessler, Jordan Harper, Stephanie Beinlich (recently seen as Cendrillion) Stann Gwynn (recently seen as George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf") and Christa Hiatt.

$5 - Students $15 - Seniors/ USC Faculty & Staff/ Military $20 - Adults

FOR TICKETS CALL (803) 777-5369

Rebecca Phillips, Conductor Ellen Schlaefer, Director Lynn Kompass, Musical Preparation Anna Dragoni, choreographer Teddy Moore, scenic designer Chet Longley, lighting designer

Palmetto Pointe Project 2013 Calendar

The New Year is upon us, the celebratory holiday decorations are ready to be stored away for another year, and Christmas and Hanukkah gifts are now being put to good use. Except... what's that one thing you forgot?  A 2013 calendar! Once a standard and modest-looking seasonal gift from gas stations and insurance companies, visually appealing calendars for specific tastes and audiences really took off in the 70's, with a plethora of cute kitty photos, Tolkien art from the Brothers Hildebrandt, scenic landscapes, and just about any other image imaginable.  There's often a calendar on your bulletin board at work, another in the kitchen at home, possibly another in a study, playroom, workshop or garage. Local Columbia photographer Jason Ayer has now joined the mix, with the perfect gift for the ballerina or dance enthusiast in your life (even if that happens to be you.)

Ayer's calendar is the first product from his Palmetto Pointe Project; his images "explore South Carolina through the eyes, and feet, of dancers," caught on film and on site at scenic landmarks, historic venues, and locales showcasing our state's natural beauty. Ayer is a long-time friend of Jasper, having done countless photo shoots and publicity images for the USC Dance Program, as well as for the Coquettes, and the Cheerleading, Equestrian and Cross Country teams. (His show last year at Cool Beans was profiled here.) His interest in dance goes all the way back to the late 80's, when, full disclosure, he and I were roommates, and did shows together at Town Theatre, including musicals like 42nd St., Gypsy and My Fair Lady.  Vaguely suggested by NYC's "Ballerina Project" (to which Ayer was introduced by ballerina Kathryn Miles) the Palmetto Pointe Project takes Columbia dancers out of the studio and into striking locations that complement the creativity of both model and photographer. Each dancer collaborates with Ayer on the mood and theme of the image, with the individual performer's personality influencing much of the look and feel.  The dancers also share in the profits of any images sold in which they appear.

Ayer notes that the calendar's dimensions are 8.5"x 11", and that the individual images are "clean" artwork, so "at the end of the year, you can take it apart and have 13 pieces of artwork for your wall!"  Calendars are available at S&S Art Supply on Main Street, and online. More images and info about future projects can be found at the Palmetto Pointe Project Facebook Page.

~ August Krickel

Tish Lowe exhibition, Claire Bryant & Friends concert in Camden

Two of Jasper's favorite artists, painter Tish Lowe and cellist Claire Bryant, are featured tonight at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County, in downtown Camden.  Lowe, whose work was profiled in the Jasper 003 cover story, will be on hand for a reception from 5:30 to 7:00 PM to kick off her exhibition "Contemporary Classics" in the Bassett Gallery.   From press material:

Letitia "Tish" Lowe is an award-wining American artist whose work is represented in private collections in Europe, Canada and the United States.  Trained at the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, Lowe specializes in portrait, still life, and figurative oil paintings in classic realist style.

Lowe captured the Chairman's Choice Award for her still life, "The Pram," at the International 2007 ARC Salon, competing with over 1600 entries, and won Best of Show for her "Portrait of a Young Woman" in a citywide competition in Florence, Italy. She took an Award of Merit for her painting "Spanish Bowl" at the 2011 South Carolina State Fair and was recently invited to participate in an exhibition in Leipzig, Germany.

"A classic realist, I seek beauty in all things and paint to help people see and appreciate that beauty," says Tish. "The human  spirit and the natural world inspire my art. I view outward appearances as expressions of the spirit and strive in my paintings to reflect the essence of the subject that makes it unique."

The exhibition will be on display through November 30; details can be found at: http://www.fineartscenter.org/events/2012/10/19/tishlowe/

Then at 7 PM, Claire Bryant & Friends will perform with the Danish String Quartet.

In its fourth season, Claire Bryant and Friends is an exciting collaboration between communities, campuses, health care facilities, and arts organizations across the United States and some of New York City's most sought-after professional young artists.  South Carolina native and Artistic Director, Claire Bryant, and fellow alumni from The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute, offer innovative and collaborative community and campus residencies through Chamber Music with the intention of deepening societies' relationship with the arts and music education. These musicians are dedicated to the importance of community connection, through work in the public schools, retirement communities, health-care facilities, departments of disabilities, community centers and other venues that make up the core of our society.

Camden native and cellist Claire Bryant (featured in Jasper 004) is joined by violinist Owen Dalby, both from the newly minted and acclaimed NYC chamber music society, The Declassified.

Friday, October 19^th at 7:00 p.m. will be the main-stage event at the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County. Claire and her friends from NYC and Denmark will culminate the week’s residency with a full-length chamber music performance, featuring an all-romantic program from Eastern Europe with works by Ernő Dohnányi, Leoš Janáček, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.  Audiences will be transported by the Hungarian folk-styles of Dohnányi’s "Serenade" for string trio, experience passion and pain during Janáček’s “Kreutzer Sonata” for string quartet, and finally, will be enveloped in the Italian sights and sounds of Russian composer Tchaikovsky’s blockbuster for string sextet, "Souvenir de Florence."  Details are at: http://www.fineartscenter.org/events/2012/10/19/claire2012/

Arts & Draughts at Columbia Museum of Art, this Friday, August 3rd - Art, Drink, and Be Merry!

Art, drink, and be merry!  On August 3rd, the Columbia Museum of Art will host its seasonal Arts & Draughts night. The event, according to CMA Public Programs Coordinator Shannon Burke, "gives people the opportunity to experience the Columbia Museum of Art in an entirely new way." And what a new experience it will be!

On this night, attendees will get to experience an explosion of the senses as the event gears to "expand a visitor's way of thinking about what they can see, hear, and explore at the CMA," according to Burke.

The night is truly an event. Filled with live local music and tastings of a special beer - this time a naturally cloudy Hefeweizen from Widmer Brothers - the evening aims to  get people in the door, then entice them to stay through the exciting escapades that take place thereafter. "By combining great live music and beer tastings, the audience stays and experiences all the CMA has to offer," Burke says. Specifically, A&D night's activities include exclusive tours, performances, scavenger hunts, and art projects.

A&D's inception was in January 2011, where it was held the first Friday of the month. Then, the aim of the event was to "introduce the CMA to a young adult audience when we had extended hours," Burke says. Now, the A&D is a seasonal event, and while the target audience remains constant, the evening has evolved. "A&D is always changing, so in a way if you are planning on attending the event, you should expect surprises. Expect new music, new beers to try, new performances, and great new ways to explore and enjoy the Museum as you never had before!"

This August's A&D will include a collaborative drawing table and multimedia games among other exciting activities. Live musical acts include DJ Matt Porter, Elonzo, Brave Baby, and Whiskey Gentry. Tickets are $8 for non-members and $5 for members, but if you become a member that night you have free admission to the event. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the party ends at 11 p.m.

~ Christopher Rosa, Jasper Intern

Strata - An Exhibition by Katie Baehler, at Vista Studios/Gallery 80808

Jasper - The Word on Columbia Arts  is always happy to plug, brag on, and otherwise promote the work of up-and-coming talents in the art world. We note therefore with great antici......... pation a new show by a new artist, opening later this week at Vista Studios / Gallery 80808 (located in the heart of the Vista, at 808 Lady Street.)  Katie Baehler isn't entirely new; she has lived in Columbia since 2006.  A native of Spearman, Texas, she studied Printmaking and Art History at USC, graduating in 2011.  Her work was featured in the BFA exhibition Devil in the Details at the McMaster student gallery in 2011, the Ink & Paper exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art in 2011, the Union County Arts Council Competition in 2011, and received the 1^st place undergraduate award at the USC Student Art Exhibition in 2011.  While at USC Baehler also received the Ed Yaghjian student award in 2010, and was President of the Ink & Paper club.  You may know her from her day job as gallery assistant at if Art Gallery, where she has been a gracious hostess for any number of openings and exhibitions over the last year.  Now she gets a chance to show off her latest series of carved acrylic paintings in her new show, "Strata."   

Carved, you may ask?  Yep - these works are created using 30 or more layers of paint, then carved to show the layers of paint, much like a crosscut of geologic strata.  Baehler’s oil paintings will also be featured; these are created using a more traditional technique, but still display the same types of intricate patterning. As she asks in a press release, "Have you ever wondered how the Aztecs might have designed a circuit board, or what crop circles would look like if aliens had a taste for Art Deco?"   We can't wait to discover the answer!

Strata will be on display Thursday, June 7th through Tuesday, June 12th at Vista Studios/Gallery 80808 (located at 808 Lady Street in the Congaree Vista.) The exhibition will be open to the public weekdays 11-7, Saturday 11-5, and Sunday 11-3.  An opening reception for the artist will be held June 8, 2012, from 5 to 9 PM.

A Portrait of Columbia Through the Lens of Richard Samuel Roberts

Wherever your eyes drift while viewing the work of photographer Richard Samuel Roberts, they’ll always return to the faces. There’s a story to tell in each one, stories of dignity, determination, and strength of spirit.

  Roberts, a self-taught African-American photographer, is celebrated for the remarkable portraits he took of black Columbians between 1920 and 1936. In the introduction to “A True Likeness: The Black South of Richard Samuel Roberts,” Thomas Johnson notes that Robert’s photographs “of course portray black Carolinians in their role as ‘burden bearers.’ But here also is W.E.B. Du Bois’s ‘talented tenth’ in South Carolina -- the achievers, progressives, entrepreneurs who engaged in individual and communal programs of uplift and self-help, who were concerned not just with mere survival, but ‘making it’ and claiming their piece of the American pie.”

  Thanks to the work of a new membership affiliate at the Columbia Museum of Art, the

Friends of African American Art and Culture, 24 of Roberts’ images can now be seen in a new exhibit in Gallery 15, upstairs at the museum. The images were chosen by FAAAC board members, folks such as Waltene Whitmire, Javana Lovett, Preach Jacobs, Michaela Pilar Brown, and Kyle Coleman. Each board member was asked to write down their thoughts about the photograph, and these insights are displayed alongside the image.

  This is a must-see exhibit for everyone, but especially for Columbians who are not familiar with Roberts and his work. He deserves to be heralded as one of our city’s most historically significant artists, a man whose curiosity and dedication preserved a part of our culture that might otherwise have been lost.

  Roberts and his family moved to Columbia from Fernandina, Florida, in 1920. His wife, Wilhelmina Pearl Selena Williams, was a native of Columbia. Roberts took a job as custodian at the post office and worked weekdays from 4 a.m. to noon. He purchased a five-room house at 1717 Wayne Street for $3,000, and in 1922 he rented space for a photography studio upstairs at 1119 Washington St., a block off Main Street.

  “The fact that Roberts could purchase such a house is ample evidence that he and his family were members of a rising, relatively affluent, middle-class black community,” Johnson wrote.

  Over the years, Roberts took thousands of photographs of members of this community, so the 24 on display currently the Museum of Art only scratch the surface of this historical treasure trove. (A book could be written about the discovery and restoration of the 3,000 glass-plate negatives that were found in a crawl space at the family’s Wayne Street home a half-century after Roberts took the photographs.)

  The exhibition will be on view through April 29, 2012. But don’t wait to go see it, and don’t go just once. Check out the book “A True Likeness” for more of Roberts’ work, and I encourage everyone who has an appreciation for the artistic and cultural contributions of African-American artists to join the FAAAC. Affiliate president Brandolyn Thomas Pinkston says the group’s goal is to provide “a multitude of programs, lectures, and exhibits.”

  The Roberts exhibit is a fascinating and powerful start.

-- Mike Miller

Michael Miller is an associate editor of Jasper Magazine -- read more of his work in the last two issues of Jasper at www.jaspercolumbia.com.

Change is Good

Change is always good, but at no time is it better than when it benefits both the arts and humanity at the same time.

WACH TV, in conjunction with the City of Columbia and a whole slew of other partners, is once again sponsoring Change for Change, a community art project which benefits Columbia's Climate Protection Action Campaign. After having raised more than $7000 last year, this year's Change for Change campaign is bigger and better than ever. The brainchild of WACH TV's Kacey Liles and the City of Columbia's CPAP guru Mary Pay Baldauf, Change for Change recycles out-of-service parking meters, via the artistic sensibilities of some of Columbia's most innovative artists, and the result is public art that ranges from the whimsical to the intentionally scary.

Part of the Jasper crew had the opportunity to join WACH TV's Kristin Morris for coffee last week and we got the low-down on this year's campaign which kicks off this week with a preview from 5:30 until 8:30 on Wednesday night, October 19th, at anastasia & FRIENDS gallery at 1534 Main Street. At least six brand new recycled meters will be on hand as well as several of last year's favorites. According to Kristin, who acts as artist liaison, "I was literally overwhelmed by the talent last year, and we expect this year to be even better."

On the organizational side of the project, a few things have changed. For one thing, participating artists will recoup 10% of the proceeds of the sale of their creations. "We hope that will at least help to offset some of their expenses," Kristin explains.

The Wednesday night event will feature new work by Anastasia Chernoff, Paul Kaufmann, Matt Kramer, Katherine Elliott, Sammy Lopez, and James Lalumondier. Music will be provided by C. Neil Scott & Matt "Musician X" Falter - Sax & Drums/Percussion Duet. And from 8 until 8:30 the gallery will revisit last week's über - successful Black Light, Black Night -- An Ultraviolet Light Experience party for those who missed it on First Thursday.

But Wednesday night is when the fun is just beginning. Artists may still pick up parking meter canvasses and have plenty of time to prep them for the big show which will take place on December 20th at 701 Whaley. Meters and posts will be available Wednesday night. For more information go to http://www.midlandsconnect.com/changeforchange.

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Check Out Handcrafted Aliens And More This Week At Southern Pottery

A few years ago at a ceramics show at Vista Studios Gallery 80808, I fell in love with a colorful little bowl with a wonderfully retro-looking woman’s face on a blue background with a cartoon word bubble that said “Enjoy” and spoons floating around the perimeter. The purple rim had the words “EAT IT UP YUM” carved into the clay. Inside, I was greeted with another lush burst of green glaze. The whole work had this whimsical, imperfect feel to it, almost as if molded by a child, but this clearly was not a child’s work. It was the work of Georgia artist Vanessa Grubbs, the MFA-toting-accomplished-in-her-own-right daughter of celebrated Columbia artists Steve and Mana Hewitt.

I loved that bowl. I bought that bowl. And every time I look at that bowl (pictured), it makes me happy.

I can only imagine how it must feel to thrust one’s hands into cool damp slab of clay and shape it into something worthy of the kiln. I am so intrigued and amazed by the works of the clay artists we have right here in the Midlands, notably Anastasia Chernoff, Jeff Donovan, Sonia Neale, Paul Moore, Rita Ruth Cockrell, Mike Van Houten, Betsy Kaemmerlen, Diane Gilbert, and so many others.

So on a recent visit to Southern Pottery on Devine Street, I picked up a post card announcing the celebration of American Craft Week, which runs October 6-16. I know there are many choices for arts lovers this week. However, if you – like me – love pottery and the clay arts, you must make it out to Southern Pottery some time between today and Saturday, Oct. 16.

Tonight, Oct. 6, the Southern Pottery is hosting a reception from 6-9 p.m. for Cardinal Newman presents “Southern Icons,” hand-built clay works depicting social, religious, and cultural traditions through the eyes of teenagers. I know, it's First Thursday on Main, and there are shows at 80808 and City Art, too. But if you're a time-management wiz, you might be able to hit all of them.

And Friday, Oct. 7, the Southern Pottery will host another reception from 6-9 p.m. to celebrate “We Are Here,” clay and fiber works by Leanne Pizio and Paige Cox depicting aliens, UFOs, and quirky extraterrestrial visitors. Also on Friday, visitors to Southern Pottery are invited to participate in the “Made in China” mug swap. Those who donate their intact Chinese-made mugs (limit 4) will receive 20 percent off an American handcrafted mug.

The following week, on Friday, Oct. 14, Southern Pottery will feature artist demonstrations by Tuula Ihamaki-Widdifield and Susan Tondreau-Dwyer from 6-8 p.m. And on Saturday, Oct. 15, you can enjoy more demonstrations by Diane Gilbert and Paul Moore from 12-2 p.m.

Who knew? I urge you to check out some of this awesome clay-oriented action over the next 10 days. For details, visit www.southern-pottery.com or call the gallery at 803-251-3001. And tell them that Jasper sent you.

-- Kristine Hartvigsen

(Kristine Hartvigsen is an associate editor for Jasper Magazine. Read more of Kristine's work at www.jaspercolumbia.com)

J. Spencer Shull at First Thursday

 

There are many fine parts to the puzzle that makes First Thursday on Main Street the delightful experience that it is. Here's a look at just one of the happenings being presented on Thursday, October 6th at S & S Arts Supplies on Main Street.

This October's First Thursday on Main event is sure to be filled with thrills, chills, and cute n' creepy creatures! This amazingly talented local artist has a HUGE show in store for you! In addition to the crazy fun artwork inside, there will be many more surprises as well! You can dance the night away on Main street to the musical stylings of DJ Dr. Scott Padget, or play dress up and get your photo taken with Red Road Portraits photo-booth!

J. Spencer Shull is a self taught artist born and raised in South Carolina. His style incorporates aspects of cartoon illustration, pop surrealism, and lowbrow art. Along with his wife Kelly Shull, J. Spencer runs Jellykoe, an art collective. The husband and wife duo specialize in making one of a kind plush monsters as well as original 2-D artwork. Together, they have exhibited their work at art shows, festivals, and conventions in over eleven states. You can view more of their work at: jellykoe.com.

(Thanks to Amanda Ladymon for the above post.)

Columbia City Ballet's Off the Wall -- Go for the end of the show

OK, everyone who really knows me knows how I feel about the state of dance in Columbia, SC. Not to beat a dead horse but, as you've all heard me whine too much, sometimes I feel like we're stuck in the nineteen-eighties or whenever the last time was that Columbia's big two dance company ADs went to see a show that they weren't staging themselves. It's frustrating that the only new and innovative dance and choreography opportunities tend to come out of the university setting.  

So, with all these caveats out there I want to express how pleased I was with what City Ballet did with Off the Wall tonight at the Koger Center. Yes, Act I was the longest single ballet act I have ever sat through, and yes, the numbers themselves went on for way the hell too long. But when Act II came around, it was like we were sitting in a different theatre, with a different audience, watching a different company perform a different ballet.

While some of Act II was a retread of previous Off the Wall performances, artistic director William Starrett has added a new scene this season, set in the congregation of a church and, this time, he has scored and scored big. The new church scene starts off with a heart-and-gut twisting rendition of Amazing Grace, sung by a soloist with the Benedict College Gospel Choir whose name I do not know. If anyone knows this young woman's name, then please, pass it along to the rest of us because I don't ever want to miss an opportunity to hear her perform again. As outstanding as she was, her performance was just a precursor of the wild and crazy gospel choral ride the audience was in for as the remainder of the act unfolded. It was, to be completely candid, one of the best performances I have seen in Columbia. (And yes, Bonnie danced in this piece but only for a handful of minutes and in a decidedly standard corps role.)

The choir was over-the-top and athletic in their performance and the dance choreography was innovative and surprising. Dancers seemed to pop out of the pews of the church like hot kernels of corn. But by far, the most exciting thing to me was the fact that there on the Koger Center stage were three different arts disciplines -- ballet, choral music, and the visual art of Jonathan Green -- coming together to present an all around sensory overload that left the audience all but on fire. In a word, it was a success.

So, to those of you who were not planning to attend Columbia City Ballet's performance of Off the Wall and Onto the Stage, my advice is that you reconsider your decision. To be honest, act I may not be for everyone -- in our party, two people loved it and two people thought it drug on fairly mercilessly. But whatever your complaints or lack thereof with Act I, Act II will, by far, make up for any unhappiness with the early part of the show. There are three more chances to see this version of Off the Wall -- Saturday afternoon and evening and Sunday afternoon. For more information go to www.columbiacityballet.com.

-- cb

Coalescence Reminder -- Photography and the Word

Photographs, like the one below by Kirill Simin, are coming in and the deadline in approaching -- send us your shots, Photogs!

The first event in the series, Coalescence: Volume 1 – Photography and the Word, will turn the process of illustration on its head as the Columbia area’s excellent local writers are invited to respond in short prose form (500 words or less) to photos submitted by our best local photographers. The result?  A journey into the imagination of the literary artist as it is stimulated by that of the visual artist in photographic form.

Here’s how to get involved.

Photographers – please select your most evocative, narrative-rich photographic images for submission. While portraits are not prohibited, they may be less likely to induce imaginative response, and therefore, not chosen for this project. We encourage you to choose photographic submissions that depict action or interaction; pictures that show distance, proximity, mannerisms, emotions, relationships, or response. Look for potential clues to the action in your images. Can you can find one or more stories in the image you submit?

A few more things to consider:

If your submission depicts an individual, have your model sign a standard model release form (available at jaspercolumbia.com).

Submit only high-resolution photography to editor@jaspercolumbia.com.

The deadline for photography is October 15, 2011.

Writers – stay tuned to jaspercolumbia.com and the announcement of the winning photographic images selected for your compositional pleasure, and follow the directions you find there.

Photography and the Word will coalesce in December 2011. More details to come at jaspercolumbia.com.Remind

The Jasper Gallery

Jasper hates to brag but, what the hell, when you've got artists like we do in Columbia, there's just no need for fake modesty. To be honest, we're pretty proud of the growing assemblage of images we've collected thus far in our very own cyber exhibition space, The Jasper Gallery.

Among the artists represented in The Jasper Gallery, you'll find Justice Littlejohn, Amanda Ladymon, Kara Gunter, Lisa Puryear, and more.

You or your favorite artist could be represented as well.

The Jasper Gallery is a juried, online gallery for new, provocative, and outstanding visual art created by artists local to Columbia, South Carolina and its environs. To submit your original artwork for possible inclusion in The Jasper Gallery, please e-mail your work in JPEG format to editor@jaspercolumbia.com.

In the meantime, check out The Jasper Gallery as well as our other galleries (Friends of Jasper, the Making of a Centerfold, and images from our launch party -- Happy Birthday Jasper) all at www.jaspercolumbia.com.

Woodworks at McMaster Gallery

Of all the canvasses with which artists work, there is a warmth and depth to wood that makes it hard to compare to other materials. Maybe it's because of its organic nature; maybe its because wood is such a part of our daily lives, evoking so many images -- from shelter to forests to fire.

McMaster Gallery on the campus of USC at Senate and Pickens Streets is hosting, this week for the last week of a month-long run, an exhibition in wood by an impressive set of international artists. The likes of Jasper were found to be wondering the halls of the McMaster building this weekend, so we stopped by the small gallery for a gander at the exhibit. We found whimsical sculptures, functional vessels, and naturally-occurring burls on objet d'arts so beautiful they could make a strong woman weep. The only problem we had was in resisting the temptation to touch!

Artists represented include Derek Bencomo, Hunt Clark, David Ellsworth, Harvey Fein, Ron Fleming, Todd Hoyer, John Jordan, Robert F. Lyon, Michael Mocho, Hilary Pfeifer, Binh Pho, Betty Scarpino, Mark Sfirri, and Leah Woods.

The exhibition closes on Friday, September 30th, but the gallery is hosting a day-long workshop on Wednesday, September 28th, beginning at 9 am in room 102 of the McMaster Building. An artist talk will follow from 3:30 until 5 and, after that, a closing reception from 5 until 7 pm.

For more information visit http://web.mac.com/mcmastergallery/McMaster_Gallery/On_Display.html

Jasper has been busy

Jasper has been busy and we'd like to take a moment to share what we've been up to with you, our loyal readers.

To start with, we released the inaugural issue of Jasper Magazine - The Word on Columbia Arts in print form last Thursday night at a lovely party, hosted by one of our favorite places for imbibing, Speakeasy on Saluda Street in Five Points. It was a grand night, and we were overwhelmed by the kindness and support of the arts community. Thank you all so very much for your kind words and your presence at our birthday party for Jasper. Thanks also to Speakeasy for hosting us and Josh Roberts for entertaining us.

The Jasper staff and family has been busy distributing magazines throughout the city. But if we haven't gotten to you yet, not to worry -- we're diligent and we still have more than half of our inventory on hand. That said, we're happy to take your recommendations of spots where you would like to see Jasper distributed. By week's end, we should be all over the Columbia metropolitan area, including Camden, Chapin, Prosperity, and Newberry. And soon, you'll be able to find us in Greenville and Spartanburg, as well.

Lenza Jolley, our web maven, has also been hard at work building our brand new website. If  you haven't had a chance yet, please visit us at www.jaspercolumbia.com. We hope to make jaspercolumbia.com an extension of the print version of Jasper Magazine. To that end, please find more music by Josh Roberts, more art by David Yaghjian, more poetry by all of our featured poets, well ... more of everything, we hope, at our new cyber home.

As you may know, Jasper comes out in print form once every other month on the 15th of the month. If the 15th falls on a weekend, then look for us on the Thursday prior to that date. Our next issue will release on Tuesday, November 15th, for example, but the following issue will release on Thursday, January 12th -- and yes, we plan to celebrate every single issue that hits the streets! But the reality is that Jasper wants to see his arts buddies more than just six times per year. That's just one of the reasons we will be coming to you on our off-print months with various projects and events.

• On Wednesday, October 26th at 7 pm, please join us for our first ever Pint and Poem Walk. Look for more information on how to sign up for one of only 25 spaces on this one-of-a-kind walk in the coming week at jaspercolumbia.com.

• On Monday, October 31st, Jasper will host our first ever Ghost Story Salon as part of 701 CCA's Halloween Night Costume Bash. We're busy gathering all the great tellers of tales of ghosts and ghouls from around town to entertain you, via candlelight and creepy tunes, upstairs in the Olympia Room at 701 Whaley CCA.

• The first stage of our first ever Coalescence Project is well underway as photographers throughout the midlands are submitting their work to Jasper Magazine Coalescence Series - Volume 1: Photography and the Word (http://jaspercolumbia.net/blog/?p=357). October 15th is the deadline for photography and which point local writers will be invited to come try their hands at creating 500 word or less stories to "illustrate" the photographic images. The completed project -- Photography and the Word -- will be unveiled in December.

Finally, we have moved into our studio office downstairs at the Tapp's Arts Center on Main Street and we are in the process of tidying up and making pretty. Please join us for a little open house on Thursday, October 6th as Jasper Magazine happily becomes a part of the First Thursday Arts Crawl community. We'll get back to you before then with more information on the treats we'll have in store as we welcome you to our new creative home.

Until then, thanks for reading Columbia. And thanks for giving us so many good works to write about.

Cheers!

(Photos courtesy of Jasper associate editor Kristine Hartvigsen)