New Art by Bonnie Goldberg - An Online Jasper Exclusive

Jasper is delighted when we see treasured artists in the Greater Columbia Arts Community take their talent in different directions, so we were thrilled when figurative artist Bonnie Goldberg agreed to share some of her work with us.

Jasper asked visual artist Bonnie Goldberg to take an assessment of her life as an artist as we all find our ways through what is, hopefully, some of the final months of Covid concerns. This is what Bonnie had to say:

In the beginning of the pandemic, I did stay home and paint a lot. I created a space upstairs in my house and spent a lot of time working on drawings and paintings. Because I had already decided to work in a more abstract manner and use my own paintings and photographs as reference material, I had no need of a model, so it was not a problem not being able to hire someone to model for me. I find that working this way allows me freedom to create new iterations of former work and also work pure abstraction focusing on color and line and shape. Because I had no social life, I was able to throw all of my attention into my work and focus on innovative ideas and new directions. I love the new work that I am doing...I often paint without using a brush...applying the paint with various tools and edges, making marks, and finding new ways to draw and create line without a brush or pencil. There is a lot of layering and "lost and found" color and edges and I find it both challenging and exciting.  

I am back to painting in my studio in the Arcade on Main...I have a small space upstairs and it allows me to paint and allow limited access to the studio from people who visit the building. I am still careful, but fully vaccinated and able to focus on my art in a very intense and personal way. Creating art is always an inner experience for the artist and for me, with music playing and light from the beautiful skylights in the hallway, I am doing my best work ever. I have taken more chances, done more experimenting, and painted more abstractly. And I love it. I do still incorporate the figure into a lot of my work, but sometimes it is only a line or a gesture or a suggestion of a figure, leaving the interpretation to the viewer.  

I am still represented by galleries and interior designers, but I retain the right to sell my own work and I show a lot of my work on social media...Facebook and Instagram reach thousands of people and allow me to show images of my work to many people who in turn often reach out and purchase work. This is a boon to artists to be able to show and sell work in this manner. Instagram has allowed me to not only show and sell work but connect and share ideas with artists around the world. The art world has changed, and I sell more work and see more art from other artists than ever before. 

I love the small studio space that allows me to see everything that I need and work on. You can see from the images that I am creating and layering and abstracting in many sizes and shapes and this is inspiring me to do more in this direction. Art and artists are always evolving, and I look forward to seeing where I can take my work next....just open that door, walk through it, and see what happens....

Join Jasper Galleries Featured Artist Pam Bowers at Motor Supply During Vista Lights

Join Jasper Galleries Featured Artist

Pam Bowers

for an intimate Meet the Artist event

Thursday Night from 6 - 9

at Motor Supply Bistro

920 Gervais Street

Featured CCA Biennial Artist Reclaims the Feminine Through “Monstrous” Installation

“…rather than reiterating these narratives throughout history of what makes women ‘women,’ or what makes women monstrous, I think women should be the ones to decide and to retell those narratives.”

Think of your favorite werewolf. Are you a traditionalist watching American Werewolf in London? Maybe your high school years were filled with Team Jacob debates or MTV made you a Scott McCall fan. Regardless, think about what all these representations have in common. What would these look like if the main monsters were women? 

This is what new South Carolinian, artist Marina Shaltout, asks in her installation Bad Bitch. Told best in her own words, this installation is a “meta-camp, multi-channel video installation that tells the story of a female werewolf exhibiting three symptoms of PMS (Ravenous, Reckless, and Raging).” 

A female werewolf being new or surprising is inherently ironic—women are no strangers to being portrayed as monsters. However, the feminine monster is typically just that: feminine. Think Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy or Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique; even in a non-human form they remain feminine, complete with sexual organs and rife with sensuality.

 If women are ever portrayed as fur-covered monsters, they are rarely allowed to be seen as women, losing all sense of femininity. This is the dichotomous relationship of the female monster, either too feminine or not feminine at all.

 Shaltout relates this in part to the experience of women portrayed by the media, saying, “It's this really interesting process where we women have this notion of, ‘I want to be this woman, but society hates this woman and deems her crazy or problematic or undesirable, so I also hate this woman and therefore I hate myself.’”

 With her own body, Shaltout resists this patriarchal narrative that defines the feminine by its standards. In these installation videos, she dons a full-body wolf costume and dresses it up with wigs, jewelry, and nails. She refuses to let the monster lose its femininity and refuses to let that femininity be comfortable.

“I explore mythologies of females throughout history and the way that we conflate femininity with evil and societal problems. I specifically consider how female monsters are sexualized while male monsters are bad-ass grotesque figures, and I'm interested in flipping those gender notions of what a monster has to be,” Shaltout reveals, “But rather than reiterating these narratives throughout history of what makes women ‘women,’ or what makes women monstrous, I think women should be the ones to decide and to retell those narratives.” 

This narrative consists of three videos, featured on three individual, decorated TVs. Each video presents the main character—Shaltout in costume—in three action sequences: in one, she is eating cakes messily, surrounded by purple fur and the moon that beckons her; in the second, she is putting on makeup at a light blue vanity with its shattered pieces creating the frame itself; and in the third, she is dancing, moving with glitter and framed by the oxymoronic exotic yet inherently natural foliage. All three parts of this installation coalesce at a peak wherein the character at their center stops existing to please the watcher.

 All the materials seen in the videos and on their frames are either handmade or personally sourced by Shaltout. The vanity was found, while the pieces on the frame were created to simply look like the broken furniture in the video. The cake fixtures actually came first with the pastries in the video baked by Shaltout to match. These “moments of artifice,” as she calls them, are key to her work and bridge the faux with authenticity. 

Learning what to create and what to reuse is key to ensuring her process moves along seamlessly, and Shaltout’s varied artistic background surely helps. Though born in Missouri, she grew up in Illinois where she went to college and received her BFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing before doing a residency at New Mexico State University and finally becoming an MFA candidate in 3D and Extended Medium at the University of Arizona.

 Her work with 3D sculpture aids in hands on work, like wrapping violet fur or placing robin egg blue wood on a TV frame. Her work creating appendages supports her visual eye, seen in the careful cultivation of wardrobe or recreation of baked goods. And her work with body-based installation and performance allows her to blur the line between self and other. 

“Visuals is my favorite part. It's me saying does this glittery dress work for this? It's a gathering of materials and then kind of playing around to see what will work, and a lot goes into it,” she intimates, “I think I debated about the color of the wig for two weeks straight. These little things—they're arbitrary and yet hold so much weight—and at the end of the day, I get to make those decisions myself, which is really cool.” 

Video installation adds a fresh layer to performance in this ability to shift visuals and have multiple takes and edits. There are never many cuts, but Shaltout is able to play with lighting and color, even recreating sound. There always is an organic element, however, to what happens when the camera is turned on, and some things, like breaking the vanity, can only happen once.  

“I do script; I storyboard. But I'm more of a writer, so I'll write out the sequence of actions that I plan to take in my videos. And I kind of have that as like a blueprint, but a lot of times my work is improv,” Shaltout describes, “I set myself up with my props and with the general idea, but a lot of it is just kind of going with the feeling in the moment.”

 Donning these costumes and props both makes Shaltout appear as if she could be anybody and specifically embodies a particular part of femininity and perception of the feminine. What at first glance could appear as a strange, silly Halloween costume is a rumination on the very control of women’s bodies and personas, and by turning our expectations of both storytelling and genre on their head, Shaltout is able to reclaim the monstrous feminine.  

In the future, Shaltout aims to continue these stories in different, yet perpetually linked, personas. Her current idea involves mimicry, flowers, and phallic-shaped foods, but that’s your sneak peek for now. Regardless, she will continue to assert that if you’re going to represent me as a monster, I’m going to make you look at me as the “monster” I truly am. It is her, and our, narrative now. 

So—why are there no woman werewolves? They make people in a patriarchal world uncomfortable. They represent a breaking of boundaries and a power that makes people scared. But they should be. And we, as women, should be comfortable and proud of our power, fur and claws included. 

Bad Bitch is currently on display at 701 Whaley’s Center for Contemporary Art as part of their “Biennial Part 1,” which is up until November 14th. Read more about the Biennial here:

Shaltout now resides in Hartsville, South Carolina, teaching at Coker University as a Visiting Assistant Professor. You can follow her journey at her website.

-Christina Xan

Jasper Galleries presents Pam Bowers at Motor Supply

The Jasper Project is delighted to welcome the work of renown visual artist Pamela Bowers to the Jasper Galleries space at Motor Supply in Columbia’s historic Vista.

A Chicago native, for the past 20 years Pam Bowers has divided her time between in Columbia, South Carolina, the Umbrian hill town she calls her second home, and her world wide wide travels.

She has exhibited her work internationally at venues that include the Guilin Academy of Chinese Painting in China, the University of Fine Arts in Budapest, numerous venues in Italy, University of Newcastle in Australia, and the Ecole Nationale in Rabat, Morocco.

Nationally she has exhibited at the Bowery Gallery, New York, Blue Mountain Gallery New York, ARC and WMG galleries in Chicago, and many other university or museum venues including the the State Museum of South Carolina, City Gallery at Waterfront Park In Charleston, the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and St. Mary's College of Notre Dame among others.

This is one of the first solo exhibits of her work in Columbia for many years.

Pam has lectured on her work and conducted numerous workshops both here and abroad. Her work is represented in numerous public and private collections. Additional works can be seen at pamjbowers.com.

About this exhibition and her work, in general, the artist says:

The work in this exhibition spans decades of my career as a painter and my life as an artist. As a kind of lifelong travel journal, these works express my passion for color and materials while reflecting my personal stories and imaginative musings on nature. Mine is a playful but serious practice rooted in the experience of the senses. I often paint directly from life outdoors; celebrating its elemental beauty through observation––watching the play of light across a flower, the flow of water over rocks, a storm at sea or the subtle movements of animals. I then bring these perceptual works into my studio where they inspire more elaborate pieces that allow for layers of imagination, meaning, and metaphor. Through a process of free association I enter into an almost sacred feeling, intimate kind of mental space within my psyche.  In this, I create works that speak to the experiences, emotions and thoughts present in my life’s journey.. In pursuit of this inspiration I have travelled widely working and exhibiting in many enchanting places across the globe. However, the watery Southeastern coastal areas remain closest to my heart. My studio in the woodlands between Columbia and the coast serves as basecamp for many adventures and excursions to explore our beautiful landscapes’ flora and fauna both here and beyond. I hope you enjoy this show.

The Jasper Project

will host a

Meet the Artist Evening

in the Motor Supply Bar on

Thursday, November 18th from 6 - 9pm

during Vista Lights.

Please come by, say hello to Pam, pick up the newest copy of Jasper Magazine, and have a drink or dinner at Motor!

Closing Reception for Nikolai Oskolkov's Art Exhibit at Motor Supply

Thursday, October 28th at 5 pm

Motor Supply

Friends and Patrons! Come out to Motor Supply restaurant downtown Columbia upcoming Thursday for an informal drop-in closing and art sale...meet the artist, order a drink or two from the bar and check out a large selection of NikO Art currently on display...Blessings and Inspiration to all and see y'all soon!

As Niko has returned from a recent trip to his homeland he has this to say:

“The recent trip to Russia is as always nostalgic, which is an emotion that is very dear to me.. .it is where my roots are, memories of childhood, when life is naturally brighter, more colorful, happier, so its always very healthy to revisit...the nature and people there are very close to the heart, even though Carolina has always been a great home, with many loving caring people who love art and music and allow artists a practical opportunity to develop and express themselves in any way they see fit for themselves...”

About this exhibition of his work at Motor Supply:

“The show is passively thematic...meaning it has a fairly benign focus on landscapes and scenes of our South Carolina, and the place that enchants me quite a lot...Venice...I am absolutely in love with Venice and love to revisit it through painting so I can possess it with sight and touch...so I can extend my time there...The advantages of a restaurant setting is of course the traffic of new fans and potential patrons is more regular, and that it doesn't have to be anyone looking for fine art in particular, so they can be surprised and truly inspired, instead of looking for inspiration or art intentionally, and feeling unsophisticated or inadequate when visiting an often exclusive, lofty commercial fine art galleries...I believe art is for EVERYONE...”

Renee Rouillier Explores Joy and Freedom Through Sculpture in New Tiny Gallery Show

October is a month of transition: first cool mornings of the year, beginning of turning leaves, and the first thoughts of holiday get-togethers. Renee Rouillier explores the larger transitions of freedom and confinement, loss and joy, in her Tiny Gallery show, Messages from Nature. Learn more about her and her show, which is in its final week, below!

Renee Rouillier grew up in rural Upstate New York as one of four siblings in a time where “the world felt like a safer place to live.”

Rejecting any safety nets, however, young Rouillier embarked on a brief journey to an Airline Academy before settling in Rochester and enrolling in its Institute of Technology’s evening art program. At this time, she mainly worked with two-dimensional art and received a Certificate of Fine Arts.  

A new path opened after Rouillier underwent major surgery in her early 40’s. At this time, she decided to quit her job and return to school, choosing the Arts Program at SUNY Brockport.

“This is where everything began to come together,” Rouillier recalls. “I found myself evolving into the person I was meant to be and realized what a difference it made when someone believed in your capabilities and provided unconditional support.”

Soon, this blanket of enlightenment spread wings when Rouillier became immersed in and inundated by sculpture and clay, which she felt unlocked a connection she had never been able to find in 2D art. She began exploring interests and ideas, finally settling in a pocket of inspiration around Surrealism and German Expressionism.

“I began winning awards and honors and more importantly,” Rouillier asserts, “I began to believe in myself…drawing from art with an edge, dark side, or unforeseen side of reality.”

Not long after, Rouillier graduated with a BFA and a BS in Interdisciplinary Arts for Children with Honors and was offered a fellowship at the University of South Carolina concentrating in Ceramics and Sculpture, both studying and acting as a Teaching Assistant and Instructor of Record in Ceramics and Three-Dimensional Study.

“This is also another time-period I will always treasure,” Rouillier intimates, “The total involvement and atmosphere created between undergraduates, graduate students, instructors, and professors to create a whole interactive community; I cherished teaching and my students.” 

This experience culminated in an MFA, followed by an additional eight years of teaching at USC Columbia, USC Aiken, Columbia College, and South Carolina State University, before fully settling into the art community in Columbia, participating in events like The Supper Table, where she designed the place setting for Dr. Matilda Evans.

In preparation for her Tiny Gallery show, Rouillier turned to pieces sculpted before the pandemic but not completed. When the studio she sculpts at reopened, she began selecting pieces and adding surface treatments, which is “accomplished using oxides, underglazes, and glazes with multiple firings.”

Rouillier’s process for this show reflects both her baseline as an artist and her emerging feelings from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I find myself continuously observing my surroundings, interactions, and world events,” Rouillier shares, “This series focuses on the freedom and joy, or my so-called interpretation of it, that I felt animals and wildlife experienced during our confinement.” 

Messages from Nature is filled with ruminating animals, not revealing their thoughts, but staring straight ahead as if beckoning you into conversation. Monkeys and hippos float as avian and amphibian friends perch on their rounded heads. Leopards and rams sit in an excess of both their own patterns and patterns not inherent to them. All the while, these ruminating animals are punctuated by the occasional face of a girl or goblin.

Rouillier’s personal favorites from the show are “Unusual Friends” and “Mystical,” the former of which reflects a challenge she faces—adding that little additional touch that completes the piece.”

“When I built the hippo, I liked it by itself, but it needed an additional element: the hummingbird,” Rouillier reflects, “When I underglazed (matte) the hummingbird and initially fired it, something still wasn't quite right—I put that little touch of gloss glaze on the beak and that did the trick.”

Renee Rouillier’s Messages from Nature will be available to peruse and to purchase from 24/7 on the Jasper virtual gallery space until October 31st: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery. If you are looking for a unique holiday gift, a handcrafted sculpture is irreplaceable.

As for the future, Rouillier “can’t wait to see what evolves,” and you can follow her journey in the community as she takes on new adventures with her three-dimensional creations.

- - Christina Xan

Zachary Diaz and the Recycled Parts of Life

“If you’re always following the recipe, that’s as good as it’s ever going to taste.”

Zachary Diaz’s upcoming Stormwater show started with a ball of paper.

Years ago, Diaz wrote (and quickly discarded) an emotional letter to an ex, only to find the wadded paper months later. Capturing the words he had written on the page in a still life, Diaz hesitantly included the drawing of the letter in an earlier exhibition at Stormwater Studios. 

Several people pointed out the piece to him in the show, and Diaz started to realize a point of connection. “If that’s one way that I can connect with total strangers, how many more ways can we connect with other people? What other experiences or memories or reflections do we have that coincide with how someone else has felt?” Diaz asks. From that moment, a residency was born.

Diaz’s residency at 701 Center for Contemporary Art expanded this idea of unsent letters by outsourcing writing. Participants wrote letters to people or experiences, which were published anonymously on Diaz’s website. Several were selected to be the subjects of drawings that will be featured in his upcoming exhibition, which shows at Stormwater Studios from October 8-17.

This show is a combination of work from this residency and an earlier show called Cloudwalker, both of which were partially released online due to the pandemic.

Cloudwalker features clouds, as its title suggests, birds, and varying figures hidden in the compositions. “I like creating narrative stories that the viewer can make up themselves… I sort of lay the groundwork — I give them all the accents— and they can kinda come up with their own imagination what’s really going on,” Diaz says. He likes making work that makes people think.

The Letters portion of the show is ongoing throughout the duration of the exhibition. Viewers will be invited to submit their own letters, all of which will culminate in an installation that will be featured in the show’s closing reception on October 17 from 6-8pm.

While Diaz is still conceptualizing how the installation will look, he plans on ordering the letters in a way that reflects their content, identifying themes such as love, forgiveness, and varying emotions.  

Since starting the Letters project, Diaz says he’s become a lot more interested in how he feels when he’s making. His earlier creative process involved stricter planning and reference sketching. Now, Diaz works more intuitively, which, in turn, has made projects go faster and made him more aware of what he’s creating.

Diaz tends to mix mediums in nontraditional ways, layering oil paint over gessoed paper and drawing on top with charcoal. “I don’t think there’s any concrete way to create something” Diaz says. “If you’re always following the recipe, that’s as good as it’s ever going to taste.”

By making the letters in this show anonymous, Diaz says that he gives people a shield to really be honest. This openness displays his belief that so many experiences in life are shared, whether you know it or not.

Diaz describes the exhibition as a dive into his mind. “If you’re interested in learning more about everyone around you through the eyes of an artist, then come to the show,” Diaz says. “It’s a story in two parts… Cloudwalker is about how I see the world and everything around me. Letters is about how you see the world and learning more about the people around you.”

The opening reception for the exhibition is October 9 from 5-8pm. Whether by attending the show or submitting an anonymous letter yourself, Diaz wants to help create connections.

“Artists are gardeners. We make roses from the recycled parts of life,” Diaz says. To see how one crumpled piece of paper turned into a show, stop by Stormwater Studios before October 17.

 - Stephanie Allen

Bohumila Augustinova Carves Shapes and Stories into Clay in New Tiny Gallery Show Layers

As we enter the second half of September and inch closer to fall, so do we mark the halfway point of Jasper’s Tiny Gallery show with Bohumila Augustinova. The show, Layers, presents 20 pottery pieces that highlight, mainly, the Scraffito technique.   

Augustinova spent her childhood in Czechoslovakia, now known as the Czech Republic. She recalls that her younger years were spent always making something and that she could “never keep [her] hands still.” 

“My mom and dad were very supportive, so even as a small child they taught me how to knit, crochet, sew, cook, and use power tools,” Augustinova remembers. “My mom and I used to make all the costumes for me and my brothers, and I was making my own clothes by the time I was 9.” 

Augustinova used this experience and passion to pursue fashion design, which she received a degree in, but soon after, she desired a fresh artistic venture and has since worked with primarily wire art and pottery, being self-taught in both.  

Currently, clay is her preferred medium, but she insists that her and wire are simply on a “break” and that she hopes to integrate them in the future. When it comes to her current technique, Augustinova has been utilizing Scraffito, a “surface decoration technique where color (underglaze) is applied on leather-hard (raw) clay and designs are carved though the color, exposing the clay underneath.”

“When my work closed last year, I figured I needed to stay busy. I could throw a full bag of clay in one day, but then what?” Augustinova pondered, “I took a Scraffito workshop but never had time to explore the technique, so I figured I would just play, and I immediately fell in love with it.” 

Augustinova’s first experiments with Scraffito were doodles from her childhood, and soon, new designs began blossoming before her eyes. Sometimes she already has in mind how she desires a piece to look and pulls it into existence, while sometimes the clay takes shape and flows together into its own identity.  

“Last year I made a mug for my partner inspired by mid-century design, and it was a big hit, so I started messing around with different mid-century designs, which I still love,” Augustinova shares. “I was also working on piece where I was just free handing lines and patterns and then I realized it looks like water, so clearly sitting by the pond inspires me too.”  

Augustinova notes that beyond being inspired to make art, the process of making is inspiring and therapeutic all on its own. She insists that the mutable clay sliding under her hands and the constant hum of the wheel moving is meditative, and she often throws with her eyes closed. 

“After throwing, you apply the underglaze, which I like doing before the actual carving…the carving is where I get lost in my own world,” she says. “I can sit there for hours, listening to whatever I am listening to and work. There have been times when I worked till 2 am or just until I ran out of things to carve.”  

Scraffito is an extremely detailed and precise process that balances this space of being outside and fully within oneself. Even the coloring and glazing process is multilayered—literally—and requires great attention, focus, and a bit of luck with the kiln.  

“I am always looking for good balance of the color I applied and the exposed clay. With pottery and Scraffito, how the piece looks when you finish carving is very different from how it will look after both firings,” Augustinova explains. “After the first firing, the colors will be more vibrant but still a matte finish, and after glazing the colors will come out even deeper and shiny.” 

For this show, specifically, Augustinova has gathered a combination of new and old work, with the goal of offering a large range of sizes and prices for various audiences, but a few pieces were made specifically with this show’s goal in mind. 

“What I hope is that people will see my pottery as usable art. Almost all of my pottery is fully glazed and food safe. I love seeing flower arrangements in my vases, and I love people drinking out of my cups,” Augustinova effuses. “One of my favorite pottery moments was when a friend told me that he was visiting a friend and his tea was served in one of my mugs.” 

If you enter the virtual gallery space, you will see small vases with vibrant designs in pinks and greens, large bowls with detailed carvings in deep jeweled tones, and smooth geometric vases looped with wires that reach to the sky.  

While new to showing pottery, Augustinova is far from new to the Columbia art scene, having managed Anastasia and Friends gallery for several years, worked at the Columbia Art Center (her current occupation), helped lead the Yarnbombers, and won Runaway Runway twice. Her favorite memories as an artist surround this process of making and sharing art. 

“As I am sitting here and answering these questions, I am waiting for the kiln to cool down. I value the moment something comes out of the kiln, and you love it so much you may tear up,” she says. “But it’s also hearing from people how much they love my work. There are few of my friends that have serious collections of my stuff and I just feel so honored by it.”  

In the near future, Augustinova hopes to do new fall and winter shows, and though specific plans are not in place, she will post updates to her Instagram @art_by_bohumila 

To explore Bohumila Augustinova’s pottery, which is only available until the end of September, head over to Jasper’s virtual Tiny Gallery: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery

Stephanie Allen Questions Perceptions of the Female Form in First Solo Show

“Who owns [the female body]? What does that mean? …begin challenging the way that we look at art versus the way that we look at human beings” — Allen

If you enter Cool Beans to grab an afternoon coffee, waiting in line with you will be a vibrant triptych of the female form. As you find a place to sit, you may cozy up by stark black sketches of a hauntingly familiar—yet distant—woman’s face.

 This rumination on femininity and the body is the work of Stephanie Allen, a senior in Drawing and English at the University of South Carolina (UofSC). Active in the art community, Allen has served as an intern for the Columbia Museum of Art and The Jasper Project as well as edited for The Daily Gamecock. A previous participant in juried and group exhibitions, this is her first solo show. 

Allen is a South Carolina native, having spent her childhood in Charleston before moving to Columbia to attend UofSC. In the past three years, she has experimented with various styles and mediums, and as she grows into herself as an artist, she finds herself circling around questions of gender and connections between the exterior and interior self, based specifically on perceptions of the female body.   

This show is rooted in these questions and presents a journey through the work Allen has created during undergrad, mostly in the past 2 years. The selected pieces are mostly in her two preferred mediums: oil painting and India ink sketches, the latter of which she uses a bamboo stick to create.

 “Oil is so vibrant and saturated, and it also takes much longer to dry, so I'm able to take my time and really work through both the colors and the piece as a whole,” Allen reflects, “When it comes to ink, I like that the drawings are very transparent in that I can't hide when I mess up. There's no erasing, there's no going over—you have to be able to work with mistakes.”

In terms of her evolving style and what she has grown into, Allen finds herself leaning more towards the abstract even though realism is what she most often explored in her early years. Though all the pieces in the show are clearly bodies, they may not always be “realistic” or even show the full body—faces are rarely a part of Allen’s work.  

“Hands are something that I’ve begun to do a lot of. Hands have a capacity to be very emotive, but in a way that’s still anonymous,” Allen explains, “When you see a face emoting, and you're wondering, ‘What is that person thinking about?’, hands still have that and can be evocative in a very similar way without you immediately wondering, ‘Who is that person?’ It gives a much broader definition that takes the focus away from a singular experience.” 

Whereas the feminine form in body or hand allows for an experience that relies less on identity and more on message, two pieces in the show are sketches of a female face. “I think it's the eyes that make it,” Allen says in relation to their bridge between anonymity and identity. The faces, while clearly faces, being sketched over in ink so many times makes them appear both distinctly human yet somewhat inhuman and monstrous at the same time. 

Sitting in this interstitial space between the real and imagined, both as a woman who teaches women’s fitness classes and as an artist who perceives the female body, Allen has had to reckon with her own mindset about women’s bodies, even her own. 

“I think one of the things that I have to try to remember is that there is a gear shift. When I look at drawings or paintings or the feminine form, it’s easy to say, ‘This is art and something beautiful,’” Allen effuses, “But then you see those in real time, and they tend to judge and pinpoint imperfections that simply aren't there. The body is the art, and the body is the person, which is so much more pertinent.”  

With a collection of past work on display, Allen turns her focus to her Honors Thesis and Senior Show, which will expand on these same themes but with a focus on queer women and non-binary people and their relationships with their bodies and femininity. 

“It's going to be an interview-based series, where I interview a subject about their relationship with their body,” Allen divulges, “Then I'll have them pose for me or send a picture of their body for me to sketch. I'm not planning on doing faces in this either.” 

Though it’s still months away, Allen is considering layering the art with realistic drawings based on the individuals’ photographs in the background and abstract paintings derived from the interview responses on plexiglass hanging in front. 

Whether you encounter Allen’s work at Cool Beans or her Senior Show this spring, she hopes you’ll ponder the following: “I hope my work leads to questioning of how we perceive the female form. Who owns it? What does that mean? And then, in that perspective, I hope others begin challenging the way that we look at art versus the way that we look at human beings.”

 Allen’s show will be up until Sunday, October 3rd. Cool Beans, located at 1217 College Street, is open weekdays from 7a - 10p and weekends from 9a - 10p.

Jasper Galleries Welcomes Nikolai Oskolkov to Motor Supply Company

Nikolai Oskolkov (NikO) is a painter and musician based in Columbia, SC. He graduated from University of South Carolina in 2006 and has been active in the local art scene for the past 15 years.

A seasoned traveler, NikO chooses subjects that are reflections of personal experiences ranging from Southern landscape and dreamy scenes of Venice to portrait figures and surrealism.

Rich, natural colors in oil invite the viewer to familiar and distant places.

Lately NikO has been exploring the concept of commission artwork and is most eager to engage in a wide range of projects

The show will run until mid-October.

Ron Hagell Weaves Personal and Collective Pasts into a Common Future with “Acrylidemic”

“As artists, it's our duty to do things like this—to use our voices to point out mistreatment and wrongdoing.”

— Ron Hagell

As we turn the corner on July and its sweltering days, consider exploring Ron Hagell’s Tiny Gallery show, “Acrylidemic,” from the cool four walls of your home. To learn more about the show, which runs until the end of this month, and about Hagell’s life, keep reading! 

Hagell’s father and grandfather were both artistic creators who inspired him, and the stories of his grandfather’s work linger still today. Hagell’s grandfather was a Canadian cowboy and artist, born in Alberta in the late 19th century, who painted adventures inspired by the natural landscape of the West.  

While Hagell always loved art, drawing throughout his childhood and school-age years, he didn’t go to school for it. The first official art classes he took were electives in college after he joined the army who sent him to school in the late 60s. 

After the army, and with a family to support, Hagell sought a career in film and television. His creative work bloomed in this realm of digital media, directing and creating films and taking and editing photographs. Hagell was a producer and director with PBS for several years before moving onto more hands-on work, making art for films and his own short films.  

“I did a lot of different kinds of artwork in this period, mainly making short films, various kind of experimental films related to time,” Hagell imparts, “I did a lot related to how you tell a story that is constantly jumping around in time.”  

Moving away from the administrative work at PBS, Hagell taught in universities in London before returning to South Carolina where he pursued an MFA in Film at the University of South Carolina. Being in the digital industry for so long means Hagell has grown along the timeline of film, from developing in darkrooms to digital manipulations, all while reveling in the expansion of creative limitations.  

This desire to push the boundaries of creativity was what led Hagell back to painting, exploring watercolor, oil, and acrylic–the latter being what he sits within the most these days. He also pursued many interests, inspirations, and subject matters, seeing the ways his hands could create stories refracted within and away from the films he spent years on.  

Some of Hagell’s art stems directly from his film adventures. His Dancer on Glass Series, specifically, was inspired by short films he made involving choreography and dance design in tandem with the female body. This tension between how fluid the body’s movements are and how individual movements appear when frozen in one moment is featured in several pieces in “Acrylidemic.”

In addition to 7 of these dancers, Hagell’s show features a mix of portraits, still lifes, and socially perceptive creations, altogether presenting a culmination of Hagell’s past experience and present experimentation.  

Portraiture is not an unfamiliar genre to Hagell, but he has been exploring new avenues of it in the past year, especially since he started as a non-degree seeking graduate student in the art department at the University of South Carolina. Specifically, these portraits use tones and colors that are “unnatural” like the blue skin in his MLK portrait.  

“I had that photograph of him stuck on my bulletin board and, and when George Floyd happened, I decided to paint it,” he shares, “I've changed it a bit, of course—he’s on high looking down, and he’s blue, which I feel is a representative wash of today.” 

Along the same lines, some of the still lifes emerge as a photographer’s take on capturing a moment no longer present yet still relevant. His pieces “Carolina 1950” and “Colored” are inspired by the era of Jim Crow and segregation that he lived through. While a photograph of this exchange can no longer be taken today, its effects are still felt, and images like this collapse past and present.  

Hagell is not a stranger to including sociopolitical messages in his work. “Bite the Bullet,” his large-scale American flag detailed by bullets, is one of his best-known pieces. For him, pieces with these messages are distinctly important as artists are the only ones who can tell stories with the power of their medium. 

“When I first was living in the South, I was really quite turned off to here, but when I came back, I witnessed change and started commenting on it” he asserts, “As artists, it's our duty to do things like this—to use our voices to point out mistreatment and wrongdoing.” 

While Columbia still has growing to do, Hagell is proud to be here and proud of the ways our city has grown over the years, intimating that “Columbia has come a long way, both in the city’s interest in art and in a social sense—I hope this is just the beginning of things getting better.” 

Hagell’s show can be viewed anytime between now and July 31st via Jasper’s virtual Tiny Gallery site: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery 

To follow Hagell’s future work, which includes a burgeoning collaborative effort where he is weaving an AR-15 into elements of a church, follow his Facebook @artbyronhagell.

— Christina Xan

Local Poet, Musician, and Painter Will Pittman Unveils First Gallery Show

 “Art is life and life is art, and like it's like closure to have these materials and put in the time and the execution of the vision of what you're trying to” — Will Pittman

Will Pittman

Will Pittman thrives in the interstices of poetry, music, and painting. A longtime lover of the arts and dweller of the city, he is finally revealing his first art show at State of the Art in Cayce next month.  

Pittman was born in Arkansas, but his family moved to Cayce when he was only 2, and he has long considered South Carolina his home. Even after leaving for college, travel, and experience, he came back to Cayce, where he resides now.  

Pittman, now 32, recalls his first encounter with art being comic books, joking that he used to fill his head with stories and images of Wolverine and Spiderman during class. While he took drawing classes in high school, it would be several years until Pittman began dedicating himself to this craft. 

While working in the distribution center of an Amazon factory, Pittman made a deal with himself: on his off days, he would dedicate 10 hours to painting, which he started by imitating the artists he admired most like expressionists Kokoschka, post-impressionist Van Gogh, and founder of impressionism Monet.

“My work is categorically original—it's still, in my opinion, similar of the beauty of perception in nature,” Pittman reflects, “You know, the thing about the expression of nature is that it can't be totally objective—documentation can't be totally separated from the artist's own mark inside of that.” 

In this interweaving of old and new, Pittman expresses with oil paints and portraiture. He roots part of his style in his relationship with John D Monteith, a local painter who Pittman worked with as an “informal protégé” before building a friendship. As for inspiration, it comes from all over, Pittman never quite placing where it might strike.  

“I'll put it like an author—it's whatever turns a phrase. When I write poetry, sometimes I'll take out books and just flip through and look for words, and then it's like an engine for creativity,” Pittman explains, “That's what portraiture is like for me; it wasn't something that I consciously saw out. And at the same time, it's a reason to load your brush, get that viscosity, and put it on a canvas.  

These ruminations follow Pittman across a number of disciplines, specifically writing and singing. He remembers first reading the American transcendentalist poets and feeling like a “tornado blew his windows out.” He started writing and performing soon after, opening for artists like Justin Townes Earle, Shovels and Rope, and Dex Romweber. 

“My love for literature feeds into songwriting, and those two are like sister arts, and then the painting and drawing, speak to each other, I think, in their craftiness, their intelligence,” Pittman relates, “When I approach a canvas, it's like being a carpenter's apprentice again.” 

Upon desiring forming these experiences into a show, Pittman walked directly into State of the Art and made conversation with gallery owner, Levi Wright, saying it was a form of “American neighborly friendliness.” Pittman showed Wright his art, and Wright knew it was the kind of stories he wanted to help tell. 

“Sometimes you see someone’s work and know they have something special,” Wright says. “And I believe Will is one of those people—he has that something.” 

Pittman is the gallery’s featured July artist. Around 12 canvases of various sizes and prices will be featured, including the two photographed above and a painting of the Hunley, a Confederate submarine Pittman just happened to stumble across last year and knew he had to record. The show is titled “Intervening Time: Facsimile and Ragbag.” 

“I decided to go all out and call it ragbag because the whole main kernel of painting and visual art is that it imitates life. You know, if I were to paint your portrait I would consider elements of art, like line and value and sort of render that with tools,” Pittman details, “But it's really like illusions—your face really doesn't have lines, your face has forms. And I have to make these sort of falsehoods on the canvas, and then that produces the image.” 

The show runs from the 1st to the 31st, and the Opening Reception is Thursday, July 8th from 3:00pm – 6:30pm. During this time, there will be pop-up vendors with food, vintage clothes, and jewelry outside, and Pittman will play his music. 

As the show turns towards its opening, Pittman has eyes set forward even beyond: painting more, playing his music, writing, and reminiscing on the overlaps—and—he’s currently in school to become an art teacher. 

“Art is life and life is art, and it's like closure to have these materials and put in the time and the execution of the vision of what you're trying to,” Pittman effuses, “Maybe having a show will be like a form of emphasizing a period of my life and then putting it away to move onto other material.”  

To support Pittman, follow him on social media (like his YouTube where he shares music, readings, and ruminations) and stop by State of the Art in the month of July to see his intimate reflections of the world around us, a world you might come to learn you didn’t know quite as well as you once thought.

—Christina Xan

South Carolina Potter Levi Wright Brings Life, Art, and Storytelling to Cayce

“It’s special being able to show that pride in a non-selfish way that says, ‘I'm proud of these people—this is our art that we make in South Carolina.’” – Levi Wright

Levi Wright

Levi Wright, 32, is a South Carolina native and longtime art lover and maker, who, in the past several years, he has used his passion to breathe new life to Cayce’s art scene with gallery State of the Art. 

Before this though, Wright grew up moving between Lexington and Cayce, where his parents owned an adult daycare center. His first prominent experience with art happened in school when he made a sculpture based on a Native American tradition for an art class.  

“One Native American tribe had a tradition that when a great chief would die, they would have a sculpture made of his face, and they would put the ashes in there and throw it off the cliff,” Wright tells, “And that was their final goodbye.”  

This uniquely inspired piece was entered into the State Fair. Wright reveled in this praise, recalling that, not being particularly outstanding at school, this was one of the first times he received praise and felt accomplished in work he cared for—and he stuck with it. 

If you look around Wright’s work now, you’ll be setting yourself up for a lot of staring back—that’s because Wright’s work mostly involves sculpting faces, which started in his art class but blossomed when he encountered Peter Lenzo—prominent Columbia sculptor—while taking classes at Southern Pottery.  

“I would see him during my lessons, and the whole time I was thinking, ‘That's what I want to do,’” Wright recalls, “We ended up doing a private session, and it grew into an apprenticeship and then a friendship.”  

Their friendship continued, and a wall at Wright’s house is intermixed with pieces he made and pieces Lenzo made for him, a space that Wright refers to as a “reflection of himself.” Lenzo’s care pushed Wright to become a better artist and pursue different elements of pottery. 

“I really didn't know how to throw because I was just throwing a form big enough for me to put a face in it,” Wright remembers, “You need to learn your fundamentals better before you can grow as an artist.” 

Lenzo’s encouragement resulted in Wright going on to study pottery at the Piedmont Technical College in Edgefield where he received two certificates. While there, he also began teaching classes, something he quickly fell in love with. 

“When I see that smile a person who wanted to throw a plate gets upon successfully throwing a plate, it’s instant satisfaction,” he intimates, “I mean, who doesn't want to be a person to celebrate when people accomplish a goal? If you don't celebrate the small things in life, then life's going to be a big disappointment.”

Wright with Peter Lenzo-inspired art

Now, Wright offers classes at his very own gallery, one that came to be in 2019 after years of planning. As Wright dwelled in Cayce, he felt one thing was missing: bright, local art. Then, a friend—potter John Sharpe—approached Wright and Valery Smith—a local artist whose vision aligned with his—with the idea of opening a gallery. Together, Wright and Smith opened State of the Art.  

Soon after the birth of her first child, Smith left the gallery, and Wright has continued their initial trajectory. The gallery proudly shows only South Carolina artists and hosts around 20-25 artists at any given time, takes part in city events, has monthly featured artists, and offers pottery classes.  

“That's one thing I take pride in, in having a gallery that only carries South Carolina artists because I've always grown up a little bit of just a proud South Carolina boy,” Wright effuses, “It’s special being able to show that pride in a non-selfish way that says, ‘I'm proud of these people—this is our art that we make in South Carolina.’” 

When it comes to selecting work, Wright shows artists that he loves and brings in his family to add an external opinion and aid in selecting pieces he may not have picked on his own. Some artists are reached out to directly, and some walk right in the front door. 

“I've tried to ensure this isn’t a gallery where you go in and even though there are different artists, it all has an identical vibe or feel,” he shares, “I love the fact that you come in here and there is such different stuff.” 

As mentioned previously, Wright shares this love in part through offering community pottery classes at the gallery—one-on-one lessons, several-week courses, and group parties. His classes are for throwing, but another artist can be called in for people who request sculpting classes, and Wright hopes to include painting soon as well.  

Currently Wright is re-vamping the gallery’s website to make scheduling classes easier, but people can still book online or call Wright directly. As he says, “you should never be too old or too smart to learn.” 

If you want to support State of the Art, go by the gallery, share their posts social media, and spread some word-of-mouth love. Their next event will be the opening reception for July artist of the month, Will Pittman, on Thursday, July 8th from 3 – 6:30pm. 

If you want to support Wright and his work, of course support the gallery, take one of his classes, and maybe take one of his heads home too.

—Christina Xan

Jasper Galleries Presents New Gallery Space at McDonnell & Associates with Exhibition By Lauren Chapman and Pam Bowers

The exhibition opens on Thursday, June 24th

reception from 6 - 8 pm

McDonnell and Associates

2442 Devine Street - Columbia

The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Lauren Chapman and Pam Bowers

The Jasper Project is excited to announce a new gallery space for local artists at McDonnell and Associates law firm, 2442 Devine Street, in Columbia. We’ll be opening the gallery with an exhibition of work by Lauren Chapman and Pam Bowers. Reception is Thursday night (TONIGHT!) from 6-8 pm.

This collaboration with McDonnell and Associates came about when the organization reached out to Jasper and asked if we could help them find artists who would exhibit their work in the law office lobby and conference rooms. Of course, Jasper jumped at the opportunity to help fine art make its way into the homes of art lovers and we immediately booked Lauren Chapman, who we had previously worked with in our gallery at Motor Supply, and Pam Bowers, who previously taught Chapman at the University of SC.

The women’s relationship began as that of mentor and protege but developed into a close collegial friendship.

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Chapman received her BFA in Painting at the University of South Carolina and has been awarded the Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key Award for excellence in Visual Arts, the Yaghjian Studio arts scholarship at USC, and the 2018 Artfields Solo Award Exhibition at Jones-Carter Gallery. She has been featured in Garnet and Black, Daily Gamecocks, The State, Free Times, Susie Magazine, and Jasper Magazine. She has lectured for classes at USC, SC State University, and spent a summer residency in Monte Castello, Italy. Exhibitions include group shows in Italy, New York, South Carolina and solo shows in Iowa and South Carolina. 

Chapman says, “I create immersive environments via vibrant thick textured romantic paintings telling short stories, in the forms of fables, folklore, and fairy tales challenging our current cultural climate through the eyes of feminine figures and personified creatures. The narrative of the work promote lessons from my personal experiences and question dangerous themes within American society.”

Artist - Lauren Chapman

Bowers, who earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Indiana University-Bloomington, has a distinguished career as an artist and an educator that has taken her all over the world for lectures, residencies, unique academic opportunities, and pleasure, including China, Hungary, and throughout Italy. Her work is in many private collections both in the US and internationally from Morocco to Greece.

According to her artist’s statement, “Bowers work explores nature as a connecting force in the intersection of art, science and mythology and express her affection for the wilderness and biological forms. There is an emphasis in her work, teaching and research on the interrelationship between environment, culture and individual material usage in the formation of visual meaning and metaphor.”

Artist - Pam Bowers

B.A. Hohman Shares the Life and Art Experiences That Led to Eccentric Tiny Gallery Show “WILLY NILLY”

 “Sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until you just do it.” — B.A. Hohman

DREAMSCAPE

Today is the summer solstice, a new breath of transition, and this turning point, both reliable and spontaneous, sets the stage of our Tiny Gallery show of the month. “WILLY NILLY” by B.A. Hohman is a show rife with verve.   

Tiny Gallery Manager Christina Xan sat down to talk with Hohman about her life, as a human and artist, and what led up to this show. 

Jasper: We’ve known each other for a couple years now, but we’ve never talked much about your past—will you tell me a bit about your childhood? 

Hohman: I grew up in the era following the end of WWII. My paternal grandparents and my maternal great grandparents were German Lutheran immigrants who settled in northeastern Ohio. My parents were hard-working middle-class people who wanted the best for their three children. I was third in line and a bit of an anomaly, being the decidedly right brained one in the mix. I explored imaginary worlds, loved to read and draw, play with neighborhood friends, and was the consummate tom boy. We grew up in a time when we had the run of the neighborhood with no immediate parental supervision. We were one of the last generations to experience the freedom that comes with no internet, no cell phones—the fifties were a time of hope and new horizons.

Jasper: Hope and new horizons—I love that! Was art one of the things on the horizon? Did it exist around you growing up?

Hohman: Art was not a prevalent theme in our home. Basic needs outweighed luxuries, yet I must applaud my father for his exemplary carpentry skills, becoming a volunteer fireman and eventually working in the Emergency Room at our local hospital in addition to his full-time work at General Electric. Kudos to my mother for always encouraging my creative endeavors while teaching nursery school for 40 years. She recognized my artistic nature, enrolled me in summer art classes, urged me to join the youth choir, took me on weekly visits to the library, and introduced me to museums. I also had wonderful art instructors as well as some amazing English teachers throughout my middle and secondary level schooling.

 Teaching Art was instrumental in my own art education. It forced me to break down all the components inherent in the creative process and thereby expanded my own abilities.

Jasper: And did you pursue art in college as well?

Hohman: Yes. My parents worked hard to provide us every opportunity to succeed. We were expected to excel and eventually get a college degree despite the financial burden, and all three of us did. My decision to pursue a degree in Art, I am sure was met with some skepticism. Studio Art at Ohio University became my college concentration from the very start, although English Literature classes nearly outweighed my time in the studio.

MAGNOLIA

Jasper: And at some point after graduation, you started teaching, right?

Hohman: My art took a back seat during the years of raising two girls, but my husband and I constantly found collaborative creative outlets. We had moved from Ohio to West Columbia and then to LeRoy, NY in 1981. The girls were still in elementary when I returned to school at Roberts Wesleyan College and completed my teaching certification. I did my student teaching at my girls’ Wolcott St. School and at Churchville Chilli High School, continuing for a long-term substitute position. I then taught at a local Catholic school. After moving back to West Columbia, I taught art at Pine Ridge Middle School and Airport High School. Teaching Art was instrumental in my own art education. It forced me to break down all the components inherent in the creative process and thereby expanded my own abilities.

Jasper: Oh, I’m all about the breaking down of boundaries. Tell me about how you moved full force into art.

Hohman: In 1999, I made the decision to leave teaching and embark on a career as a muralist and trompe l’oeil artist. A local designer gave me my first opportunity to showcase my work, and business took off! I have painted more murals in more houses than I can count. Although daunting to go from a canvas to painting entire walls and rooms as well as the exterior of a few businesses, I dove in and found it so liberating. I also discovered that I had the ability to paint just about anything my clients wanted. Sometimes you don’t know what you’re capable of until you just do it. I painted everything from whimsical and realistic animals in children’s’ rooms to huge 360-degree historical panoramas in varying styles, and faux windows, doorways and panels that fool the eye into thinking a flat surface is three dimensional. I often surprised myself.

THE SOUP

Jasper: Within those different projects, and today, what types of mediums did, and do, you explore?

Hohman: Over the years, I have explored many mediums, styles, and subject matter, but acrylic painting remains my staple. It was my concentration in college, and it has remained my comfort zone. I found I do not have the patience necessary to work in oil, but all other mediums interest me from pencil and charcoal to marker and colored pencil to clay. My style varies with each project. I look forward to again working in clay and creating 3D pieces as soon as I give myself a refresher course and get my kiln running.

Jasper: Well, on that note, tell me about this show specifically. What went into “WILLY NILLY?”

Hohman: This past year catapulted me into near isolation. My reaction to the outbreak of the pandemic was unexpectedly fierce. The state of our country and the world became an incredible challenge to face. I’ve been around for quite a while, but nothing prepared me for the physical and mental shut down I experienced. On the positive side, I intensified my explorations into the past, into the latest discoveries in physics and the connectivity of all things and read many books. As the world reemerges, my hope is that we all have a better understanding of who we are and why we are here. “WILLY NILLY” is an amalgam of various mediums and styles that reflect this period of my life. What began with a creative spurt, slowly fizzled to small doodles and experiments that steered my mind away from the chaotic state of our country and the world.

CONNECTIONS

Hohman’s show will be up until June 30th on Jasper’s Tiny Gallery site. When you go to the site, plan to see impressions of the natural world that quietly beckon visitation, geometric colors that seem to move like organisms under a slide, black and white illusions in which time seems to shift, and worlds clearly not our own and yet somehow strangely familiar. 

These works can be perused and purchased 24/7 here: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery  

Hohman is unsure where she will go next but knows “the creative community in Columbia is always there to inspire.” While she embraces this inspiration, you can follow her work on Facebook @bahohman / Art & Murals by B.A.

Ginny Merett Shares Multilayered Stories Through Collage-Based Tiny Gallery Show, WORDS

“I don’t like to say I have given my life to art. I prefer to say art has given me my life” —

Frank Stella

April showers bring May flowers, but for our May Tiny Gallery, we’re bringing you collages by artist Ginny Merett. Merett’s show, WORDS, which opened virtually on the Jasper website on the 1st of the month, was so wildly popular, we sold out nearly half the show in the first 8 hours. In response to the overwhelming love, Merett has decided to add 12 new pieces to the show – learn more about her and preview the pieces below! 

Merett grew up in a Denver, Colorado, household of musicians as the youngest of 3 children. Her mom was a pianist who taught lessons from the home, and her father was a trumpet player. “Music filled our house, but big band music was their favorite,” Merett recalls, “Mom was also artsy, always making something, and she inspired me to do the same.”  

Merett’s family supported her art inclinations from a young age, providing her with lessons and supporting her freedom with various art materials. This led to her taking several art classes and electives throughout school, receiving an art education degree in college, and teaching art for 30 years. 

This life rife with loving and making art has made Merett proud to call herself an artist since far before she started officially exhibiting her work a decade ago. “I agree with artist Frank Stella,” Merett quotes, “‘I don’t like to say I have given my life to art. I prefer to say art has given me my life.’”

In the past ten years Merett has been showing work, she has worked exclusively in collage. However, she dabbled and worked in many forms and mediums before finding home in collage. She focused on drawing and painting in undergrad, fiber arts and photography in grad school, and murals, watercolor, and pencils while teaching. Collage, though, allowed Merett to achieve something no other medium could. 

“Collage allows me to use a simple material that looks polished when completed in a work of art, and my style in collage gives me a chance to create art that is playful and irrational because of the new characters I create,” she effuses, “I have a wide variety of materials to use and unlimited subjects, and besides that I just have a really good time doing it.” 

As she puts her hands on different pieces and stitches them into a story, Merett finds herself drawn towards portraying human beings and their unique personalities, spirits, and bodies. These portraits are sometimes commissioned but mostly inspired from places in and around Merett’s life.  

“I create portraits inspired by photographs in my grandma’s 1920’s photo album and by people I see around town and in popular culture,” she reveals, “The most fun for me is taking parts and pieces from pictures of popular culture’s “beautiful people” found in magazines and using them to create new personalities and characters.”  

For her Tiny Gallery show, Merett continued on with her love for collage and people, putting together 25 stand-alone pieces made specifically for the show. The images range from bright, bold colors to multilayered neutrals; from repeating images to one striking set of eyes; from large pieces with mouths wide open to demure figures that ask you to come closer. 

“I usually use text in my work but only for color and texture, not meaning, so for this show, I created works that used phrases taken from magazine text to describe each piece—I made each collage prior to finding the words,” Merett explains, “The theme of each collage is the human condition, and on an unintentional level deals with how I felt through 2020-2021. I hope people can relate to one of the pieces and generally understand my serious and often tongue-in-cheek message.” 

This year, as for all of us, has presented challenges for Merett, who says she oscillated between motivated and withdrawn throughout 2020. She created art as a solace while mourning the safety and joy of being outside, as well as a good friend lost to the virus. She says that it was art and art events that were a continued light during this darkness. 

“I have been so blessed to have my art during this time. I feel like it fed my soul, as always,” Merett intimates, “For those struggling to make art right now I suggest being gentle with yourself but keep showing up in your studio or work area. Reach out to other artists for fellowship and realize that you are not the only one feeling lackadaisical.” 

Some particular lights among the dark included winning Honorable Mention in the 1593 Project at the Koger Center for the Arts and exhibiting her work alongside Jim Arendt and Gina Moore in the Alumni Art Exhibit at the UofSC’s SVAD. Merett was also one of the featured artists in Jasper’s pandemic project Sheltered 2020: A Collection of Visual and Literary Arts. 

The largest support for Merett, a mother of two and grandmother of four, though, comes from her family, pandemic and beyond. “My greatest memory is working at my drawing table with my young kids playing around me,” Merett reminisces, “More times than not, these moments were tranquil and made me feel like I had the absolute best of both worlds.” 

If you want to see how Merett has explored herself and the world around her, her show, WORDS, is up until May 31st. When this blog is posted, her new 12 pieces will have just been added to the show. You can peruse and purchase work 24/7 via the Jasper’s virtual Tiny Gallery: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery  

During and after the show, you can find her art at her website www.ginnymerett.com and on Instagram (@ginnymerett) and Facebook (Ginny Merett Artist). You can also see her work locally around Lexington and Columbia, specifically at places like Land Bank Lofts on Hampton Street. 

— Christina Xan

April Tiny Gallery Features Betsy Kaemmerlen’s Eye-Catching and Intricate Ceramic Creations

“We Exist to Revere the Great Spirit of Life and Enjoy All the Beauty of Its Expression.”

The Jasper Project welcomes Betsy Kaemmerlen as this month’s featured Tiny Gallery artist. Kaemmerlen’s show, which started on the 1st of the month, features 25 pottery pieces, from bowls to dishes to vases to fish.  

Kaemmerlen spent her childhood in New England before moving to Syracuse to attend the SUNY School of Forestry for Landscape Architecture. During her childhood, she was inspired to create by her artistic grandparents, an architect father, and a mom who was a nurse by day and crafter by night.

“Woodworking, paintings…refinishing furniture, caning, quilting, rug braiding, knitting…embroidery, painting, shell art, gardening, and flower arranging,” Kaemmerlen reflects on her family’s interests, “Yes, I’d say the art was a huge part of my family life!” 

Kaemmerlen’s departure to SUNY both honed in her love for the arts and broadened her horizons. She ended up falling in love with Eastern Culture, taking classes in Japanese Aesthetics and Zen Buddhism and spending her final year studying the cultural response to the environment in Kyoto, Japan.  

“Living and immersing myself in the centuries old treasure of Kyoto for six months was a peak experience in my life—art and aesthetics were ingrained in the culture,” Kaemmerlen recalls, “The ceramic tradition there was lovely, along with the gardens, ikebana and tea ceremony.”  

Fifteen years after experiencing that tradition, Kaemmerlen got into pottery herself, and it was love at first touch.“ Clay is such a great medium for me since I can impress whatever cool pattern or image into the surface that I can dream up,” she divulges, “Leaves, bugs, Asian and Celtic designs, shells, snowflakes, you name it!” 

Kaemmerlen’s career in Landscape Architecture has afforded the artist the best of both worlds, but since so much of her work has become computer-based, her home has been transformed into a hands-only zone. “Making an Ikebana container and going out into the yard to collect material for an arrangement is my idea of heaven!” she effuses, “Creating pottery that is both useful and beautiful is a privilege, and I am so grateful to have this means of expression.” 

When it comes to her Tiny Gallery show, Kaemmerlen has focused on unusual but functional pieces, a mix of old and new, with some even being collaborative. John Taylor threw the dragon-lidded urn that Kaemmerlen carved, decorated, and glazed; and David Scott made the molds for the Bluegill and Perch, and he also taught Kaemmerlen how to make the molds for her gourds. 

“I love bright colors and, unlike many professional potters, don’t have a deep appreciation for ‘brown pots,’” she jests, “While celadon is a personal favorite, cobalt and coral also rank high in my aesthetic!”   

Even the tools the artists used were often handmade, the fish bowls and dish set crafted with roller stamps Kaemmerlen created herself.  “I carve a design onto a napkin ring sized piece of porcelain, fire that, and then can use that pattern on pieces—[it] takes a common element and elevates it to a design that can be truly stunning!” she shares. “I hope people notice this and appreciate all the wonderful beauty that surrounds them in their lives.” 

Beauty has fortunately surrounded Kaemmerlen’s experiences as an artist. Reflecting on her artistic career, she says standout moments have been an Artist Residency at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, showing her work in Greenville at a Ceramic Invitation alongside artists like Alice Ballard and Valerie Zimany, and being part of many SC Arts Commission award luncheons and auctions. 

Much of Kaemmerlen’s experience is indebted to workshops, but one outstanding series was led by Gerry Williams, the founder of Studio Potter Magazine.  “For many summers I went to his Phoenix Workshops in New Hampshire and learned the background and inspiration of many successful artists,” she says. “We had such fun working together, sharing techniques and experimenting with clay… those memories will be hard to beat.” 

In reflecting on the memories of this past year, Kaemmerlen chooses to focus on the positive. “I sincerely hope that this past year has brought more people the simple joys of being creative in their own home and garden,” she intimates, “Growing what you eat, cooking it in a beautifully decorated kitchen, and serving out of a handmade bowl to a few close friends is a sustainable, deeply meaningful pleasure.” 

You can view Kaemmerlen’s show and all her beautiful, unique pieces until April 30th on the Jasper Project website: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery  

After the show, Kaemmerlen will have more vases at SC Arts Foundation’s ‘Find Joy in Art’ online auction this May. She also usually has pieces in the Sumter County Gallery of Art. If you follow her on Facebook, you can see when she posts albums of her latest work and purchase via direct message. 

The motto Kaemmerlen has over her studio door is, “We Exist to Revere the Great Spirit of Life and Enjoy All the Beauty of Its Expression.” Take a virtual step into the beauty of these ceramic creations and steep in the spirit of their expression.

—Christina Xan

Jasper Project Galleries at Motor Supply Welcomes Trahern Cook aka Easel Cathedral

The artist Trahern Cook - photo by Perry McLeod

Trahern Cook was born in 1970 in Columbia, SC and has been drawing and painting and telling stories his entire life. In 1987 he attended The SC Governors School for the Arts as a visual artist and in 1992 he graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design with a focus on Illustration. He married his wife Lori in 1994 and they moved to Murfreesboro, TN where their two children were born n the late 1990s. Cook worked as a Full time Freelance illustrator from 1993 to the early 2000s and ,in 2006, the family moved back to Columbia, SC. There, Cook took the easel outside and has been painting all over the southeast and abroad ever since.

His work shows in private galleries, homes and work spaces throughout the country.

Cook has coined himself a “Jam Painter” given that so much of his subject matter is musicians of every genre playing everywhere from small taverns to large outdoor festivals. In those moments he explores brush strokes and colors matching the rhythm of the sounds being played.

As a “Live Painter” of events and weddings, Cook creates visual stories of his surroundings in his own unique painterly style, marrying a free folk recklessness with a trained and practiced deliberateness. This performance shares the space with everyone in attendance, enhancing the moment and using the the created vibe to inform the painting itself.

And then there’s the painter and his easel, going anywhere light falls on the buildings, homes, trails and roads of towns, cities and landscapes.

Cook welcomes anyone around to come hang out by the easel.

“It just paints better,” he says.

Art in the Yard - This Week it's Keenan Terrace w/ 20+ Artists & Music AND Art from Adam Corbett

It’s spring and, along with the blooms and blossoms reminding us that there is life outside our homes, there is a mightily welcome crop of cultural events beckoning the vaccinated among us to don our loveliest masks and venture out to see what the winter created.

Some of these events are still scary — it’s surprising how many people are hesitant to get that free superpower injected in their arms. (But chances are they’re the same people who still refuse to wear a mask, no matter how fashionable they’ve become.)

But some of these events are no-brainers even if you’re concerned about conspiracy nuts and their germs, given that the events are outside and you’re on your feet at all times, ready to run away from unsavory-looking mask-less marauders.

Neighborhood art festivals, for example.

Saturday brings us Keenan Terrace Art in the Yard and April 25th bring us Melrose Park Art in the Yard — two completely different but equally exciting events.

The Keenan Terrace show, created in the fall of 2020 by Columbia-based artist and curator, Bohumila Augustinova, is located in and around 409 Cumberland Drive, runs from 2 to 6 pm, and is free and pet friendly.

Among the artists whose work you’ll both see and hear is Adam Corbett.

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

Corbett will also be providing live music for the event.

artist - Adam Corbett

artist - Adam Corbett

artist - Adam Corbett

Additional artists include but are not limited to Michael Krajewski, Flavia Lovatelli, Bohumila Augustinova, Candace Cotterman Thibeault, K. Wayne Thornley, Stan Cummings, Lucas Sams, Aimee Norris, and many more.

Now is a great time to start thinking about Mothers Day and Graduation presents, or even something special to reward yourself for making it through this winter of our discontent and embracing the new day.

artist - Stan Cummings

artist - Flavia Lovatelli

artist - Michael Krajewski

artist - Susan Lenz

artist - The Tie Lady

artist - Candace Cotterman Thibeault

artist - Bohumila Augustinova

"It's Been a While" - Group Art Exhibition at Outpost Arts Space by Ron Hagell (Guest Writer)

“It’s Been a While”

Group Art Exhibition at Outpost Arts Space

715 Saluda Ave., April 3 – 24, 2021

Care. Comfort, and Kindness by Olga Yukhno

The Free Times leads off it’s piece in this week’s paper by saying, “Artists get lonely, too”.  In fact, this was one spark for this exhibition that helped to start it. Flavia Lovatelli, Kristi Ryba (a Charleston artist) and I were discussing how long it had been since we went to an opening and the general lack of exhibitions over the pandemic year. We decided that it might be possible to ask if the Outpost’s new exhibition space might be available in April. It turned out that the space was free and Caitlin Bright was very interested in helping get us off the ground. I’m not sure we were all “lonely,” maybe just missing what had become a rather active arts scene in Columbia. But once the artists started showing up with work this week, I realized how much I missed seeing everyone – so did they!  Our exhibition, “It’s Been a While,” opens on April 3 at Outpost Arts Space in Five Points.

You may remember that this group [along with the Jasper Project] used to be in the Tapp’s building on Main Street and we always had a new exhibition each “First Thursday on Main.” Then we were called The Tapp’s Arts Center and some still refer to us as “Tapp’s Outpost.” There are similarities between the two, the people and mission continue, but many things have changed beyond the actual location.

You may recall that, in addition to our exhibitions, we also had open studios (where shopping was possible) and you could pick-up a beer to start your art crawl on Main. Now we all know that First Thursday is not the same now that most of the “art” on Main has left for many reasons. For us, this location has made a big difference. Obviously the amount and character of the space is a vast difference, but the foot-traffic is very different. Often at Tapp’s we had very few visitors except for exhibit nights, but in Five Points there is a constant flow and some of us have experienced much better sales.

… we are hopeful that “It’s Been a While” will continue the spark of creative activity and be the rebirth of more and better days for our whole Columbia arts scene

There are also plans afoot to improve our new home and build even more and better studio/workshops inside and behind the existing shop fronts, as well as collaborative activities with the vast space behind the White Mule that is scheduled for future renovations. 

But, we are hopeful that “It’s Been a While” will continue the spark of creative activity and be the rebirth of more and better days for our whole Columbia arts scene. We invited many artists to join us and have a real cross-section of folks taking part.  Charleston-based artist Kristi Ryba, whom we met in 2019 while participating in Lake City’s annual ArtFields competition, has agreed to show two new works and many more local friends also wanted to take part.  There are sculptures by Olga Yukhno and Sharon Licata and a couple of large hanging fabric pieces by Janet Swigler. Columbia Photographer Molly Harrell shows her recent work and I’m putting in an older video because it just speaks to this moment so well. But, I’m also showing a few smaller paintings that I’ve been working on during this downtime.

In fact many others are showing works that deal directly with the pandemic such as Gerard Erley’s “Pandemic Cardinals” and more – not to be missed.

Pandemic Cardinals by Gerard Erley

Also showing are works by Susan Lenz, Michael Krajewski, Keith Tolen, Bonnie Goldberg, Stephen Chesley, Heidi Darr Hope, Kirkland Smith, Tabitha Ott, Diko Pekdemir, and Flava Lovatelli. Some have direct connections to our past year and the pandemic or the political shift while others do not. It is a very eclectic event. 

ABC by Michael Krajewski

As always our group wants to engage the community in ongoing conversation and creative connections. But now we really need to catch-up after over a year. It’s 17 artists wanting you to see their work and, as Caitlin says, she anticipates “a lot of sharing, commiserating, sympathy and empathy.”

Because, it’s been a while…

Ron Hagell, Studio Artist, Outpost Arts Space

Ron Hagell is a Columbia, SC-based artist who makes films and art with installations featuring paintings, projections, prints and film centered on portraiture.

Teacups by Kirkland Smith

If you haven’t joined the Jasper Project Guild yet this year, now is a good time to do so, guaranteeing that YOUR NAME will appear in the next issue of Jasper Magazine, releasing May 2021 and, depending on your contribution level, securing you a space at some of the limited seating events Jasper has in the works for the coming year.

Plus, everyone gets to see your name here!