Spring 2023 Cottontown Art Crawl is back!

Saturday March 11 10 am - 4 pm

FREE!

It’s one of the most exciting and—for artists—lucrative events of the season, and one of the best places to visit your favorite artists, as well as to find new favorites!

Cottontown Art Crawl (CAC) brings artists and entertainment to front porches and lawns in a historic downtown neighborhood. The fifth annual Crawl will welcome 140 artists to show and sell their original work.

Check out who you’ll find this year and where to find them below!

On 1200 Block of Anthony Avenue

  • David Dohan, Drawing; Mixed Media; Painting

  • Lori Ritter, Glass; Mixed Media

  • Cait Maloney, Drawing; Mix of traditional and digital media

  • Renee Frisbie, Photography

  • Bonnie Geiger, Handwoven Baskets

  • Debora Life, Ceramics; Mixed Media

  • Tammy Brown

On 1200 Block of Confederate Avenue

On 1300 Block of Confederate Avenue

On 1400 Block of Confederate Avenue

On 1200 Block of Franklin Street

On 1400 Block of Franklin Street

On 1200 Block of Geiger Avenue

On 1300 Block of Geiger Avenue

On 1400 Block of Geiger Avenue

On 2100 Block of Marion Street

On 2200 Block of Marion Street

On 2300 Block of Marion Street

On 2400 Block of Marion Street


On 2200 Block of Sumter Street

On 2300 Block of Sumter Street

On 2400 Block of Sumter Street

On 1200 Block of Summerville Avenue

On 1300 Block of Summerville Avenue

On 1400 Block of Summerville Avenue

On 1400 Block of Victoria Street

  • Brandon Manaa, Ceramics; Mixed Media; Painting; Sculpture

  • Lucas Sams, Ceramics; Drawing; Mixed Media; Painting; Sculpture

On 2100 Block of Wallace Street

  • Jordan Harsey, Drawing; Jewelry; Mixed Media; Painting; Sculpture; Wearables

  • Lissa Evans

  • Alex Ruskell, Painting

  • Melissa Smith, Mixed Media

On 2200 Block of Wallace Street

  • Candace Catoe, Jewelry

  • JP Lester, Woodworking

  • Sabine Compeyn, Fiber

  • Jeff Tempest, Mystical, magical and mundane

  • Susanne Sievers, Ceramics

  • Tiffany Walker, Jewelry; Mixed Media; Painting

  • Apryl Campbell

  • Noah Van Sciver

  • Lily Todd, Ceramics; Drawing; Jewelry; Painting; Flower Arrangements, Candle Holders

  • Clay Burnette, Jewelry; Wearables; Basketry - Pine Needle Baskets

  • Hearts, Arts, & Paws, Ceramics; Glass; Woodworking

  • Paul Moore

Colleen Critcher and the T.Rex as Consumer and Consumed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

CALL FOR ARTS at Richland Library

Richland Library is seeking submissions for our Spring Pop Up Art Shows. The exhibition series will be held March through May 2023.

Pop-up Art Shows are intended to highlight the work of local BIPOC, LBGTQ+ or otherwise underserved artists and their unique personal ties to the specific communities where the libraries are located. They are looking for work that speaks to the community's roots, culture and citizenry.

Up to 2 artists will be selected to exhibit on each of the following dates: 

  • Saturday, March 11 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Richland Library Wheatley

  • Thursday, April 6 from 6 - 9 p.m. at Boyd Plaza *This will be a Special Exhibition in partnership with the First Thursday on Main event.

  • Saturday, May 20 from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Richland Library Blythewood

The application deadlines are Wednesday, March 1 to exhibit at Richland Library Wheatley, First Thursday on Main and Saturday, April 15 to exhibit at Richland Library Blythewood.

If you're interested in sharing your work samples, please review the submission guidelines and complete the application by clicking here.

Conceived and co-organized by local visual artist Jeff Rivers, this project seeks to expand the social and economic participation of underserved artists and communities.

Learn more about Jeff by clicking here.

For questions, please contact Kimberlei Davis at 803-351-5616 or kdavis@richlandlibrary.com.

 

Jasper Welcomes Lori Starns Isom to the Gallery at Harbison Theatre Friday Night

Lori Isom - who also is an exceptional baker!

In the Jasper Project’s ongoing efforts to locate and make use of blank walls in the Midlands area as gallery spaces to exhibit local artists’ work, we are pleased to open another exhibit in the gallery space at Midlands Technical College’s Harbison Theatre. Lori Isom is an artist well known to the Jasper Project, having contributed a place-setting to the Supper Table in 2019 and having been featured in the 10th anniversary issue of Jasper Magazine. We are delighted to facilitate showing her work this month at Harbison Theatre.

We will celebrate Isom’s exhibit with a reception on Friday, February 24th with a reception at 6:30 prior to the concert by Patrick Davis and his Midnight Choir, and Isom will speak briefly at 7 pm. The artist’s work will be available for purchase and will remain on exhibit throughout the month of March.

It is fair to say that Lori Isom’s life as an artist, and all around creative, has been quite varied. Throughout her young life, while receiving a formal education, she also studied dance and acting in New York. She was fortunate to enjoy some success as a professional dancer, singer and actress in New York and Los Angeles. Over the last several years, she's had many interesting and fun entrepreneurial pursuits, including owning and operating her own baking business! While she is predominantly a self-taught artist, Lori majored in fashion illustration in high school, and later fine art and fashion design at Parsons School of Design.

Lori's love of portraiture and figurative art began early. She was captivated by the work of artists like Mary Cassatt, Norman Rockwell, Andrew Wyeth, and John Singer Sargent because of their ability to capture emotion. Later in life, she found inspiration in artists like Mary Whyte, Dean Mitchell, Daniel Greene, Amy Sherald, and so many others. 

Through the years, Lori has done hundreds of individual and family portraits, as well as portraits of military personnel and heads of companies. She has also shared her passion and knowledge of by art coaxing the inner artist out of young children to senior citizens, through teaching. 

Lori's work has been featured in the pages of American Art Collector, newspaper articles and a variety of other publications. Her career has included solo and group exhibitions, and a one year residency for the City of North Charleston, during which she had the privilege to work on several community-focused projects. These included outdoor murals and special art projects, as well as workshops and demonstrations in the city's schools and community centers. 

At this point in her career, Lori is focused on reaching her most authentic artistic expression through deep personal exploration. She is driven to find her highest level of creativity by being open to trying new techniques and, most of all, trusting herself. 

"Since I have theater experience in my background, I relate to my subject(s) like actors on a stage. Telling a story and capturing emotion are what I aspire to do every time I go to the canvas. While working on a piece, I am thinking about how I can best reveal the person's story to my “audience” in this brief moment in their life. 

My deep desire as an artist is to present my subject in the most honest and sincere way.

Like any artist, I want the viewer to be moved in some way by the painting, and just see a pretty picture. I am stimulated by interesting composition, structure and use of color, however the emotion is really what drives me. "

Jasper is indebted to Kristin Cobb and the gracious folks at MTC’s Harbison Theatre for their hospitality and their willingness to work with us on our mission of making the work of Midlands’ area visual artists more accessible to the public and a more vital part of the culture they help create.

If you have an idea for a space that the Jasper Project might be able to capture as a potential gallery, contact JasperProjectColumbia@gmail.com.

Where Photographer and Subject Become Artist Together: A Preview of Gerry Melendez’s Whole

“There’s power in photography.” - Gerry Melendez

In the coming weeks, Stormwater Studios will host Whole, a photography exhibition by award winning photographer Gerry Melendez. There will be an Opening Reception this coming Saturday, February 25th from 6–9 p.m., and a closing reception on Sunday, March 5th from 12–3 p.m. 

Melendez is a Salvadorian photographer and filmmaker with over thirty years of photojournalist experience under his belt. He has won numerous awards and accolades over the span of his career, including the honor of Photographer84 of the Year twice by the South Carolina Press Association and six times by the South Carolina New Photographers Association. Recently, he was awarded a Southeastern Emmy for his short documentary entitled Donna’s Story (2022). 

This exhibit is a stunning collection of black and white photography—stripped down portraits with a focus on the individual subject. With regard to his artistic vision, Melendez says, “The premise of the exhibition is really to bring everyone down to the same level in a technical way.”  

He establishes this base level through not just the choice to shoot in black and white, but through the simplicity of the background of the photographs, the lighting, and the literal “stripping down” of his subjects. In essence, Melendez wants to limit our ability as viewers to make assumptions about the subjects as much as possible, saying, “Here, all you get is this one black and white moment in time. That and bare skin.”

Interestingly, Melendez believes his subjects to be very much a part of the artistic process, almost as if they are artists themselves. “The magic or uniqueness is what each subject brings to the table during their shoot,” he says. “Their personality and pose. The energy they show. What they're feeling at that moment. How they want to be perceived. I try not to direct too much and just allow this to happen organically.”  

He gives his subjects freedom of expression, facial or otherwise. He believes in the power of their stories, and the ability of his camera, in collaboration with his subjects, to capture it effectively and provocatively. 

One of these stories is that of Mary, a woman who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 28 years old and had to have a tumor surgically removed from her chest. 

“It took a few years to be a proud member of the ‘zipper club,’” Mary says, “but the scar from the removal of that tumor is part of my story, my fight to be here, and it reminds me each day how strong I am and that it’s just one part of who I am.” 

As for Melendez’s general artistic attitude, he describes his driving force as such: “I want to create art that makes you feel something. Hopefully, it leaves you feeling good. Maybe it inspires you. Maybe it moves you to tears. Maybe it forces you to act. Whatever it does, I have this gift and I want to use it in the best way possible and hopefully leave this world in a better place. You know, Nick Ut's photo of the napalm girl helped end the Vietnam war. There's power in photography.” 

More information about Whole can be found on the Stormwater website.

Annual Winter Exhibition Featuring Chesley, Yaghjian, Williams and Friends - February 15-March 23

One of the most exciting visual art shows of the year opened on Thursday February 16th at the new Mike Williams art studio in Columbia’s historic Vista and will continue until March 23 with a reception on Saturday, February 25th from 2-5.

Anyone who follows local art closely has come to anticipate the yearly group show that always features Stephen Chesley, David Yaghjian, Mike Williams, usually includes Edward Wimberly, and as of late, has often included Ellen Emerson Yaghjian and Guy Allison. This year, the gang is all present at 1221 Lincoln Street for an extended period.

With the loss of the late Wim Roefs, Mike Williams and Michaela Pilar Brown, former ED of 701 CCA, divided Wim’s renown If Art gallery into two distinctive studio/galleries. For the past few months, with spaces have been quietly building their presence with Michaela Pilar Brown’s Mike Brown Contemporary Art opening the upstairs  of her multi-level space to a number of community-oriented events and gatherings of artists.

The Mike Williams Gallery operates similarly. While the Williams/Chesley/Yaghjian gang typically offers their annual group exhibition at Stormwater Studios, after having staged the exhibit for years at the former gallery collection know as 80808 on Lady Street, this year Williams is moving the group show to his new home on Lincoln Street.

About the Artists:

Columbia, S.C., native and resident David Yaghjian has exhibited across the Carolinas, including Blue Spiral I Gallery in Asheville, N.C., the Florence (S.C.) Museum of Art, Gallery 80808 and Morris Gallery in Columbia and Hampton III Gallery in Greenville, S.C. In Atlanta, where he used to live, Yaghjian has shown in the Spruill Center Gallery, the Right Brain Gallery, and other venues. He also painted two murals in the Georgia capital. Yaghjian holds a BA from Massachusetts’ Amherst College and studied in New York City at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Art. Among his instructors were Fairfield Porter, Leonard Baskin, Will Barnett and Chaim Koppelman.

David Yaghjian

Stephen Chesley was born in Schenectady New York in 1952. He exhibited a natural proclivity for drawing and art almost as soon as he could hold pastel and pencil which were often Christmas gifts from his family. Growing up in Virginia Beach in the late 1950’s he was exposed to the ‘Beat Generation’ of musicians, artist, and writers when Virginia Beach was still a seasonal seaside resort. Self-motivated, he continued with his drawing and small paintings along with exposure to local artist. Throughout elementary and high school the art spirit continued. Collegiate exposure led to a meld of art and science with degrees in Urban Studies and a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning in 1980 from the school of Architecture at Clemson University. Graduating in a deep national economic recession Chesley turned back to his art. Spending 5 years on rivers and sea islands to explore his aesthetic, subject matter, influential painters, and styles, Chesley’s paintings and art work began to move to the fore.

Recognized in 1981 by the Columbia Museum of Art as an emerging talent he went on to win top 100 in the first National Parks competition of 1987,exhibiting at the Smithsonian, and in 1996 a National Endowment for the Arts, Southeast Regional Fellowship, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art. Chesley has continued his work, characterized as poetic realism, along with welded and carved sculptural pieces in addition to joint works illustrating Archibald Rutledge short stories and WS Merwin’s poem, “Palm” for the Thomas Cooper Society’s Thomas Cooper Medal for WS Merwin in 2012. Stephen Chesley continues his creative journey with an art spirit in Columbia, South Carolina.

Stephen Chesley

Mike Williams, born 1963 in Sumter, South Carolina, received his BFA from the University of South Carolina in 1990.  In 1988 he began his professional career as a fine artist and sign painter while finishing his degree.  He has been prolific throughout the past three decades creating more than 4000 works.  

He’s maintained a steady presence in galleries and has had his work exhibited in the South Carolina State Museum, the Columbia Museum of Art, the Lake County Museum, Chicago, Ill., the Carillon Building in Charlotte, NC, the Sun Trust Plaza in Atlanta, GA, and the Volksbank in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Artist - Colleen Crichter - March 2023

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

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

 Jasper’s First Thursday Gallery at Sound Bites Eatery

February – Lucas Sams

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

March – Colleen Crichter

Opening March 3rd

April – Charles Hite

Opening April 6th

May – Cait Maloney

Opening May 4th

June – Steven White

Opening June 1st

July – David Dohan

Opening July 6th

August – Jean Lomasto

Opening August 3rd

September – Amy Kuenzie

Opening September 7th

October – Lila McCullough

Opening October 5th

November – Barbie Mathis

Opening November 2nd

December -  Holiday Art Show TBA

 

 

Jasper’s Third Thursday Gallery Space at the Koger Center

January – Thomas Crouch

Crouch’s work will be on view through January

February – Lindsay Radford

Opening February 16th

March – Quincy Pugh

Opening March 16th

— April – Koger curated —

May – Cedric Umoja

Opening May 18th

June – Lauren Chapman

Opening June 15th

Lauren Chapman - Koger Center, June 2023

Cait Maloney - Sound Bites Eatery, May 2023

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

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

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

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

Jasper Presents a Two-Part Valentine's Day Event -- An Evening with Bernie Love A Tribute to Elvis AND Love Hurts/Love Heals - New Art from Wilma King and K. Wayne Thornley

Jasper Presents a Two-Part Valentine’s Day Celebration:

Love Hurts/Love Heals featuring the art of Wilma King and K. Wayne Thornley followed by An Evening with Bernie Love—A Tribute to Elvis, both at 701 Whaley

Worried about taking that special someone to yet another crowded and overpriced boring Valentine’s Day dinner? Put your fears aside as The Jasper Project has your Valentine’s Day festivities figured out!

Join us on Tuesday February 14th at 701 Whaley for a two-part arts party.

Part One – from 5 – 7 pm in the 701 Community Hall Gallery we welcome esteemed Columbia-based artists Wilma King and K. Wayne Thornley for their interpretations of the phenomenon of Love Hurts/ Love Heals. Both artists’ works will line the halls for your interpretive pleasure, and you and your date are invited to enjoy wine and light snacks as you view the work.

Part Two – from 7 – 10 pm and following the Love Hurts/Love Heals exhibit, wander just a few feet over to the 701 Whaley Market Space where a night of Vegas-style entertainment awaits you both at An Evening with Bernie Love – A Tribute to Elvis. Featuring Patrick Baxley in the title role accompanied by Marty Fort, Jay Matheson, and Kevin Brewer, this tribute will focus on some of the King’s most romantic musical numbers performed in a classic Vegas cocktail party type setting.

Food will be provided by Chef Joe Turkaly and champagne and beer will be available for purchase.

Did you wait too late to shop for a special little something special for your beloved? No worries! Columbia artists Cait Maloney, Lindsay Radford, and Gina Langston Brewer will be on hand with a selection of their original romantic art gifts, and portrait artist Jamie Peterson will be commissioning small portraits of you and your sweetie based on photos you have taken at the event.

Doors for Bernie Love open at 7 pm with the main event kicking off at 8:30 pm when the King arrives in true Vegas style. Tickets to An Evening with Bernie Love are $20 and are available in advance at www.Jasper.org or by clicking here. A limited number of tables are available for $500.

Love Hurts/Love Heals is a free drop-in event. .

Girls Speak: Decriminalizing Youth with Art and Digital Media Making Opening at Stormwater Studios January 18th

 
 

Girls Speak features art and other digital creative media made by adolescent girls at Lexington County Juvenile Arbitration Center. This exhibition challenges what it means to be a “criminal offender,” as well as sheds light upon the experiences of adolescent criminality. There is a motif of joy and resiliency, and not losing hope, which pervades the artwork shown in Girls Speak.

This exhibition is coordinated by the UofSC Diversity and Inclusion Pilot Grant and the Women’s Well-Being Initiative, a part of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. 

The opening reception will be January 19th from 5:30 to 6:30, and will be followed by a public forum from 6:30 to 8:00. However, the exhibition can be viewed from January 18th at 11:00 am to January 22nd at 3:00 pm. Stormwater Studios is located at 413 Pendleton Street.

All artist’s identities have been concealed for protection.

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

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

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

 
 

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

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

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

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

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

The Supper Table Visits the Myrtle Beach Art Museum

After a 6-month-long residency at the Morris Center for Low Country Heritage in Ridgeland, South Carolina, Jasper’s multidisciplinary, collaborative arts project, The Supper Table is moving to Myrtle Beach. The table, place settings, portraits, tiles and films about the project will be exhibited at the Franklin G. Burroughs—Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum from January 26th until April 16th. Exhibit details are on their website.

More about The Supper Table

An event in honor of Vic Carrabotta featuring Sanford Greene

6 p.m., Thursday, January 19

Hollings Library, enter through Thomas Cooper Library

1322 Greene Street

University of South Carolina

Columbia SC 29208

Free and open to the community

Award-winning comics illustrator Sanford Greene counts Marvel illustrator Vic Carrabotta among his most important influences. At this event, Greene will talk about his years-long friendship with the late visual artist.

Please join us for this special look inside mentorship in the comics world.

A South Carolina native and Benedict College graduate, Sanford Greene has worked professionally in the illustration and related industries for more than 18 years. He has worked for mainline publishers such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image Comics. He helped reshape the Marvel Comics characters Powerman and Iron Fist, as well as illustration work for Black Panther and Luke Cage, published by Marvel Comics.

His most recent work can be seen in the two-time Eisner and Ringo award-winning Bitter Root, an action/horror fantasy set during the Harlem Renaissance, published by Image comics. Bitter Root is slated to become a film produced by Ryan Coogler, the director of the acclaimed Black Panther, and directed by Oscar award winner Regina King. Sanford also has won the 2020 and 2021 Ringo Award for outstanding artist.

To register go to: 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/an-event-in-honor-of-vic-carrabotta-featuring-sanford-greene-tickets-510857808457

Welcome to 2023! Cola-based Artists Share Their New Year’s Resolutions


We often struggled with creating our own New Year’s Resolutions, so this year, Jasper turned to creators themselves to see what they hoped for their 2023s. Hoping you take as much inspiration from these as we as did! 

Artists shared the simple but deep desire to create more, from the general to the specific:

“To sketch everyday” – Laura Garner Hine

“To create more art, see more art and share more art” – Keith Tolen

“To create a fresh collection of meaningful works to show by the end of the year.” – Ashley Herring Warthen

“To be more consistent and spend time in the studio every day.” – Olga Yuhkno

“To sketch a few times each week even though I am working a regular job and still in school.” – Heather Lynn Endicott

“To complete my translation of Havamal, and put together the video where I tell the story.” – Price Lassahn-Worrell

Some artists addressed the desire to return to unfinished projects – with both earnest desire and humor:

“To finish a few of the many unfinished works sitting in my studio. To find creative inspiration and spurs.” – B.A. Hohman

“My 2023 New Year's resolution is to finish all the craft projects from 2022 that I should have done in 2021, since I started them in 2020 after buying the supplies for them in 2019.” – Valerie Lamott

 

A recurrent theme was the desire to stop listening to the nagging voice in the back of our minds that tries to scare us or quiet us:

“To be less critical of my art and to be more open to ideas flowing in and reconnect with my inner voice.” Renee Rouillier

“To override my inner critic and follow my intuition.” – Ginny Meret

 

Similarly, artists shared a desire for understanding of themselves and the space they occupy:

“To respect the fact that life brings changes and art sometimes has to occupy a different position on the list of priorities.” – Mary Ann Haven

“To paint more of what I WANT to paint.” – Sean Madden

“To paint and write (about my daily experiences, culture, and cooking) on a daily basis in 2023. I could not manage to paint or write regularly in 2022 although I realize and internalize how painting and writing are effectively helpful to my inner peace and well-being (my mental health) and nurture my inner child.” – Khin Myat

 

The desire for self-exploration came up again and again:

“To explore new mediums, to be more vulnerable, to be more generous.” – Lucy Bailey

“To delve deeper into the world of sound & rhythm by availing myself of educational opportunities. The goal being to broaden and enhance my understanding of how sound affects us and to incorporate that knowledge into my craft.” – Dick Moons

“To play with more mix media, experiment more with oils, delve into interchangeable art with my business partner Barry wheeler who always pushes me to keep exploring.” – Michael Krajewski

“To allow Artist-Self more Exploration of Shadow Self//privately (perhaps publicly) …let those kids merge—dissolve some things and mend some others, all the while being colorful, honest and vulnerable through visual & written prophetic blabber!” – Emily Wright

 

And, artists expressed a desire to grow within a community, with goals for unity and collaboration:

“1. Listen to people more and work on humility as well as developing healthy, in person relationship that encourage aggressive kindness. 2. Help cultivate and create a culture of collaboration with “Columbia-Centric" artists from all mediums in order to reinforce a positive art infrastructure. 3. Finish writing and producing three original albums. 4. Stay clean and sober. 5. Serve the city.” – Saul Seibert

“To see, and be a part of, more collaboration with artists and our communities. Utilizing our talents and materials to create and unify....” – Gina Langston Brewer

The common message among these various goals is this: create what you want to create, create whenever you can, and create in constellations. The act of making something, of there now being something where there once was nothing, may often be simple, but it is magical. Go into 2023 treating yourself with grace and with the open-mind and willingness to create something where there wasn’t something before.

And Happy New Year—from all of us!

Columbia Artists Share Their Christmas Wishes for the Art Community

It’s that time of year again, where we deck our halls and trim our trees, scoot closer on our couches to those we love, and curl up tight in our blankets as we sip hot chocolate (which South Carolinians can actually do this year—brr!). It’s in these moments of peace and joy we often close our eyes to make our Christmas wish. This year, here at Jasper, we asked a handful of our local artists their wish, specifically: “If you could make one Christmas wish for the Columbia arts community, what would it be?”



Artists wished for more space—places old and new alike where they can freely share their creative gifts with the city they love.

“Main St. Back…”
—Michael Krajewski, visual artist

“More places to show (and make) art!”
—Lucas Sams, visual artist

“An artist’s alley in a public space where anyone can contribute however/whenever they want!”
—Cait Maloney, visual artist

“As a member of the Cola arts community, if I had one present for Christmas, it would be to have more spaces like CMFA (or to expand CMFA), where community members can rehearse and perform and support each other (for free)!! CMFA has been invaluable to Bonnie [Boiter-Jolley] and I’s company, the Columbia Repertory Dance Company!” 
—Stephanie Wilkins, dancer and Artistic Director of Columbia Repertory Dance Company


Artists wished for an expansion of funds for local artists so that they can express themselves fully and without burden.

“I think the community could give back to the artists—no strings attached guaranteed income for those who pour into the community with their creative gifts and talents. This would help artists have the opportunity to at least cover living expenses due to the increase of the cost of living and still have the opportunity to pursue a creative career.”
—Maya Smith, visual artist

I’d wish for sufficient financing for artists to present their art to the community. There are many costs involved in producing a play, a concert, a ballet, and other art events that ticket prices alone cannot cover. To have the financial support from the public and private sectors to present our art in the best way possible would be an amazing Christmas present.
— Becky Hunter, performer


Artists wished to spend more time with each other, to acknowledge each other and create inter-community support.

“More togetherness throughout the arts community where everyone mutually supports each other, meets together quarterly, and promotes each other.” 
—Arischa Conner Frierson, actor

“A 3-Day retreat filled with Skill Shares and Improv and Games so that we can learn to love each other even more. Like Family <3”
—Monifa Lemons, poet and actor


And, finally, artists wished for the chance to grow as humans and creators, not just within themselves but within a community as a whole where each person can better the other.

“My holiday wish (mostly for myself but also) for the Columbia arts community is for the courage to be open. I know I can seem insular because of my own internal obstacles, but I think collaboration can elevate our art beyond our skillsets and help us fulfill and even exceed our creative concepts. Collaboration builds our artistic support systems and creates informed testing audiences. While I believe it’s important for one to make the art one needs to make without regard to how others may receive it, I believe it’s also nice to be able to ask for constructive criticism and maybe be given encouragement along the way to a project’s completion. I don’t know if I’ll personally gain this kind of courage by the time January rolls around (or ever), but I’m always hopeful I will and that others might, too!”
— Desirée Richardson (Death Ray Robin), musician

“As a social worker, I was trained to practice from a ‘strengths perspective.’ This perspective acknowledges challenges while encouraging us to identify and work with whatever resources we have access to within ourselves and the community. So, the gift I’m hopeful for this year is our collective vision to see the strengths that exist within the Columbia arts community and to employ those resources in fostering expressive projects that bring meaning to people’s lives.”
—Lang Owen, musician

“My Christmas wish for Columbia is…more people of skill and intellect and intuition and caring go see more shows and performances and exhibitions. These people would then share their thoughts and impressions with the rest of us. Helping to strengthen and spur the conversations between art and artists and patrons. CRITICS! I want more critics of every size, shape, gender, sex, color and perspective to do good work in Columbia.”
—Darion McCloud, performer and storyteller

“I want all the artists and soon-to-be artists in Columbia to find, embrace, and share their gift. I hope that even when it’s dark they see they are loved and supported.”
—Adam Corbett, musician and visual artist


From our family of artists and art supporters, we thank everyone for the love they have shown this community this year, and our Christmas wish for you today and always is that you have all the joy and support there is to offer. Merriest of Christmases—and have an extra boozy eggnog on us!



Congratulations to Columbia Area Artists Accepted into ArtFields 2023

APRIL 19 – 29, 2023

The Jasper Projects congratulates all the artists accepted into the 2023 Artfields Celebration and recognizes the following members of the greater Columbia, SC arts community for their inclusion:

Olga Yukhno

Patrick Parise

Mary Ann Haven

Alicia Leeke

Gregory Wilkin

Janet Swigler

George Stone

Robert V. Shuler

Edward Schmunes

Jordan Sheridan

Ellie Marie Rose

Cameron Porter

Maggie Mullin O’Hara

Cait Maloney

Lori Isom

Ellen Fishburne

Gerard Erley

Morgan C. Eddy

Michael DeWitt

John Derhammer

Roberto Clemente De Leon

Nakisa Beigi

Quincy Pugh

ArtFields started in 2013 with a simple goal: honor the artists of the Southeast with a week’s worth of celebration and competition in the heart of a traditional Southern small town. The competition and exhibition offers over $145,000 in cash prizes. The winners of two People’s Choice Awards are determined by the votes of people visiting ArtFields; a panel of art professionals selects all the other awards, including the $50,000 Grand Prize and $25,000 Second Place award.

Up to 400 works of art will be on display in locally-owned venues, from renovated 1920s warehouses and professional art spaces such as Jones-Carter Gallery and TRAX Visual Art Center to the library, the history museum, the Ronald E. McNair Life History Center, restaurants, boutiques and other shops. During ArtFields, what was once one of South Carolina’s most prosperous agricultural communities becomes a living art gallery as we recognize, celebrate and share the artistic talent of the Southeast.

Phillip Mullen Exhibit of NEW WORK Opens at Rob Shaw Gallery December 2nd

On Friday, Dec. 2, from 6 to 9 p.m., Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery at 324 State Street in West Columbia will host a reception to launch a month-long exhibit of works by internationally renowned artist Philip Mullen.

Since 1969, when Mullen began his career teaching at the University of South Carolina, his works have appeared in numerous exhibitions at galleries and museums across the US, including the David Findlay Galleries on Madison Avenue in New York City, the Dubbins Gallery in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Museum of Art, the Malton Gallery in Cincinnati, and the Eva Cohon Gallery in Chicago and Highland Park, IL. 

Mullen is known for large acrylic paintings, some as wide as fifteen feet. His 1983 8.5-by-12-foot painting Women in the Country (Series 2, No. 5) is part of the James C. Moore, Jr., Collection of the Work of Philip Mullen, which includes most of the 161 Mullen works owned by the University of South Carolina.

The 2020 recipient of the Elizabeth O’Neil Verner lifetime achievement award, Mullen was named a distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina in 2000. Since 1990, twenty of his paintings have been on permanent display at the Koger Center in Columbia.  

Artist Don Zurlo describes Mullen’s paintings as “very physical, even sensual in the use of color and texture” to draw viewers “into the mystical elements of the works.” By manipulating tactile surfaces and simple forms on a flat plane, he depicts “infinite layers of human experience in a complex interaction between the physical and spiritual worlds.” 

The opening reception honoring Mullen on Dec. 2 is part of a series of first-Friday events sponsored by Rob Shaw Framing and Gallery. Since opening his gallery in April of 2019, Shaw has hosted monthly exhibits to highlight South Carolina’s many talented artists. 

 

A Message from Cindi: 37 Issues of Jasper Later and Thanks for Everything

Thank You!

This is the image that popped up in my Facebook memories this morning.

It’s a bundle shot of our second issue of Jasper Magazine released this week in 2011. The cover art is by Thomas Crouch and was designed by Heyward Sims, our art director when we started Jasper Magazine. A small magazine, it featured a piece on Crouch, one on Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School—Ashleigh Rivers was the president of the Columbia chapter, our centerfold was Chris Bickel, articles on Dre Lopez, Caroline Lewis Jones, Bobby Craft, Lee Ann Kornegay, and a story about the 2011 Biennial written by Jeffrey Day. Mayor Steve Benjamin wrote a guest editorial at the back of the book in which he praised the opening of the new Tapp’s Arts Center on Main Street. His editorial was accompanied by an assemblage of the mayor created by Kirkland Smith.

Sigh.

Time goes by so fast.

When this mag came out I had just turned 53 and was realizing that my 50s might very well be the best decade of my life. It was. And for that I am grateful. I’m even more thankful that, 11 years later, someone stills needs me and feeds me now that I’m 64. And I’m particularly thankful for the artists, staff, board, readers, and supporters who made this most recent issue of Jasper—released on Friday night with a lovely little soiree at Kristian Niemi’s Bourbon Courtyard—possible.

This is a photo of artist Wilma Ruth King by Brad Martin holding the image our art director Brian Harmon made into the cover of the magazine we just released.

This is a big fat magazine full of stories about Columbia-based artists and the films they’ve made—Thaddeus and Tanya Wideman-Davis, Monifa Lemons, Dustin Whitehead and his USC crew, Arischa Connor and her list of TV credits, a big piece on jazz by Kevin Oliver, a centerfold story written by Will South about neighbor artist from Conway, Jim Arendt, and another by South on the Elizabeth Catlett exhibition at the CMA. There’s poetry by Monifa and Jonathan Butler, a review of Carla Damron’s new book by Eric Morris, smaller pieces on exciting people and innovative projects—like Amy Brower, Jamie Blackburn, Seitu Amenwahsu, Steven Chapp and Jerred Metz, and Libby Campbell, record reviews of Jump Little Children and Todd Mathis and really, too many subjects to mention here.

I am thankful for this issue of Jasper Magazine and all it represents. An evolving and maturing art community full of grown-ass people who are living the lives they always imagined they’d live, or better. Some of them are stars. Some of them go on brief rides on starlight. And some enjoy basking in the combined and accumulated glow they and their colleagues in the community emit when they make their art and see it received by their fellow humans.

All of this is good.

I’m also thankful for all of you who came out this week to help Jasper celebrate by joining us at Vista Lights.

Jasper Project Board President Wade Sellers at Vista Lights Columbia may, in fact, be Santa.

I’m thankful for all of you who joined us Friday night at Bourbon to welcome this new issue of Jasper to the world.

This is me with Kimber Carpenter and her mom Pat Gillam - both artists - at the Fall 2022 magazine release reception on Friday, November 18th.

I’m thankful for our sponsors, who so generously continue to support Jasper because they recognize it as a gift of art given to the community—not necessarily as just a method media to get the word out about what they alone have to offer. We had 16 sponsors back when issue #2 came out. This issue, we have only 6 — the Palmetto Opera, who have an upcoming concert of Madame Butterfly on January 29th; Harbison Theater who will welcome Tom Papa on January 20th along with a show of Michael Krajewski’s work and who are currently showing an exhibition of David Yaghjian’s work, both sponsored by the Jasper Project Galleries; Trustus Theatre, which opens Hurricane Diane on December 2nd and Mr. Burns, A Post Electric Play on January 20th; CMFA who hosted the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series performance in August; arts activist Eric Tucker’s KW Palmetto Realty, and our truly beloved Columbia Museum of Art who has advertised with us and sponsored us since the very beginning.

I’m thankful for our Jasper Guild Members who, with incredible generosity, trust the Jasper Project with their funding to create a magazine, a literary journal, a film festival, and more, knowing that every penny they give goes right back out to the artists, with no one on our end being paid for their volunteer talent and energy.

Thank YOU for indulging me in this lengthy message, and for reading Jasper Magazine and supporting the many facets of The Jasper Project. From all of our houses, to all of yours —

Happy Thanksgiving,

Cindi

~~~

Coming Up from Jasper

December 1st - First Thursday at Sound Bites Eatery with Lindsay Radford Wiggins - 6 pm

December 11th - Reception for David Yaghjian at Harbison Theater - 2:30 pm

December 15th - Santa Crawl with Jasper at the Art Bar - 7 pm

CALL for PLAYS - Play Right Series - deadline December 31st, 2022