Potential: Quilted Abstractions by Janet Swigler

By Eden Prime,
Jasper Graduate Intern

On June 8 a new show is coming to Stormwater Gallery on Pendleton Street. Janet Swigler is a quilter and music educator located in Columbia. She is a student of Smithsonian quilter Nancy Crow and an avid creator, learner, and abstract thinker.

Nothing Stays the Same V

Time and memory fold into eachother in Janet Swigler’s work. As a quilter and professional music educator Swigler’s art is full of detail and exacting imagery. Her quilts are crafted deftly and with intention, exploring the synthesis of childhood impressions with experiences leading to the present–each piece carries forward a definitive picture of a passionate life devoted to creation.

Swigler lived on an airforce base in Japan as an adolescente. Her parents were intentional about teaching Swigler about the culture that surrounded them in Japan.

“The sensibilities and aesthtics of Japanese culture trained my eye,” said Swigler, “Their use of lines and wabi-sabi–I don’t think I realized it all at the time but looking back I think it influenced me a lot.”

Renowned quiltmaker Nancy Crow, who is a major influence on Swigler, encourages quiltmakers to dig into childhood memories. Studying under Crow is how Swigler discovered that she could bring organic beauty into the world, it was like she had opened a box of crayons and every color was hers to create with.

Repetition, balance, and form are disciplines that Swigler learned from being a music educator for elementary school children. She channels these balancing forms in table-like motifs depicted on her quilts. Like the Torii Gates in Japan, an architectural structure that has become a theme in Swigler’s work, they demonstrate balnce and harmony.

Swigler hopes that people come to her show ready to reach out and take the opportunities given to them to think creaitvly, look for memory portals of their own, and see the light through the cracks.

You can find Swigler’s work at Stormwater Gallery at 413 Pendleton Street. The show opening is Thursday June 8 from 5:30-8:00. The quilts will be on display from June 8-June 18 and there will be other events during that time. On Sunday June 11th there will be a gallery talk at 1:30pm and on June 18 there will be a “Pop-In for Pop-Corn” from 1pm-3pm to close the show. Come view Janet Swigler’s work any time the gallery is open Wednesday-Sunday 11am-3pm.

Tiny Gallery with Mana Hewitt – Aesthetically Pleasing, Conceptually Interesting

The month of June brings Mana Hewitt’s beautiful hand sculpted jewelry to Jasper’s Tiny Gallery. Hewitt is a recently retired Senior Instructor from the University of South Carolina’s School of Visual Art and Design, where she helped develop the jewelry making program in 2007. Other teaching endeavors include Columbia College for eight years and a year at a middle school. Her experience in painting, ceramics and metalsmithing has led to her cementing a prolific legacy in all disciplines. Hewitt grew up in a household surrounded by the arts; both her mother and grandmother studied art in college, and her and her siblings all grew to appreciate the arts through music and visual arts, passions that Hewitt eventually shared with her husband and daughter. Starting with oil paints and large-scale metals, she shifted to working with more small-scale media in 2006. This shift turned into the sterling silver/enameled jewelry work that Hewitt is so well known for to this day. Having an interest in the transformation of a section of metal can have lends to the endless possibilities for the jewelry design that Hewitt undertakes. “I am intrigued by metal’s transformation from rigidity to vibrant and fluid designs through hammering, etching, casting and effort,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt’s earrings are perfect statement pieces for those looking to spice up their jewelry collection. There are a variety of monochromatic pieces like the “Freeform” pairs, iridescent and colorful sets like “Drops” or “Fans” and even some statement piece sets like the “Rockets.” She always aims to meet her goal of creating jewelry that is both aesthetically pleasing and conceptually interesting. Working with metal for so long, Hewitt describes herself as someone who may just think with metal as well.

Aside from talent and drive, Hewitt has an abundance of ideas and inspiration when it comes to creating new works. “I have never had difficulty in finding inspiration or ideas,” Hewitt said. In fact, I probably have too many and feel there isn’t enough time to do everything I want to do.” Hewitt’s creations have been featured in both group and solo exhibitions across the Eastern U.S. She has collaborated with the Jasper Project before by being one of the featured artists in the Supper Table project, where she created a piece based on Eartha Kitt.

The marketability of jewelry and the small scale is appealing to Hewitt, who mentions that some of her favorite pieces are ones enameled in the champleve and cloisonne techniques. While very demanding, Hewitt says that "jewelrymaking provides endless challenges but provides such satisfaction when it all comes together.”

Hewitt’s earrings are available for sale on the Jasper Project’s Tiny Gallery site through the month of June. You can find more of her portfolio on her website.

Just An Exhibition: Marie Boyd’s Quilled Art and Illustrations from Her Debut Picture Book Just A Worm on Display at Richland Library Main Branch

Marie Boyd’s exhibition at the Richland Library Main Branch, called A Quilled Garden, opened May 12th, 2023, and is on display until June 2nd, 2023. This exhibit includes original images and illustrations from her first picture book, Just a Worm, which was published March 14th by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Quilling is a style of collage art that uses strips of paper which are cut, folded, and or rolled, looped, crimped, curled, and coiled to create intricate patterns and designs. Kirkus Reviews called the quilled designs in Boyd’s book “stunning.” 

Kirkus Reviews is not the only one to recognize Boyd’s prowess as an illustrator and children’s author, however; she has also been interviewed on The Sunday Show on MSNBC, and last month, she read Just a Worm to children at the White House Easter Egg Roll.

Just a Worm tells the story of Worm, who has been referred to as “just a worm” by two young children. Worm then embarks on a journey through the garden to prove that they are a whole lot more than that. They meet several other creatures along their journey, all of which bring about Worm’s own discovery of self-worth.

Cover Art from Just a Worm

Needless to say, we are very proud to boast that Marie Boyd is from our very own city of Columbia, SC. In addition to writing and quilling, Boyd is a professor of law at the University of South Carolina. She lives in Columbia with her husband, Jaime Harrison, and their two children.

This exhibition was made possible by the South Carolina Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a generous award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund. The exhibition is located at 1431 Assembly Street, Columbia, SC 29201.

If you wish to learn more about Marie Boyd, or wish to view more samples of her work, you can visit her website. To listen to a “meet-the-author” recording with Boyd, visit the Teaching Books site.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lucy Bailey and K. Wayne Thornley Challenge the Boundaries of Form in LIFE.FORMS

Lucy Bailey and K. Wayne Thornley are no strangers to making and testing the limits of their art—separate and together—but their new exhibition is a deep dive into experimentation for both of them. LIFE.FORMS: Interpretations in Mixed Media is inspired by the “what if” conversations we all have about how our life ended up being, well, our life. 

“Last summer we [Wayne and Lucy] were having a conversation about the vast range and incredible impact of those variables [that affect life]: heredity, time in history, societal context, environment, family, geography, individual choices, etc.,” the pair share, “We both had separately been thinking about how these ideas might be expressed in our art and the conversation led us to explore it together. We signed on the line for this show before we had produced a single piece, which lit the motivational fire we needed.”  

As they began creating, some ideas and influences kept repeating, particularly nature versus nurture and the butterfly effect. Together they kept searching through the tension between these major life moments that permanently define us and the small, seemingly innocuous moments whose ripples we often have no idea alter us so intensely. The title itself came from Thornley, who sees forms as “both a noun and verb, reflecting biological forms of life and the dynamic process of forming a life. The show has remained pretty true to those initial thoughts.”  

Viewers of the exhibit can expect an inventive use of materials and techniques from the experimental duo who both “[took] a great deal of pleasure in the process of pushing materials into unintended uses.” Specifically, Thornley’s work is rooted in biological imagery or, “the essential building blocks of life forms as we know them,” whereas Bailey’s “focus is more rooted in narratives around environmental determinants.” 

Bailey is well-known for her clay sculptures but made an intentional effort to move away from clay while still working with malleable materials. Her main material in this show? Vintage children’s clothes—specifically the unisex baby and toddler gowns popular in the early 1900’s.

“Combining textiles and mixed media invited exploration of new techniques, which was challenging, fun, and messy,” Bailey reveals, “I rust-dyed, embroidered, and burned the clothing. I transferred photographs onto fabric. I worked with silkworm cocoons and cicada wings. I learned some very basic slow stitching and couching techniques and I distressed fabric by pulling out individual threads.”

Bailey’s work is typically rife with personality as faces and figures pervade her work. However, these faceless pieces are no less emotional and full of life in her opinion: “Absent a face or figure, clothing is still highly personal, and it holds an echo or remembrance of the person who once inhabited it, so I feel like this work remains figurative in a sense.”

Thornley agrees that his process has been adaptive and constantly evolving, though in some ways it is almost a natural extension of the branching out into mixed media he has explored recently. Thornley has been painting 2D for decades, but in the past couple of years, he has begun creating more 3D works—specifically houses with miscellaneous objects.

“Some of the outcomes have been successful and inspiring; others have been disastrous. For me, those successes and failures become part of the evolution of my own creativity,” Thornley intimates, “As for my experiments with form, I definitely think our concept for this show served as a catalyst for me to merge my love of wire forms with mixed media.”

With this show, Thornley began with materials familiar to him before incorporating brand new ones—ones he plans to continue his relationship with: “I see many of these new objects as maquettes for much larger pieces. Just as cells divide and multiply, creating matter that can be microscopic or gargantuan, I think the ideas sparked while making these new works will give new life to future creations.”

Regardless of the materials used, both artists are exploring the edges of and pushing the boundaries of form, while crafting narrative around/with ideas and images of life itself. Each piece will present a unique experience for the viewer and no one person will have the same encounter with the show.

“Hopefully, contemplating what forms this ‘one wild and precious life’ (as Mary Oliver says in her poem ‘The Summer Day’) will prompt people to consider not only the influences shaping our own lives but how we effect the lives of those around us,” the duo details, “How people react to the work will actually reflect the LIFE.FORMS theme: each persons’ interpretation will be a result of their own experiences. We hope the art will kindle something unique in everyone.”

LIFE.FORMS will be featured at Stormwater Studios with an Opening Reception on May 11th from 5pm – 8pm. An Artist Talk will take place on Sunday the 21st of May at 2pm. Stormwater Studios is located at 413 Pendleton Street.

“In terms of what it means to be human, we are contemplating the tension between how simultaneously fragile and resilient we are in the face of everything that happens in our lives,” the artists emphasize, “What magic of genetics and epigenetics sets us in motion? How many potential courses might a life take based on what happens or fails to happen for us? How much of this are we aware of as it unfolds and how much is only visible from the vantage point of time?”

A Message from Cindi for Midlands Gives 2023

Please Consider Supporting the Jasper Project This Year During Midlands Gives.

Jasper is an all-volunteer 501c3 with NO paid employees and NO overhead, so your donations go directly to the Columbia, SC arts community via events and publications.

Me with Jasper Project board president Wade Sellers and Elvis (aka Patrick Baxley) at Bernie Love 2023

Welcome to one of my favorite times of the year—the time for me to report back to you, our supporters, on how the Jasper Project has been using the funds you entrusted to us over the past year. It’s a joy to celebrate what we can accomplish together with your funding and the Jasper Project’s labors of love.

I always have a soft spot in my heart for Jasper Magazine, which was the seed of the Jasper Project and remains my favorite project of all. Last spring, we published a beautiful issue featuring Lindsay Radford Wiggins on the cover and Michael Krajewski as our centerfold artist. Kristine Hartvigsen wrote the piece on Lindsay, and I had the honor of writing about Michael who, actually, was the centerfold in the first ever issue back in fall 2011. This time, however, he is fully clothed!  We also featured a piece on Mike Miller’s new book, The Hip Shot, WOW Production’s first YouTube series,  Quincy Pugh’s Veteran’s Day Parade painting series, Carleen Maur’s experimental filmmaking, Artists for Africa, and two new books from Muddy Ford Press, (Jasper’s original underwriter before we became a non-profit under the leadership of Larry Hembree), including Night Bloomer by Jane Zenger and More God Than Dead by Angelo Geter. We wrote artist profiles on Lucy Bailey, Diko Pekdemir-Lewis, and Rebecca Horne; Music editor Kevin Oliver compiled a jam-packed article on 10 music artists to watch in the coming year; Will South wrote a piece on Tyrone Geter and his work and life in Gambia; and I had the honor of profiling David Platts, the ED of the SC Arts commission. Sadly, we also memorialized Wim Roefs and Mary Bentz Gilkerson.

Our fall 2022 issue of Jasper featured Wilma King on the cover and Jim Arendt in the centerfold. We wrote about Wideman-Davis dance, Baba Seitu Amenwahsa, Steven Chapp and Jerred Metz, Arischa Connor’s television successes, the Soda City jazz scene, Jamie Blackburn, poet Monifa Lemons and her stint as an actor on Lena Waithe’s film, Crooked Trees Gon Give Me Wings, Carla Daron’s new book The Orchid Tattoo, Amy Brower and the life of a casting agent, new theatre editor Libby Campbell, Dustin Whitehead’s new film Hero, Elizabeth Catlett, and included several poems and music reviews.

I don’t want to give too much away about the spring 2023 issue which is releasing on Saturday May 20th at the Artists Showing Artists event, hosted by Desirée Richardson of Death Ray Robin, but if you meet me that evening at the One Columbia Co-Op at 1013 Duke Avenue, you’ll get some fresh print featuring Philip Mullen, Olga Yukhno, Bohumila Augustinova, Katie Leitner, Dick Moons, Ivan Segura, Drink Small, Alyssa Stewart, and lots of surprises

Fall Lines volume IX - Cover art by Sean Rayford — https://www.seanrayford.com/

After the magazine my next favorite project has to be Fall Lines—a literary convergence. We just released our 9th volume and issued the call for our 10th. I’m incredibly excited to announce that, in addition to the Broad River Prize for Prose, which went this year to Tim Conroy, and Saluda River Prize for Poetry, which went this year to Jo Angela Edwins, that next year we will also be offering the Combahee River Prize to a SC BIPOC writer of poetry or prose. We’ve also formed an ad hoc committee, captained by poet Randy Spencer,  to study the best ways to grow Fall Lines as it moves into its 10th year.

Along the same lines we awarded the Lizelia Prize, named in honor of anti-Jim Crow poet-activist Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer, to Myrtle Beach poet Maria Picone. Maria will have her poetry chapbook titled Adoptee Song, published by Muddy Ford Press through a sponsoring relationship with the Jasper Project. Board member Len Lawson managed this project.

We devoted a lot of our time last summer to the Play Right Series, a project managed by board member Jon Tuttle. The winner of last year’s Play Right Series was first-time playwright, Colby Quick. After spending the summer working with Community Producers Ed Madden, Bert Easter, James and Kirkland Smith, Paul Leo and Eric Tucker, Bill Schmidt, Wade Sellers, and myself, as well as the cast of Colby’s winning play, Moon Swallower, we presented a heavily produced staged reading, directed by Chad Henderson, at the Columbia Music Festival Association in August. We were also delighted to invite the public to the reading and, via our relationship with Muddy Ford Press, offer published copies of Moon Swallower for sale.

Jasper Friends Dick Moons and BA Hohman pose with our host, Clark Ellefson, outside the Art Bar

In December, Clark Ellefson and Andy Rodgers hosted the Jasper Project at the Art Bar on Park Street where we staged our first official Santa Crawl, inviting all comers to don their Santa suits and drink like it was Christmas. We had a fabulous time and enjoyed a delicious house-created cocktail list with a portion of each sale going to the Jasper Project. Thanks Clark, Andy, and everyone at the Art Bar!

In February, the good folks in the Capital City Playboys invited us to partner with them on the fundraiser concert event, An Evening with Bernie Love—A Tribute to Elvis. We themed the event around Valentine’s Day and welcomed more than 100 folks to the 701 Whaley Market space where Marty Fort, Jay Matheson, Kevin Brewer, and Patrick Baxley as Elvis! We also hosted artists Jamie Peterson, Gina Langston Brewer, Cait Maloney, and Lindsay Radford Wiggins who showed and sold their work. At the same time, and thanks to Lee Ann Kornegay, we had reserved the Community Hallway Gallery at 701 Whaley for the month of February to stage an art exhibit we called Love Hurts/Love Heals featuring K. Wayne Thornley and Wilma King.

In March, created a new event called Artists Showing Artists. Artists Showing Artists is an opportunity for established artists to share the spotlight with other artists who may be emerging, new to the area, or who they want to highlight. The project encourages collaboration within and between disciplines and enlightens the community about both the featured artists and the art curation process. Our first event featured Saul Seibert who invited poet Alyssa Stewart (we’re publishing her first ever published poem in the next issue of Jasper Magazine - thanks Saul!), visual artist Virginia Russo, and rapper Keith Smiley.

Our next Artists Showing Artists event will feature Desirée Richardson of Death Ray Robin as our Artist Host. I hope you can join us on May 20th to pick up a copy of the spring issue of Jasper Magazine and check out all the artists Desirée has invited to join us!

In fact, our various gallery spaces across town have grown considerably, helping Jasper to spotlight the work of artists in small, captured spaces. We do a First Thursday artist-in-residence rotation at Sound Bites Eatery on Sumter Street that has thus far included Michael Shepard, Alex Ruskell, Kimber Carpenter, Ginny Merritt, Adam Corbett, Quincy Pugh. Marius Valdes, Gina Langston Brewer, Lindsay Radford Wiggins, Lucas Sams, Colleen Crichter, and Keith Tolen.

Steven White speaking to theatre goers at Harbison Theatre

In January, the Koger Center opened a space on the second floor of their building just outside of the Donor’s Gallery for the Jasper Project to show the art of Columbia-based artists. We opened with Thomas Crouch, then Lindsay Radford, followed by Quincy Pugh. We’ve scheduled additional visual artists to fill out the remainder of 2023 and are already programming into 2024 at the Koger Center as well as at Harbison Theatre in Irmo, where we’ve shown David Yaghjian, Steven White, Michael Krajewski, Lori Isom Starnes, and are currently showing Olga Yukhno. We also keep a running gallery at Motor Supply Bistro and in the sidewalk gallery at the Meridien Building on Main Street.  

I’m actually thrilled to announce that the Jasper Galleries helped put almost $18,000 into the pockets of working artists in Columbia since last March!

Board Member Bert Easter staffs the kegerator at a Jasper Project House Party

As the Jasper Project board of directors has grown, we’ve done a bit of reorganization. Christina Xan, whose work on the Tiny Gallery continues to be so efficient that we tapped her to manage all our gallery spaces, is now also serving as our treasurer. Emily Moffitt was also elected board secretary in January, just after officially joining the board, and Wade Sellers and Kristin Cobb both continue as board president and vice president respectively. Bekah Rice is officially our digital manager as well as our operations manager and, typically, our events director. We welcomed new members to the board including visual artists Ginny Merett and Kimber Carpenter, and Jasper Magazine theatre editor Libby Campbell

I’m sure I’m forgetting an event, a happening, or a party.

Please remember, it is your support of Jasper’s passion for supporting, promoting, and validating Midlands-area artists that allows us to do what we love. Thank you for your continued support.

Cindi

April 2023

Please enjoy a few more photos from the past year of the Jasper Project below —

Carla Damron at Richland Library leading discussion on her book, The Orchid Tattoo, for Jasper’s Nightstand Book Club

Me judging the Mad Hatter Art Show

Featured Artist Wilma King talks with artist Gerard Erley at the Love Hurts/Love Heals art show that she shared with K. Wayne Thornley— a Jasper Project with 701 Whaley

Lisa Hammond served as the poetry judge for Saluda River Prize for Poetry in 2022’s Fall Lines

Jasper was invited by the good folks at Curiosity Coffee to arrange a pumpkin carving contest among the city’s artists — it was a huge success, a lot of fun, and we had some beautiful (and terrifying) pumpkins result!

Point person = Bekah Rice

We featured the art of the four artists on the board at Artista Vista this spring - Ginny Merett, Kimber Carpenter, Laura Garner Hine and Emily Moffitt

Olga Yukhno speaking to theatre goers at Harbison Theatre for her spring exhibit

Our 2019 project, The Supper Table, is still touring. Here it is at the Myrtle Beach Gallery of Art just after being on exhibit at the Morris Center for Arts and History

Michael Krajewski with his exhibit at the Jasper Gallery at Harbison Theatre

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Koger Center for the Arts Opens Submission Period for Annual Art Contest

CALL FOR ART!

The Koger Center for the Arts is bringing back their art competition, “The Project” for 2023. The submission period opened on April 17 and will close on July 17, 2023. The first-place winner for the contest receives a $500 stipend and an opportunity to showcase their winning artwork!

The beginning of the art contest started during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The goals were simple – offer a small financial award to a South Carolina artist and provide a platform to showcase the talent of artists in our state through an exhibition at the Koger Center.

You can fill out the submission form by clicking here.

The requirements for submissions are as follows:

• Artist must be over 18 years old and based in South Carolina

• Submissions must be your own, original work

• Submissions must have been created in the past 2 years

• If an artist has applied before, repeat art cannot be submitted again

• Previous winners of The Project/1593 Project (the name of the contest the year it was created) may not submit artwork for up to 5 years. Honorable mentions are still allowed to enter again.

The end of the submission period coincides with the opening week of the exhibition featuring last year’s winners of The Project. Last year’s first and second place winners are Nick Brutto and Virginia Dale Bishop respectively. The exhibition will also feature some honorable mentions: Jane Nodine, Dylan Fouste, Meena Khalili and Marge Loudon Moody.

If you have any questions or concerns about the submission process, call the Koger Center Business Office at (803)777-7500, or email Emily Moffitt at moffitte@mailbox.sc.edu.

52 Windows – An Evening of Art Featured Artists: George Stone and Ija Charles

George Stone has enjoyed diverse careers including playing professional baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization, working as a mechanical engineer, and working as a professional artist. Stone is a representational oil painter who focuses primarily on landscape and still life subject matter. He paints extensively from life (plein air) but also works in the studio using plein air studies, sketches and photographic reference.

He has won many awards and is a member of the Oil Painters of America. Stone attempts to convey the beauty and dignity of everyday scenes, and is especially interested in developing a mood in his landscapes by capturing the quality of light present during different times of day, different seasons of the year and different locations.

Ija Charles, 25, is a self-taught artist and entrepreneur from Columbia. You can see her large-scale murals depicting what she calls “a renaissance of black joy” throughout the city.

In addition to murals, she paints colorful, magical and whimsical pictures that create joy while delivering unspoken, yet powerful messages of encouragement.

The muses for her art range from everyday people to diverse samplings from her surrounding community, lived experiences and culture. Inspired by the journey of her upbringing, Ija sows seeds of uniqueness in each new piece and harvests positive vibes from her foundation.

Mirci will host 52 Windows – An Evening of Art, on Thursday, May 18th at 701 Whaley from 6-9pm. The annual fundraiser showcases the work of talented local artists and encourages support of Mirci’s mission to uphold mental health across the Midlands. Visit mirci.org/events for more information.

Woman, Life, Freedom event focuses on Iranian women’s rights movement Evening includes pop-up art exhibition and panel discussion

From our friends at Columbia Museum of Art …

The Columbia Museum of Art presents Woman, Life, Freedom: An Evening on the Art of Protest, an evening of art and activism in conjunction with the exhibition Reverent Ornament: Art from the Islamic World, on Thursday, April 27, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Free with membership or admission, the program focuses on Iranian culture and the current women’s rights movement and features diasporic artists and scholars living in Columbia.

“This museum has been given the opportunity to present art from the Islamic world, in an exhibition that showcases more work from Iran than anywhere else, so I thought it was important to provide space for local Iranian Americans to give voice to what is currently happening there,” says CMA Manager of Engagement Wilson Bame. “I'm extremely excited to be working with these artists, who are very distinct yet very in sync with each other, to highlight their fine work while also giving our visitors a chance to learn more about and maybe participate in the Woman. Life. Freedom. movement.”

The geographical representation in Reverent Ornament: Art from the Islamic World is broad, with art included from regions as far west as Egypt, and as far east as India. The country with the greatest number of items in the exhibition is Iran, a place with thousands of years of cultural history. Presently, Iran is on the minds of many as protests continue in cities throughout the country and across the world following the death of Iranian citizen Mahsa Amini, who died last September while in custody after being arrested by the government’s guidance patrol or “morality police” for “improperly” wearing a hijab. Chanting “Woman. Life. Freedom.,” many people of Iran and their international allies protest the ill treatment of its citizens, especially women, under the rule of the present regime and fight to bring equality to their home nation.

Attendees are encouraged to visit Reverent Ornament to view the art that inspired the program before gathering in the CMA Theater for a short historical recalling of Iran’s most recent histories and a panel discussion led by USC language professor Farzad Salamifar. A pop-up exhibition in the Reception Gallery features the work of three Iranian American women artists, all affiliated with the USC School of Visual Art and Design: designer and associate professor Meena Khalili, visual artist, and adjunct professor Nakisa Beigi, and multimedia artist and MFA student Nina Rastgar. These artists will be present throughout the program and available for questions and discussion. The evening ends on Boyd Plaza with the chalk-stenciling of protest phrases in Farsi, Kurdish, and English.

Thursday, April 27 | 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. | Galleries and bar open at 6:00 p.m. | Panel discussion 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. | Pop-up exhibition at 7:00 p.m. | Free with membership or admission | Cash bar

Koger Center Opens Colin Dodd Exhibition on Artistic Freedom and Expression

On Wednesday, April 12, from 6pm–8pm, the Koger Center is opening a new show in their Upstairs Gallery by local artist Colin Dodd. The show, titled Artists and Autocrats, explores the tension between those who have the freedom to create art and those who have limited the creation of art. 

Dodd was born in Northumberland and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne in the Northeast of England where he lived and studied through college, but he decided to move to the United States in 1980 to attend the University of South Carolina for graduate school. Soon after, he graduated with his master’s degree in fine art with a major in painting and minor in printmaking.

From his graduation in the mid-80s until his retirement in 2018, Dodd taught a plethora of art classes at Midlands Technical College. While he, of course, enjoyed teaching painting, which is his normal medium, one of his favorite courses to teach was “Film as Art.”

“I enjoyed teaching the course titled Film as Art (because I am a film buff, cineaste, cinephile etc.),” he shares, “I could encompass as much of film history as I was able to in the time allowed and I could also concentrate on the works of some of my favorite directors.” 

Dodd enjoys a multitude of genres, actually, having published his “first (and perhaps only!)” novel in 2021: Elgin Lost His Marbles, a satire on returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece that he was inspired to begin writing on the plane after a trip to the Parthenon and the New Acropolis Museum. 

His main medium, painting, is similarly inspired by history and the journeys people make to return to themselves or express themselves. This goal is highlighted, specifically in this current exhibition. As he notes, while “Western liberal democracy has nurtured freedom of expression and an environment in which artists have been able to create without fear of persecution for their ideas,” artists who create in “states ruled by autocrats and dictators have consistently…had to fear for their very existence because their ideas did not align with those of the ruling authority.” 

Dodd acknowledges that there is still progress to be made when it comes to minorities and oppressed groups even in Western places of dwelling, asserting that “I think there has been significant change in terms of opportunities which did not exist until quite recently, that would appear to be progress, but it has to be fought for every day in the political sphere.” 

His work is part of this fight, which he enters by contrasting modernists who successfully expressed their life experiences through art with the depictions of autocrats and dictators who inflicted suffering and limited the fundamental right of citizens and artists by controlling their voices. When asked what he believes is a representative part of this exhibition and something he hopes people experience if nothing else, Dodd shared the following: 

The exhibition includes portraits of two film directors, Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Parajanov, both of whom suffered the consequence of living in a totalitarian state. Eisenstein was prohibited from making films for a period of time because his work did not conform to the approved Soviet style. Parajanov was imprisoned in the Soviet gulag for four years (1973 - 1977) due in part to his Armenian/Georgian ethnicity and his nonconformist work.  Despite the efforts of the Soviet authorities to suppress, censor, punish and silence these individuals, they succeeded. How? Because their work has survived, and it is celebrated today by audiences around the world.  The creative act is a rebellious act, especially when it applies to those whose existence might be in peril for that very act of creation. 

Seeing this exhibition is a chance to not only experience this tension and fight for expression but to support a local artist who represents the voice of our state. Dodd just recently had a painting accepted in the State Museum’s permanent collection, a “gratifying acknowledgement of [his] working presence here in South Carolina,” and has shared his local voice abroad as part of travelling group show—the "Rainforest Art Exhibition" organized by Taiwanese born artist Marlene Tseng Yu that was displayed in both the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan and the Las Vegas Museum of Art. 

Even if you cannot make it to the Opening Reception, you can drop by to see Dodd’s work any time before it comes down on July 2.

Last Week to See the Supper Table at Myrtle Beach Art Gallery

Where should the Supper Table GO NEXT?

Artist Mana Newitt created this place setting honoring SC native Eartha Kitt

April 16th is the last day to see the Supper Table exhibited at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum where it has been on display since January 26th.

Read more about the gallery’s exhibition of this massive Jasper Project project and how it is displayed here and, while you’re at it, check out the upcoming exhibitions at this lovely space here.

The Supper Table is the largest and grandest project ever sponsored by the Jasper Project, involving the multidisciplinary art of almost 60 SC women artists including the following:

Bohumila Augustinova • Eileen Blyth • Tonya Gregg • Mana Hewitt • B.A. Hohman • Heidi Darr-Hope • Lori Isom • Flavia Lovatelli • Laurie Brownell McIntosh • Michaela Pilar Brown • Renee Roullier • Olga Yukhno • Jennifer Bartell • Carla Damron • Joyce Rose Harris • Kristine Hartvigsen • Meeghan Kane • Monifa Lemons • Eva Moore • Marjory Wentworth • Qiana Whitted • Candace Wiley • Christina Xan • Claudia Smith Brinson • Kirkland Smith • Jordan Morris • Betsy Newman • Mahkia Greene • Vicky Saye Henderson • Lee Ann Kornegay • Brenda Oliver • Kathryn Van Aernum • Cindi Boiter • Joestra Robinson & Tamara Finkbeiner • Katly Hong • Laura Kissel • Roni Nicole • Lee Ann Kornegay • Ebony Wilson • Betsey Newman • Carleen Maur • Faye Riley • Jordan Mullen • Steffi Brink • Lillian Burke

The project was begun by the Jasper Project in 2019 as a celebration of both the 40th anniversary of Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party, now housed on the Feminist Art Wing of the Brooklyn Museum of Art, built specifically to house the Dinner Party installation.

Featured Historical Subjects and the SC Artists Who Honored Them

Mary McLeod Bethune

Visual Artist: Flavia Lovatelli • Literary Artist: Christina Xan • Film Artist: Jordan Mullen • Theatrical Artists: Jocelyn Sanders

Alice Childress

Visual Artist:Tonya Gregg • Literary Artist: Marjorie Wentworth• Film Artist: Steffi Brink • Theatrical Artists: Bonita Peeples

Septima Clark

Visual Artist: Lori Isom • Literary Artist: Qiana Whitted • Film Artist: Faye Riley • Theatrical Artists: Annette Grevious

Matilda Evans

Visual Artist: Renee Roullier • Literary Artist: Candace Wiley • Film Artist: Carleen Maur • Theatrical Artists: Arisha Frierson

Althea Gibson

Visual Artist: Eileen Blyth • Literary Artist: Kristine Hartvigsen • Film Artist: Katly Hong • Theatrical Artists: Trell Brennan

Grimke Sisters

Visual Artist: Heidi Darr-Hope • Literary Artist: Claudia Smith Brinson• Film Artist: Josetra Robinson & Tamara Finkbeiner • Theatrical Artists: Dewey Scott-Wiley & Elena Martinez-Vidal

Eartha Kitt

Visual Artist: Mana Hewitt • Literary Artist: Christina Xan • Film Artist: Lee Ann Kornegay • Theatrical Artists: Sebastian Sowell

Sarah Leverette

Visual Artist: Olga Yukhno • Literary Artist: Carla Damron • Film Artist: Ebony Wilson • Theatrical Artists: Malie Heider

Julia Peterkin

Visual Artist: B. A. Hohman • Literary Artist: Meeghan Kane • Film Artist: Lillian Burke • Theatrical Artists: Patti Walker

Eliza Pinckney

Visual Artist: Laurie Brownell McIntosh • Literary Artist: Eva Moore • Film Artist: Carleen Maur • Theatrical Artists: Arisha Frierson

Modjeska Simkins

Visual Artist: Michaela Pilar Brown • Literary Artist: Candace Wiley • Film Artist: Laura Kissel • Theatrical Artists: Marilyn Matheus

Elizabeth Evelyn Wright

Visual Artist: Bohumila Augustinova • Literary Artist: Jennifer Bartell • Film Artist: Roni Nicole • Theatrical Artists: Jocelyn Walters Brannon

Accompanying the beautiful table created from indigenous SC woods and designed and built by Jordan Morris is a collection of original portraits of the honored women by Kirkland Smith.

Jordan Morris designed and hand built the Supper Table from woods indigenous to SC like Cherry and Sapele Mahogany

A young Sarah Leverette drawn by portrait artist Kirkland Smith

What’s Next for the Supper Table?

The Supper Table has traveled throughout the SC Midlands and Low Country, but is not ready to retire just yet! Where would YOU like to see the Supper Table travel to and how can we make that happen?

Let us know at JasperProjectColumbia@gmail.com

Detail of Heidi Darr-Hope’s place setting honoring the Abolitionist Grimke sisters from Charleston

More on 52 Windows Coming up at 701 Whaley

Mirci will host 52 Windows – An Evening of Art, on May 18th at 701 Whaley from 6-9pm. The annual fundraiser showcases the work of talented local artists while encouraging support of Mirci’s mission to provide wrap-around services, including behavioral healthcare and supportive housing, to individuals experiencing mental illness in the Midlands. Visit mirci.org/events for more information.

Introducing Featured Artists – Lani Stringer and Nina Knowlton

Lani Stringer

Lani Mustard Stringer is the founder of, and principal artist at Mustard Graphics in Columbia, South Carolina. She has won numerous awards in a broad range of mediums, with the interconnection between fine art and graphic design apparent in much of her work.

Lani is driven by a deep curiosity and fascination with the world around her. She believes that art has the power to communicate complex ideas and emotions in ways that words alone cannot, and strives to create work that engages viewers on multiple levels. Her creative process is highly intuitive and experimental, and employs a wide range of mediums and techniques to bring ideas to life. Drawing inspiration from a variety of sources, including nature and music, she is constantly seeking new ways to push the boundaries of creativity.

Nina Knowlton

Nina Knowlton was born and raised in Florence, and has lived in Columbia for over 40 years. As a lifetime resident of South Carolina with an affinity for travel, art has always been an important part of her life. Over the last five years, her main focus has been on painting landscapes. She describes her process as “Not just depicting what I see but painting emotion, or, that is to say, how nature feels, and exploring the atmosphere between painter and the subject.”

Her paintings are either painted plein air or painted from photographs she has taken, usually in South Carolina. Declaring nature as her second love, she says, “Painting really makes me appreciate and see nature in a whole new dimension.” She recently attended workshops focused on the style of French Impressionists, which is reflected in her work. She is currently painting at Studio Carlisle.

Browse the work entered for auction by all participating artists and purchase your tickets today by visiting mirci.org/events. Tickets include an open bar, heavy hors d'oeuvres from Aberdeen Catery, and live music, with all proceeds supporting the urgent work of Mirci. 

MIRCI hosts the 10th year of 52 Windows Highlighting Columbia SC Artists

Celebrating its 10th inaugural year, Mirci will host 52 Windows – An Evening of Art, on May 18th at 701 Whaley from 6-9pm. The annual fundraiser showcases the work of talented local artists while encouraging support of Mirci’s mission to provide wrap-around services, including behavioral healthcare and supportive housing, to individuals experiencing mental illness in the Midlands. Come enjoy an evening of art including heavy hors d’oeuvres by Aberdeen Catery, an open bar, and live music. Tickets are on sale now at mirci.org/events.

Aldo Muzzarelli

Introducing Featured Artists – Aldo Muzzarelli and Ginny Merett

Among this year’s featured artists is Aldo Muzzarelli, a Venezuelan-born artist who has gained international recognition. Aldo holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Central University of Venezuela, has worked as an illustrator at the Inter-American Center of Languages (CIDI -Caracas), and was an animator on several films produced by the Film Department at the University of Los Andes. He served for several years as Director of Culture of his hometown and taught at training workshops in fine arts all around Venezuela.

He performed specialized studies in Spain (Fresco Painting Techniques, Restoration of Paintings on Canvas, Stucco­marble, Dorados al agua y estofados en oro fino (fine gold), Stained Glass and Grisailles) and frequented the atelier of the great Venezuelan master Abdon Romero in Florida, US. In 2010, Aldo created several monumental works for the Cathedral of San Pedro in Caracas, and he opened his own gallery in Tinaquillo. Aldo Muzzarelli has participated in individual and group exhibitions in Venezuela, the United States, Spain, and Italy; and has received 49 awards since his arrival in the U.S. in 2013. He currently resides in Mauldin, SC.

Ginny Merett

Recently named one of the Top 15 Artists in Columbia, SC by Influence Digest (8/2022), Ginny Merett joins the lineup of featured artists.

Known for her eccentric collage works, Ginny has been an artist and art educator for over four decades. Through those years she used various media to create art, but for the last ten years, devoted her time to creating multimedia collage pieces. Inspired by stylish women and ordinary faces and images, she portrays unique characters using parts and pieces from current day and vintage media.

Ginny’s collage pieces have been shown in solo and group exhibits at Stormwater Studio, ArtFields, Koger Center for the Arts, the Jasper Project, USC’s McMaster Gallery, SC State Library, and other local venues like Sound Bites Eatery, Trustus Theater, She Festival, Cottontown Art Crawl and Melrose Art in the Yard. Her work is published in the Jasper Project’s Jasper Magazine Spring 2019 and Fall 2022 editions, and in Sheltered: SC Artists Respond During the 2020 Pandemic; and in Bullets and Band-Aids, Vol. 3.

Born and raised in Denver, Ginny has lived in South Carolina since 1987. She constantly sewed, created, and treasured drawing as a child and sought out every art opportunity in school. Because art was such a passion of Ginny’s youth, she studied art education in college where she explored a wide range of disciplines and mediums; and later taught art in public schools for 30 years.

Ginny is a member of Figurativeartists.org and is a member of the Jasper Project Board of Directors. Look for her at ginnymerett.com and on all social platforms.

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

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

1425 Sumter Street in Columbia

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

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

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

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

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

Artista Vista Returns for its 31st Event the Weekend of April 14-16

Artista Vista returns to the heart of Columbia’s historic Vista District for an art-filled weekend on April 14th - 16th. This weekend-long art extravaganza emphasizes local artists and galleries, live performance, community engagement, and the rich culture of South Carolina’s capital city.  

The event will kick off with a free Art Gallery Crawl from 6-9 PM on Friday, April 14th spanning across The Vista District. Event-goers are also invited to enjoy live music from Ed Stephenson and the Paco Band outside of Blue Marlin on Lincoln Street, courtesy of Grace Outdoor Advertising. Live demonstrations, music, art vendors, and more will also be present in the Huger Street Cluster of art galleries. 

Offerings continue on April 15th for Art Day, a free event located at Stormwater Studios, Lewis + Clark, and One Eared Cow (1001 Huger Street/413 Pendleton Street). Visitors will enjoy a day of live music while viewing collections and live demonstrations by esteemed local artists. 

Additionally, the Light and Lantern Parade will take place later that evening from 8-9 PM. Beginning at the entrance of the Lincoln Street Tunnel, participants will stroll through The Vista with hand-made lanterns in tow while Partly Cloudy leads the public through the streets. Participants are strongly encouraged to visit one of the “creation stations” during the day at either Stormwater Studios or the Richland Library, or on Lincoln Street that evening to construct their own lanterns and enjoy music from a local DJ before the parade begins. 

Artista Vista concludes on Sunday, April 16th with two offerings. Crafty Feast, a free juried craft fair, takes place from 11AM-4PM on the corner of Lincoln and Lady Streets (1300 Lincoln Street), where art-lovers can purchase local art and other gifts from local makers. The weekend rounds out with Live on Lincoln from 5-8PM. This beloved finale event includes a fantastic dinner by Blue Marlin paired with a one-of-a-kind live performance of song and dance on the cobblestones of Lincoln Street. Tickets are required for Live on Lincoln.

In addition to this weekend-long affair of artistic celebration, local artist, Brittany Watkins, will create multiple outdoor, public art installations using found objects in various locations throughout The Vista including the Columbia Visitors Center and near the Lincoln Street Tunnel.

Members of the community are strongly encouraged to participate in Artista Vista ‘23 and follow The Vista on social media for more information, updates, behind-the-scenes, and more at @vistacolumbiasc on Instagram and fb.com/vistacolumbiasc. The event schedule and more can be found on The Vista’s official website, vistacolumbia.com.

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

St. Basil’s Cathedral

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

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

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

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

Laagoon

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

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

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

Virginia Russo Joins Saul Seibert for Artists Showing Artists THIS THURSDAY

For the first installation of the Jasper Project’s Artists Showing Artists series taking place this Thursday night at 7 at The Living Room, Saul Seibert chose Artist Virginia Russo as one of the artists he would like to feature. 

Kara Virginia Russo is a visual and performance artist who grew up in the tiny lake towns of 1980's central Florida, before moving north and earning a BFA from Converse College in Spartanburg, SC. After living for a while in both Asia and Europe, she returned to settle with her husband and two children in South Carolina, where she splits her time as an artist between Columbia and Greenville. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions from Charleston to Asheville.  

Most recently, she collaborated on Zion: a Composition by Saul Seibert, contributing album art, projection visuals, merchandise design and creation, and live ritual based performance art.

According to Russo, “My job as an artist is primarily to SEE, and only secondarily to communicate what I see. In expressing what is unseen (both within and without), I have found it helpful to use the visual language of an inner world I think of simply as The Planet. I like to explore the tension of navigating the wild terrain of the unseen from the safety of the imaginary. Think of my work as paintings, photographs, and explorer’s notes from a place you’ve never been, but one which feels immediately familiar.

“My pieces are built of layers upon layers of wet in wet watercolor and ink, relying on long experience to predict what the unleashed media might do, while staying open to surprise. Over the wet media (or occasionally under), I layer pencil, oil and chalk pastel, collage, and embroidery. I think of the wet media as attempts to paint mystery, and the dry media as attempts to expound and interpret to myself what I have painted, like notes in the margin of a well-loved book.” 

Russo continues, “My collaboration with Saul on Zion happened one day while he was looking at some of my recent work. I remember him sending me a message in response to some pieces that read simply, "I know this place."  I felt the same way the first time I heard the beginnings of the music. The work we've done together has been based on that ever since. We are artistically walking the same landscape. I see my role as simply making visible what is already there inside the music. When I listen to Zion, I'm transported to this place that is unique to Zion but is set in some other corner of my own imaginary world that all my work comes from. I can walk around, explore, see the features of this world, and then come back and paint it. The performance art is the same, I use the body as an instrument to convey visually the emotions and narrative of the piece in real time for the audience at live shows. I contribute all visual art for the project, from designing and hand printing the shirts, to the album art, to the bank of film that Ash Lennox, who does our live visual sets, pulls from. It's an incredible piece of music, and I still can't believe I get to collaborate on it. The musicians are phenomenal, I'm blown away every single time they play it.  

“Zion as a project was more or less part of my life as an artist for two years, from the very beginning of the project. It provided the steady thread all through an overseas move back to America, and all the transition that came with it. Zion stayed the same, I think the project kept me sane.  

“When the collaboration began, I had only been making art again for a year after a decade long hiatus. Zion provided the framework I needed to find my voice and confidence. I would ask Saul his opinion, and he would just say that he trusted me completely. I had complete artistic freedom, which was intimidating at first, but challenged me to grow as an artist in ways I'm grateful for. I grew into the project, in a sense. Every now and then, Saul would say something like "wouldn't it be cool if..." and I knew I was about to learn to do something I didn't think I could do. I picked up whole skill sets I had never tried before, ranging from stop motion, to illustration, to block printing. Saul had such confidence in my abilities, anything seemed possible. On top of that, Columbia has welcomed me into the creative community, and I can't imagine making art without all this support.” 

Join Jasper on Thursday night as we facilitate Rebekah Corbett’s project, Artists Showing Artists with Saul Seibert. Saul has invited poet-songwriters, Alyssa Stewart, and NoN (Keith Smyly), as well as his band King Saul and the Heretics. Art will be on display and available for sale by Virginia Russo, Adam Corbett, and Emily Moffitt. 

Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 at the door. 

The Living Room, 6729 Two Notch Road #70, Columbia, SC, 29223

Tickets

jasperproject.org/artists-showing-artists/tickets

Refillable Jasper cups for beer and wine will be available for $10 as well as hotdogs and a selection of baked goods. 

All proceeds go toward supporting the Jasper Project’s mission.