I am a local artists originally from Charlotte NC, but I have lived in Columbia for 15 years. I work with acrylic paint mostly, sketch, and use charcoal in my free time. I enjoy the downtown area, going to art events and markets that support locals. I hope to one day have my own show at my mother’s restaurant, Sound Bites Eatery, which is located on Sumter street that regularly hosts art shows and events.
I take art lessons when I can at Painting with a Twist gallery located in the Harbison area, which I’ve been going to for years. I hope to learn more about painting and how to apply different techniques and materials to my work. Expanding my knowledge can benefit my work and allow me to further my potential as an artist as well as become better recognized for more future showing opportunities.
Jasper Welcomes MICHAEL KRAJEWSKI to SOUND BITES EATERY GALLERY for First Thursday
A veteran of Jasper Galleries, we’re excited to bring artist Michael Krajewski to our gallery space at Sound Bites Eatery, which is one of our favorite places to admire and discuss art with so many of our Midlands area friends. The exhibition opens Thursday night, during First Thursday, at 6 pm. Sound Bites is located at 1425 Sumter Street, just a short block off Main
Jasper asked Krajewski for a little tease about what he is bringing to Sound Bites and he’s what he gave us:
Jasper: What have you been working on lately and what should we expect to see in this new show? Any surprises?
Krajewski: I've been doing a bit of everything! Commissions, teaching private lessons, and ongoing mural work at the Black Rooster. Newest mix media project is a 72in trout sculpture for City of Columbia. For the new show at Sound Bites, folks can expect to see some familiar favorites and some new smaller pieces, as well as some older work. I do have a new larger piece that I'll be showing for the first time, but no spoilers there [puts on his best Matthew McConaughey impression] 'Wouldn't be a surprise if I told ya, now would it?"
Jasper: There seems to be a new and unique quality to your work -- have you noticed it? to what do you attribute this?
Krajewski: I can't really say that I've noticed. That's really interesting though, and I'll take it as a compliment. I think my art evolves with me, so I'd like to think that it's just a sign my own evolution.
Jasper: Can you tell us about 2 or 3 of your favorite pieces that you will be offering at this show?
Krajewski: This show is sprinkled through with notes on love and nostalgia... I'm hoping folks check out "Holding hands" (especially if you like otters in party hats) I just finished a mix media piece (paint on a record) Titled "Love Me for What I am" that I hope people respond to.
Thanks Michael! We’ll see you all this Thursday night, February 1st, 2024 from 6 - 9 pm!
For more info on Jasper Galleries and to submit YOUR WORK for consideration, please check us out here!
PLAY RIGHT SERIES SCRIPTS DUE WEDNESDAY!
Wednesday January 31st is the last day to submit your original stage play to the Jasper Project’s Play Right Series competition.
We’re so excited to share that Trustus Theatre has invited Jasper to present this year’s winning entry’s staged reading as part of a new theatre fest this summer that they will be announcing soon. Even better, Trustus has graciously invited Jasper’s previous two winning stage plays to be performed as part of the same fest! Thank you, Trustus Theatre, for making it all about the community and for continuing your commitment to NEW ART!
Read here to get all the deets on how to submit your play and get it to us no laster than midnight on Wednesday!
Cheers and Break a Leg!
What to Expect from INFAMOUS LOVERS - JASPER's 2nd Valentine's Day Event on Feb. 14th
RESERVED TICKETS HERE!
The Jasper Project presents the second in our Valentine’s Day series of the hottest place to be on Valentine’s Night in Columbia—INFAMOUS LOVERS - A night of fun, food, music, entertainment, and a big stakes costume contest for the folks who excel in the Art of Costume.
Join the Jasper Project on Wednesday February 14th from 7 – 10 at the 701 Whaley Market Space for INFAMOUS LOVERS. Headlining the evening is BIG LOVE, a Fleetwood Mac cover band comprised of Columbia locals, Bekah Rice, Adam Corbett, Marshall Brown, Shane Sanders, and Sharon Gnanashekar. The mesmerizing Tiny Coven Dance will be performing unique fusion style dance throughout the evening. Theatre artist extraordinaire, Kari Lebby, will be serving as our illustrious emcee, and Chef Joe Turkaly will provide his legendary spread of heavy hors d’oeuvres to sate your appetites, if not your desires.
Please note — Costumes are recommended but NOT required. Nor are couples, whether in costume or not! Jasper is eager to welcome couples and individuals of all persuasions!
YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY!
And the dance floor will be open ALL NIGHT LONG!
But the most exciting event of the evening may be the Costume Contest and Parade of Infamous Lovers in which YOU are the stars. Judged by CUPID, the God of Desire themself, you’ll walk the red carpet in your loveliest and most infamous regalia competing for bottles of champagne and gift cards to The War Mouth, Sound Bites Eatery, Shvaas Spa, and two tickets to the show of your choice at the new New Brookland Tavern and more. Plus, a photographer will be on hand to capture your image on this special night.
Champagne bottles hand-painted by some of the area’s most exciting artists will be available at a silent auction. Take your bottle home and enjoy it’s contents then cherish a uniquely beautiful piece of art as your souvenir of the evening.
Advanced tickets to the event are $30 for general admission (SRO), $50 for VIP which includes a reserved seat, early access to the event, a champagne toast, and photos with the performers, and $500 for a reserved table for 8, which includes the same perks as VIP plus 2 bottles of champagne and delicious candy surprises. Tickets are available at The Jasper Project website
Don’t be disappointed! Last year’s Valentine’s Day event, A Date with Bernie Love, sold out in advance and many people were turned away at the door due to Fire Marshall capacity rules. They were sad. We were sad. It’s just not necessary. Jasper recommends you reserve your ticket TODAY and look forward to a HAPPY Valentine’s Day for all!
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As an added bonus, please visit the 701 Community Hallway Gallery next door in the 701 Whaley main building prior to the show to take in Jasper’s featured artist, Thomas Washington and his narrative exhibition, LOVE QUEST.
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As a non-profit all volunteer all-arts organization, all proceeds from this event will go toward the publishing cost for the the spring 2024 issue of Jasper Magazine, and we are grateful to the following sponsors for their generous support of the arts in SC and the Jasper Project in particular. Please consider returning this support by sharing your patronage with these businesses and organizations.
Poetry of the People with Marlanda DeKine
This week's Poet of The People is Marlanda Dekine. A force of nature and a force for good, her poetry inter-weaves with her social justice values and inspires and intoxicates. I first met Marlanda in the upstate; she has now migrated to the Pee Dee and is recognized for her work outside South Carolina.
BIO: Marlanda Dekine makes connections of depth through poetry and facilitation. She is the author of Thresh & Hold (Hub City Press) and i am from a punch & a kiss (unnamed LLC). Her work has been anthologized in This is the Honey: An Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets (2024), What Things Cost: An Anthology for the People (2023), and Ecological Solidarities: Mobilizing Faith and Justice in an Entangled World (2019). She is a South Carolina Arts Commission Spoken Word/Slam Poetry fellow (2023), Castle of our Skins Shirley Graham Dubois Creative in Residence (2021), Tin House scholar (2021), and Palm Beach Poetry Langston Hughes fellow (2022). Her poems have been published by Orion Magazine, Oxford American, Southern Cultures, and elsewhere. She received a Governor’s Award from South Carolina Humanities (2019) and the New Southern Voices in Poetry Prize (2021). She is the founder of Speaking Down Barriers, an organization working towards equity and justice. Dekine holds a BA in Psychology from Furman University (2008), an MSW in Social Work from the University of South Carolina (2011), and is currently a MFA Candidate in Poetry at Converse University (2024). For more information, visit www.marlandadekine.com.
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sarah’s glossolalia
i was not born
on an island tethered to water
my spirit is timeless
knows of places larger than 48 states
i don’t read maps
i lay down in clay
cracks tell me where i am
i think of lou’s tongue
in my mouth
i do this to become a madhouse
filled with faces of dolls
while her tongue is in my mouth
i think about who’s seeing our tongues
i went out into rain
let my mouth riddle off words
wonder sounds
brought in our future
oh to be free
from a voice
i don’t need to be a woman
I am a child of gods with many doors
i don’t need to be a man
i am a child of their blue skies
past is future
grandpa moses will you let me in
all queer and free in your image
my voice a pulpit voice like yours
listen to me going on
on my soapbox with my secrets
all out in the open
we buried yours with you
did you wish hell on great-great-greatgrandma sarah and ms lou
for what they brought to us
when i go to any ocean
water tells me things
i’m not supposed to know
i used to forget for you—
is that your voice hidden inside of thunder
i remember you in your chair
saying holy holy holy your large finger
dressed in a crimson masonic ring
your hands large over my entire life
i don’t know your rituals
do i have the right to make rites in your honor
all my rings bear no allegiance
i stay light as getting up from an altar call
love
there are so many ways
we don’t want to love
the man tells me
not to write for the straights
the woman tells me not to kiss
my woman in front of the boy
my woman wants me to say
she is my woman
she is my woman
i want right words
for our hurt
the first moment the hurt hit my body
i felt it in my stomach
i was six years old
i don’t want the boy to know
hurt in his little stomach
the way my beloveds can feel
when i got the hurt again
and they ask you good
i’m bad off and imagining
my next glass of rye whiskey
after remembering
some don’t know how to love
a part of me well
i am trying to get the hurt down
right onto the page
so children will know
not to follow
our shipwrecked words
bodies floating
in brown water
that was blue
i want the boy to paint
the water blue now
to go into his own room and conjure
colors beyond our muted rainbows
beyond america
the experiment that is not a home
my heart is a home i am cultivating
it helped me to say my feelings were hurt
when my ego (an unpoetic word) wanted to say
fuck you i don’t need you
i don’t think i’m writing for the straights
but maybe i am writing to that part of myself angled
just so i can see how many degrees
i am not removed
because i too am human
i’m digging
because i know my ancestors
put love here too
inside my little puny heart
i am building a home
wherein i am not a victim
of weaponized language
spirit i am yours
within a cosmos
where the boy has a future
written over his life
and the boy is free to feel
and speak over his life
whatever water it may need
and the boy’s paint becomes
his great-great-great-grandma sarah’s face
and he is surrounded by women
sitting in a circle doing nothing
other than what they want
Jasper Presents Laurie Brownell McIntosh at Harbison Theatre - Reception January 25th at 6:30 pm
The Jasper Project is delighted to present the work of visual artist Laurie Brownell McIntosh at the Jasper Gallery at Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, 7300 College Street in Irmo, SC. On display from December 2023 through February 2024, McIntosh’s exhibition is currently on display and available for viewing during normal business hours and special events.
There will be a reception for the McIntosh show at 6:30 pm on January 25th during which the artist will meet and greet patrons and answer questions about her work. The artist reception is in conjunction with the evening’s performance by Ruben Stoddard and Clay Aiken. The artist reception is free to the public but tickets are required for the musical performance.
McIntosh says, “I was raised in an environment that supported and encouraged the creative process.” Continuing that, “I have discovered through the years that I don’t work like many artists do. I don’t have an exact style or medium that defines me. I work in large bodies of work that usually take years to explore. These large bodies are many times divided into series within the body. Most of these bodies of work are driven by line and shape trying to express ideas and stories through mark making, color, shape and texture.
Several times it has been a true calling from within myself... sounds corny but it’s true. This is the work that can’t be denied. Or I find something that intrigues me, something I want to explore, and then I research and pursue that avenue until I have exhausted my curiosity and then I move on. The medium I use is the one that solves the problem presented before me.
In my head I compare it to a writer who writes novels. The idea.. the reserch.. the execution.. the editing… the chapters... the final execution and the presentation of the finished pieces. Once this is done, onto the next. Almost always, within the present body of work I stumble on the next path. Almost...
I have also discovered that the quickest way to become dissatisfied with my work is to create art for people I do not know. I have to trust my gut and follow my own lead and my own truth. If I make art with the thought of what others might like, or buy, I’ve sold myself out. I will have left none of myself behind when I’m gone if I’ve spent my time trying to please others and by guessing what strangers might want.
In my newest body of work in linocut is a result of studying a new medium, navigating the isolation of the past three years and celebrating our coming out of it. My family enjoyed being together during that time, spending time gathering crabs and fish, growing tomatoes, and doing the things outdoors that we love. It kept us busy.
My family’s most treasured times are sharing that bounty with dear friends, which is reflected in the collection. Being able to gather with people again and enjoy homegrown and home-caught food, tell some tall tales, drink a cold beer, and have a laugh is what my family is all about. I hope that love of people and the land comes across in this body of work.”
In a brief interview with Jasper Magazine editor Cindi Boiter, McIntosh answered the following questions:
Jasper: I know your art often presents itself to you as something of a project and that sometimes it takes a while for that project to reveal itself to you. This seems fairly mystical to me and it's one of the things I most appreciate about your work. How does this exhibition represent where you are with this body of work? How far along the way are you? What does this exhibition mean to you at this stage of your artistic journey?
McIntosh: That’s a big ole question…I started this journey with linocut reductions towards the end of my Swimmer series and the beginnings of Covid. I love the line quality and color breakdown it brings to an image. This process is a big-time commitment and takes a lot of muscle, but the results are worth it. Added bonus is you get multiple original works. I find the carving involved to be meditative and calming which is why it was such a God send during Covid. I keep pushing the difficulty factor and I am presently experimenting with taking the outtakes and leftovers into mixed media pieces. The images that result from the bones of the plate after it has been carved to its bare minimum are fascinating. Might work…might not. I won't know until I try.
I always feel so good about showing my art in Columbia. Especially at a venue that is so dedicated to the arts with the support and backing of Jasper.
Jasper: Can you talk about your medium for this exhibition?
McIntosh: Linocut Reduction is a relief printing process in which the artist carves a reverse image in a block of linoleum. The image is inked in a single color and printed on paper. The artist then carves an additional layer, applies a different color, and prints again. Each piece must be carefully and exactly registered into place for each color pull. The process is repeated until all color layers are applied. Because the process does not allow an artist to adjust a prior layer, the process is sometimes referred to as “suicide printing.”
The artist must commit to a number of prints from the start knowing there is going to be spoilage along the way. I normally begin with 10-20 knowing I will lose 25-40% to errors along the way.
Jasper: Of the pieces in this body of work, what do you like the most and why?
McIntosh: I love the large, complicated pieces such as Henredon Heron, The Alligator King, and Git Da Net. They take so much time, muscle, and energy. I just have to be proud of them. Henredon Heron alone has over 150 hours of carving and hand printing time involved
REVIEW: Exit, Pursued by a Bear - Trustus Side Door Theatre
January 18 – 27
Written by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Ginny Ives
(Trigger warning – this script tackles the issue of domestic violence.)
Exit, Pursued by a Bear is Trustus’ Side Door’s current offering. Nan has finally had it with her husband Kyle’s physical and emotional abuse, and paybacks are hell. Assisted by her forever “ride or die” bestie, Simon and her new friend, a stripper named Sweetheart, Nan hatches a plan to teach Kyle the lesson of his life. Kyle comes home, tosses back a drink, and passes out in his favorite chair. Nan enters and proceeds to duct-tape him to said chair. When he comes to, he is made to watch Nan, Simon and Sweetheart act out scenes from a marriage – his marriage to Nan. Nan lets him know from the start that the “final act” is to cover the room with honey and venison (acquired through Kyle’s illegal hunting techniques), then leave Kyle to be devoured by bears.
I love bears. Always have. Dancing Bear on Captain Kangaroo, and Pooh Bear. Smokey the Bear. Yogi Bear and Booboo. Paddington. The list of cute, adorable bears goes on and on. B-HP’s mascot was a bear. (Go Bars!!!). Real bears, on the other hand, are not particularly cute and adorable. Shakespeare used a bear quite cleverly in A Winter’s Tale - from whence cometh the title at hand. (Duh.) As a recovering Baptist, I will remind you that God sent bears to devour the small children who mocked the prophet Elisha (2nd Kings 2:23 – 24). Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend learned the hard way that bears are not our friends. I digress…
Kyle is sore afraid. As the evening progresses, he beseeches Nan not to follow through with her plan. He begs, he pleads, he coerces. He pulls out all the tricks that charming, attractive, magnetic abusers have up their sleeves, and many times Nan very nearly succumbs to his charms. Simon and Sweetheart are there to make sure she doesn’t.
The “who are theys” in this production are Liza Hunter as Nan, Isabella Stenz as Sweetheart, and Bryent Taylor Marshall as Kyle. Clint Poston, a veteran of numerous Trustus productions, rounds out the cast as Simon. All four of these actors inhabit their characters with passion, humor, doubt, and determination. Some of the action in this play is ridiculous, absurd and over the top, but Ginny Ives’ direction, combined with the skills of each of these actors, creates very believable characters. We know these people. We, at least I, grew up with these people. Sweet, timid Nan; macho, violent, angry Kyle, “I’m gonna be an actress!” Sweetheart; and loyal, brave, and fearless Simon. Lord love all these people who grew up in the rural South. Bless their hearts, and I mean that with every fiber of my being. It ain’t easy bein’ weird. Especially when it’s the Kyles of the world who are considered “normal.”
Hunter’s Nan is the human version of a bunny rabbit. Sweet and fluffy and you just want to smoosh her widdle cheeks together and boop her nose! And then you realize this bunny has teeth. She moves from floofy bunny to Monty Python bunny with precision.
Isabella Stenz is so refreshing as Sweetheart, the stripper whose ambition is to be a real actress. She stays committed at every moment. Take a second to watch her when she isn’t the focus of the action.
Clint Poston is the cheerleading bestie we all want. From high camp to deadly serious, Poston’s Simon is the best sidekick ever. And the boy got some stems. Just saying.
Bryent Taylor-Marshall as the utterly horrid Kyle. Argh! He is an awful, reprehensible, hot-tempered card-carrying NRA member (wait, no. He’s too cheap to pay the dues), Fox-watching abusive redneck. And he is so cute and sweet and apologetic and coercive. I wanted to release him from his duct tape shackles, but I also wanted to bash his head against rocks.
I anticipated a “Misery” moment. Not gonna tell ya.
Dewey Scott-Wiley’s set is true. I know that trailer. The rutted driveway leading from the tar and gravel road up to the front porch. (We don’t see it, but we know it’s there). The deer head mounted on the wall. The hideous recliner. Absolutely evocative of rural upstate Georgia. (And South Carolina).
Sound and lighting design fit this production perfectly. The use of projections for scene changes and some narration is excellent.
A fun evening. Nothing but Bonfires.
Housekeeping: The show runs right at 90 minutes without intermission. Plan accordingly. The Side Door is an “intimate” space, so watch your feet so as not to trip up the actors. Get there early as the space fills up quickly. Beer, wine, soft drinks, and snacks are available for purchase.
Curtain is at 8:00 p.m. so don’t be late. There’s no sneaking into this space. Tickets are $22.50 - $25.00.
If you or someone you love is a victim of physical or emotional violence, please don’t suffer in silence. The National Domestic Violence Hotline number is 800-799-7233. Sistercare’ s 24-hour crisis line is 803-765-9428. The Women’s Shelter can be reached at 803-779-4709. And yes, there is help for men who are victims. Oliver Gospel Mission at 803-254-6470, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and the SC Department of Social Services are available to you. The play is funny. The issue is not.
A Musical Mosaic of the South – Short Stories, vol. 1 by David Garner and Greg Stuart By Emily Moffitt
The University of South Carolina’s School of Music is filled to the brim with ambitious creative minds, all leading the newest generations of musicians while simultaneously maintaining their own artistic endeavors. One of the newest projects born from the walls of the Assembly Street building is Short Stories, vol. 1, a new collaborative album by David Garner and Greg Stuart. Garner and Stuart are both Associate Professors at the School of Music, with the former teaching Composition and Theory and the latter teaching Experimental Music Performance and Music Literature. This album is composed of original accompaniments by Garner and Stuart, performed along archived recordings of Southern folk songs.
Ever since his graduate school years, Garner found the genre of American roots music fascinating, and he continues to use the genre as source material and inspiration for his own work. The existing relationship with the genre led Garner on the path to creating Short Stories, vol. 1, but he notes that “I don’t know that there was a single ‘a-ha’ moment to start this project, but rather a thousand small discoveries that built up over many years.” Short Stories, vol. 1 utilizes recordings from the Southern Mosaic: The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip collection, which Garner has worked with since 2016, composing a piece called “DwnByThRckyMtns” that was also built around a recording from the collection. The Lomax collection is a massive one, containing nearly 700 sound recordings, field notes, dust jackets, and other pertinent manuscripts that encompass a 6,500-mile trip taken by the eponymous travelers. Garner notes that listening to the original recordings before his renditions is not necessary but worthwhile. “I think some listeners might enjoy hearing the original field recordings in order to hear how the recordings were transformed in our album,” Garner says. “There are many thousands of hours of incredible early 20th century field recordings...these recordings might not be beautiful on the surface—with amateur performers and grainy, crackly recordings—but I find they are all so intriguing and rich with history, meaning, and culture.”
When asked about the process of choosing which pieces to adapt, Garner mentions that he has kept a list of favorite recordings over the seven years he has worked with the collection. The six he chose were picked after “lots of play and experimentation to see which ones would work well in these transformed settings.” He took into consideration the particular nuances, shapes, timbres, and emotions of each recording, then set on the journey to create something new but still complementary. Garner started making entirely electronic settings for the pieces he chose a few years prior, but it was not until the fall of 2023 that he brought them to Stuart’s attention after working on a new composition together, and the duo followed through to create Short Stories. Garner shares an interest in archival field recordings and has played pieces that incorporate recorded sound as well as pieces that focus on timbre and noise elements. After long periods of brainstorming, structured improvisation, and testing what worked and what did not, the duo came to conclusions that achieved their ideas yet allowed room for the addition of piano, vibraphone, and percussion: the path to creating a finished piece finally laid bare. The structured improvisation is a key aspect of the creative process for this album. Garner says, “A few of the pieces are almost completely written out in traditional notation, but most of them are left much more open for improvising using a set of guidelines that we follow—note choices, rhythms, chords, gestures—we are improvising within predetermined time spans.” Garner also values the power of nostalgia and acknowledges the power it holds to shape how someone listens to music; he says “I think I have been fascinated by nostalgia and have felt it deeply my whole life; it is so important in music and so crucial to how I listen.” With the nature of the album’s contents focusing on folk music and storytelling, it is natural for the listener to also long for a time and place they may or may not have been to before, yearning to listen to a new voice that could remind them of another. This is intentional on Garner’s behalf—in his own words, he is also fascinated by the cultural and societal nostalgia that influences and informs how we listen to older music.
Amplifying marginalized voices is a key goal for Short Stories, vol. 1. Many of the folk songs featured stem from southern African American communities, and Garner’s work celebrates that. The listener is beckoned into feeling a sense of longing and contemplation, with a vein of Southern Gothic darkness and mystery throughout. The pure emotional connections made via this music show through on "Lost Train," where the recorded voices are but a suggestion, looped in as an additional undercurrent to Stuart and Garner's instrumentation. On "All The Way Round" takes a Livingston, Alabama field recording that sounds like a playground chant and lays it bare in its repetitive style against minimalist accompaniment." Garner continues to compose pieces that surround the histories of other recordings in the Lomax collection, which also includes work from white and Mexican American performers. Garner beautifully describes the importance of a collection like this in his description of the album: “I hope to give forgotten voices another chance to be heard, histories to be told, and to highlight moments of particular beauty that might otherwise be overlooked. Embedded in every crackly field recording is a wealth of knowledge, experience, history, and humanity from which we can learn.”
You can listen to Garner and Stuart’s album on YouTube here. The album will be released on all streaming platforms starting January 24; Garner and Stuart will also perform the album in two concerts at Emory University and the University of Georgia on January 24 and January 26, respectively.
Jasper Welcomes Charles Hite to the Warm Walls of the Jasper Sound Bites Gallery
As we come out of our cozy holiday shells and start blinking in the cold winter sun, Jasper invites you to visit Sound Bites Eatery where both the food and the walls are comforting and warm.
Jasper’s featured artist for January is photographer Charles Hite, whose work is engaging and inspiring.
Charles is a lifelong resident of Lexington County. A retired U.S. Army veteran Hite started paying closer attention to his art in 2009 at the tender age of 60. His love of nature in all aspects can be seen in his images. When asked, he enthusiastically shares the stories of his images with others and he enjoys listening to their experiences, thereby gaining information about interesting subject matter. Many of his images are of nature, old buildings, historic sites, and astronomy related events.
Most of his images are visually accurate, but he no longer feels constrained to “take what the camera gives him.” Instead, he embraces the freedom to use available tools and capture techniques to render his impression of the scene before him, much like a painter, to make the subject his own.
In the artist’s own words …
I have lived in Lexington County of SC all but 2 years of the 74 years I have been alive. The other 2 years were spent in Germany while serving in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1971. During my time in the Midlands, I have seen a lot of change. Some good and some not so good…but mostly good.
I do not photograph people (except family) …for money or pleasure. It is too much like work for me. Instead, I enjoy nature and “things” …especially old “things.” And it seems the older I get the more I like old things. I like to be outdoors and take my time with my subjects. I like to be at the site well before the good light begins and watch the scene develop and well after the good light in the evening. I capture the scene and then I spend leisure time there.
As you can see from my images, there is no rhyme or reason to what interest me. Fortunately, some of my work has been juried into several shows and exhibitions. Some shows that I’m especially proud of are these:
Columbia Metropolitan Airport 2014 Exhibition
Rosewood Art and Music Festival…several years.
ArtFields in Lake City, SC, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
SC State Museum 30th Anniversary Art Exhibition - 2018
Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston, SC – 2019, 2022
Jasper Project Announces THOMAS WASHINGTON as our FEATURED ARTIST in the 701 Whaley Hallway Gallery in February
The Jasper Project is excited to announce that ephemeral visual artist Thomas Washington will be our featured artist in the 701 Whaley Hallway Gallery for February 2024 with his one-person show LOVE QUEST.
There will be an opening reception on Sunday, February 11th from 3 - 5 pm in the gallery.
In keeping with 2023’s featured artists — Wilma King and Wayne Thornley and their two-person show Love Hurts/Love Heals — Washington’s exhibition of LOVE QUEST will show for the month of February and will coincide with the Jasper Project’s fundraising Valentine’s Day show and party INFAMOUS LOVERS on February 14th at 7pm in the 701 Whaley Market Space. (Tickets available here.) Infamous Lovers will feature the music of Fleetwood Mac cover band, BIG LOVE, Tiny Coven Dance, and more!
Washington’s reception on 2/11 is free and open to the public and will offer light refreshments.
More about Thomas Washington, in his own words …
“Perhaps the most important pursuit of an artist is the facilitation of Escapism. Perhaps each project is the equivalent of a Narnian door…or that lamppost beyond, coaxing a wanderer into another realm.
Thomas Washington Jr. (thomas the younger) functions on that premise. Since his childhood, he has produced multitudinous works in this vein—from being hired (out of high school) to illustrate in a local graphic anthology, he has subsequently striven to bring stories in every medium; to breathe life into the fantastical by imbuing it with the familiar…and, of course, to find fun and fulfillment along the way.
As a result, it required the birth of his children to make him care about money. (He still struggles with this.) –For years, he was perfectly fine living as a Bohemian: he laid his head in strange places among strangers, eventually becoming a pleasant strain of strange in the process. He thus entertains all sorts of bizarre notions—the importance of world peace, an unshakeable belief in fundamental similarities that make Humanity one big family, intense opinions on interstellar travel, and so-forth.
Recently, he took the leap of emerging in his local scene. He has sat on panels, joined the instructor roster for community arts centers, partaken in various shows, (finally!) founded a website, and essentially joined the dialogue of Art’s Place in Society.
Richland Library Hosts Award Winning Graphic Novelist ANDREW AYDIN - author of the 3-volume MARCH about John Lewis (and more!) as guest of artist-in-residence CHUCK BROWN
Richland Library is hosting an evening of intellectual engagement as AiR Chuck Brown, Richland Library's newest Artist-in-Residence, conducts an insightful and captivating interview with award-winning author and American comics writer Andrew Aydin. This special event, "A Comic Conversation with Andrew Aydin," promises to delve deep into comic creation, writing, the civil rights movement, and more.
Date: Friday, Jan. 19
Time: 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Location: Richland Library Main
AiR Chuck Brown, renowned for his significant contributions to the comic book industry, will sit down with Andrew Aydin, the Digital Director & Policy Advisor to Georgia congressman John Lewis. Aydin is best known as the co-author, with Lewis, of the groundbreaking autobiographical graphic novel trilogy March, which debuted in 2013 by Top Shelf Productions.
Andrew Aydin, a Turkish-American creator, boasts an impressive array of accolades, including being a #1 New York Times bestselling author, a National Book Award winner, a Robert F. Kennedy Book Award Honoree, and a three-time Eisner award winner. Co-authoring MARCH with Rep. Lewis, Aydin made history with the first comic's work to win the National Book Award.
Chuck Brown, an Eisner, and multiple Ringo award-winning writer, brings his wealth of experience to the stage. Known for his work on iconic characters like The Punisher, Wolverine, and Black Panther for Marvel, as well as Superman, Black Manta, and Aquaman for DC comics, Brown is a creative force in the comic book world. His creation, Bitter Root, is being adapted into a live-action film by Legendary Pictures.
Attendees will have a unique opportunity to witness a conversation between two influential figures in the comic book industry. Before the event, Aydin will lead a creative writing workshop on the essential parts of a comic story.
The workshop, geared toward young adults interested in graphic novel creation, will be held at Richland Library Main at 3 p.m.
Poetry of the People featuring Jessy Hylton
This week's Poet of the People is Jessy Hylton. Jessy Hylton is a poet in every sense of the word, She comes to us with a wealth of experience and knowledge. She has her PhD in Creative Writing from LSU and prior to following her heart to South Carolina she was the MFA Director of Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and founding editor of Fermata Publishing. She hosts the Funky Fish Camp Reading Series in Georgetown, SC, is on the faculty at Coastal Carolina and is a vital and active member of the poetry community of South Carolina. She is an under-utilized literary force in South Carolina and I am blessed to know her..
Bio: Jessica K. Hylton holds a Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and works at Coastal Carolina University. Her books include Gag Order, The Great Scissor Hunt, and the forthcoming collection Scatter; or, James Joyce Always Makes Me Think of Boobs. She is the program director for the Poetry Society of South Carolina and runs the Funky Fish Camp Reading Series at Between the Antlers in Georgetown.
I want to love you like a semi-colon loves
Not the unpc version Vonnegut espoused
or the social movement I agree with in sentiment
but not in punctuation
I want to love you linguistically
admiring the independence of your clause
the completeness of your phrase
and how it mirrors my own
Call it a homosyntaxity
Two bodies the same in structure
beautiful on their own accord
but breathtaking when together
I want to love you knowing you
don’t need me and I don’t need you
because we function well on our own
but when we’re close, we redefine mechanics
~~~
She uses commas combatively
Or at least that’s what I told her
When she let me read her writing
She liked it—a staunch feminist proud
of subverting the male standard
of academic discourse
But honestly?
Combative wasn’t the right word
She uses commas romantically
where she refuses to separate
things that are better together
like fish and chips, nuts and berries
even in lists where the separation
is grammatically correct
Collocation? Noun phrases?
The linguists I asked couldn’t tell me
what she was doing, but sometimes
you don’t need a linguist to know
all you want is to be on the same
side of a comma as she is
~~~
Apis Angel
Sometimes I wonder if bees
tell their larvae stories
about their prophet
The queen of the bees
crucified by scientists
in the name of learning
Does a savior have
to be self aware
when she's pinned
to a ragged old cross
or a Smithsonian cardboard display?
Can that awareness
be constructed as life
buzzes onward
triumphing over
plague after plague?
Is it so far fetched
to question an insect’s
knowledge of the universe
or to suspect something
might be studying us?
~~~
Pie Soporte
I watched you leave
with a woman whose
name I doubted you knew
as I turned to my own
brunette
Each of us going through
the motions—knowing
the rhythm of our vicious
courtship would pull
us back together
before the night’s end
Like two waves crashing
against your satin sheets
intent on annihilating
the pull of gravity
In the morning
you would leave again
for the tighter verses
of an older poet
Who phrased life
more beautifully than
she could live it
While I would look
for a liquid muse
waiting for our next
turn
~~~
Sante Sybil Sante
Lovers should come
with warning labels
like finely crafted spirits
(1) According to the Surgeon General
Women should not lose Lucidity
amid Clandestine promises
for risk of defective sentiment
(2) Consumption of poetry
impairs your ability to act
and may cause reality
to become closer
than it appears
So I’ll fill my glass
for you my dear
Dribbling water pure
as Ophelia over sweet
nothings that cloud
the clarity of Absinthe
~~~
He proposed to me on the same night
he showed me the scans
filled with spider webs
sticking to all of his internal organs
Not blessing them with words of encouragement
but with the promise of my first real tragic ending
“Marry me and give me something to live for”
I said I’d think about it but I ended
up with a felony—91 in a 55
on the only road away from death
I understand him so much more now
My brain littered with blotches
like wilted fireworks
Flies and the dying only want a soft place
to land always heading toward something
desirable hoping they won’t get zapped
But I know walking corpses have limited sex appeal
as I rot before you and I will shamble away
Rather than ever asking you to stay
~~~
Instruction manual
Do you ever wonder
if an instruction manual feels
sad as you turn its last page?
I promise I’m not high, or at least not
that high but it is legal
when you’re dying
I guess it’s supposed to make
you forget you’re on your last
page but really all it makes
you think about is how you
and the instruction manual
should have been novels
~~~
Things she doesn’t like
Ballpoint pens
Wet socks
Overly groomed flower arrangements
Water she can’t see through—unless it’s the ocean
Patriarchal ideals
Admitting favorites
Drinking wine out of plastic cups
Making all the decisions
Any decision that’s different than the one she would make
Left lane drivers
Driving in general
Not telling you how to drive from the passenger seat
Nicknames
Aluminum in deodorant
T shirts with logos
Jeans without belts
Chewing gum
Onions
Most old white men
Cold French fries
Feeling out of control
Indicas
Cheap beer
At this point, I lean back
clicking the ballpoint pen
I bought her and she gave back
to me as I reread the list
and fall in love with her all over
again because the world is better
when it spins the way she wants
But I know I still have to add
two more letters to make
the list complete, done, finished
I pick up the rejected gift
and add the two letters she never wanted
“Me”
Jasper's Tiny Gallery Features Fred Townsend
Fred Townsend—Jasper’s January Tiny Gallery artist—grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his childhood had plenty of adventure—though art itself was not originally in the forefront.
“Art was not directly part of my childhood, I was more inclined to be in the woods near my house playing with bamboo,” Townsend recalls, “I had art classes in middle school, but did not get fully immersed in art until high school.”
Townsend attended the Baton Rouge Magnet High School, a visual and performing arts school that set the foundation for attending the University of South Carolina and graduating with a degree in Studio Art. Townsend’s courses here were foundational for him in the mediums he still uses today.
“I loved to draw in charcoal, but then I took an oil painting class, and that was that. I did use other mediums for my own art pieces while still in college, pastels, and acrylic paint, but nothing gave me the feeling like oil paint,” Townsend says. “I recently made a decision to start using oil pastels with some pieces, but it is hard to break away from just oil. Oils give me the textures I want for my floral paintings.”
Though oil is a consistent love, Townsend’s style is harder to pin down. “I have only dipped my foot into themes that are close to me—mental health, loss, and decay,” Townsend shares. “It’s hard to go there and focus because it’s a touchy subject matter and takes me to a sad place.”
Townsend often works out images in his sketchbook, putting together “concrete images”—“the only thing I may play with are the color schemes for dramatic effect,” he says. “As far as feeling finished, it’s done when I see and get that feeling that gave me the initial emotion for the idea.”
For his Tiny Gallery show, Townsend has put together “a mix of new and old.” Viewing the show, patrons can see brightly colored frogs, wary warm cats, vivid stormy sunsets, and creatures that marry the wild with the feminine. The show also has “some smaller sizes of things [he] want[s] to do larger. The cat and the door. The door has been on the back burner to do larger for a while.”
Recently, Townsend received his certification to teach art and to share his perspective with others. Currently, he teaches for Richland One at Edward E Taylor Elementary. In the past, he has worked as an activity therapist for students with mental health struggles at Williams S. Hall.
Townsend reflects on the selling of two of his magnolias here in Columbia as well as meeting other local artists and educators like Tyrone Geter and Keith Tolen as highlights of his art journey. He also recently had a piece that was accepted into an online gallery exhibition.
Interested patrons can view Townsend’s work via Jasper’s online Tiny Gallery until January 31st. People can also follow Townsend on Instagram and Facebook to keep up with his work.
Poetry of the People: Jesus Redondo Menendez
Our first Poet of the People of 2024 is Jesus Rodondo Menendez.
Jesus is a dynamo. He immigrates to this country in his 40s, becomes a successful teacher, works on an advanced degree in school administration, navigates the waters of marriage and writes delightful poetry.
Jesús Redondo Menéndez was born and grew up in Spain, developing a love for books as tools of learning, and as open roads for his imagination. He graduated in Psychology, in his forties decided to move to the United States and started a career as an educator in South Carolina. Now, almost ten years later, he is finishing the process to become a school administrator. He deeply thanks America for this transformational change. Now and then he enjoys writing poetry and short fiction, and experiencing new places in the loving company of his wife and their four legged child, Chomsky
____
A belonging recipe: a bit of matter, time and self
I've sat on
the wooden bench
in front of the river...
Couldn't help but crying
and gasping,
overwhelmed by
the daunting sense
of belonging
to just the
intersection
of that moment,
that place,
and my most
intimate
and inner
self...
____
Bay of Dreams
There is a picture
I often like to revisit,
and truly enjoy to see,
one with my little dog
watching us
at the beach,
his defenseless back
pointing to the sea.
I called it Bay of Dreams,
because we always
pictured our hopes
somewhere overseas,
in a sort of secret place
where you could find them
guarded by him,
bathed and soothed
by the lullaby
of ocean beings.
But as it happens in every dream,
there are moments when
the bay turns into a tree,
and we, and our hopes,
are together,
embraced by its leaves.
There’s an uneasy sense
of uncertainty coloring the scene.
And we can see the cloud
that announces the storm,
and we can feel the strong
and chilly wind
as it starts shaking the tree.
And we see our hopes
falling to the ground,
as the cloud darkens,
as the wind blows,
as the leaves fly,
as our fear grows…
And we hold to each other
and to myself I keep
how much
I would like to believe
there is some purpose
above us
that is shaking
the tree.
_____
You make it easy (to Lola)
There are some days,
I have to say it,
I don’t want to leave
my bed,
‘cause there lays
everything that makes
me feel safe:
the woman that leads
my boat,
the pet that watches
my footsteps.
Life can be wonderful
you often can hear me say,
sometimes a little bitchy,
that I keep to myself,
but every morning
I walk to the mirror
tying my tie,
reminding to myself
who I am.
A person that may
stumble and fall,
but always stands up;
that may need to
try a thousand times,
but never gives up:
those and many more
are the things
that make me who I am.
And there’s no day
I don’t wonder where
you get your strength from,
how can you have
such a clear mind
to target all our goals,
I don’t mind confessing
something that I truly enjoy:
I’m still figuring you out,
because from all that breathes
in this world
you amaze me the most.
And I think to myself
that I don’t care whatever it takes,
I don’t need to know what it is,
it doesn’t matter the pain,
because you make it easy.
____
My people
My people dared me
to play kickball
so I told my people
I didn’t know the game.
My people raised eyebrows,
because, you know,
it seems that
my people know.
My people don’t know
that my people still
blame me for what
my people did
500 years ago,
while my people
celebrate
old fashioned speeches and parades.
My people know
my name when
I ask to close the check,
while my people
keep reminding me
that I am
just another guy
from 10 miles away.
My people invite me
to parties,
bridal and baby showers,
after work meetings
poetry readings,
and jazz,
while I know
about my people’s lives
on Facebook or Instagram.
My people ask me
if I want to stay,
and my contract
waits to be signed
on my desk,
while my people
keep asking me
when I’ll go back home,
how long I’m gonna
be away.
My people, one year ago,
a 30 degrees morning,
and short sleeved people
had to show
their best behavior
to come to Español,
but my people yesterday,
last class of the week,
didn’t care that much at all.
And today my people
are here in West Columbia
listening to my words.
Thank you for your patience,
my people.
____
Squeezing a verse (to Evelyn)
And there she goes,
a dynamic explosion
of creative bangs,
a swag of jeans,
and bright lemons,
squeezing verses
like demons
sliding down
the darkness
of his shirt,
feeding our hearts
with something mellow
bringing light
in the yellow shape
of delicious fruits
with citric flavor.
Dinner and a Show: Koger Center for the Arts 35th Anniversary Celebration
The Koger Center for the Arts will celebrate their 35th anniversary of bringing the arts to the Midlands in January 2024. While the official anniversary date is January 12, the real celebration takes place on the 30th with an exclusive wine and food tasting event and a performance by The Four Phantoms.
“35 Years, 5 Tastings” is a ticketed pre-show event complete with a five-course sampler of fine French cuisine and wine. Tickets are $75 per person and do not include entry into The Four Phantoms. Guests at this event will be treated to a private performance by Kaley Ann Voorhees, the youngest woman to perform on Broadway as Christine Daaé, and the following menu:
· Course 1: Mirepoix-foie gras stuffed local Manchester Farm quail, black winter truffle aged port reduction, leek-basil confit.
o Wine pairing - Lucien Albrecht Cremant Brut
· Course 2: Galangal-scallion crusted U-10 diver scallops, star anise basmati, black sesame dusted carrot straw, white miso-mirin pan jus
o Wine pairing - Henry Fessy Vire clesse Maitre Bonhome 2019
· Course 3: Coriander-cranberry venison loin, butter poached crispy brussel sprouts, mousseline fingerling, cappuccino Norwegian goat cheese & gin cream sauce, lingonberry cream fraiche
o Wine pairing - Chateau Saint Roch Grenache Syrah
· Course 4: Sous vide grass-fed New Zealand baby rack of lamb, pave potato, legume de provine timbale, petit lemon-thyme lamb demi-glaze
o Wine pairing - French Blue Bordeaux Rouge Bien Ensemble 2019
· Course 5: Cardamom-infused overnight pear tart, dark & milk chocolate mousse, almond crisp, cognac cherry compote, William pear schnapps vanilla bean ice cream
o Wine Pairing - Louis Latour Coteaux Du Verdon Rouge Les Bastides 2019
Sponsorship opportunities are available for this event – if you are a business owner interested in participating or sponsoring, please contact Karen Magradey at (803) 777-9781.
The Four Phantoms is a production in the Koger Center Presents series of programming. Four Broadway legends that have portrayed the iconic leading role of the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera will unite for a magnificent performance that celebrates the legacy and music of Broadway. The production features Brent Barrett, Franc D'Ambrosio, Marcus Lovett, and Ciarán Sheehan, with special guest star Kaley Ann Voorhees. The group will perform music from The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Les Mis, Sweeney Todd, and more! Fans of Broadway won’t want to miss out on this performance. Ticket prices range from $38 to $63.
Tickets for both events are available on the Koger Center for the Arts website, over the phone at (803) 251-2222, in person at the box office, or on the official Koger Center for the Arts phone app.
Koger Center’s Third Thursday Lineup in the Nook Kicks Off with Wilma King
It’s a new calendar year, which means a brand-new lineup of talented artists from the Midlands will decorate the walls of each Jasper Gallery location. In the Nook at the Koger Center, Wilma King is the opening artist. King is a South Carolina native who endeavors to combine her experiences of living around the United States with her educational background into a visual storytelling collaboration through her painting.
King’s featured exhibit in the Nook is titled Love Heals: The Margins and Time In-Between. This body of work expands upon her Love Heals collection, which debuted at our Bernie Love Valentine’s Day event in 2023. The addendum includes 14 new works and received funding by the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Emerging Artist Grant. King notes that the pieces are a “series of montages comprised of memories of two generations before and after [her] -- thus, the time ‘in-between.’” She highlights the dreams, hopes, and desires of individuals at different stages of their lives while facing different obstacles like cancer or mental illness. Much of the subject matter derives from King’s own memories of adolescence and the relationships she fostered with her family. No moment is too small or grand for King to make compelling subject matter. Memories and storytelling often mesh to create a brand-new path for her work to take.
The opening reception will be held from 5:30 – 7 p.m. on January 18, 2024, on the Grand Tier Lobby of the Koger Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Excerpt from Wilma King’s Artist statement:
“I tell stories of my parents, their lifetimes, their influences. There are memories of me playing with my grandfather Manuel’s gold pocket watch; wallpapering the walls of my aunt Sedonia’s house (which was destroyed by a Louisiana storm last year); me ritually painting my mother’s nails; or dancing like nobody’s watching just to keep my cousin upbeat during her last few months!
We all have turning points in our lives -- some are cataclysmic. But I believe that the persistent, more powerful triggers are those that are slow, unforgettable images, sometimes rising out of nowhere, that quietly give us a heartfelt thump. Words are not needed, but touches, smells, soft sounds, and even tastes lend to the very intimate and secret thoughts that we hold close inside. These moments are the perfect companionship and fulfillment – a very pure form of love and loveliness – for whatever voids we need or want to fill. Although faceted, these “ordinary” and “frequent” thoughts and memories are what I wish to capture in my art.
I usually rely on memories, and sometimes collaborative storytelling with family and friends. Most often, the fusion of these memories and recollections are didactic approaches manifested in the art that I enjoy creating. I fully enjoy the outcomes as I see the bits and pieces of the storytellers’ realities and attempts to bring the pieces together in a relationship-building effort and artwork.”
— Emily Moffitt
Congratulations to the Accepted Contributors to Fall Lines - a literary convergence, volume X
On behalf of the Jasper Project, we’re delighted to announce that the following literary art was selected for inclusion in Fall Lines Volume X, releasing in spring 2024. These contributions were selected from several hundred poetry and prose submissions, and we couldn’t be happier to include them in this milestone tenth volume of Fall Lines – a literary convergence.
In early 2024 we will announce via the same website where and when we will hold our annual Fall Lines reading and awards ceremony, as well as the winners of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry, the Broad River Prize for Prose, and the Combahee River Prize in Poetry and Prose for a South Carolina Writer of Color.
Until then, congratulations and thank you for sharing your talents with the Jasper Project and allowing us to share them with the world.
Paul Toliver Brown – Digging to China
Allen Stevenson -- Shep’s Story
Bryan Gentry – Some People Never Change
Ruth Nicholson – The Red and Blue Box
Suzanne Kamata – Community Building
Evelyn Berry – Home Party
Randy Spencer – Next Day Now
Liz Newell – Red Hill Fans
Debra Daniel – Eve Purchases an Apple Watch
Shannon Ivey – As I Went Down to the River to Pray
Eric Morris – Straight Down Shadows
Lonetta Thompson – The Differences
Napoleon Wells – The Court of Thieves
Tshaka Campbell – Pews
Ann-Chadwell Humphries – Urban Eagle
Jacquelyn Markham – The persistence of limited memory & Storage
Brian Slusher – *Improv 101 & What else for you darlin?
Worthy Evans – *Blue Song for Bringing the Body Home & Blues Song for Never Having What I am Relative to Everybody Else
Rhy Robidoux –*Whereas
Nadine Ellsworth-Moran – *Nasturtium grows lush
Susan Craig – Migration & Treating our mother's last living friend
Heather Emerson – Divorce & Ceilings
Joshua Dunn – Clearing House
Candice Kelsey – Chainsaws & Renewable Energy
Terri McCord – Following a Blast
Randy Spencer – *Reading Ann’s Poem & In Passing
Debra Daniel – *Studies in Reproduction
Loli Munoz – Liminal
Frances Pearce – Strawberries
Ann Herlong-Bodman – One More
Jo Angela Edwins – A Neighbor Calls a Cool June Evening a Miracle
Kristine Hartvigsen – What I’ll pack for the apocalypse & Inagaddadavida
Al Black –*Meditations on the Lawh-i-Aqdas & Midnight Call to Prayer
Tim Conroy – Journeys
Jessica Hylton – Space
Amanda Warren – Divination Road
Danielle Ann Verwers—How was your day
Libby Bernardin – Ode to the Santee Delta & Ramble of thought as I read an article in the New York Times
Ellen Blickman --The Mystery of Pomegranates
Allison Cooke – Whippoorwill Elegy
Julie Ann Cook -- Into blue
Bryan Gentry – Hail, Fuse
Kelley Lannigan – Aubade
Gilbert Allen -- T**** IS PRESIDENT
Jane Zenger – Choices
Anna Ialacci – Ruined
Nicholas Drake – The Space Beside Her
Graham Duncan -- Exceptionalism
(* indicates finalists for the Saluda River Prize for Poetry)
Fall Lines - a literary convergence is made possible through a partnership between the Jasper Project, One Columbia for Arts and Culture, Richland Library, and the Friends of Richland Library.
Jasper Recommended Last Minute Local Gifts for the Most Favored People on your Christmas List!
Why send your money to strangers when your gift purchases can help support local artists?
Jasper intern Liz Stalker has put together a list of gift suggestions she gleaned from researching the local market of arts presents and here are a few of her hot finds!
Prints, Stickers, and Paintings from Malik Greene!
Visit Red Bubble to find everything from paintings to t-shirts to shower curtains by Columbia artist and muralist, Ija Charles!
Let Zoo Valdes hook you up with a
Marius Valdes original coffee mug or tote bag!
Represent Columbia Music with a t-shirt, sticker, or button from
Death Ray Robin!
Cafe Press can hook you up with Root Doctors shirts and merch from
lots of other local bands!
How about a
ballcap from Admiral Radio?
Don’t forget merch from Opus & the Frequencies!
Pick up a copy of Ed Madden’s Story of the City,
Carla Damron’s Justice Be Done,
Cassie Premo Steele’s Beaver Girl,
Claudia Smith Brinson’s Stories of Struggle,
Aida Rogers’ State of the Heart,
Jim Sonnefeld’s Swimming with the Blowfish,
and works by any number of local authors at
All Good Books Bookstore!
Visual Art makes for some of the most intimate of presents.
Check out Mike Brown Contemporary for work by
more than 30 local South Carolina artists including
David Yaghjian (above), Aggie Zed, Cedric Umoja, Jeff Donovan, Mark Flowers, and Lori Starnes!
Visit Sound Bites Eatery or any of the other
Jasper Galleries for original art by local artists!
Also pick up lunch for a friend
or a Sound Bites gift card!
Celebrate the art of a fine meal with gift cards from food artists like
Eddie Wales and Wesley Fulmer
and their restaurants that also support the local art by hanging and showing local art on their walls!
Motor Supply Bistro is currently showing the work of Jasper board member Laura Garner Hine.
Visit Bandcamp
and search for your favorite local artists to
give the gift of home-grown tunes this Christmas!
And the SC Philharmonic makes it easy to give the
gift of classical music with their
Holiday Gift Guide created just for you!
Poetry of the People: Amy Alley
This week's Poet of the People is Amy Alley.
Amy Alley is a poet, writer, educator, and artist who I originally met through Cassie Premo Steele. She hosts poetry and art events from Greenwood to Newberry. She is a quiet, nurturing, and generous connector of people and talents and is the keeper of the poetry torch in her corner of South Carolina .
Amy is a talented freelance writer, poet, author, artist, educator, and solo mother of one son who somehow managed to make it to University (hooray!) Because that isn't enough, she is currently training to become a certified yoga teacher. A so-called ‘curator of sophisticated chaos,' she knows what it is like to strive for balance in the throes of a busy, hectic life - but she has learned to breath deep and embrace the flow. She has a passion for service and enjoys helping others express the story they wish to tell through writing and/or art as well as discover new tools for creative expression to promote wellness and wellbeing. She also loves fashion and style, like, a lot.
If You Reached Out
If you reached out
While children clamor at our feet
And on our laps
And people chatter all around us
In a language I fall in and out of understanding
I would take your hand
If you reached out
I would follow you into your world
I would let you lead me
All the way
Because I’m so tired
Of being at the wheel
If you reached out
I would let you teach me
The language of your ancestors
So that I could speak to you
With the same words that
You dream in.
If you reached out
I would let you into my world
Where the solitude you’ve never known
Bears fruit
In color that swirls on the canvases
That you admire so much
If you reached out
I would take you to a place
Where you can hear the owls
Call to one another
Their ancient language one
With the sound of night settling
If you reached out
Across this table
And these children
And these worlds
And languages
And all that seems to lie between us
I would fall into a space
That seems to be as vast
As the night sky
We both dream beneath
Counting the stars
In different languages
Living in worlds
We both fall in and out of
Understanding.
Shoe Fetish
I’ve kicked off more shoes than you could imagine
Wasted, wanton shoes
confining
shoes that fit only for an instant
and never
never ever
let me dance.
I’ve kicked off more shoes that you could imagine
and ran barefoot instead
through meadows of clover and freedom
where nothing is too tight
and I can dance as much as l like
to the tune
of me.
MYCELIAL
I wanted to write about me,
but I am possessive
so it comes out as my
and my mind goes to mycelium
and mycelium is another name
for God, I have been told.
And God was possessive, right?
The source of what connects us all
and it runs deep underneath,
connecting everything to itself.
The fungi know this. There’s
communication down in the deep,
dark spaces where the gods really live.
There’s magic in my and mine and
maybe not so much shame
in wanting to possess something
completely. Mycelial networks
are so intrinsic, a worldwide
web of their own. We don’t see it,
just like we don’t see the internet,
but it’s there all the same, sparking
magical mystical connections.
And there’s magic in me and mine
and he and his and we can’t own
each other but we can think about it.
We can go down deep into
all the dark places below where
the mycelial hyphae of our minds
run like strands of Ariadne’s thread,
under all the layers of us,
and earth is this space where
we finally touch one another,
touch the magic, and watch the light
of it spread to all of our parts.
Black and White Dream
Spring came too early,
again. It seeped in
everywhere, overnight. Dew
glistening on green like
sweat on skin after
making love. Sunny and
74, too early. March 3
is not Spring. A long
afternoon walk leaves me
like dew on green -
anew - as though everything
wasn't breaking down,
as though I'd spent
idle hours with
Wang Ming's Humble Hermit
of Clouds and Woods,
having stumbled upon him
in a black and white
dream, making love between
cups of tea in his
thatched cottage, hidden
by ink branches and
boughs of pine. And
why not, when everything
is breaking, broken. At least
once before, this scene, in a
dream, waking up
like dew on green
leaves - anew - but not
enough. I have spent days
in woods, in clouds, in
meditation, trying to find
my feet back on that
jagged path. Hermits like
to make us think that they
are wise, but I take
my gurus with a grain of salt
these days. Fragile as me
they are, and just
as broken. Spring has come
too early, again. And everything
is breaking, broken, except
the black ink branches and
pine boughs that hide
a thatched cottage where
lives the man who
prefers silence and solitude
to the chaos of Spring. Who
prefers his loneliness
to my black and white
dream. Who doesn't see
everything breaking, broken,
who doesn't see me
blinded is he
by a warm Spring sun.
Too early.
Last Night I Dreamt of Pow Wows
Last night I dreamt of friends long past
Divorced from one another
And otherwise scattered
Lost to the winds of time
Lost to the miles between us
Lost to themselves
And lost to me.
But for a moment
Together again.
Some long ago powwow
Where we laughed and sang together
And danced under starshine
To a drum as familiar
As the beating of my own heart.
I wake up
Wanting to reach out
Find everyone
And bring us all together again.
But my heart says no
It is a time long past
They are lost to the winds of time
Lost to the miles between us
Lost to themselves
And lost to me.
I begin my day nostalgic
With the memory of moccasins on soft earth
Keeping time with a drum
That fell silent long ago.
Making War
The way of the peaceful warrior
is not my way. I fight.
Against the grain, against
myself. Against the oppression
of cultural expectations and
societal norms. What is normal
anyway, the collected insanity
of the masses? Peace
is not achieved without a fight.
Inner, outer, it doesn’t matter.
You have to slay the demons, and
they fight back, scratching and biting
and you bleed and your blood flows
to all the inner and outer places. And
They don’t go down easily, no. Begging
and pleading and willing them away
won’t work. You have to fight back. That’s
why it’s important that you know how.
You, sitting on your velvet cushion with your hands
folded, thinking “Namaste,” you better know
how to throw – and take – a punch. Because
the way of the peaceful warrior is not
achieved through the bliss
of meditation, no. It takes the screaming of war
to get to that place, inner or outer,
where peace resides. It takes
making war on yourself
to stop making war
on the rest of the world. It takes
fighting back. Hard.
And you get stronger, scrappier. And
wounded. But the bleeding
stops. And scarred, you put away your sword,
for now. You can only be
a peaceful warrior if you put
it down completely.
And you might.
But I fought too long
and too hard for the right
to hold mine
to just let it go. I’ll
put it away, though. And I’ll sit
on a velvet cushion, with
my hands folded and think “Namaste”
all day. I will
be peaceful.
I will.
You should know, though…
in a moment’s notice
I can be armed
and ready for war
in the event
that you choose
to wage it.
Jasper Project Announces Our Full 2024 Line-up of Artists for JASPER GALLERIES 2024!
Jasper’s first regularly scheduled gallery – Tiny Gallery – opened in October 2018 at an intimate space inside Tapp’s Arts Center on Main Street in Columbia, SC. Over the past five years, many shifts have happened, including the moving of Tiny Gallery online and the inception of five additional gallery locations. As these spaces increased, Jasper Galleries itself was created as an expanding series that promotes Midlands artists’ work.
Jasper is delighted to announce the lineup of over 60 artists whose work we will have the fortune to support and show in 2024. Be sure to mark your calendars, follow our social media, and sign up for our weekly newsletter to hear more about these creators as their individual shows draw near.
Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College
Shows at Harbison Theatre are Jasper’s only galleries that run seasonally versus yearly, with shows opening and closing in conjunction with the theatre’s season of shows. 1-2 final artists will be announced in late summer along with Harbison’s 2024-2025 season calendar.
January 8th: Laurie Brownell McIntosh
March 1st: Anthony Lewis
June 9th: Barbara Yongue
Koger Center for the Arts
Shows at Koger feature artists in The Nook, an intimate open-wall gallery adjacent to Koger’s Donors Gallery. All shows open on the Third Thursday of the respective month. In April, Jasper will feature a group show of artists painting works related to compositions from the Philharmonic’s “The Art of Symphony” event.
January: Wilma King
February: Dogon Krigga
March: Josef Berliner
April: Group Philharmonic-Inspired Show
May: Malik Greene
June: Jordan Sheridan
July: Toni Elkins
August: Christopher Lane
September: Ellen Yaghjian
October: Heidi Darr-Hope
November: Janet Swigler
December: Ellie Rose
The Meridian Building
These street-facing windows in the Meridian Building feature group shows accessible to viewers 24/7. On both Washington Street and Sumter Street, patrons can view a pair of 2D and 3D artists in each block-long window. First Thursdays are a wonderful time to walk around and see these two-month long shows.
January—February: Gina Langston Brewer, Anna Herrera, Bohumila Augustinova, and Caroline Clark
March—April: Libby Gamble, Debi Kelly, Gretchen Evans Parker, & Curran Stone
May—June: Judy Sellers, Devon Corley, Tennyson Corley, & Lucy Bailey
July—August: Charles Hite, Steven White, Levi Wright, & Renee Rouillier
September—October: Richard Lund, Pat Gillam, Debbie Patwin, & Jennifer Hill
November—December: JJ Burton, Sean McGuinness, Chilly Waters, & Sharon Licata
Motor Supply Company Bistro
These quarterly solo shows fill the walls of Motor Supply Bistro with opening receptions typically occurring the first or second Friday of the respective artist’s starting month. Official announcements will be made on Jasper’s online magazine and social media.
January—March: Ija Charles
April—June: Laurel Steckel
July—September: Darren Young
October—December: Michel McNinch
Sound Bites Eatery
These shows at Sound Bites Eatery have artist’s work prominently displayed across one of the restaurant’s main walls, celebrated monthly in conjunction with First Thursday. August, the restaurant’s birthday, is curated by the restaurant’s owners, and December features a unique holiday show whose theme will be announced later in 2024.
January: Charles Hite
February: Michael Krajewski
March: Benji Hicks
April: Jean Capalbo
May: K. Wayne Thornley
June: Sean Madden
July: Elisabeth LaRose
August: Sound Bites Birthday Show
September: Kelly Bryant
October: Jean Lomasto
November: Jarid Lyfe Brown
December: Holiday Show
Tiny Gallery
Finally, the gallery that started it all. Moved online during COVID-19 and kept there due to its success and the ability to show local art to patrons anytime, anyplace, Tiny Gallery features solo artists monthly with an ornament show to close the year. 2024’s ornament makers will be announced midyear.
January: Fred Townsend
February: Jamie Peterson
March: Cait Patel
April: Candace Catoe
May: Pat Callahan
June: Pat Gillam
July: Virginia Russo
August: Alex Ruskell
September: Emily Moffitt
October: Olivia Pope
November: Kristin Holzer
December: Ornament Show
Jasper is incredibly grateful to the artists, patrons, and especially the business owners that continue to make promoting local art and supporting artists a possibility.
Happiest holidays to all, and we look forward to helping you fill your walls with local art in 2024!