Poetry of the People featuring Jane Zenger
This week's Poet of the People is the Bard of Cedar Creek, Jane Zenger. Jane, is a legend from the Pee Dee to the Broad to infinity and beyond. She is a force of nature - an organizer, educator, environmentalist, small farmer, who also happens to be an excellent poet. A gifted storyteller, Jane will make you laugh and gasp in the same stanza. Buy her book, Night Bloomer, and know she is a life well-lived.
Jane Zenger lives in Blythewood, SC in an old forest on the edge of Cedar Creek . She has a BA in English literature and a Ph.D. in Reading and Literacy. Jane studied poetry at USC with the late James Dickey and her work is included in his book, From the Green Horseshoe. She was a feature writer and poetry editor for Auntie Bellum, a feminist magazine published in South Carolina. She also edited The Spotlight, a journal dedicated to at risk youth, teen pregnancy, and dropout prevention. She worked as an English/Reading teacher in both urban and rural South Carolina schools and was a USC instructor, researcher and director of federal Teacher Quality Enhancement programs. As an undergraduate she did archaeological research on an early man site through The University of Alaska. She also worked on a USC environmental impact study on the coast. Jane has worked in Texas, China and Zambia. She is a passionate advocate of the Spoken Word
movement in South Carolina and has recently completed Night Bloomer from Muddy Ford Press. This new book of poetry reflects love, heartbreak, travel adventures, comical events, and always- her close connection the woods and creeks where she lives.
____
The Unraveling
What is there to love in a world unraveling?
It’s unsafe to put such precious cargo as a heart
and soul in the broken box of my body.
I can’t stop thinking on this cold spring day,
watching the creek overflow, what’s next?
There are the same old wars waging,
the same fires we extinguish over and over
sprouting up again, rising from a mystical phoenix.
The same old hate and anger boils over.
Wars I can’t smash, bury, ignore or accept.
The wrong people are making the same choices
over and over. When their choices bully me, I resist.
In the world that kind of ignorant selfishness
leads to loss and division, disease and death.
What century is this where the infantile, selfish,
and belligerent still retain power?
When is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius
that we were promised?
On this afternoon I flow through the meadow.
I wish I could punch the clouds full of acid rain.
I won’t punch the clean willowy ones after an April storm,
or the ones today glowing pink, orange and purple at sunset.
I drop to the ground face down to experience the
soil scent and the soft grass and clover. I sense another
world upside down, feel a mild wind, the old buck snorts,
I hear distant airplanes and at least five, no- six bird calls
and something chirping. The crows acknowledge me and
buzzards form a wide circle. My cats gather round curious,
but not really caring why I am upside down. They wait,
preening and watching the birds so as not to waste time.
So fortunate in their blissful oblivion.
Whip Lash in the Pandemic
I can be blistered in the sun one day,
and frozen from the inside out the next,
losing my footing in the turbulence.
I feel like a kitten in her mother's mouth
being dragged and bumped, helpless.
But at least I am not left behind.
I have to find myself again every morning.
Find the humor in how I am going down.
It is a whip lash and I am serving time for all my sins.
Encourage me. Discourage me. Ignore me. Adore me.
It’s all the same. The tide is always running out.
The sky is winter pale, nothing on either horizon.
Baby birds are blown out of the nest,
trying to fly, only to be eaten by my feral cat
Other creatures waiting below.
My body is broken as well- from the day
I tried, stiff and weak, to fly after so much time
quarantined, sequestered, afraid.
This is the year of one pandemic after another.
This sorrow bangs me like a limb on a window pane.
I am not shattered yet, stubborn as I am.
From my perch let's examine today,
the joy of being alive, of being loved helps.
I am mining memories. Someone is
reminding me to breathe...sing...cry…reach out.
Selfish choices placed me on this precipice,
tethered to the vows I made. That life is over.
I live for love and I long to live. Yes, you may come in.
It Only Takes a Moment to Die
When you took your last breath
It was so simple
So calm and unanticipated
So remarkably
Like any other day
Like a wisp of a cloud
On a clear sky
I knew the time was near
I knew the moment would be
yours only.
Unpredictable.
Controlling death as you did our life.
I slipped away for just a moment.
Stepped alone into the morning air.
You stepped alone into eternal peace.
For death, like life, is an unpredictable gift.
Jasper's Sidewalk Gallery at The Meridian Building Featured Artist - BOHUMILA AUGUSTINOVA
Bohumila Augustinova
Augustinova spent her childhood in Czechoslavakia, now known as the Czech Republic. She recalls that her younger years were spent always making something and that she could “never keep her hands still.”
My mom and dad were very supportive, so even as a small child they taught me how to knit, crochet, sew, cook and use power tools.” Augustinova remembers, “My mom and I used to make all the costumes for me and my brothers, and I was making my own clothes by the time I was 9.”
Augustinova used to experience and passion to pursue fashion design, which she received a degree in, but soon after, she desired a fresh artistic venture and has since worked with primarily wire art and pottery, being self-taught in both.
Augustinova notes that beyond being inspired to make art, the process of making is inspiring and therapeutic all on its own. She insists that the mutable clay sliding under her hands and the constant hum of the wheel moving is meditative, and she often throws with her eyes closed.
“What I hope is that people will see my pottery as usable art. Almost all of my pottery is fully glazed and food safe. I love seeing flower arrangements in my vases, and I love people drinking out of my cups.” Augustinova effuses. “One of my favorite pottery moments was when a friend told me that he was visiting a friend and his tea was served in one of my mugs.”
The ART BAR Brings Back One of the Baddest-Assed, Pearl-Clutching Acts Around -- BERNIE LOVE'S TRIBUTE TO ELVIS
Don't miss this Tribute to ELVIS Sat March 2nd at the Art Bar!
Bernie Love featuring Patrick Baxley, Jay Matheson, Marty Fort, and Kevin Brewer delivers the goods.
Early 9 p.m. show, 21+ Comedian Mike Reed kicks things off.
Bernie Love only offers this show about twice a year, so come on out!
More at www.bernieloverocks.com
CALL FOR PUBLISHED LITERARY ARTISTS!
If you have had the joy of welcoming a new book to the world since January 1, 2023 and you live in the SC Midlands, Jasper would like to celebrate you in the next issue of Jasper Magazine, releasing in Spring 2024.
Please send a high resolution image of your book cover along with a 100 word or less description of your book and all your contact info (email, snail mail, website, and phone) to
jasperprojectcolumbia@gmail.com
no later than Monday, February 26th.
While your book may not be reviewed at this time, we will list your publication in a special section of the magazine with that of all the other local literary artists in the area.
And always remember, if you would like your new publications considered for review in Jasper Magazine or Jasper Online, please send review copies to
Jasper Editor
1009 Muddy Ford Road
Chapin, SC 29036
THANKS!
Book Launch and Celebration for DeLana Dameron's REDWOOD COURT
FEBRUARY 9TH 6:30 - 9 PM
MIKE BROWN CONTEMPORARY GALLERY
122 LINCOLN STREET - IN THE VISTA
From our friends at Mike Brown Contemporary …
A breathtaking debut about one unforgettable Southern Black family, seen through the eyes of its youngest daughter as she comes of age in the 1990s Columbia, SC.
"A beautiful exploration of a family . . . deeply moving." Ann Napolitano, New York Times bestselling author of Hello Beautiful
“Mika, you sit at our feet all these hours and days, hearing us tell our tales. You have all these stories inside all the stories everyone in our family knows and all the stories everyone in our family tells. You write ’em in your books and show everyone who we are.”
So begins award-winning poet DéLana R. A. Dameron’s debut novel, Redwood Court . The baby of the family, Mika Tabor spends much of her time in the care of loved ones, listening to their stories and witnessing their struggles. On Redwood Court, the cul-de-sac in the all-Black working-class suburb of Columbia, South Carolina, where her grandparents live, Mika learns important lessons from the people who raise her exhausted parents, who work long hours at multiple jobs while still making sure their kids experience the adventure of family vacations; her older sister, who in a house filled with Motown would rather listen to Alanis Morrisette; her retired grandparents, children of Jim Crow, who realized their own vision of success when they bought their house on the Court in the 1960s, imagining it filled with future generations; and the many neighbors who hold tight to the community they’ve built, committed to fostering joy and love in an America so insistent on seeing Black people stumble and fall.
With visceral clarity and powerful prose, Dameron reveals the devastation of being made to feel invisible and the transformative power of being seen. Redwood Court is a celebration of extraordinary, ordinary people striving to achieve their own American dreams.
Poetry of the People Featuring Ann-Chadwell Humphries
This week's Poet of the People is Ann-Chadwell Humphries. Ann declares that she is from the earth and belongs here. She is a force of nature - granite sparkling in the sun. Silica and alkali metal oxides stirred in the magma of life's challenges, congealed into the poet, Ann-Chadwell Humphries. I am honored to call her a friend.
Ann-Chadwell Humphries, a blind poet from Columbia, SC, was selected by Muddy Ford Press to publish her first collection, An Eclipse and A Butcher. She has twice been a finalist for the Carrie McCray Nickens and once for the Julia Mood Peterkin poetry contests. She won Syzygy’s Emerging Voice Award, sponsored by The Jasper Project, for “An Eclipse and A Butcher.” She is a speaker scholar for South Carolina Humanities and her papers are archived at USC Special Collections Library.
____
Thirteen Ways of Looking Through Darkness
~If it's darkness we're having, let it be extravagant — Jane Kenyon
I
At the fire-fringed margins of the universe,
Images of the origins of light stream
Through the eye of a gold-plated telescope.
II
I am fluent in Light and Dark.
The demise of my retina
Reveals infinite sentient worlds.
III
When illumined, darkness loses its dominion.
Technology renders the unseeable, seeable.
IV
Lightness and darkness
Are one.
As much in the mind as in space
They are one.
V
I do not know which to prefer,
The beauty of resilience
Or the beauty of interdependence,
The odyssey into the unknown
Or the transcendence thereof.
VI
The freight of low expectations
Slow-grinds the human spirit.
The only way around is through.
VII
O voice of self-doubt and discouragement
Why do you shout?
Why do I listen?
Why dismiss the universe
Of riches there for the taking?
VIII
I have wandered outermost reaches
And territories of resistance,
And come to exalt
The company of Darkness.
IX
Infrared waves send images
Of unprecedented clarity
Through the lens of the deep space telescope.
X
Reticular spirals and arcs
Flower in the womb of morning.
Bots of importunity align.
XI
When I was diagnosed, doctors advised
That I not overthink; I could prepare.
Not chase cures in China nor Europe—
for They knew I would
Go to the ends of the universe.
XII
I have learned to see with my feet, my ears, my skin.
Import my imagination.
My heart is not blind.
XIII
Years of tests, classes, cursors, prisms
led me on an arduous journey
into the gravitational pull of blindness—
my new orbit—frisson from the cosmology of sight.
Wildflower Trail
Overgrazed ranch land proffers rare views
of blue hills that rumple and bunch until fracture
on the fault line into limestone cliffs, spring jeweled
water from chambered aquifers into creeks,
into rivers fringed with cypress tresses combed
by wind, siren temptress, intoxicant to tourists
and retirees. Overnight, bare-boned water and sewer lines
incise hillsides, weave asphalt webs of infrastructure
for tract housing between Austin and San Antonio.
My parents succumb, lured by open spaces, slower paces
and light-filled rooms of new construction, new appliances—
fresh start from hard work. My father plants cedar elm
for shade, Blue Italian Cyprus for windbreak—
this is Texas harsh—and as trees grow, so grows development:
Methodist church, elementary school off the bypass,
doctors’ office complex within walking distance.
In the undeveloped acreage behind, my father hangs
a blue gate shaped like the Alamo, drags a mower
through that gate to mow walking trails, shortcuts to church.
In March, the field flames in airy wildflowers which wave
fiesta-colored blooms to passersby on the farm-to-market road.
And in their yard, my father trims the bluebonnet patch
that spreads each year as if inviting flower kin. In that seasonal
profusion, my parents host a wildflower brunch for neighbors
and library friends for guests to wade waist-high amid bliss.
The Coffin Maker
An occasional call with plea and please for a coffin
tomorrow or day after for a friend’s stillborn granddaughter.
His motion slow and solemn, he sorts through his pile
of special wood favored to repurpose. Finds an orphaned
burled walnut he had forgotten, hardwood not too heavy
for something this small. He makes a pattern, his hands
fit the wood into a clamp, align with the saw an extension
of himself, reciting Keats as he makes a six-sided box, corners
interlocked like fingers, and with a tiny tip, traces
a thread of glue to bond all surfaces, taps nails as surety.
Shakes coffee cans for hinges; from a nail, pulls a rope
to knot for handles. He breathes blessings into the wood
as he cuts top from bottom like her little life cut from us.
Sands and oils for rich luster, its aura, a comfort for the family
to trace the grain, bend to kiss, the fragrance like her sweetness.
~
She will be lowered into black dirt free of rocks
dug by her grandfather and uncles. They will hold hands
at the family cemetery where she will lie with other infants
and ancestors. Word-of-mouth will spread that Grover made
the coffin. In time, a daughter will brave a call for a pine box
for her father handmade rather than ordered from Costco.
~
There in the corner stands his own box partially made
to remind him he has a place — chokes on his prayer,
“God forbid I survive my wife.”
If You Hear My Voice...
~2011
~1~
On a snow-fringed hillside overlooking the Pacific,
a black rotary dial nests inside a lone telephone booth.
~2~
There was only an eight to ten-minute warning.
~3~
A grandfather salvaged an old metal and glass structure
from thousands of abandoned ones in a field,
set it in his garden, a cenotaph for his family who drowned.
~4~
Eighty miles off northeastern Japan, a 9.0 earthquake
thrust from the ocean floor. Two years later,
the beaten hull of a fishing skiff reached California.
~5~
A frayed cord connects the receiver.
Black numbers spin on coins of white paint.
~6~
Snow fell the day of the disaster,
iced all roads out.
~7~
Hello, hello, are you there? Are you cold?
Be alive somewhere, anywhere,
words misted in sea spray.
~8~
Waves thirteen stories high crushed
thousands fleeing in cars.
~9~
Daily, he refreshed incense, rice, fruit
on his home altar trying to fill his hollowness.
~10~
Twenty thousand dead, six thousand injured,
three thousand missing, quarter million unhoused.
~11~
News spread of the phone booth. Early spring, cherry blossoms
whitened his garden. A woman in a puffy pink parka arrived,
full of loneliness swept from silent rooms.
She opened and closed the bifold door, sat for a moment.
As she dialed, she murmured their old number.
~12~
On a blue night meadowed with stars, a young man approached
in flip-flops and shorts. Speak to me, my son. Let me hear you say
I love you, Papa. I am so sorry I could not save you.
~13~
The Fukushima nuclear plant spewed radiation
into sea life for miles, for years.
~14~
The evening sun slides into its fire. Harvest over,
an old farmer stands before the door. Farmers hold their words,
for crops do not speak. Do you have enough to eat?
Don’t worry about me. You go on. I’ll find you.
~15~
Do you think Grandfather heard us?
Jasper's Sidewalk Gallery at The Meridian Building Featured Artist - ANNA HERRERA
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!
BIG LOVE - ADAM CORBETT, MARSHALL BROWN, SHANE SANDERS, BEKAH RICE, SHARON GNANASHEKAR
KARI LEBBY
TINY COVEN DANCE
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!
~~~~~
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.
~~~~~
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.
____
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.