Welcome Wade Sellers -- Jasper's New Film Editor

It was about this time two years ago when a small group of us gathered in my living room out at Muddy Ford and discussed what we wanted out of the new Columbia arts magazine we were building, Jasper. Having written for national magazines for years, I felt comfortable on the writing side of things. But having always been peevish about people talking -- or worse, writing -- about things they know little about, it was important from the start that we only bring in staff members who know a great deal about their subject matter. Experts in the field, if you will. Folks who have the vocabulary and are proficient in the theory and methods about which they would write.

It was a pretty small group of us at first. Ed Madden took on the literary arts and Kyle Petersen, music. Thankfully, Heyward Sims agreed to be our design editor -- a huge task and a huge load off of my mind to know that our words and photography would be handled by someone who would respect them, as well as enjoy and experiment with the process of putting them on paper. And Kristine Hartvigsen was and continues to be a great source of advice and encouragement.

It didn't take long for the magazine family to grow with long-time theatre aficionado August Krickel joining the staff as theatre editor,  Bonnie Boiter-Jolley as dance editor (it seemed only natural), and Forrest Clonts as photography editor -- another huge job given that Forrest is responsible for arranging for all the photographs to be taken, and then editing them and preparing them for publication. Last summer, Annie Boiter-Jolley signed on as our operations manager -- a tremendous underuse of her skill set, but we're thrilled to have her. Just before Christmas this year, Chris Robinson from USC joined us as our visual arts editor -- a position I had been wanting to fill with the right person since the inception of the magazine. And now, finally, local filmmaker and documentarian Wade Sellers has come on board as our film editor.

Wade is the owner and executive director of Coal Powered Filmworks and, among many other things, the person who brings you the excellent SC ETV series on South Carolinians and their involvement in WWII. Wade is always hopping on a plan and heading for all points exciting so I'm practically over-the-moon that he has agreed to share his wisdom with us. And when I say that he has wisdom and experience, I'm not kidding -- in all aspects of filmmaking. He has served as the director of four films, cinematographer on seven, writer on three, and editor and producer on two, not to mention working as camera, gaffer or grip on nine more. And he's been nominated for two Emmys.

Wade came to work ready to make things happen in the Columbia film community. You'll see the product of his work in the next issue of Jasper coming out on Friday night, July 12th. And you'll also hear him announce some exciting news about an additional film festival in Columbia (organized with the blessing of our friends at the Nickelodeon.)

So please help us welcome Wade to the Jasper family. He fits in so well - it feels like he's been here forever.

On Jasper Issue #2 -- a message

A Message from Cindi: By now I hope that most of you have had the opportunity to take a look at the newest edition of Jasper -- The Word on Columbia Arts. We released the new copy on Tuesday, November 15th, and have been steadily distributing it throughout the week. Unfortunately, being the mom & pop kind of shop that we are, we don't have a large van or a crew of delivery persons to make distribution simple and efficient. But we do have a list and we're checking it twice, so if a stack of Jaspers has not materialized in your gallery, boutique, or restaurant space yet, no worries. Monday will come and your magazines will, too.

I do want to take a moment and comment on this, the second issue of Jasper. It's a little different from issue #1.

The first difference you may notice is the cover. Heyward Sims, our design editor, came up with the cool look of the magazine cover being torn away to expose the art living on the inside. I like the way the reader opens the magazine to find the full image - in this case, Thomas Crouch's American Crow, waiting right there in all it's glory. (Visit www.jaspercolumbia.com to see more of Crouch's work.)

Some of you also may have noticed that the magazine is a little heftier. That's because, in our efforts to give Columbia artists their due, we increased the number of pages from 48 to 56 and plan on continuing with this trend.  There's no shortage of stories -- we just need the pages to write them on.

We also added two new departments to this issue. Jasper Takes Notice and Day Jobs. Of the two, I'm most excited about Day Jobs.

I fear that, too often, people on the outside of the arts community fail to realize how difficult it is to be and declare oneself an artist. Very few folks can do this without relying on a day job to help them make ends meet. And in the process, these artists become two-fold contributors to our culture -- via their day jobs and their work as artists.

I'm tired of folks who aren't in the know making assumptions about the lifestyles of artists. Of all the people I know, artists are almost universally the hardest working. Their art isn't a luxury -- it's a necessity; and they make sacrifices for it in hours of sleep, dollars earned, and relationships untended that those of us who just love art, rather than create it, will never know. Dammit.

Our other new department, Jasper Takes Notice, allows us -- sometimes with the help of advisers -- to shine a little light of attention on a fresh and new local artist who has caught our collective eye. Jasper's first Newly Noticed Artist is Rachel Borgman, a student at USC. We were most taken by Rachel's warm and glowing color palette and the Old World aesthetic she brings to her work. We don't want to take our eyes off of Rachel as she grows and matures as an artist.

Of course, you'll likely find other tweaks and turns in this issue of the magazine that weren't there in the last. While we want you to be comfortable with our pages, we never want you to be bored -- so expect things to shake up a bit every now and then.

But there are a few things that will never change:

Our  promise to release a magazine every other month on the 15th of the month (unless the 15th falls on a weekend in which case we'll release it the Thursday before)* just like we said we would; and,

Our commitment to the principle that those of us who endeavor on this magazine do so for one overriding reason -- it's not about our egos, or the writing or the photography or the design; it's not about the magazine itself. It is about the art and the fact that, because of it, Columbia is a better place to live than it would be without it. We're simply proud to be a part of the process.

That said, we'd like to know what You think about the magazine. What would you like to see more or less or? Who would You recommend Jasper to take notice of? What have we not written about that you would like to see in our pages? Write us at DearJasper@jaspercolumbia.com -- we'd love to hear from you.

Thank you for reading friends -- please keep in touch.

*The Jasper January 2012 issue releases on Thursday, January 12, 2012 with a party at the Art Studios at the Arcade on Main Street