Jasper Galleries Presents New Gallery Space at McDonnell & Associates with Exhibition By Lauren Chapman and Pam Bowers

Cindi Boiter June 24, 2021

The exhibition opens on Thursday, June 24th

reception from 6 - 8 pm

McDonnell and Associates

2442 Devine Street - Columbia

The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

The Jasper Project is excited to announce a new gallery space for local artists at McDonnell and Associates law firm, 2442 Devine Street, in Columbia. We’ll be opening the gallery with an exhibition of work by Lauren Chapman and Pam Bowers. Reception is Thursday night (TONIGHT!) from 6-8 pm.

This collaboration with McDonnell and Associates came about when the organization reached out to Jasper and asked if we could help them find artists who would exhibit their work in the law office lobby and conference rooms. Of course, Jasper jumped at the opportunity to help fine art make its way into the homes of art lovers and we immediately booked Lauren Chapman, who we had previously worked with in our gallery at Motor Supply, and Pam Bowers, who previously taught Chapman at the University of SC.

The women’s relationship began as that of mentor and protege but developed into a close collegial friendship.

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Chapman received her BFA in Painting at the University of South Carolina and has been awarded the Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key Award for excellence in Visual Arts, the Yaghjian Studio arts scholarship at USC, and the 2018 Artfields Solo Award Exhibition at Jones-Carter Gallery. She has been featured in Garnet and Black, Daily Gamecocks, The State, Free Times, Susie Magazine, and Jasper Magazine. She has lectured for classes at USC, SC State University, and spent a summer residency in Monte Castello, Italy. Exhibitions include group shows in Italy, New York, South Carolina and solo shows in Iowa and South Carolina.

Chapman says, “I create immersive environments via vibrant thick textured romantic paintings telling short stories, in the forms of fables, folklore, and fairy tales challenging our current cultural climate through the eyes of feminine figures and personified creatures. The narrative of the work promote lessons from my personal experiences and question dangerous themes within American society.”

Bowers, who earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Indiana University-Bloomington, has a distinguished career as an artist and an educator that has taken her all over the world for lectures, residencies, unique academic opportunities, and pleasure, including China, Hungary, and throughout Italy. Her work is in many private collections both in the US and internationally from Morocco to Greece.

According to her artist’s statement, “Bowers work explores nature as a connecting force in the intersection of art, science and mythology and express her affection for the wilderness and biological forms. There is an emphasis in her work, teaching and research on the interrelationship between environment, culture and individual material usage in the formation of visual meaning and metaphor.”

The Jasper Galleries at Meridian Features Timely Portrait Exhibit on Race and Authenticity

Cindi Boiter July 21, 2020

Since 2019, the Jasper Project has been showing art in the external gallery spaces of the Meridian Building in downtown Columbia as well as in the building's lobby. In one of the first major exhibits since the start of COVID-19, the gallery is presenting a timely and poignant portrait show by Dalvin Spann and Lee Ann Kornegay.

The show features a collection of black and white portraits of everyday people in various poses and places. Aptly titled Black and White, the show “came out of a desire to gain and promote a better understanding of people of different color,” the Artist Statement says.

Spann, a black 36-year-old photographer, and Kornegay, a white 57-year-old filmmaker and photographer, together “envisioned it as a project that would challenge themselves, then ultimately viewers of their work, to learn new things about their subjects and talk about what it feels like to be black or white in the current times.”

Each photographer agreed to photograph people of a different color.

“The goal was to step outside of our comfort zones and shoot outside of our race. We wanted to spark change and conversation in all walks of life,” Spann reflects, “This was important then and now more important than ever with what we are seeing socially around the world.”

These portraits show people as themselves, as human beings. Through dance, sport, or a simple smile, the subjects of these photos express themselves authentically. The portraits present not just a reflection of the subject but a reflection of the witness.

“I think if we take the time to talk to people without stereotyping or having a classism approach, we would be further along in changing the world we live in,” Spann asserts, “It is important that we first look in the mirror at ourselves and accept the things we were misinformed about or taught to ensure we do not repeat the cycle again.”

The photos are set up throughout the window that lines Washington Street.

In addition to the portrait exhibit, Bert Easter, Jasper board member and manager of the gallery, has refreshed the space by adding a couple new UofSC student pieces and an extraordinary pottery piece by Virginia Scotchie as well as moving a few current pieces around to give a fresh look.

The Jasper Galleries at Meridian is located at 1320 Main Street, and interested individuals can drop in or drive by Washington and Sumter Streets to see the art.

With a message ever so important in today’s world, the show aims to say that regardless of race, we can never move forward with successful and positive race relationships until we get to know each other, share fears and joys alike, and have authentic relationships.

“We produced Black and White in 2017 to create a vehicle for meaningful conversations between blacks and whites in our community,” Kornegay shares, “A way to get to know each other in a deeper way and to prompt dialogues of understanding.

-by Christina Xan

An Interview with Board Member Bert Easter on the Jasper Project Galleries at Meridian

Cindi Boiter June 17, 2020

With the Street Gallery concept, the public can visit the Jasper Project Galleries windows and not have virus concerns. Viewing artwork at these windows can be done safely from the sidewalk; someone could even drive by and take a peek at the artworks from their car.

-Bert Easter

Board Member, The Jasper Project

Last April, The Jasper Project opened a new gallery in a prominent downtown Columbia building. Though the Meridian Building opened its doors in 2004, it was built from the facade of the 19th century Consolidated Building. This coalescence of elements externally can also be found internally, through the art featured in the lobby and the display windows that line Sumter and Washington Streets.

I was able to chat with fellow board member Bert Easter, who started and organized the gallery, about what this first year has been like, what artists are currently being featured, and how the public can interact with this significant space and the art within it.

JASPER: It’s been just over a year now that you’ve been working on the Meridian. How has it been?

EASTER: I really have had great luck with the Meridian hosting and being very helpful with my little idea. It’s actually been a lot of fun, and some work, pulling together artwork to offer in downtown Columbia. And we have been very lucky to develop a partnership with Virginia Scotchie of USC to show student work alongside her artwork.

JASPER: What made you first walk past this building and think, “This is the place for a gallery”?

EASTER: I saw the windows as a missed opportunity for both the city and the arts community. When I approached the Meridian, I was pleased that they were excited with this idea and even offered the additional space of the grand lobby area to be opened up for local artists.

JASPER: Did you have any specific goals for it then?

EASTER: I hoped then, and now, that at the Meridian we would have business folks who might see, connect with, and purchase local art.

JASPER: With such a great pool of artists in Columbia, how do you select artists to meet the gallery’s goals?

EASTER: Thus far I have contacted the artists and helped select artwork that I hope works well and complements the other artists’ work. I try to also have a few pieces that challenge the traditional ideas of artwork – to offer abstract paintings or a brutalist sculpture or a pottery vase that you would never use for flowers.

JASPER: Have you had any highlights in this journey of merging art styles and voices?

EASTER: Pulling together Assemblages by Susan Lenz, with plastic assembled work by Kirkland Smith, alongside found metal items sculptured by Andy White was one of my favorite window displays show in our first show. I have also enjoyed showing pottery by Paul Moore with carved palmettos on the side of the vases placed by landscape paintings.

JASPER: Well other than great art, what should people expect when going to the gallery?

EASTER: The windows are just like storefront windows for a department store. They are lighted at night, and I actually tell folks that the windows look better at night from the street and sidewalk. The lovely Main Street lobby is limited to weekday business hours (8-6) due to the security concerns of the Meridian. Currently, once you enter through the revolving doors on Main, you’ll find pottery on pedestals by Virginia Scotchie and USC students and paintings on canvas by Nikolai K Oskolkov.

JASPER: Has COVID-19 impacted the way people visit the gallery?

EASTER: With the Street Gallery concept, the public can visit the Jasper Project Galleries windows and not have virus concerns. Viewing artwork at these windows can be done safely from the sidewalk; someone could even drive by and take a peek at the artworks from their car.

JASPER: You mentioned it briefly before, but if people want to stop in or drive by, what artists can they expect to find currently? And how long will the current artists be up?

EASTER: The current show has 10 different artists being offered with a large collection of paintings by Nikolai Oskolkov in each of the 3 galleries on this block. We have been switching out artwork every 3 months so that we would have 4 shows each year. When the virus hit, we stopped, and the current show has been left up, but I plan to switch out the artwork after the virus is less of a concern. This show includes art by Nikolai K Oskolkov, Bohumila Augustinova, Michael Krajewski, Eileen Blyth, Virginia Scotchie, and USC students from the School of Visual Art and Design.

JASPER: What should people do if they see one of these pieces of art and fall in love with it?

EASTER: The signage will provide the cost of the artwork and my cell number where folks are able to ask any questions, arrange for me to come to the Meridian and meet with them, or to arrange purchase of the artwork. As far as pricing, we have offered original artwork starting with prices at $200 and going up to $2,500.

JASPER: Well, to round all this out, tell me: Columbia is a city full of artists & galleries — what makes the gallery at the Meridian special?

EASTER: We have established this partnership with the Meridian to offer artwork outside the gallery setting to bring local artworks to the people who might not visit galleries with the intention of purchasing artwork – in a hope that downtown folks might see, connect, and enjoy art by local working artists. We think that the display window setting might allow someone just headed out to a meeting, dinner, or a local church service to view artwork in downtown Columbia.

The Jasper Galleries at Meridian is located at 1320 Main Street. If you’re feeling cooped up at home and want to feel inspired, take a drive down Washington or Sumter Street and see the selection of artists that Property Manager Amy Reeves stated “brought life to our windows”, and maybe even take a piece home to keep you company.

-Christina Xan

Christina Xan is a writer, a doctoral student at the University of SC, and a member of the board of directors of the Jasper Project where she manages the Tiny Art Gallery Project.

The Jasper Project operates public space galleries at Harbison Theatre, Motor Supply Company Bistro, and the Meridian Building in downtown Columbia. If you’re interested in developing a gallery area in your public space, or you’d like to exhibit your art, please contact Laura Garner Hine, Bert Easter, Christina Xan, Cindi Boiter, or Wade Sellers.

To support the work of Jasper, including articles like the one above,

please consider becoming a member of the Jasper Guild at www.JasperProject.org

Jasper Project Galleries Adds New Location at Motor Supply Company - Curated by Laura Garner Hine

Cindi Boiter June 13, 2020

The Jasper Project is pleased to add Motor Supply Company Bistro in Columbia’s historic Vista to our growing list of Jasper Project Galleries, including Harbison Theatre Gallery and the Meridien Building Sreetside Galleries (curated by Bert Easter) at Washington and Sumter Streets in downtown Columbia.

Jasper Project board member and Jasper Magazine visual arts editor Laura Garner Hine will be curating the series for the Jasper Project and is opening the series with a selection of her own work beginning this week.

Below, please find an excerpt from a story featuring Hine written in 2019 for Jasper Magazine by Christina Xan.

Though many people struggle to decide on a career path, Hine knew she was going to be an artist for as long as she can remember. “It's my strongest sense,” Hine says, “There was never a question, my whole life.”

Hine started seriously studying art as soon as she became cognizant of her choice to commit to it. Upon graduating high school, when she got a scholarship for USC, she knew immediately she was going major in art studio. “I didn't know what I was going to focus on yet,” she recalls, “but eventually it became oil painting. You can make it so many different things.”

Hine is indebted in large part to her mentor, Pam Bowers. She remembers her and Bowers harvesting dirt from which they would make their own paints: “I felt like I was doing alchemy,” she said. This is when she ended up minoring in art history.

After Hine graduated, she studied abroad in the Netherlands. While there, she heard of a conservation course happening in Maastricht, and she decided to go – a decision that would change her life. Hine reflects on her first experience with conservation: “It was the marriage, to me, of all the things that I'd loved: art history, that alchemy, and the science behind art.”

Although this trip was the first time Hine had experienced conservation hands on, she believes she was always meant to conserve art. She remarks that, “I think I'm in the business of seeing. Everybody has the capacity to look, but there's merit and thought behind really seeing. It's kind of a fantastical thing.”

Hine believes her relationship to seeing beyond the surface of an image or object is really what led her to first her path as an artist and then her job as a restorator, a process she is incredibly lucky to be a part of: “It's quite meditative,” she ponders, “I think it transcends you into this moment of this dissolving of perception, and you become one with it.”

The process of conserving and restoring art is a multistep process, and it’s not formulaic. However, there is a system to work through. First, Hine has to do research, find out what the materials are and what they're sensitive to. After preliminary research, Hine begins testing to deduce what would be safest to use on the art piece. Grime or dirt can be removed with something as simple as distilled water to something as damaging as toluenes, but Hine avoids using anything toxic unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Sometimes, though, the painting is further compromised. If there is a tear or severe damage, Hine must remedy that first. These losses need to be fixed by covering cracks and shaping areas that have lost texture. Last, it’s time to color correct, which is where “the fun starts” for Hine and where her jobs as artist and restorator most closely overlap. When just a little color is missing, she looks at the surrounding area and mimics, but if something major like a face is missing, then she has to do more detailed research to create an impression as close to the original as possible. From start to finish, on average, it takes Hine around 8 hours to restore a painting.

Hine worked at the CMA as an Assistant Preparator for two years, but now she works full time for Carolina Conservation. For her, restoring art is just as intimate as creating it: “I want to hear the paintings talk to me. I want to know what they've seen. I'm a firm believer that energy never dies. People always come back through the ethers.” This conversing is one aspect that strongly connects Hine’s restoration and personal creation.

Hine laughs when trying to pin point herself as an artist, claiming people will go into a show of hers and think the art is from multiple different artists. One continual tether Hine has with her art, however, is her sensitivity and how once something has touched her, she has no choice but to create in inspiration of it. “My inspiration can be pretty; it can be grotesque,” she muses, “Any moment that arrests you, whether it's disgust or awe, I like those moments.”

While she might feel all over the place as an artist, she feels a strong importance in her work: “I think that what really inspires me is how people are inspired by me. I feel that anybody I meet likes to listen to my story, and I like to listen to their story.”

-Christina Xan

Motor Supply Company Bistro is located at 920 Gervais Street in Columbia, SC’s historic Vista

Find out more about Motor Supply at

www.motorsupplycobistro.com

To support the work of Jasper, including articles like the one above, please consider becoming a member of the Jasper Guild at www.JasperProject.org

Jasper Project and Harbison Theatre at MTC Bring Art Exhibitions to Lobby Gallery

Cindi Boiter October 16, 2019

In an exciting partnership with Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, Jasper is pleased to announce a series of art exhibitions in the Harbison Theatre lobby’s gallery space.

Last year, the Jasper Project worked with Harbison Theatre to exhibit several shows, beginning with Camden native and retired educator Keith Tolen’s work. Having enjoyed the collaboration so much we have developed a full season of exhibitions for the 2019-2020 art season, which started with the installation of the Supper Table in early September and runs through summer 2020.

Beginning with the continued exhibition of Kirkland Smith’s Supper Table Portraits, which will remain on display until early November, we follow up with an exhibition by photographer Kathryn Van Aernum titled Common Ground.

A Young Sara Leverette by Kirkland Smith

Van Aernum’s photographic subjects range from the mundane to the sublime, and she continues to cultivate a sense of spaciousness, curiosity, humor and wonder in her work through the exploration of themes such as Reclamation; Ubiquity (her CocaCola® series); and Common Ground. While photography is her main medium, she is also an accomplished watercolorist, mixed media and book artist. She teaches classes in photography, creative process, watercolor, and journal making. Her work has appeared in juried competitions, and group and solo exhibits in Key West, FL; Boulder, CO; Fort Collins, CO; Ann Arbor, MI; and Columbia, Spartanburg and Lake City, SC. and is in many private collections throughout the US. Most recently, she was one of 19 Columbia artists whose work was juried into ArtFields 2019. Find her on the web at KvanaStudios.com KathrynVanAernum.com.

About This show Van Aernum says, “Most of the images in Common Ground were gathered on my morning and evening walks with my dog Noah. I live in Midlands Terrace in Columbia, but he and I will frequently hop in the car and walk in other neighborhoods for a change of scenery. There are a few photos from other SC locations, and a 2018 trip to Greece. Living in a city, man-made surfaces are the predominant element I come in contact with. With no sandy beaches, mountains, or vast vistas for inspiration, I often look down to the ground. As I allowed pavement, asphalt, cobblestones and concrete to become my muses, abstract “paintings” created by the interaction of time, weather, earth and humans began to reveal themselves. All the artificial terrains portrayed have one thing in common: to facilitate human flow and interaction. What I hope to offer here is a surprising, whimsical, striking, and maybe even beautiful meditation on the surfaces we share in common.”

Jasper and Harbison Theatre will celebrate the opening of Van Aernum’s exhibit on Friday, November 15th at 6 pm in conjunction with a stellar performance by Motown Superstar Thelma Houston. (Reception – free; Concert tickets at harbisontheatre.org.)

Artist Kathryn Van Aernum from the Common Ground collection

Following the Van Aernum exhibition, acclaimed artist Stephen Chesley’s art will be exhibited in January and February 2020, with an opening reception on January 24th, 2020 at 6 pm in conjunction with a performance by Akintunde and Joey I.L.O.

Stephen Chesley was born in Schenectady, New York in 1952. He exhibited a natural proclivity for drawing and art almost as soon as he could hold pastel and pencil which were often Christmas gifts from his family. Growing up in Virginia Beach in the late 1950s he was exposed to the Beat Generation of musicians, artists, and writers when Virginia Beach was still a seasonal seaside resort. Self motivated, he continued with his drawing and small paintings along with exposure to local artists throughout elementary and high school and into college. His collegiate exposure led to a meld of art and science with degrees in Urban Studies and a Masters Degree in Urban Planning in 1980 from the school of Architecture at Clemson University. Graduating in a deep national economic recession Chesley turned back to his art. Spending 5 years on rivers and sea islands to explore his asthetic, subject matter, influential painters, and styles, Chesley’s paintings and art work began to move to the foreground. Recognized in 1981 by the Columbia Museum of Art as an emerging talent, he went on to win top 100 in the first National Parks competition of 1987, exhibiting at the Smithsonian, and in 1996 a National Endowment for the Arts, Southeast Regional Fellowship, Southeast Center for Contemporary Art. Chesley has continued his work, characterized as poetic realism, along with welded and carved sculptural pieces in addition to joint works illustrating Archibald Rutledge short stories and WS Merwin’s poem, ”Palm” for the Thomas Cooper Society’s Thomas Cooper Medal for WS Merwin in 2012.

Arts photographer Kevin Kyzer will exhibit in March and April, 2020 with an opening reception on March 21st, 2020 in conjunction with the wildly popular MTC Show-Off.

Artist Kevin Kyzer’s photo of dancers Claire Richards Rapp and Bonnie Boiter-Jolley

Anthony Lewis is an emerging self-taught visual artist and a resident of Columbia, South Carolina. Anthony was born in raised in Camden, NJ. The owner of Alewisproject,LLC, Lewis will exhibit in May and June 2020.

And closing out the season we will be featuring Ginny Merett. Ginny currently uses collage techniques to create portraits and figurative works of art that are best described as a mix of surrealism and whimsy. Ginny’s work has won several awards and accolades. She is the cover and featured artist in The Jasper Magazine Spring 2019 edition; and received First Place and Second Place Awards at the Rosewood Art and Music Festival, Best in Show at Time for Art sponsored by the Jasper Project; and participated in Women Speak Art Gallery at SC State Library 2017, Artfields 2019, and numerous other exhibits.

Information on artists talks and additional opening receptions are TBD. Stay tuned to www.JasperProject.org and https://www.harbisontheatre.org/ for updates and information.

J. Michael McGuirt Exhibit at Harbison Theatre

Cindi Boiter September 13, 2018

J Michael McGuirt’s new show hanging in the halls of Harbison Theatre says his show was inspired by none other than his hometown, Camden, SC.

“I was born in Camden, raised in Camden. Love Camden and I kind of alluded to being in the area. You’re exposed to a lot of art; got the Fine Art Center there and a lot of musical programs, so I was raised around that and inspired by that, and then Camden in itself is a really beautiful town,” says McGuirt.

McGuirt is a self-taught artist who initially set out for a degree outside of the art field, yet art was continuously a part of his life, and so he took hold of that. He started with sculptures but it wasn’t until a few years ago that he would discover the medium that would be found in a majority of his work.

“I went to Furman University and have a business degree, but I’ve always been creative. … I’ve actually made sculpted dolls before, a long, long time ago; but probably about four years ago I was introduced to acrylic painting and I was like, ‘I love acrylics.’ And they dry fast and you’ve got to really work with it, unlike oils. You know oils take a long, long time to dry and, I had tried an oil painting when I was in college. I just went and bought supplies and was like, ‘I’m gonna do an oil painting,’ which of course didn’t work out. I was like, that’s just really juvenile looking you know, no classes or whatever,” McGuirt explains.

Since the decision to work with acrylic paint, McGuirt has developed a very unique technique with his work. Rather than thinning his paint with a paint thinner, he simply uses water and works with his painting while it is completely wet, rather than waiting for layer after layer to dry as typically done with acrylic paintings.

“… I really want to work with color and not [be] so constrained. So, I started watching it and messing around with it. And there’s a lot of people who do the flow work now and they make products that are thinned acrylic paints, and so they’re layering them like- well, I want to do that but I want to do it a little differently. So, it took about a year and a half to develop the technique … You’ve really got to get all of the motion and the life and the depth, all at one time and that was the trick – [that] and controlling. You’re thinning the paint and letting it flow …,” says McGuirt.

On September 7, 2018, Harbison Theater opened a gallery exhibition for McGuirt’s collection known as “Form and Flow,” in which McGuirt’s new technique is amply exhibited. Harbison began the process of hanging art on their lobby walls nearly three years ago, however, it wasn’t until Executive Director, Kristen Cobb joined the team nearly a year ago that the art has really began to take off, starting with McGuirt.

“I’ve known Mike McGuirt for pretty much, most of our lives, 20 plus years. And I’ve really watched him evolve as such a talented artist and the type of work he does is so fascinating … He approached me about doing the show and I really loved the idea of having his handmade robots,” Cobb says.

While most of the work found in this show is Abstract paintings, McGuirt has also brought in three dimensional figures that most people call “Robots,” along with a couple of modern, geometric black and white paintings. McGuirt is a fan of modernism, and through the inspiration of the Bauhaus movement and his love for modern work, he was able to develop these pieces, which also play into his show at Harbison Theater.

“There was a school in Germany, Bauhaus, and I’ve always liked modern stuff and appreciated, you know, the modernism and it was the fore runner of that … Their students were also known for their parties and the wild, wacky costumes that they designed. They were geometric but they were asymmetrical and they used circles and squares and curves. But it was like, one side of the head would be one color and then the leg would be that color. So, it was balanced yet it was still skewed. And I’m like, okay, that’s what I want … So, the inspiration for the three-dimensional figures came from that,” Michael explains.

With this show at Harbison Theater, McGuirt wants people to have their own experience through his work. “People really want to be engaged by a painting,” he says. “They want to relate to it. So, I’m like, let me give them something really complex and I like being complex in a painting. People, no matter what their background and what their mood is, they might relate to that painting. They may see something in there that I didn’t see and I’ve noticed that really depends on the person.”

You can also find work of McGuirt in other locations, such as in his own gallery in Camden, SC. Outside of art, McGuirt does real-estate and owns The Heritage Antique Mall, which holds his very own art gallery. McGuirt is also a member of Sumter Country Artist Guilds which is associated with the Sumter Country Gallery of Art, where his painting of a young bird recently won a People’s Choice Award. “I made it bigger in its chest like it’s taking a deep breath and it’s got its eyes closed, and I’m like, it’s about to fly. I called it ‘Gathering Courage,’” McGuirt says.

McGuirt’s work will show at Harbison Theatre through October and more shows by a variety of local artists are on the way. Cobb wants to continue supporting local art and developing more extensive relationships with local artists. After working for The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County for over ten years, Cobb appreciates the value of local relationships. “I know how important it is to have those relationships with the local artist and to be able to give back to the local community … Columbia is very fortunate. We have some amazing artists,” says Cobb.

To see McGuirt’s work at Harbison Theater, tour the venue during any of their operating hours. Support local artist, local art and local venues - these are the things that give Columbia, SC, so much character.

Hallie Hayes

Intern, the Jasper Project

Learn more about Bauhaus at

https://www.theartstory.org/movement-bauhaus.htm