The Stone Necklace Sparks Multidisciplinary Arts Events

In celebration of the 2016 One Book, One Community selection, The Stone Necklace by Carla Damron (USC Press, 2016) a number of multi-disciplinary arts events are planned to more fully enjoy the community reading experience, including a three-person photography exhibit opening on Thursday, February 4th with a panel presentation by the participating photographers. In the […]

Jasper’s Best Records of 2015

This is what it comes down to at the start of every New Year. We Columbia music fiends must look back and take stock of all that happened in the past twelve months. A lot of music was hurled at the listening public and, as the case always is, some of it stuck and some […]

ArtFields’ 2016 Call to Visual Artists – Why you Should Give it Another Try

We know that a lot of people are frustrated with ArtFields based on some of the better quality art they have denied and the lesser quality art they have accepted. It’s easy to say that someone doesn’t know what they’re doing — which is entirely possible. That said, there are a few things to keep in […]

James Franco, Chris O’Dowd, Leighton Meester Star in Harbison Theatre’s Screening of National Theater Live: Of Mice and Men

    A quick escape to the Broadway stage might be in order this week; for theatre fans, Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College is bringing stars James Franco, Chris O’Dowd and Leighton Meester from the big stage in New York to the screen (and comfy, relaxing 400-seat venue) of Harbison Theatre in Irmo for […]

Tamara Finkbeiner wins Audience Award at 2nd Act Film Festival 2015

  Congratulations to Tamara Finkbeiner whose film Eva’s Plug, won the Audience Award at Friday night’s 2nd Act Film Festival sponsored by Jasper Magazine. Selected via audience ballot, the 2nd Act Film Festival Audience Award includes a check for $250, a First Draft editing program, and a one-of-a-kind trophy designed by Columbia artist, Matthew Kramer. According to film festival director Wade Sellers, “With any short […]

Third Annual Figure Out: A Figurative Nude Art Show brought to you by Planned Parenthood and Tapp’s Arts Center

Tapp’s Arts Center (1644 Main St.) will continue its partnership with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic by joining with local artists to celebrate the human figure. A fundraiser in its third year, Figure Out will include painting, drawing, sculpture, mixed media, film and photography.     The exhibition will include a special wall of art by Leslie Pierce. Pierce, who […]

Curating Warhol: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Columbia Museum of Art — Story by Kara Gunter, Photos by Jesse Cody

How often do we really consider the work it takes to put together a huge art exhibition at the Columbia Museum of Art, like Marilyn to Mao: Andy Warhol’s Famous Faces?  Chances are, not often.  And that’s how the curatorial staff at the Columbia Museum of Art wants it. Everyone on staff works hard to […]

More poetry from the fight for racial equality – Ed Madden’s “Confederates”

Ed Madden’s poem for the rally against the Confederate flag reminds us of his earlier poem “Confederates,” which appeared in Signals (2008).  The poem is set just months before the 2000 removal of the flag from the South Carolina statehouse dome.  “Confederates” offers a poet’s take on the historical and cultural context of the move of […]

Film Review: Love and Mercy

An effectively stylized glimpse into Beach Boys mastermind Brian Wilson’s troubled life composing what remains as the arguable pinnacle of the modern American popular music canon, in the brilliant Love and Mercy we find depicted his mid-1960s creative eruption as well as the sad, bizarre interlude twenty years later when the shattered Wilson, his work by then rightly venerated and admired, nevertheless found himself under the mental and […]

On Andy Warhol’s Jimmy Carter 1, by Ed Madden

  His hand is a fist but it is not a fist.  His watch is on the inside of his wrist.  Doctors do that, and nurses.  But so do farmers.  It’s so you don’t scratch the crystal when you’re doing manual labor, doing something difficult.  Is this a signal?  He is about to do something […]