Jasper Watches

 Filmmaker Wade Sellers is no spring chicken as the saying goes, but he’s still pretty youthful in appearance and manner, and he has a mischievous look about him that communicates the kind of curiosity that can either mean trouble or brilliance. Or both. It’s not hard to imagine him 30 years younger, rummaging around West […]

Terrance Henderson and the Power to Evolve

By Bonnie Boiter-Jolley You may know him as the artistic director of Vibrations Dance Company, the founder of Dimensions Dance Festival, director of Trustus Theatre’s recent production of “Smokey Joe’s Café,” or as teacher at Columbia Ballet School, Southeastern School of Ballet, or Logan Elementary. You may admire him for his stunningly honest choreography, intense […]

Susan Lenz Aims to Leave the Art World in Stitches. Really.

by Susan Levi Wallach  At 5 o’clock on an evening in December, Susan Lenz is in Mouse House going through framing options with a customer. Their conversation moves quickly through a range of topics, then segues into a discussion of a work on display, which the woman admires. Like many of the pieces for sale […]

Stacey Calvert – Columbia’s Dance Connection?

By Bonnie Boiter-Jolley When Stacey Calvert was 15-years-old, she was one of a very few young dancers selected from literally thousands to attend the prestigious year-round program at the School of American Ballet in New York City.  When her mother, Naomi Calvert, one half of the famed Calvert Brodie School of Dance in Columbia, South […]

Special: Artist Bruce Nellsmith Writes About Six Women Who Make a Difference in Columbia Arts

This article focuses on six women who have made significant contributions to the Greater Columbia Arts Community. I chose these women, from a long list of equally qualified candidates, because of their tireless commitment to the arts and their community. Next year, it will be another artist’s opportunity to select six accomplished and illustrious women. […]

Service is the New Muse

  Service is the New Muse By Michaela Pilar Brown There is a singular kind of magic that occurs when you witness someone being transformed by an experience with your art. It is a singular moment when you understand that you as an artist have the power to invoke meaningful change in the life of […]

Ron Rash – The Great Joy of Reading Southern Writing

By Cynthia Boiter Ron Rash speaks the way he writes, with a voice that is rich with history, low and close to the earth, reflecting the humble wisdom that comes from learning from the past and listening to the lessons of nature and the stories of one’s ancestors. A father, teacher, husband, poet, Rash is, […]

Eavesdropping – Writers Jamie Ridenhour and Amy Reeves Converse about Writing

Imagine Downton Abbey.  With werewolves. And imagine Jack the Ripper as an after-school special.  (Remember those?)  And the main character, Abbie, is kinda like one of Patricia Arquette’s freaky psychic daughters from Medium—she has visions—but smarter and spunkier, played maybe by a slightly older Ariel Winter from Modern Family (the smart middle kid, Alex).  There’s […]

South Carolina Hip-Hop on the National Stage

by Preach Jacobs The producer known as WillPower has only been in town for a couple of hours, but it’s already apparent that it’s going to be a long night. William Washington (also known as WillPower or Supahot Beats) has been working feverishly for this day: A hometown showcase of his most frequent collaborator, singer […]

Off Pointe and Into the World – Costume Designer Alexis Doktor

by Susan Levi Wallach Twelve weeks after dancing the role of Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty, the Columbia City Ballet’s season finale – which also is twelve weeks into her retirement as a ballet dancer – Alexis Doktor is thinking that the only thing better than being a dancer is not being a dancer. “I never […]