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Arts Daily – More Like Arts Monthly

Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

During one of the early mornings on my last delivery run of the paper it came to 5am and I tuned into the local public radio station in South Carolina. I was listening to National Public Radio’s (NPR) Morning Edition and during one of the local station breaks the SC Arts Commission’s Arts Daily came on promoting some event to take place in August. This was July 2 and they were promoting an event that wouldn’t take place until the next month. It seems like I had been hearing a lot of those announcements from Arts Daily lately – as if nothing was going on – this day, or within a few days – worth promoting. I knew there were lots of visual art events taking place right now, but they were not being promoted.

It also seems that the promotion of some events go on for at least a week if not longer. And, I also remember hearing Arts Daily promotions of events taking place in July and August during the Spoleto and Piccolo Spoleto Festivals (May 23 – June 9). The Festivals get a lot of promotion from the local public radio station but a lot of events taking place got little mention – if any. So why was Arts Daily promoting events taking place months away?

Now this is the vocal part of Arts Daily – which is also a website that anyone can go to and see what’s going on in South Carolina that day or in the future (up to a certain point in time). So only a few selected items from off the website are mentioned on the radio spots which air several times daily on SCETV – South Carolina’s Education Television and Radio Network. I don’t know why it’s not called SCETVR?

The way Arts Daily works – the people presenting these art events can go on the SC Arts Commission’s website and add an event. The presenters do the work for the Arts Commission by adding these event listings. The Arts Commission is just hosting the site. This was a point I had to explain to several of the Arts Commission staff members at a meeting once. They didn’t know much about how it worked.

Another beef I have as a SC taxpayer is that they promote a lot of events taking place in North Carolina – mostly Charlotte. Don’t get me wrong – I have nothing against North Carolina’s art community – we do a fair amount of promoting the visual arts there ourselves, but no SC taxpayer is assisting us in doing so. We’re a private business.

It would be one thing if while I’m driving around NC listening to their public radio stations I heard a few promotions for SC arts, but I don’t. There seems to be no reciprocity on NC’s part.

Also because Arts Daily is self-serve and un-monitored – artists from all over the county and elsewhere have been linking themselves to the web links page. It didn’t take long to find out that artists with names like Alexander Sadoyan, Grant Avakyan, and Lia Chehelashvili – were not local SC artists.

Taxpayers are paying for the promotion of SC’s artists – I think the site and it’s promotion should be just for SC artists. And, if you call something a “Daily” it shouldn’t be about things taking place a month or two away. Lots of art events are going on in SC on a daily basis.

But, then again – they would say – Tom, you’re always so negative. Can’t you celebrate our efforts to promote the arts? Can’t we all just get along?

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Gene Speer’s Exhibit at McMaster Gallery in Columbia, SC

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

As my last act during this month’s delivery of the paper I stopped in Columbia, SC, on my way back home from Charlotte, NC, to see if the Gene Speer exhibit, Line • Circle • Square, was still on view. I was in luck, but it was the last day of the exhibit (July 3, 2008).

Highway 101 Series, oil pastel

We didn’t receive notice of this exhibit until after our deadlines for the June or July issue, so this exhibit wasn’t included in the printed version of the paper or on our website, but I was interested in seeing the exhibit since seeing the work Speer had in the SC State Museum’s juried exhibit. And, I wasn’t disappointed – there, as a centerpiece of the exhibit at the McMaster Gallery exhibition, was another one of Speer’s mixed media works in his Highway 101 Series. I am really attracted to this – at least new to me – work by Speer’s. He had seven works in all under the Highway 101 Series title, but the other six were several monotypes, a lithograph and several oil pastels. I liked the oil pastel works too. Well, I liked the entire exhibit, but I’m really taken by the mixed media works and the oil pastels in this series. Some of the works are just titled Highway 101 Series and others were given subtitles like Hwy. 78 East or I-26 South.

I really didn’t see any highways in these images, but I didn’t have to in order to enjoy the works. Speer is an abstract expressionist so the works are his reaction to what he sees and feels. My reaction is on a whole different level to color, texture and shapes. Besides, if the highways I travel each month start looking to me like Speer’s works – my delivery days are over.

I’d love to see an exhibition of just the mixed media works in this Highway 101 Series.

The exhibit as a whole is a view at a wide range of techniques and media done in variations of Speer’s basic concept of vertical runs for the Highway 101 Series, grid patterns, and circular works. I read in a review by Mary Gilkerson for Free Times in Columbia that all of the works were done over the last two years. I would have thought that it might have been a longer span of time. It would seem that Speer’s has been a busy artist with a lot of ideas on his mind.

The least structured work in the exhibit was a black ink on white paper monotype entitled Bare to the Bone #4. There were no grids, no rows of symbols or any sign of organization in this piece. I guess it was a sign of Speer really letting go.

There was a small mixed media piece tucked away in a little corner of the gallery titled Short Circuit. I would have liked to take this piece home with me. I’m talking about buying it of course – if I had some money. (As many opportunities that I have had over the years to walk out of a not-so-well attended gallery with a work of art – it has never crossed my mind to do so – other than worry about whether other less scrupulous individuals do.) This work was maybe 5″ x 5″ square with small pieces of copper placed in a grid pattern against a darker gray/black background. This was sort of a 3-D version of Speer’s usual grid prints. They may have been pieces of a copper plate used to make some other print. The title might refer to a print that didn’t work out so well – who knows, but it was interesting to speculate as the piece was so different from the rest of the works – and after all it was sent to a corner of the room all by itself.

Adding to the total range of media used in this exhibit there were two other small works, one was Untitled, which was a grid pattern in acrylics, and one titled Yellow Can, which was a grid in watercolors.

A work entitled Month of June was comprised of six monotypes of black ink on white paper, with two rows of three images. These were circular shapes which looked like moonscapes. They looked more deliberate than most of the other works, so they stood out a bit in my opinion.

There were also four large circle-shaped monotype works – with lots of bright colors and lots of different shapes in the circles. They were more like the last work I can remember seeing of Speer’s in an exhibit – some time ago.

Another work in the – don’t you want to come home with me category was – This Way, an oil pastel. I can’t remember how it fit into the exhibit – line, circle, square – grid or what. I just remember writing down in my notes – I like this one too.

Highway 101 Series, mixed media

But, my all time favorite was the largest piece in the show, the Highway 101 Series mixed media work which was like the one found in the SC State Museum show – on exhibit through Sept. 7, 2008. I’m not really good at judging the size of some works, but this was maybe a 7′ long by 5′ tall work with eight rows running vertically down the piece. It’s white with colors breaking through from behind the white layers. There are some splashes of color on the outside of the white, but most of the color in the work comes from layers behind the white – making this work more muted than Speer’s other works. There could be a lot of layers of colors – it’s hard to tell, but the effect is wonderful – it had my abstract taste buds popping.

I’d love to say go see this show, but it’s over. All I can say is that if any of this sounds good to you – keep an eye and ear out for the name Gene Speer. Maybe another show is in the works somewhere in the Carolinas.

I know Speer is represented by Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC. And, I was disappointed that he doesn’t seem to have a website. I was hoping to link to some images of his works, but I didn’t find any sign of a site in a Google search. And I didn’t take my camera with me, so I’m sorry we don’t have any images at this time, but I’ll still be looking for some – so check back from time to time.

P.S. Since writing this we received two images from Gene Speer of works in the show and have received a web link to some other photos of his work. You can see the images @ http://web.mac.com/mcmastergallery/McMaster_Gallery/Gene_Speer.html

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The Peoples Arts Center – One Step Further Along

Friday, July 11th, 2008

I didn’t get to attend this second meeting on July 1, 2008, entitled, Creative Spaces: Developing a Unified Center for the Arts, which was a follow up to the Creative Spaces panel discussion hosted at Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, SC, on April 24, 2008. This meeting was held at Theater 99, located at 280 Meeting Street in Charleston.

I was attending to my duties as editor and publisher of Carolina Arts – delivering papers across the Carolinas. I was in the car heading to Western North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina and eventually later the next morning to Columbia, SC. I would have rather been at the meeting, but the paper and its supporters come first.

Better yet, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during some of the discussions by members of the Charleston Arts Coalition after they got a hold of John Stoerr’s late night blog about this meeting on Charleston City Paper’s website.

After reading the blog myself I have to say – if truth matters – according to Stoerr – I’m not sure he’s been here long enough to have developed such a harsh attitude about what can and won’t happen in Charleston. And, in my experience – he might not be here much longer. Charleston may be too small for him.

I will admit that five years ago I didn’t believe Redux would last so long – especially after its founders returned to university, but it has. These people have earned our benefit of the doubt. As someone who has been involved in Charleston’s art community for over 30 years – I’ve got a right to be discouraged or skeptical when these movements come around, but I haven’t given up hope – not yet. It’s way too early to start passing judgment on this effort.

I was really disappointed in missing this meeting as I wanted to hear comments from Fred Delk, director of the Columbia Development Corporation (CDC) which is currently exploring ideas to pull off the Columbia Art Studio Project. The project is currently envisioned to be artist-owned studios on a 1.5-acre lot owned by the Columbia Development Corporation, located behind One Eared Cow Glass at 1001 Huger Street in Columbia, SC’s Vista area along the Congaree River. The Vista is a hot bed of development in Columbia – now. Not so, 10 -15 years ago.

The Columbia Art Studio Project has been knocking around for a number of years and it seems they may be getting close, so it is a good example of what is being done in other places, but it is also an example of how behind Charleston is in supporting “some” areas of the arts – the visual arts.

Here’s a little bit from the Columbia Development Corporation’s website about their work in supporting the arts in Columbia’s Vista area: “Early in the Vista’s development, the CDC assisted in the creation of arts-related business and opened the Vista Studios. The 12-artist studio began with a grant from CDC and the SC Arts Commission, which supplemented lease rates for artists for the first 5 years. Now, nearly 15 years later, the studios still provide studios and galleries for working artists, preserving a vibrant and creative presence in the center of the neighborhood. The Vista Studios still operates at its original location as Studio 80808 at 808 Lady Street.”

“Support and strengthening of the arts community early on became a key to the growth and development of the Vista district. That support resulted in the Vista being the location of dozens of artists, galleries, and studios. The creative edge of the Vista also attracts other design professionals. Architects, graphic designers, web designers and advertising agencies abound in the area.”

Do you know of a group like the Columbia Development Corporation in Charleston? I don’t, and if they exist where have they been all these years? The Vista area in Columbia is also served by the Congaree Vista Guild. They purchase ads in Carolina Arts to promote the district and art related events taking place there.

Here’s a blurb from their website: “The Congaree Vista Guild is the voice of the district and its strongest development advocate. We are a non-profit, membership-based, organization charged with seeing that Columbia’s Vista is a vibrant symbol of our progressive Southern city. Led by a 14-member Board of Directors representing a variety of business sectors, the Congaree Vista Guild and its members are dedicated to making the Vista the place of choice for shopping, dining, and entertainment, a national and international tourist destination, and a high-energy urban environment to live and grow businesses.”

Do you know of a group like that in Charleston? We don’t even have an arts council here anymore. So the Charleston Arts Coalition is working at a disadvantage.

I know there are some who think that with a Mayor like Joe Riley, who is so supportive of the arts – who needs all these organizations? But, my experience is that Mayor Joe is very helpful to the performing arts but not the visual arts and although The Peoples Arts Center is for visual and performing arts groups – Mayor Riley hasn’t been very productive lately. The Charleston Symphony Orchestra has been pushing for a new facility for years and there is nothing on the drawing board.

Some would say – Well what about the City Gallery at Waterfront Park? Didn’t the Mayor deliver that? Not really – that was purely a trade with developers to get their hands on a prime piece of real estate. The Mayor then had the designers turn the space into a party palace more than an exhibit space and hasn’t properly funded the facility. It’s a city stepchild and under-used with no real focus or direction.

In the Post & Courier on 7/06/08, the Mayor announced that he (the City – one in the same) was giving one of the buildings Charleston got from the SC Highway Department “for free” to be used as research and laboratory space – a business incubator. The same article also mentions that the former SCE&G trolley barn, which the City now owns is next to the building which will be used for research and states that the City has no plans for it – at this time. So, why doesn’t that art supporting Mayor step up with another donation to help the local arts community – with an arts incubator? Or are there plans for this building – just no one is telling what they are?

Some would say – What about the City of Charleston’s Office of Cultural Affairs? Wouldn’t they be a source of support for a new arts center? Please – talk about people who have too much heaped on their plate already. They got kicked out of the Dock Street Theatre – even after renovations are finished, the City Gallery at the Dock Street is gone too. It wasn’t much but it was light years better than a couple of hallways in a bank building. Also the new city gallery space doesn’t have the Dock Street audience anymore as built-in viewers. That’s a major loss for the artists exhibiting their works.

Plus, back in the days when Diane Abbey was director of the Office of Cultural Affairs – that was the last days of equal treatment between visual and performing arts. She spent major bucks on renovating spaces all over Charleston for visual art exhibits during the Piccolo Spoleto Festivals. We haven’t seen that kind of commitment from the OCA in years.

The Columbia Art Studio Project is being headed up by the business community in Columbia. They have learned that the arts are good for business development – something the business community in Charleston just hasn’t come around to yet as a concept. Oh, they like the Spoleto Festival USA, but that support isn’t trickling down to the local art community that well – if at all.

Frankly, Charleston is and always has been a performing arts town when it comes to financial support and I don’t see any changes on the horizon. Look at the support the Gibbes Museum of Art isn’t getting from the local business community and the local governments. And, I’m sure the Charleston Ballet Theatre group won’t be left out in the cold for too long. They seem to have been a pet project of the City of Charleston in the past. Don’t worry about them.

But, things could be different and the steps the Charleston Arts Coalition are making are in the right direction. After all, more help may come from outside Charleston. And, if the artists are smart this time around, they won’t wait for help from others in Charleston – they’ll put themselves into this project wholeheartedly.

But hopefully one of the next steps will be a better name for this proposed center. The Peoples Arts Center is going to be a problem in the future. It will remind potential supporters of the old Soviet era or of China. Besides, if you ever want support from the City of Charleston – you better get the word Charleston into your name – somewhere.

I for one don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade – even before the parade starts, but I also won’t be viewing this project with rose colored glasses on either. I’ve been down too many dead end roads before. Frustration is a hard pill to swallow – over and over again.

So let’s give these people a chance. Let’s hope things will be different this time – anything is possible if you want it badly enough.

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Farewell Kim Richards – We’re Gonna Really Miss You

Thursday, July 10th, 2008

After directing the South Carolina Watermedia Society (formerly Watercolor Society) down a steady path of growth and solid leadership, Kim Richards has left the organization to move back to Washington State, where she once ran the SCWS long-distance. Richards has been living in Georgia since coming from Washington. You’ve got to be good to run an organization from several thousand miles away and with several time zone differences. And, she was – very good.

Richards also had the yearly challenge of organizing the Society’s annual member exhibition in a different part of South Carolina with the help of different leadership each year.

It was a real pleasure and a great help in being able to work with the same person for many of those years. It’s something you don’t see in many other organizations in this state. It is one of the reasons – probably the main reason – the South Carolina Watermedia Society is the largest visual arts organization in South Carolina, and most successful one too.

Twenty-one years is a long time. It’s the same time Linda and I have been doing an arts newspaper.

When Richards first called to tell us the news my first reaction was – “No, No, No – you can’t leave!” My second reaction was – “Good for you. You’re getting out!” It’s a love/hate thing. You love what you are doing, but you hate the environment you have to work in sometimes. South Carolina is not an easy place to be working in the arts – especially the visual arts. There are many challenges that just shouldn’t be that hard to deal with.

Richards, like an old war veteran, has many decorations for valor and just as many scars from her battles, but she is leaving victoriously. Let’s just hope the Society does her proud in making sure the organization grows and prospers in her absence.

The Queen is dead – long live the Queen. Only in this case no queen has died. The society has hired a new director, Damita Jeter, from Lexington, SC. Jeter earned her BA in Journalism and Mass Communications from the University of South Carolina and has extensive experience as a meeting and special events planner.

Although Jeter has big shoes to fill, she’ll have one big advantage – she lives in South Carolina. That’s got to count for something. Let’s all help her make this transition as easy as possible and I hope Jeter finds the shoe size a perfect fit and we have her for 21 years – ’cause I hate change.

If you want to give Jeter a big welcome to the art community, you can e-mail her at scwatermediasociety@gmail.com or visit the SCWS website at www.fineartsemporium.com.

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Carolina Arts Unleashed – A Little Photo-Lite

Saturday, July 5th, 2008

I’m sure you have noticed that we don’t seem to be offering many photo images of artworks mentioned in many of our postings. Believe me it’s not for not trying. We have been having some difficulty getting them to work in this new blog format. It’s different software than what we are used to and if you’re not a total computer wizard – sometimes it takes a while to figure things out.

Like when I first decided to use WordPress as my blog format – their site said you can be started in just five minutes. It took us a month and a half to work out all our problems before we could launch into cyberspace. We had some issues with our server to say the least.

Well, we finally were successful in getting some images up on my review of the SC State Museum’s juried show. Photos supplied by the SC State Museum and one by Lynne Riding. This post is titled, A Layman’s View, posted on June 12, 2008. So now you can see some of the images – if you haven’t made the trip to see the exhibit yet. Don’t just accept my word on things go see this show. Oh and by the way, our July 2008 cover of Carolina Arts features works from that exhibition too.

Also, you may have noticed a lack of postings since the end of June and until now, a week into July. Well that’s going to be a regular pattern – it’s called delivery time. I’m on the road for four to five days straight, traveling in big circles around North and South Carolina. It’s a lot of driving and too little sleep and no time to blog – much less keep up with e-mail.

So hopefully new posts will be coming and photos will be included – when I remember to take my camera or when I’m able to take photos. And, maybe some other additions – who knows what we can learn – day to day. It’s still all so very new to me.

One more thing, for you readers who may not see our paper Carolina Arts or who haven’t been regular visitors to our website. Carolina Arts Unleashed, almost from the first week it was launched has become the most popular page on our website. That’s amazing. I had no idea how fast word could spread.

Thanks for your interest and time spent reading and reading and reading. But don’t forget about our paper and the website. There is a lot of information there.

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