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American College of Building Arts Graduates Seven in Charleston, SC

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

Here’s a headline I didn’t find on the Post and Courier website today. I had to see it in The State – 7 graduate from American College of Building Arts.

Read more here: (http://www.thestate.com/2012/05/05/2264061/7-graduate-from-american-college.html).

I have two questions: How much money did it cost the City of Charleston and the local community to have these seven people graduate? Money that could have gone to other things. And, how many of the seven will end up staying in Charleston – six months to a year from now?

I wish this was a joke, but it’s just another of Mayor Joe Riley’s follies.

Oh – let me throw in a third question: I wonder how many students will graduate from Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC, this year? Another of Mayor Joe Riley’s follies.

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Posted in Charleston SC Visual Arts, Fundraisers, Politics and the Arts, SC Arts, Unbelievable but True | Comments Off

Shoestring Publishing Company Has Been Publishing an Arts Newspaper for 24 Years

Friday, July 8th, 2011

In early 1987, I got a real crazy idea. For some reason I thought what Charleston, SC, needed was an arts newspaper to tell its story and inform the good people of Charleston what was going on, from month to month, in its art community. I waited until after the Spoleto Festival was over to launch the paper in July, 1987. Now, 24 years later I’m thinking – What was it thinking?

I mean, why did I wait until after Spoleto, when the largest arts audience was in town? I knew why I started the paper. There wasn’t enough coverage of the arts in Charleston and it’s still a problem today – not just in Charleston but all over the Carolinas.

Somewhere along the line we decided to just focus on the visual arts – mainly exhibitions.

I’m sure there are many more people out there besides me who are wondering – How has that paper survived this long? All I can contribute on my behalf is – just stubborn I guess. I have no excuse for Linda, my better half – she should know better. But, I’ll shift the blame to all those people who over the years provided us with information (by deadline) and took out paid advertising – which is what really kept us alive. And, some credit goes to our printing company, Tri-State Printing – who we’ll still be paying money to for awhile.

I’m not going to take you readers on some long historical journey, I’ll save that for the 25th anniversary – if we make it. I just wanted to mark the occasion and say – Thank You – to all our supporters. Maybe by the 25th I’ll get that fourth interview with myself done. I always enjoy talking to that guy.

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Posted in Carolina Arts, Dreams That Can Come True, Unbelievable but True, What Ever Happened To..., Wishful Thinking | Comments Off

Truth Be Told About Spoleto Festival USA – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

I found these two quotes from Nigel Redden in an interview from the Reuters News Service about funding cuts to the arts on the internet. They are the first quotes I’ve seen with some truth told about the festival mixed in with a little wishful thinking.

The first quote is the wishful thinking on the financial impact of the festival: “Those cuts have come despite the fact that the Spoleto Festival brings between $55 million and $70 million to South Carolina each year,” Redden said.

$55 to $70 million – that’s quite a spread there. But, if this was true, the hotels, restaurants, and airlines should put up most of the $7.5 million budget for the festival – they’re the ones that would benefit the most. But those numbers come from economic formulas – not hard numbers. It’s economic guessing.

The second quote was the truth part: “The festival draws 25,000 to 35,000 people to the coastal city, and they buy 73,000 performance tickets and spend money on hotels, food, merchandise and tourist attractions,” he said.

Finally, we get the truth about how many people the festival attracts each year. They used to repeat this phrase until every reporter had it ingrained in their vocabulary when talking about Spoleto. “The Spoleto Festival attracts 100,000 people each year to Charleston and generates $70 million in economic impact”.

One year I called the box office after the festival was over and asked how many tickets they sold. The answer was around 70,000. Very interesting.

Unless 30,000 people were getting free admission, that was a long way from 100,000. There are a lot of folks who get given free tickets, but you have to be someone of fame, power, or at least have influence over funding. I knew there were very few people who come to Charleston to just attend one event. I also knew that a lot of locals go to Spoleto events. So, it wasn’t hard to figure that the real number was closer to 25,000 people coming to Charleston for the festival and it could even be less than that. It could be as little as 10,000 people coming from out of town to attend Spoleto events and if you start thinking about how many people come from towns and cities not too far from Charleston, but are in-State residents – the number could even get smaller.

There is a good reason Spoleto starts its festival every year during the Memorial Day Weekend. Charleston will be full of people that weekend and it makes it look like they’re all here for Spoleto, but if you ask people on the streets if they are here for Spoleto, 9 out of 10 won’t be and 7 of those won’t even know what Spoleto is. The festival has contracted the College of Charleston to do surveys, but what that means is positioning students in front of Spoleto venues before performances and asking folks going in the doors if they’re here for Spoleto – it’s very scientific.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re lucky to have the Spoleto Festival, but it has been over-sold for years as far as its impact on the economy and the city of Charleston. And, 10,000 well-off folks spending money in Charleston is nothing to throw away. But the Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, a visual art event, says they attract the same number of people, if not more, and have the same economic impact, if not more – and it’s an extended weekend compared to the three weeks of Spoleto. Of course its audience might be considered a little less refined. But they spend big bucks all the same.

Frankly, all events like this embellish the numbers on attendance and economic impact – they have to in order to attract donations and sponsorships. It’s the American way. We can’t be happy with reality – we have to be BIGGER than life.

It was refreshing to see the truth said for once – even if it was in an interview not seen in any local or regional papers. They’re all still repeating the original phrase of 100,000 visitors/$70 million impact.

Of course Spoleto could improve those numbers – if they actually put a visual art component back into the festival. But because they have no place they can present such visual arts and charge admission – they’re not interested. But it would attract more donations, more press coverage, and more people interested in visual art events.

Of course without the Spoleto Festival USA there would be no Piccolo Spoleto Festival – the “little” festival with its overkill of 700 plus events. And, without Piccolo there would be no cover for the City of Charleston to inject more funding into local performing art groups – who are paid to participate – here, there, and everywhere.

Talk about affirmative action and art welfare – Piccolo Spoleto is the poster child for propping up art groups who operate in the red constantly. And after June 11 – they will disappear until September when and if they can afford to present a “season” once more. I think of them as the part-time arts community, but with benefits. Except for the underpaid musicians of the Charleston Symphony who have to be the cheapest professionals on the planet – I’m not sure you should be able to call yourself a professional when your income is way below the poverty level.

So what’s my point in all this? It’s very simple.

The visual art community in Charleston is the real economic engine in this area and they get very little support or respect from the local, state, and national government sectors. They’re offering the arts all year long – in most cases for free. There is no “season” for the visual arts community. Sure, some times of the year are busier than others, but the show goes on no matter what.

So, maybe it’s time to concentrate on giving the visual art community some support, which will deliver a bigger economic payoff for the community, instead of pouring money down a black hole in trying to support arts groups who will always be a drain on the resources of the community.

But, then again, when I think that we have the same leadership in the arts community that we’ve had for the last 20-30 years – I know nothing is going to change.

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Posted in Art News, Carolina Visual Arts, Charleston SC Visual Arts, SC Arts, SC Visual Arts, Unbelievable but True, Wishful Thinking | Comments Off

How Much Do SC’s Public Workers Get Paid?

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

I was surfing through The State newspaper (online version) in Columbia, SC, as I do many Carolina newspapers keeping up with what’s going on and I noticed a headline which has probably been there for months, but for some reason caught my eye today. The headline was, “How much do SC’s public workers get paid?”.

The State offers a date base (http://www.thestate.com/statesalaries/) of what some State employees make each year. This database contains names, positions and salaries of state government employees making $50,000 or more a year in base salary, as furnished by the agencies in response to SC Freedom of Information Act requests. I just had to look and then I wished I didn’t. And as far as I know, these salaries do not include the value of State benefits and other perks (use of cars, travel expenses, etc.) given to these employees.

Here’s the question. Should Ken May, head of the SC Arts Commission make $91,664.009 a year?

That’s almost as much money as our new Governor was paid to raise funds for a Columbia hospital – another headline story in The State (http://www.thestate.com/2011/03/16/1738514/hospital-no-one-here-filled-out.html). According to The State, the not yet Governor was hired as a fundraiser by Lexington Medical Center in August 2008, a position created for her at a $110,000-a-year salary, which she held until April 2010 – although the not yet Governor had no experience as a fundraiser – other than being a politician. But that’s no big deal – lots of people in SC government are given important jobs with no experience.

Now, I’m going on record here. Ken May thinks of me as his nemesis. So I guess wondering if the job he is doing is worth $91,664.009 – it could be considered another poke at him and the SC Arts Commission.

But, I’m also wondering if Harriett Green, visual arts coordinator, should make $55,284.009 a year? I’m not sure that’s the kind of money anyone should be paid for moving a few exhibits (the same exhibits) around the state from year to year. So, it’s not just about Ken May.

Of course I guess these salaries are based on the old SC Arts Commission – the one that had twice the budget a few years ago – compared to the new Commission which will get smaller and smaller over the next few years – it not disappearing all together. And, I wonder how they figure in the .9 cents?

And, folks don’t forget – a smaller budget at the SC Arts Commission means smaller grant funds to groups and artists and smaller services rendered – but it seems the salaries… Well, maybe they’re less than what they used to be? Isn’t that how it works – the less money you have (I can’t say make) the less money you get?

Well, anyway – I wish I hadn’t clicked that link at The State. I was much happier not knowing. How about you?

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Carolina Arts Has Facebook Envy

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

I don’t know what it is but Facebook and I don’t get along. Maybe it’s because I ignored it for so long, but when we converted to an online paper, people told us – we need to get on Facebook.

Unfortunately after setting up the page, I did something (don’t let me near your computer) that has set us a back a few light years. I can’t even explain what I did, but there also doesn’t seem to be anyone at Facebook who will answer our pleas for help, so we go forward – limping into the future.

Our Internet guru Zelda helped straighten us out some, but I’m still the weak link in our organization. With a monthly newspaper that has doubled in size and two active blogs, I find myself left with little to add on Facebook, but I’m sure I’ll find my voice – someday. I didn’t understand blogs at first either.

So far, 102 people have liked us, and I’ve liked a few back, but I’ve been warned to stay away from the Facebook page until I understand what I’m doing. So, here I am – in a medium I understand – asking any and all out there who are reading this – to go to our page and like us.

I know we should have more people out there who really do like Carolina Arts, but some don’t do Facebook, or like me don’t know how to do it. Oh, they have a Facebook page that someone set up for them because they were also told they needed to be on Facebook, but like me – they have now been warned – don’t touch.

So, you folks who do Facebook and still read blogs – go to our Facebook page at (http://www.facebook.com/carolinaartsnewspaper) and like us. Ask your Facebook friends to like us. I want more likes. I need more likes. I have like envy. People won’t believe so many people are reading Carolina Arts, (over 17,000 so far this month) yet it has so few likes. What those two numbers have in common I don’t know, but we could use a few more likes.

Now, could someone explain to me what a like is?

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Posted in Carolina Arts, It's Not Art, The New Era, Unbelievable but True, Wishful Thinking | Comments Off

Artists, Art Collectors, Everyone – Beware!

Sunday, October 24th, 2010

There is an interesting article everyone in the visual art community should read in Columbia, SC’s  The State today (10/24/10) written by Helen O’Neill, an AP correspondent. Here’s the link. I’m sure this story is appearing in a lot of Sunday newspapers around the country.

Don’t think things like this couldn’t happen in the little old Carolinas – they have. It might have been on a much smaller scale but it has happened and could be taking place now.

The lesson is – make the arts more business like and less – who you know or who you think you know.

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Annual Carolina Renaissance Festival Takes Place in Huntersville, NC – Weekends Through Nov. 21, 2010

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

I don’t think it’s really fall until I’ve tasted some of the King’s nuts. Once I have, I know I’m back at the Carolina Renaissance Festival, usually in costume, where most people think I’m part of the festival. I love those roasted almonds. The King only accepts the best.

I’ve been going back in time for about a decade. I guess I keep hoping one year they’ll be offering some of the Queen’s tarts. Well, anyway I know all about it but there may be a few of you readers who don’t know a thing about this festival. So here’s the scoop.

Located just north of Charlotte in Huntersville, NC, is a village where imagination, fantasy, and history burst to life. It is a place where adults can feel and act like children while children are treated as royalty. It is a magical realm where you will forget about your daily cares and enjoy the magic of a simpler time and place.

It is the Carolina Renaissance Festival and Artisan Marketplace.

Introduced to the Charlotte area in 1994, the Carolina Renaissance Festival and Artisan Marketplace contained just six acres of village attractions. Now, the event has grown to become one of the largest renaissance themed events in the country as well as one of the largest attractions in the Carolinas.

Operating 7 consecutive Saturdays and Sundays in October through November 21, 2010, the 22-acre tree-lined Renaissance Festival village is nestled amongst 245 acres of beautiful forest coated in autumn colors. A perfect setting for a fictional, story-book renaissance village filled with charming cottages, castles, kitchens and pubs, all with the feel of a 16th century European village. A fictional village called Fairhaven – a peaceful shire where pleasure and celebration rules the day.

It is within the walls of Fairhaven that villagers, artists, crafts-people, musicians, performance troupes and food vendors have gathered together to create a marketplace festival in celebration for the arrival of their visiting King and Queen.

Entertainment

With trumpets blaring and cannon blasting, the gates of Fairhaven swing open at 10am and close at dusk. The day is filled with an abundance of attractions appropriate for all age groups, including 11 stages, each packed with a unique mix of continuous music, dance, comedy shows, and circus entertainments. From sword swallowing to one-of-a-kind old world musical instruments, the entertainment options are endless. The shows are always spontaneous, and you can take part in the action if you wish – or sit back and enjoy watching the audience volunteers who make a spectacle of themselves. You will never know what happens next, on stage or off.


The “Not to be Missed” Don Juan & Miguel Show

One of the special features of the Carolina Renaissance Festival is that the entertainment is not confined to the stage. The fun takes place right in front of you on the streets of Fairhaven Village, as a costumed cast of 300 medieval commoners, knights, and royalty celebrates a 16th century day of play. Part of the Renaissance experience is meeting and interacting with the colorful characters roaming the village, creating an interactive street theater. Musical fairies and lively woodland sprites embody childlike innocence. Close up magicians amaze and amuse. Wonderful statuary comes to life. There is even a walking tree! You can take audience with the King and Queen, or mingle with the mud covered peasants who endlessly proclaim… “Welcome to the greatest show in Earth!  Huzzah!”

Outrageously unpredictable and unstoppably hilarious, the Carolina Renaissance Festival blends the comedy of Monty Python with the mythology of The Lord of the Rings.

One would be remissed without mentioning the incredible array of live musical performances – many of which are accompanied by ethnic dance influenced by Ireland, Scotland, India, Africa, and the Middle East.  Ancient old world instruments such as the hurdy gurdy, hammered dulcimer, penny whistle, along with classical guitar ensembles and gentle harp music all fill the lanes of the village. Even scurrrvy pirates and old Irish folk songs have a home with adventure filled ballads that make you sing and shout along – all part and parcel of the Festival day.

Attractions

In addition to the non-stop schedule of entertainment, you cannot miss the birds of prey exhibition where the royal falconer will don his hunting garb and take you on a thrilling trip into the past explaining and demonstrating the use of falcons, hawks, owls and more in the ancient sport of falconry! Listen to fascinating bits of history delivered while a hawk flies overhead in a simulated hunt displaying the unique skills that enraptured nobles long ago and made falconry the sport of kings. It is both educational and awe inspiring as you learn about the popularity of falconry in the renaissance while watching a falcon dive at over 100 miles an hour!

A modern recreation of the Renaissance era wouldn’t be complete without a depiction of one of the grandest events of the time period – the tournament Joust! Easily the Carolina Renaissance Festival’s most popular attraction, the joust is full of pomp, pageantry, and chivalry. Three times daily, noble Knights strap on the heavy suits of armor and mount two tons of snorting steeds. With plumes waving and chain mail clanking, they take up their lances and charge at one another in tilt. Shattering lances, clashing swords, and daring deeds of bravery all collide into a realistic recreation of a joust to the death! These Knights (actually stunt riders and actors) battle inside the village on a large tournament field in a 2,000 seat arena.  Adults and children alike can join in the fun and cheer their favorite knight with creative and sarcastic chants taught by the Fairhaven rabble rousers!

Games & Rides

The Carolina Renaissance Festival is home to plenty of activities for children including a most unusual collection of people powered rides and games of skill. Inspired by the joust? Try your skill with a lance on the Slider Joust challenge game. You can storm the castle in a paintball battle or try to solve the riddle of climbing Jacob’s Ladder. Mix skillful pleasure and comic adventure by throwing tomatoes at the insulting fools locked in the stocks at Vegetable Justice. Test your skill at games like the Dragon Climbing Tower, the Archery Range, and the Maze. Fly high into the sky on the Pirate’s Assault Catapult. Take a ride on Christopher Columbus’ Voyage to the New World, the Piccolo Pony (a rocking horse bigger than an elephant), and Leonardo’s Flying Machine; a people powered amusement ride based on Di Vinci’s designs for human flight.

A family favorite is Mother (and Father) Goose brought to life with their costumed ducks and geese, the Petting Farm, and Camel and Elephant Rides.

Already the Carolinas’ largest costume party, put the Carolina Renaissance Festival on your Halloween list of things to do with free event admission for all children 12 and under, with free tricks & treats to be found all around the Festival village, and a Halloween Treasure Hunt with prizes! Children are encouraged to show off their Halloween costumes and enter the Halloween Costume Contest!

Shopping

In addition, the Renaissance Festival is a great place to buy your Halloween costume or accessories. Early holiday shoppers can peruse over 100 craft shops in an open-air village market which provides a diverse selection of handmade items such as pottery, jewelry, perfume, glass blown ornaments, ceramics, bath & body products, medieval costumes, hand carved candles, unique musical instruments, children’s toys, a full spectrum of clothing, and much more. You can even create your own special gift at the raku pottery booth.

Housed in rows of storybook shops and medieval style tents, you can watch artisans make a masterpiece right before your eyes. Enjoy demonstrations of fine skills such as weaving, woodcarving, blacksmithing, glassblowing, pottery, and jewelry making – all through the use of ancient skills and low technology.

Eating

Did you work up an appetite perusing all the shops and enjoying all the entertainment? Well you will be pleased to know that the food is as spectacular as all the attractions. In addition to the shows, music, crafts, and the wonder of getting lost in another time, people visit the Carolina Renaissance Festival for the food as well. Village kitchens cook up an endless feast of bread bowl stews, steak-on-a-stake, gourmet sausages, and the festival’s famous giant roasted turkey legs. For dessert, try the fresh crepes, the cakes and cookies from the Monks Bakery, candy delights from the Chocolate Shoppe, Italian ice, gelato, and a favorite of all renaissance wanderers: a bag of cinnamon-roasted almonds (the King’s nuts). Festival pubs soft drinks, a wide variety of craft beer, wine, champagne, ale, honey mead, lemonade and Medieval Margaritas to compliment the day-long feast of hearty foods fit for royalty.

Each year the Carolina Renaissance Festival adds new entertainment and new facilities making it the fall destination for quality entertainment in the Carolinas. And for visitor convenience, the Festival has embraced modern times. In addition to purchasing advanced discount tickets at Harris Teeter grocery stores region-wide, visitors can now print their own tickets in advance on the Festival’s website at (www.RenFestInfo.com). So bust out your sense of good cheer, leave your cares behind, and take a day trip out to the wildly popular and entertaining time machine known as the Carolina Renaissance Festival and Artisan Market Place.

Advance Discount Tickets: $18 for adults, $7 for kids ages 5-12; available at Harris Teeter Stores region wide. Children under 5 are always free. Tickets purchased at the gate are $1 more, or print your own online at (www.RenFestInfo.com). Senior (60 and over) and adult Military discount tickets are $17 at the gate. Parking is free courtesy of Harris Teeter.

Event Sponsors: The Carolina Renaissance Festival is presented by Harris Teeter, Carolina Blonde, Pepsi, and the Charlotte Observer.

For more event information call 704/896-5544; toll free at 877/896-5544, or on the web at (www.RenFestInfo.com).

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An E-Mail From China

Friday, May 21st, 2010

I have to admit, I couldn’t have dreamed up a better last blog post before my two-year anniversary of blogging at Carolina Arts Unleashed. After a long day I checked my e-mail one last time and this is what I got last night – a first.

Here it is:

Dear Sir/Madam,
How are you?
This is Xiamen (China) Sinoorigin Art Co., Ltd .
We can supply Thomas Kinkade style oil painting from photo.


This is an example they sent.

If you have taken any beautiful digital photos of landscape, scene…that you want to transform them into hand painted oil paintings, please contact with us. We can paint the paintings into Thomas Kinkade style, also realistic style, impressionism style and palette knife oil painting.

If you need any further information about oil paintings, please contact with us.

We shall quote the exact prices after seeing the images, required sizes, style, quantity…

Best regards.

Shi XiuMei
Company: Xiamen (China) Sinoorigin Art Co.,Ltd
Website: www.sinoorigin.com
Email: sinoorigin@yahoo.cn
MSN: sinoorigin@hotmail.com
Tel: 86-592-6113479

Oh happy day! Now everyone who wants one can get a Thomas Kinkade painting – just like the ones that are produced under his namesake. I wonder if the owners of this company ask their painters to add a little of their own blood into the paint placed on every painting?

Sometimes when I see something crazy for sale in a store here in America and I see that it was made in China – I have to think that the workers who make these things must think we are all nuts in America. While they spend their hard earned money on the necessities – we are spending our money on junk they make for us. Now, they think we actually want more Thomas Kinkade style paintings – that there are not enough of them to go around already.

Please e-mail Mr. Shi XiuMei to let him know that he should find something else for his gifted painters to produce. In fact, he should consider letting them paint what they want – it’s got to be better than making copies of Thomas Kinkade’s over-the-top images of a world Disney never imagined.

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Morning After Snow in Bonneau, SC – Feb. 2010

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

Well, as you can see, it was a winter wonderland – the morning after. It was well worth the 20+ year wait.

The only problem – it took some time to find the cord to download images from the camera into the computer.


Here’s our evening snowman in the morning.


This is looking out our front door.


Another view across the street.


Simply amazing!

I hope we don’t have to wait another 20 years for this to happen again, but then again, I hope we never have another winter as cold as this one.

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Snowing in Bonneau, SC – Again in 2010

Friday, February 12th, 2010

This strange winter has delivered just about all the things I lived with back in Michigan, so many years ago – except the days when it’s 60 and 70 degrees in between.

Today it started to snow at about 3pm and it hasn’t stopped yet at almost 11pm. We went out after dinner and made this snowman. I can’t wait to see what it looks like outside tomorrow morning.

This isn’t Washington, DC, but it’s just as strange to us here in South Carolina.

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