Archive for the ‘What Ever Happened To…’ Category

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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The Day Man Stepped on the Moon

Monday, July 20th, 2009

All day today members of the media will be posing the question – do you remember where you were when man first stepped on the moon – July 20, 1969? And, I do – I’m really lucky I have any memory of those times – really lucky to have a few brain cells left from that time.

July 1969 was the summer after high school graduation for me and my group of friends seemed to have been celebrating since graduation in early June. A lot of drinking and what not.

That summer my family’s home was the party house. My parents were spending a lot of time in northern Michigan – sometimes two and three weeks at a time and almost every weekend. My dad was a big fisherman. So the group of guys I hung out with were practically living at my house – when they were not at summer jobs, but every evening no matter what – my house was the focal point.

We were big card players back then and the game that summer was In-Between or High or Low. This was a game where everyone playing would put a dollar in the pot and the dealer would place two cards face up and each player could make a bet if the next card would fall in-between. Like if you had a two and a king – chances are the next card would fall in-between, but if it was an ace, two or king – you were burned and you had to put in the pot what your bet was. Depending on how good your chances were – was how much you bet. If you got really good cards – like a two and an ace – with aces you could call it high or low – if this was a high ace – you might bet to cover the pot. Most saw that as a sure bet, but when you’re drinking a lot, there’s a large group and a lot of distractions – you might forget that there are still some twos or aces that have not been played yet in that deck – and get burned when the next card came up. You’d be amazed on how many people got burned on a so called sure thing.

And, then there were some that were so crazy or felt so lucky that they would bet – a lot of money that the next card would be in-between an eight and a king or even less of a spread. We were a crazy bunch back then.

We would play this game all night long or until someone won everyone else’s money. After one of those nights a bunch of us were still chillin’ out – another word for suffering from our hangovers – and watching TV – watching Neil Armstrong get ready to make the first step on the moon. After he did it and didn’t blow up or something or a hand reach out from the ground and grab his foot we cheered – like the rest of the country was doing and started saying – this is big, this is something and before you knew it we were saying – we need to do something – something big. It was, “One small step for man,” and we were going to take one too.

What we came up with was a train trip to Montreal, Canada. Our school’s French club had gone there on a school trip and we heard it was great so we figured that would be a big trip for us. As my memory goes, five guys came up with the money we figured – to the penny – we needed to make the trip – train fare both ways, hotel fee, and some for “entertainment”.

I won’t go into the details of the trip – mostly because I can’t remember them all and what I do remember is a little fuzzy, but we did it and for me – my parents didn’t even know I had left the country. A point of pride throughout my life – it was called independence.

I will tell you a little about the train ride that seemed to last forever. In 1969, as you graduated from high school as a young, healthy US male, we were required to register for the draft and then wait for the draft lottery when your birth-date was assigned a number – mine was 127 – not good, not totally bad, but that’s another story altogether (See the movie Across the Universe). I can bet you that every US male of a certain age group can tell you what their draft number was – to this day. We’re talking Viet Nam folks. On the train, the Grand Trunk Railroad, as we passed into Canada, a conductor came to each of us and asked to see our draft cards and asked – “are you guys really coming back to the US?”. At that point it was never a thought in our minds – we were all headed to college in the fall. Also, at the time, we didn’t know what our draft number would be – that came later that summer – good thing too – I might have ended up living with some of my old distant relatives in Canada.

We all made it back to the good old US of A – penniless, but we had done something – something that to us was big.

Back then America was a can-do society, president John F. Kennedy had thrown down the challenge to Americans and we stepped up. The summer of 1969 was also the summer of Woodstock. I recently watched the movie and felt a little sad about how my generation let a great opportunity slip by to really change our nation and the world. It seems these days we’re more like the – well, I don’t know – it sounds good but maybe we shouldn’t take the chance generation.

Maybe it’s time we did something big – something special for American and maybe, one day we can get ourselves back to the garden. But then, maybe that’s just a line from a song from once upon a time in America.

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Thinking of Judith McGrath Down in Western Australia

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Yesterday, after another sweltering trip to Charleston, SC, I returned home to check my e-mail. While sorting through the days’ list of junk, outlandish offers, jokes about our Governor (no name offered) and even a few directed for Carolina Arts – I found myself gazing at a few e-mails I leave on my incoming list as a reminder of things – things to do, people to get back with, e-mails that I shouldn’t forget about, and e-mails kept for legal reasons. That’s right, I have to occasionally deal with some people who are down right nuts, so I keep their e-mails.

Among those e-mails was the last one I received from Judith McGrath down in Kalamunda, Western Australia, near Perth. This one is saved as a good reminder and as I looked at it I wondered about what it would be like to be there right now. You see, while we’ve been going through 90+ temps for several weeks, thunder storms, and near 90 percent humidity, Australia is going through its winter season. I know – the grass is always greener…

McGrath was a contributor to Carolina Arts for almost ten years, until the economy hit the fan and we had to cut back on expenses (even small ones) and space in the paper, but I miss her words about the visual art community in her corner of the world and most of the time about the visual art community in general. Through her writing we learned that it is a small world and things are not that different – no matter where you are.

So, I sent her an e-mail and woke up this morning and found the following response about what has been going on with her. She’s been teaching an Art Appreciation class at the local Learning Centre in her area.

Here’s part of her e-mail:

Talk about great minds thinking alike! I was just on your site the other day and enjoyed reading your blog about the National Outdoor Sculpture Competition and Exhibition in North Charleston. Also appreciated viewing the excellent pictures and deciding which ones I’d like to have in my own garden – when I’m rich and famous! I particularly liked the gentle flow of Pattie Firestone’s Thoughts Running Like a River, the contemplative aspect of Corrina Sephora Mensoff’s, Where I have come from, what will I leave behind?, and James Burnes’ Rich Sis which had me thinking of a retired race horse, worn out but still majestic. However, all were excellent presentations.

We have two similar sculptural exhibitions Down Under, both presented on the white sands of the beach, albeit each with a different ocean as a backdrop. One is on Bondi Beach along the Pacific Ocean near Sydney on the Eastern side of the continent, the other is held on Cottesloe Beach by the Indian Ocean near Perth in Western Australia. I always enjoy attending the latter and seeing families lounging on the sand, under the sun and in the company of monumental works of art in all manner of material. It reminds me that art should always be for the general public, not just the literati.

You may have noticed that I’ve been slack about posting reviews on my own site. My only excuse is that I’m finding precious little to write about when meandering through commercial galleries and local public venues. What I have found is how the rhetorical “there’s nothing new in art” has become the reality of “seen it all before”? As such I fear for the future of the visual arts due to the lack of inspirational and/or practical artistic education.

In my capacity as an art reviewer I have no problem with giving polite “corrective” criticism to aspiring artists who are happy to take it on board as they may benefit from it. However, I am not in the habit of writing “negative” reviews because, as an ex-art history lecturer, I am aware that anything written, be it positive or negative, is archived and available to future generations. My logic runs along the lines that if I name a practitioner in an article, whether I condemn or praise their work, it is proof that at one time, he or she existed as an “artist” therefore according them a place in future art history. With that in mind, I have banned myself from writing “bad” reviews, as there is already sufficient “equine manure” in print validating the artistic underachiever.

The ban became a real hurdle for me when viewing the latest exhibition of works by newly graduated art students. While walking through the exhibition the thought that if this is the “best” the schools have to offer had me fighting an urge to sit down and cry. The craft work was excellent while only a few sculptors considered their 3D constructions from all points of view. But it was the painting that brought tears to my eyes as they lacked an understanding of color usage and underlying compositional structure. It was so depressing I was sorely tempted to break my long held “ban on the bad” as I felt something had to be said publicly. And I would have overcome the temptation and ignore the show until I spotted one exhibit that was very familiar. I had seen something very much like it twenty-odd years ago in a different gallery. I knew who the artist was then, and I knew he was now a lecturer in the art school being represented by this student. As I stood in front of the work, I asked the gallery manager if teachers were exhibiting too. He knew what I saw, smiled enigmatically and shook his head.

There’s a saying in the art world in my town that goes; “Them that can, do. Them that can’t, teach.” It’s no wonder there is nothing new for me to say about art in my town. I do hope in your town, each year brings new and exciting aspects in the wonderful world of the visual arts.

Cheers

I’m hoping as the economy recovers and we get through this long summer, I’ll be able to offer McGrath’s writings again in Carolina Arts. You can still find the articles McGrath sent us archived on our website here, dating back to 2000.

Judith McGrath lives in Kalamunda, Western Australia, 25 minutes east of Perth. She received a BA in Fine Art and History from the University of Western Australia. McGrath lectured in Art History and Visual Literacy at various colleges around the Perth area, and was an art reviewer for The Sunday Times and The Western Review both published in the Perth area. McGrath is currently a freelance writer, reviewer for various art magazines in Australia and teaching. She also co-ordinates the web site Art Seen in Western Australia.

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McClatchy Newspapers Can’t Silence Jeffrey Day

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

A few weeks ago I told you about the loss of arts coverage in SC when The State newspaper in Columbia, SC, a McClatchy newspaper, eliminated Jeffrey Day’s job, long time art critic and arts writer for The State. We’ve already seen the results of that move when Susie Surkamer, head of the SC Arts Commission announced her retirement, effective on May 2, 2009, and The State offered a lackluster article about that announcement – with no comment – because they don’t know what to say.

Well, Day has started his own blog today about the Columbia arts scene and beyond at Carolina Culture. We’ll have to wait and see how this blog develops, but I hope Day takes advantage of the freedom of writing without the constraints of newspaper editors.

Now for all you out there that have been missing your Jeffrey Day fix – you have a new home to get it, and for all you who didn’t exactly agree with Day’s views – you too have a place to get your fix. Check it out.

I wish Day good luck in this new adventure and am glad to see more coverage of the arts in SC – even if it is only in cyberspace.

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I’ve Been Traveling To New York City

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

I’ve driven through parts of New York on I-95, but have never had a strong desire to park the car there and get out. I’m not sure why, but I’m beginning to wonder if that’s not a wrong idea on my part. You see, I’ve been traveling to the Big Apple recently – through the eyes and writings of an old friend.

When I first got the idea to take on doing a blog I went to the internet to see if I could find some blogs about the visual arts to see what they contained – to get a feel for what others are doing. In my very first search I found a list of blogs and ten down was one described something like – read about the visual arts in the Big Apple through the eyes of a Texan. The blog was called Walking Off the Big Apple.

My first impression was – that should be interesting. Once I got to the site and read a little further about the author I wondered – could it be? Is this the same Teri Tynes who was once the editor of Free Times in Columbia, SC, and later gallery director for City Art in that same city. I remember she had moved to New York City. I sent an e-mail and sure enough – it was.

How amazing was this and what a small world moment.

Tynes was later helpful in steering me in the right direction as far as blogs go and giving me some tips and inspiration by visiting her blog on a regular basis. I was also falling under the spell of the Big Apple. She’s always been one of my favorite writers when it comes to the visual arts, but her blog takes me to the streets of New York and makes the daily journeys a pleasure. I’ve also learned that Tynes is a pretty darn good photographer too. I love her imagery.

I can only hope that in time I can make Carolina Arts Unleashed as media enriched as Walking Off the Big Apple. Tynes is light years ahead of me on the technical aspects of doing the blog thing – she’s been at it for some time now and it’s a daily job – as she says. I’ll not be able to spend that much time on this venture. After all I do have a paper to publish.

So, for all you in the Columbia area who were wondering whatever happened to Teri Tynes – Google Walking Off the Big Apple and you’ll find out. Plus you might just fall under the spell of the Big Apple too. You other readers can do the same – it’s pretty interesting no matter where you are from – even if you live in New York. I can’t imagine that too many people have gone out to discover this city like Tynes is doing.

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