Month: August 2008

Gas Prices Uneven in South Carolina

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When asking someone once about why gas prices are so much lower in the Upstate of South Carolina compared to the Lowcountry – the answer was pipeline. I was told there is a gasoline pipeline going through the Upstate. At first that made sense, but when I thought about it more – something doesn’t add ... Read More

Another View on SC Arts Commission’s LINC

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On Aug. 20, 2008, I posted a blog entry about the South Carolina Art Commission’s $100,000 grant to implement the Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) program in South Carolina. I’ll admit my comments were jaded and pessimistic, but they are based on my 20 plus years of experience in our art community and dealing or ... Read More

What Joe Riley Wants – Joe Gets

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In an Aug. 19, 2008, Post and Courier article David Slade explains that the Charleston, SC City Council is considering a $734,500 loan to the American College of the Building Arts – requested by Charleston’s Mayor, Joe Riley. The article doesn’t really tell us why the college needs the money. It doesn’t tell us the ... Read More

SC Arts Commission Talks the Talk for Grant

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We’ve seen it before – many times. The SC Arts Commission snags a grant by talking the talk, but never delivers results. This time it’s a $100,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for a program called – Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), a national initiative to improve conditions for artists. Here’s the first two paragraphs ... Read More

More News on NC Pottery Center

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Well, you just never know where something like this will go. I’m referring to the effort to raise $100,000 to save the North Carolina Pottery Center from having to close its doors after ten years of operation in Seagrove, NC. You can see other postings here under the heading NC Visual Arts (listed to the ... Read More

NC Pottery Center Update

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I’ve got some updated news about the effort to save the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC. Meredith Heywood of Whynot Pottery in Seagrove has written to tell me that the Center has almost taken in $30,000 in donations toward their $100,000 goal. Every contribution adds up. She also told me that a NC ... Read More

The Carolina Art Blog Community

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Since starting this blog I’ve learned that I’m part of an informal community of other art bloggers – many are artists, some are people in the gallery business, some are promoting the arts, and some others just like to talk about their experiences with the visual arts and arts in general. Much like with the ... Read More

Charleston’s Museum Mile – the old Bait & Switch

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It looks like Columbia, SC, isn’t the only place where the use of county accommodation tax money ends up helping commercial enterprises when it is shielded as support for non-profits. Accommodation tax money is a special tax collected from hotels, motels and vacation rentals to promote area tourism. The Museum Mile project was first proposed ... Read More

One Eared Cow Glass Turns Sand Into Art

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One of my favorite stops on my monthly delivery run is at One Eared Cow Glass Gallery & Studio, located at 1001 Huger Street in Columbia, SC, in the Congaree Vista district. Columbia is one of the few stops on my runs where I’m there during regular gallery hours – at least some of the ... Read More

What is it About 701 Whaley Street in Columbia, SC

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Take the same location, some of the same supporters, the shield of being a non-profit, and what do you get? Another close-knit group of well connected people doing something that doesn’t seem to be available to others – mixing and matching the commercial sector and the non-profit sectors together. Let’s take the old group: 701 ... Read More