The planets were in alignment and Linda had the weekend off, the first in what seemed like several years, so when we woke up Saturday morning (11/10/18), or should I say when the first grand child showed up in our bed, I told her – we need to go to One Eared Cow Glass today. She said, you think? I asked when are we going to have another opportunity again and it’s the weekend before “Vista Lights” in Columbia (Nov. 15, 2018, from 5-10pm) – if we get there after that we’ll be looking at picked over works. (Not that there are second class works there, but the new stuff will be gone.)
That did it for her, so we were off to Columbia, SC, just a two hour drive from where we live in Berkeley County. It would be my first trip to Columbia in two years. That’s what surgery for cancer and chemo therapy will do to your normal schedule. We shop for family Christmas gifts at One Eared Cow Glass every year and the family is glad we do, but we missed last year and they were already wondering if we would get there this year. You see they have all logged on to the OECG’s website and Facebook page so they had already seen what they wanted or let’s say were hoping we would select for them – if we ever got back there. There is nothing like a family hint as to what someone would like for a birthday or Christmas present. (Did you catch that Mr. President? The war on Christmas is over. You won – so much winning. Let me know your future address so I know where to send the banana nut bread with the hacksaw in it.)
For Linda and I, it was like going to Santa’s workshop and we got first pick of everything there. You see, we always shop for ourselves when we are there. To not do that would be cruel and stupid. But we had the family list to shop for first.
I got the small bowl on the right.
For me it’s a quick scan of the entire gallery and pretty much after that first go around I know what I want and what I want to get the folks I’m shopping for. When it comes to Linda making a decision – that’s a whole other story and she had a list of decisions. That’s when I go into the studio to talk with Tom Lockart, the head cowboy and ranch owner. He was teaching a class that day, but it was near the end, so it didn’t take long before we could catch up over the last two years. We two Toms could have been brothers of different mothers when it comes to our views on the arts in South Carolina. So, I always enjoy the conversation with him and I’ve told you regular readers how much I love watching the cowboys do their thing with hot glass. It’s just amazing what they create with just molten sand. If I was ever to win a big lottery jackpot – I wouldn’t want to go into the glass blowing biz – I’d just offer Tom so much money that he would move One Eared Cow Glass and his family down to Charleston where they could truly be appreciated and I wouldn’t have to go too far to watch them work. You hear that Columbia? I’d steal one of your family jewels away in a New York minute.
Notice this small bug was on the leaf – no detail is overlooked.
There were so many new items at OECG, like ghosts that glow in the dark, other items that glow in the dark, large jelly fish lamps, jelly fish wall hangings, magnolia blossoms & magnolia seed pods, new snowmen and lots of new Christmas tree balls – big and small. The cowboys haven’t been sitting on their hands during the two years I’ve been absent. The garden pond in the middle of the gallery was also a delight.
I couldn’t get a good photo of this work, but I found one on the OECG website.
I’ve said it a million times – folks, if you have never seen a working glass art studio before, make a trip to One Eared Cow Glass in the Vista area of Columbia and plan on spending a few hours watching (call first to make sure they’re working that day) and don’t forget your money as you are going to want to go home with some of the OECG wonders. Prices rage from just over $30 – thousands of dollars for large art pieces.
This is a very large bowl.
Linda wasn’t doing so well on her list, so Tom, being the Vista area ambassador that he is, offered to go give us a tour of the new Stornwater Studios, just out their back door, past the Lewis & Clark Gallery that is next door to OECG, and up on the Congaree River bluff. We hadn’t planned to do anything else but shop and go, but why not. Why not? I hadn’t been to this new facility and when I used to come to Columbia, I hardly ever missed a chance to visit, what was then Vista Studios and Gallery 80808. The only difference now is my old pal Laura Spong wouldn’t be there anymore – she pasted this year. I know I’ll miss her and so will the Columbia visual art community.
A look in Anna Redwine’s studio, which is not totally set up yet.
The studios at Stormwater Studios have big loading doors so big works can come and go and the artists on nice days can let in the outside. On Saturday, Eileen Blyth and Anna Redwine, a newcomer to the long time group of artists, were both out working with their studio loading doors open. We talked a bit about what they were doing, why I hadn’t been around much, and then went inside to see the new exhibit, they just had an opening for.
Works by Pat Gilmartin
Another work by Pat Gilmartin
Works by Robert Kennedy
Work by Stephen Chesley
They are presenting “Down By The River”, featuring works by the studio members in celebration of their new space, on view from Nov. 8 – 25, 2018. Last March, 10 Congaree Vista artists moved a little closer to the Congaree river. In celebration of their new space, the renting artists are presenting new work that reflects their interpretation of our waterways in their group show. The artists include: Eileen Blyth, Stephen Chesley, Heidi Darr-Hope, Pat Gilmartin, Robert Kennedy, Sharon Licata, Michael McNinch, Anna Redwine, Kirkland Smith, and David Yaghjian. The artists have partnered with The Congaree Riverkeeper who, in honor of their 10th anniversary, will display the winning works of their “Three Rivers Photography Contest”.
I did a quick viewing and recognized most works but one, a painting by David H. Yaghjian, which usually include an image of him, his wife, their dogs or all of the above. Most artists have the ability to just do about whatever they want in a variety of mediums, but after a while they stick to a certain style and subject. I would have never in a million years picked Yaghjian as the creator of the painting I took a photo of show here.
Work by David H. Yaghjian
And while I’m saying the name Yaghjian, let me mention that the Goodall Gallery in the Spears Center for the Arts at Columbia College is presenting a comprehensive exhibition of one of South Carolina’s important modern artists, Edmund Yaghjian (David’s Father). The exhibition, “Edmund Yaghjian: Interpreting His World,” will be on view until Dec. 16, 2018, and features a range of works spanning the entire career of the artist. Columbia College hasn’t been sending me press releases about their exhibits lately and I thought we had the problem worked out, but I guess not just yet. We’ll get that fixed.
Work by Edmund Yaghjian that is in the Columbia College show.
Well, Linda hadn’t finished her shopping list so we headed back to One Eared Cow Glass. Once she finished and they packed up our load of goodies, we headed back home. There are going to be a lot of happy people come Christmas and one happy new teenager. Our grand niece in Florida has just turned thirteen and soon she’ll be receiving a handmade glass necklace from One Eared Cow Glass. Every new teenage young woman should be able to wear something no other teenager will ever have. It was a good day, but we were both dog tired when we got home.
Works by Heidi Darr-Hope
Works by Eileen Blyth
Work by Eileen Blyth
Anyway, I’m offering a lot of photos of works at One Eared Cow Glass and a show at the new Stormwater Studios. The Vista Lights event would be a good opportunity to go see these galleries while Columbia celebrates the kick off of the Holiday seasons, and you could go earlier in the day and see the exhibit at Columbia College. The link for info about “Vista Lights” is (https://www.vistacolumbia.com/special-events/vista-lights). But you could go for the whole day and see a lot more like:
The Columbia Museum of Art is presenting “Midcentury Masters: Jasper Johns’ Gifts to the CMA,” featuring a varied collection of 35 prints gifted to the CMA by Jasper Johns himself and shown in its entirety for the first time, on view through Feb. 24, 2019.
The SC State Museum is presenting, a “30th Anniversary Juried Show Exhibit,” featuring works by some of South Carolina’s most talented artists, on view through Mar. 9, 2019.
The 701 Center for Contemporary Art is presenting the “701 CCA Prize 2018 Exhibition,” featuring works by the top three finalists, Carey W. Morton of North Charleston, SC, Alexander Thierry of Columbia, SC, and Jena Thomas of Spartanburg, SC, on view through Dec. 23, 2018.
The McMaster Gallery at the University of South Carolina, is presenting, “Framing Interference,” is a joint exhibition by two artists, Jodi Lightner and Adrian Rhodes, who explore the concept of structures and patterns in their work, both literal architectural structures and metaphorical patterns of behavior, on view through Dec. 13, 2018.
City Art Gallery is presenting the “2018 SCWS (South Carolina Watermedia Society) Annual Juried Exhibition”, on view in the main gallery, through Nov. 26, 2018.
And, you can learn more about all these exhibits in our Nov. 2018 issue of “Carolina Arts”, which you can be download for free at (www.carolinaarts.com).
So if you go to Columbia this Thursday for a long weekend, you can see a lot of art. And, if you come from Charleston, Greenville, Spartanburg, Rock Hill, Florence, Myrtle Beach, Hilton Head Island, Aiken or even little old Bonneau Beach, you might learn that it’s worth a visit to Columbia instead of just going to a football game.