Mark Pointer - Book Four

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undefined : Book Four : November - December - January 2008

features:

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Peter Lenzo Tariq Mix

Publisher/ Designer Mark Pointer

unbound Roger Hutchinson Editor in Chief Natasha Chilingerian

Anastasia Chernoff Susan Lenz : Cyber Fyber

Director of Sales & Marketing Veronica Staub

Radenko Pavlovich Tim Floyd

Jarid Lyfe Brown Writers: Shannon Wilder Chuck Walsh Susan Levi-Wallach, Photographers: George Fulton Stephanie Flynn Editorial Intern

Melinda Register Photographer

Scott Bilby Photographer

Shayna Katzman Writer

Molly Harrel Photographer

Subscribe now at: www.beundefined.com These pages are the labor of many talented hands, from writing, design and editing, to sales and marketing. We encourage you to contact us with any feedback or story ideas at our website. Please support the artists, your community leaders and advertisers. Subscription and distribution information, as well as our complete interactive calendar is online.

For advertising information please contact Veronica Staub at 803.319.1832 or email veronica@beundefined.com undefined magazine is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in any manner, in whole or in part, without the publisher's written permission.

Write us at: undefined Magazine 709 Woodrow Street : 322 : Columbia, SC 29205 803.233.3796 Š2008 All Rights Reserved undefined : book four

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ALL COMMERCE begins as a quiet dream inside the heart of an individual. Could I… do you think… what if we… and then it grows to have form and substance. And need.

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With a thought of meeting needs born of the dreamers, defined by the entrepreneurs.

Helping finance growing businesses since 1995 MEMBER FDIC

2 Dali : Olando Patterson

profile

Peter Lenzo

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that had wood as well and a lot of fine cabinetry out of found wood. But that required me to use power tools.

When my seizures got more frequent and my equilibrium got worse, I knew it was a matter of time before I’d lose a finger or hand. I had to let that go and go back to working with just clay. Then about a year or two ago, I started getting too dizzy at the potter’s wheel to throw a whole lot, so I started having other people throw for me.” Now Peter throws only some of his smaller pieces.

At first, the seizures, which started about 20 years ago, were infrequent. “They were once every six months, once a year,” he says. “It was more of a hassle because I couldn’t drive. Then they started getting more regular. The medication was causing me a lot of problems in between.

The doctor said I had some brain damage from my seizures as well. My work started turning as a result of that. Now I think my work is driven by that.”

The work in question tends to be a skewed combination of face jug and memory jug, both of which are traditional

ou could define irony as a ceramic artist with epilepsy and think you came up with something original. Then you meet Peter Lenzo and see exactly how profound the impact that living with uncontrollable seizures has on the work of an artist.

Peter spends most of his days at Southern Pottery, a gallery and studio on Rosewood Avenue, where he builds the face jugs that have become his focus. When he tires, he naps on a rattan loveseat. When he’s awake, he wears a protective leather helmet, because a seizure can start with no warning. When he talks, his speech is slow and every so often rises gently, almost an octave in pitch — a side effect of the medication he has to take.

If you believe the axiom that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, then Peter Lenzo is one powerful man, and it shows in his art. He has taken what could have devastated him and turned it into inspiration.

“It totally changed the way I work, in that I used to do a lot of mixed media work,” Peter says. “I did a lot of work text: Susan Levi-Wallach photography: Kasi Koshollek

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of ceramics at the University of South Carolina. He loved teaching. According to Nancy Underwood, one of his former graduate students, “He was magnetic, with a visionary intelligence, not at all like the run-of-the-mill art teacher,” says Nancy, a fine arts teacher at Richland Northeast High School and the artistic director of the IndieReels Festival. “He talked about art in way that was edgy and lyrical at the same time. He’s the synthesis of everything an artist should be.”

To Peter, it was a particularly fulfilling time, but by the mid-’90s, it was over. “It’s something I’ve gotten past now, but when I had to stop I cried and I cried,” he said.

“It was very, very hard. It had gotten to the point where I was having too many seizures, I was having them in the classroom, and I was getting too spacey in the classroom — I would start a sentence and not finish it on a regular basis.”

Now Peter lives with his daughter, a freshman at USC who chose to remain at home because her father cannot live alone. She makes sure he takes his medicine, gets to his doctor appointments, and doesn’t “get into trouble or anything.” He also has a son from his second marriage. “My kids have always been just the best,” he said. “I feel like I’m blessed to be around so many wonderful people who help me keep doing what I want to do. I go between my house and work. I have a simple life.”

Southern folk arts. Peter thinks of them as his journal, his way of telling a story about what is happening at that moment. The result can be humorous, disquieting, or a little of each. “I have all the objects on the outside,” he explains, “so the memories are on the outside instead of on the inside, a substitute for the memories that are not inside anymore. I kind of consider them as an ongoing narrative or like an autobiography that I’m telling.”

He also has a series of what he calls seizure pots, made on a day when he later had a seizure. “Sometimes when I go back and look at them I’ll detect something different,” he says. For example, a seizure pot he has for sale in the Southern Pottery gallery “has a kind of gentleness to it.

The face is very calm, calmer than what I usually make.”

On this day, Peter is finishing a jug for his daughter, Roxanne — a present for her 18th birthday. He has completed the jug form and is working on adding the memory elements. “The head is me. That’s me crawling out [of the eye] and trying to tell a story that I can’t remember.

This is an African king — a strong idealized self. This other guy is a polite, young, aristocratic gentleman – my idealized young boyfriend for her. This young couple is another idealized image. The mother and child figure — that has multiple meanings. I did a whole series of photographic images when Roxanne was a baby of me holding her in the position of these old virgin and child portraits, as if I were Mary and she were Jesus. Here I am the child and she is the virgin, reversing roles in my mind. But also seeing it in its traditional role as a holy image looking over her and protecting her.

These old baby dolls are her babies for the future. Minnie Mouse is just for the playfulness, for keeping that alive, because she’s still very childlike and playful. I have a lot more things I want to put on it.”

At the time the seizures started to bring about the sea of change in his life, Peter was a professor

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Peter Lenzo’s ceramics are in the collections of The South Carolina State Museum, The Mint Museum, The Renwick Gallery at The Smithsonian Museum and private collectors.

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profile

Tariq Mix

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tanding on the oval track, waiting for his teammate to pass him the baton, Tariq Mix felt the excitement.

The air at Franklin Arena was charged with electricity, and yet Tariq focused on the task at hand as he prepared to sprint the third leg of the 4 X 100 relay. He had but one goal: To put his team in position to cross the finish line atop the leader board. The moment his partner placed the baton in his hand, Tariq was a collegiate track star sprinting towards a dream. 100 meters later, when he handed the baton to his teammate, he said goodbye to that dream.

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ball team at Howard University. He soon realized his best sport was track, however, and was awarded a scholarship on Howard’s track team. Soon after, he dreamt of running in the Olympics.

After Tariq’s heart procedure, he returned to school and art became not only therapy, but an avenue for channeling his talents. He loved to compete to show his talents, and so he began to paint, specifically with acrylics. Tariq says he felt God had closed one avenue in order to lead him to another.

“Things just began to open up for me in the art world. And so I continued to paint, picture after picture.” As a symbolic representation of his new calling, Tariq painted a picture of a burning bush — it was Tariq’s way of showing he understood the message that God was sending him.

Tariq sought a way to fully explain his metamorphosis from the track to the easel. Inspired by a professor in a mixed media class his senior year at Howard, he created an installation piece. The professor had recognized Tariq’s talents and demanded his best efforts, but Tariq missed the deadline for the installation piece project, and after a tongue lashing from the professor, he spent nearly three days without sleep to complete his creation. “I did a full body cast, and after (my partners on the project) cast me, I broke the legs, the arms. I painted bronze blemishes on the arms and legs to show that my past wasn’t perfect. I painted sheetrock to make it look like a wall and I put pictures of my past, like of me and my grandmother, in the stomach of the body that represented my childhood. I called the piece ‘Breakthrough.’ When you looked at it you could see my body breaking through to a new life. I even had an EKG readout laid out across the chest of the cast figure as if it were a tape in the race that I was breaking through.”

Tariq was so inspired with his new calling that he became driven to put down on canvas the feelings deep within him.

“Take it and use it,” he says he felt God saying. As he did, people quickly took a liking to his work. Though artists may have many sources of inspiration for creating their work, for Tariq, it’s quite specific. “I think art and music go hand in hand,” he says. “I’m a former trumpet player.” And so, Tariq turns on the music, feels the rhythm, and paints. The mood of his painting takes on a life form based on the song to which he is listening. He’ll choose a particular song and let it play over and over. “Sometimes it’s jazz, hip hop, maybe pop, or techno.” When Tariq approaches the final detail of

After finishing the race that day at the 2001 Penn Relays (one of track and field’s premier events), Tariq quickly became ill. What began as a relay race turned into a race for survival. It was hardly the scene the talented athlete envisioned. Tariq’s heart began beating extremely fast, and he could tell something was wrong. “I felt really strange,” Tariq says. “I went over to the side and laid down. At first, my teammates thought I was just tired and were telling me to get up.” They quickly realized Tariq was in dire straits, and called for medical assistance. “My body began to shake, and then it completely locked up.” Over the next hour, it seemed as though fate was throwing obstacles at the situation. Tariq was placed on a stretcher, and it malfunctioned. He was eventually placed in an ambulance, and it broke down.

Fortunately, a cardiologist happened to be in attendance and administered medicine to lower Tariq’s heart rate while they waited on a backup ambulance to arrive and transport him to a nearby hospital. When he awoke in the hospital, the doctors told him his heart rate had risen to 297 beats per minute and that he was lucky to be alive. He would later find he had ventricular arrhythmia, a heart irregularity that had taken the lives of athletes such as Reggie Lewis, the captain of the Boston Celtics. His days as an athlete were over.

Tariq was flown to Duke University Hospital. What was supposed to be a three day stay turned into a two week ordeal as he went through several heart procedures. “The time I spent at Duke, I began to search and wonder what my purpose on earth was,” Tariq says. “It was devastating when I first found out the news. I loved track, but I knew I was lucky to be alive. I felt God was telling me that, even though something I loved was taken away, I had to trust Him to show me what I was supposed to do. As I turned myself over to Him, my life quickly changed.”

Tariq, now 27, discovered that a second childhood love of his was about to take center stage.

“When I was in middle school, I drew all the time. I would draw comic book characters, and while my friends would be outside playing, I’d be inside drawing,” Tariq recalls. “At the time I thought maybe I could draw for one of the comic books.” Tariq began running track in the 10th grade, and even though he took up the sport later than most track athletes, he excelled. Drawing was an outlet, but track provided opportunities. In 1999 he qualified for, and ran in, the Junior Olympics. He also played football and walked onto the foottext: Chuck Walsh photography: Melinda Register

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the picture, however, he’ll change the music to something with a slower tempo.

Tariq’s love of music directly relates to his creations, and the bright and bold colors of his work are a masterful blend of art, imagination and musical themes. The colors explode on the canvas, evoking images of the exotic jazz of New Orleans or the smoky blues of Memphis, evident in his painting titled “Blue Sax.” Tariq loses himself in the music and lets his brush produce the images the song evokes in his head. “I have thousands of thoughts of paintings in my mind.

And so, I turn on the music and get at it.” Though some artists draw on canvas before they grab hold of the brush, Tariq never does. “I don’t draw anything. I just paint. When it’s done, it’s done.”

Tariq’s paintings appear everywhere from living rooms to board rooms. Through word of mouth, his Web site and art shows, he’s built a growing clientele. He is in the early stages of venturing with galleries to show his work. “I’m trying to find venues where I can do live shows.” Before creating a painting which is designed for a specific individual or business, Tariq insists on seeing the room where the picture will be displayed. “I’ll go to the house or office, get a feel for the room, and then I start thinking about the furniture and the setting,” Tariq says. “Then I’ll come home, turn on the music, and then put it down on canvas.” Once he starts, he likes to continue on until it’s done, though obligations with his wife and two-year-old daughter make that a tall task, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Both my wife and daughter provide inspiration to me on

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a daily basis,” he says.

Though music inspires Tariq’s paintings, a seed is born inside him based on what’s going on in his life. “The feeling comes from inside: Happy, excited, mad or sad.” That feeling dictates the music Tariq will play as he paints. “I let the seed grow with the music and then put it all on the canvas.”

Though music plays a steady theme in his paintings, Tariq plans to become more universal in the themes of future works.

The days of drawing as a child are worlds away from the current one that guides Tariq’s brush across the canvas.

“When I drew as a kid, it was a competition to do better than the others. That applied to playing sports or anything I did.”

And though he acknowledges his artistic talents, it can overwhelm him. “For me it’s a humbling experience. (My art) is for everyone to enjoy, and making others happy is my driving force.” And yet, the competitive side of him still plays a part in his paintings. “I want to be the greatest. I want everyone to have a piece of my artwork. I’ve had people see my artwork and say that they have to have it. So it’s an honor for my work to have that effect on others.”

Artists appear in many forms: Athlete, painter, musician, and teacher. It’s the artist’s job to find the canvas he or she needs, whether that’s a songbook, a blackboard or the track.

And when that canvas is found, the artist must “paint” it the way he or she feels it. That’s what Tariq did that day on the oval track. When the baton was passed, his canvas changed, and yet he still won the race.

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feature

unbound

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dio, practice moves silently on the dark floor space below the stage. It’s then their turn to practice. The stage becomes taken over by powerful jolts, athletic jumps, flexed feet and emotion-charged movements. It’s the kind of dance you’d see in any given rehearsal space in New York City, but for Columbia, it’s rare.

Caroline, 27, is the artistic director for Unbound, a contemporary jazz dance company that unveiled their first show during the first weekend in October, and Caroline and her dancers hope their performances will change the way Columbia thinks about dance. With typical local dance companies putting on “been there, done that” classical ballet performances, Caroline and her co-director, Susan Dabney, decided Columbia was ready for something a little more edgy and unique.

“Caroline wants to show Columbia a whole new way of moving,” Susan says. “Artistic directors have an obligation to teach their audiences what dance is. They’ve seen Dracula and Swan Lake, but they haven’t seen what dance can be. It’s not just pointe shoes and tutus.”

t the Columbia Music Festival Association’s (CMFA) building, just a stone’s throw away from Gervais and Vine and Carolina Wings & Rib House on Pulaskii Street, Caroline Lewis is barefoot, dragging her body across a stage and throwing herself into a variety of contortions both in the air and on the ground.

Wearing short shorts that show off every defined muscle in her legs (her incredibly toned shape indicates that she must squeeze weight training sessions into her schedule at least four or five days a week), she is completely lost in her piece, despite the noise of drum beats that creep into her rehearsal space from an adjacent room. Sharing a building with other artists sometimes means sacrifice, including juggling schedules and putting up with noisy building-mates.

Finally, Caroline steps off the stage and takes a sip from the gallon jug of Deer Park water she toted — evidence that her dance rehearsals are one hell of a workout.

11 other dancers, also dressed in baggy clothing more likely to be seen in a gym than in a traditional dance stu-

text: Natasha Chilingerian

photography: Scott Bilby

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She chose the dance program at the University of South Carolina (she’s currently a junior there), but found that the program offered few opportunities involving jazz, her style of choice. That’s why Unbound sounded like a choice opportunity. “I didn’t want to be a tree or a swan, and this gives me an outlet to perform in my element,” she says.

Irmo native Leah Brinkley grew up taking classes at Southern Strutt and competing; she later moved to Los Angeles and worked as a cruise ship dancer, then had an epiphany during a visit home for the holidays. “I realized that I wanted to stay and teach at Southern Strutt,” Leah says; Unbound provides even more fulfillment for her. And for Jessika Harlin, who began her dance career as a ballerina and traveled to China to perform after discovering her love for jazz, Unbound is a chance to perform contemporary jazz without leaving Columbia.

Once Caroline and Susan selected the 10 dancers they felt would mesh into a masterpiece on stage, they began rehearsals. But in no way would rehearsing take over their dancers’ lives. “We decided that we would not interfere with anyone’s work life or studies, and that we would pay all our dancers,” Caroline says. Fortunately, they’ve been able to save a few dollars by using CMFA’s space free of charge, which allows them to fit dancers’ payments into their budgets. Adds Susan, “We want to make sure that everyone can get an education and not have to quit dancing.”

Unbound’s first show, Ourselves Unbound, really was unlike anything Columbia had ever seen. Unpredictable, abstract and thought provoking, the show comprised 11 pieces fully choreographed by Caroline, each of which conveyed a different emotion. On the stage sat three large wooden boxes, painted black on the outside and marigold on the inside, which the dancers bravely climbed on top of and stepped inside of without missing a beat, as if the boxes were shadow

Caroline began her dance career at age three by taking classes at Irmo’s Southern Strutt dance studio and became a “competition kid” trained mainly in jazz but also in other idioms including tap and lyrical. With her talent and love for dance taking precedence over every other aspect of her life, Caroline moved to New York City at age 17 to dance professionally. She landed dance roles in commercials and music videos while attending classes and working as a personal trainer (“We all have to have other jobs as artists,” she says).

After six years, she decided it was time to come home. “The city gets to you,” Caroline says on why she left New York City. “It was a combination of things.”

Back in Columbia, Caroline began teaching dance at Southern Strutt and dance conventions for NUVO — a national, New York City-based company that holds dance conventions, workshops and competitions in cities across the country. In May of this year, Caroline teamed up with Susan, whom she had known since her early days at Southern Strutt, to finally launch what they had been discussing for a while —their own contemporary dance company in Columbia.

31-year-old Susan is the yin to Caroline’s yang. With a totally different body type and style (Susan’s tall, slender and trained in classical ballet), the two dancers compliment one another well. “Susan and I are like fire and water,” Caroline says as she describes their differing techniques. But before they could get to the actual dancing part of their new company, Caroline and Susan had to establish themselves as a non-profit organization.

“There was a lot of boring paperwork,” Susan says. Once that was over, they got to the fun (but daunting) part of holding auditions. They chose a star-studded team, and while many of the dancers had performed in markets larger than Columbia, they all had one thing in common: The desire to share spectacular dance with this city.

One member, Lauren Lanford, is a native of Allen, Texas and says she wanted to get out of her home state for school.

Unbound’s first show, Ourselves Unbound, really was unlike anything Columbia had ever seen.

Unpredictable, abstract and thought provoking....

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top of one of the wooden boxes and lowered herself off of it effortlessly, threw her body into complex twists and turns and completed moves with precision, all with looks of yearning and bliss on her face. “I like for there to be meaning in every step I do,” Caroline says.

Other powerful emotions were explored in the show’s remaining solos, duos, trios and group pieces, such as one male-female piece that expressed a heart-wrenching, common situation — being stuck in a loveless marriage and not having the courage to get out of it. One piece, performed by the women of Unbound to “When I See You”

by Fantasia, exemplified the feeling of butterflies a girl gets when she thinks of her lover or love interest. In another, a couple feels lust for one another and longs to be together, but can’t; other themes included basic life struggles, hope and needing other people to survive.

While most pieces were performed barefoot, one was executed on pointe — in a non-classical style, of course.

Caroline emphasized that the moods conveyed through the dances improve as the show moves along. “For me, the show is about feeling sad, and in the end, realizing it’s all going to be OK,” Caroline explained.

What made Ourselves Unbound unique is the fact that unlike pre-choreographed shows, such as Swan Lake, Caroline’s choreography is specific to each dancer — she wants the moves to match each person’s style and the moods to match the emotions that each dancer can relate to personally. And by breaking down commonly experienced emotions through dance, the dancers broke down

boxes and the dancers were the keepsakes within.

Dancers uniquely utilized each corner of their space — they grabbed onto the curtains, sat on the edge of the stage and even ran down the steps into the audience’s seating area.

The show began with a group dance that allowed each character to introduce him or herself. Dancers flowed in and out of formations and some were lifted high into the air. At one point, the group sat or stood still as one dancer stepped into the spotlight for a solo dance; as the solo dancer finished, he or she touched a new dancer who then began his or her solo, as if an energy was being passed from one dancer to the next.

In the second piece, Susan poured out the emotion of vulnerability in a solo set to a classical, instrumental version of the song “My Immortal” by Evanescence.

“Caroline asked me, ‘What do you normally feel like?’”

Susan says when describing how they arrived at the topic of vulnerability. “I said, ‘I usually feel nervous,’ and she said, ‘OK, that’s what it’ll be about.’” The piece was highly lyrical and heavy in reaches and extensions, which gave Susan the chance to show off her gracefulness and flexibility (her 180 degree leg extensions, which she executed while facing the back wall and holding onto a box for support, were phenomenal). Caroline’s solo was all about being madly in love and happy, and was somewhat inspired by the fact that she finally feels she accepts the tragedy she experienced at a young age — losing her mother to cancer. In the piece, she fearlessly danced on

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jeans and a T-shirt — a reality; they also meshed well with the form of dance.

“I’m still finding my way of moving, and I don’t want to say I’m one thing,” Caroline says of her style. “It’s organic, very physical and wild. I don’t like to feel restricted.”

Caroline says ideas for choreography can come to her at any time of the day. “I see it in my head,” she says, often finding herself recording moves with the camera on her Mac computer. “I usually let the music lead, but I’m trying to let the movement lead,” she adds. “If the music is instrumental, the movement comes first, but if there are lyrics in a song, I choreograph to the words.”

While Ourselves Unbound depicted the company as a group of free, non-technical, abstract dancers, not every show of theirs will be that way. The company plans to perform a cabaret, which would involve choreography that is much more technical, and they have plans to collaborate with local organizations for a variety of shows. They’ve been asked to perform with the USC Dance Company in November and will be joining Terrance Henderson, the artistic director of local dance company Vibrations, to perform in his Dimensions Contemporary Dance Festival in April 2009. A Halloween show in 2009 is also on their agendas. The company’s member roster is also not set in stone, as they plan to hold new auditions prior to preparing for a new show.

“We’d like to perform with local musicians and get local salons to do crazy hair for us,” Susan says of future show ideas. “Maybe we’ll do a cool rock dance show on the street by Blue Marlin.”

Educating the public about the art of dance is obviously a motive of Unbound’s, but the dancers are also using their art for a philanthropic purpose. 10 percent of their ticket sales will go to a charity — for Ourselves Unbound, the portion benefitted the Joan Hightower Lewis Endowment (Caroline’s mother’s endowment fund) for Lutheran Hospice, a ministry of Lutheran Homes of South Carolina. “We want to help the underdog and those who don’t get a lot of press,” Caroline says.

Unbound certainly raises the bar for art and culture in Columbia, but its artistic directors feel the

the barriers between themselves and the audience, making viewers realize that even professional dancers are just like them.

“It’s very humanistic,” Lauren said. “We break down the wall between the stage and the audience. The show is all about emotion, and when we take a breath on stage, I feel like everyone else will too.”

Costumes, which were donated to the company by local dance wear shop Turning Pointe, were kept simple — form fitting halter dresses, tops, skirts, pants and “booty shorts” in shades of black, grey, dark brown, light brown and tan. The CMFA stage served as an intimate, casual setting for the show, and the only light or sound effects in Ourselves Unbound were voiceovers of quotations that served as introductions to each piece.

“If you’re there to see us dance, you’re there to see us dance,” Susan said. “The focus is on us, and it should be on us.” All of these elements made the atmospheric image Caroline had in mind for her show — a relaxed event that guests can show up to wearing

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company fills a void more for the dancers than for the residents of Columbia. Often times when someone dances throughout childhood and their teenage years, the dancing stops when work and/or college begins to take over his or her life. Unbound gives contemporary jazz dancers a way to keep dancing without leaving Columbia or putting the rest of their lives on hold.

“Some of us have moved away in the past, but we wanted to come home,” Susan says.

“Kids shouldn’t be punished for wanting to stay here — they should be able to keep dancing.”

Unbound is just a baby at this point, but Susan and Caroline have extensive plans for their company’s future. They’d like to save enough money to have a rehearsal space inside a building of their own, host classes and workshops, travel for performances and eventually become a small business and be considered an entertainment company. Susan mentions it would also be great if they could collaborate with other contemporary dance companies by bringing in guest choreographers and sharing their choreography with other companies.

It all began with that first show, which Susan and Caroline hope got the ball rolling in transforming what Columbians think about dance. Now that the members of Unbound have made that first dent in a dance culture that tends to play it safe, they’re ready to take it on full throttle, raging emotions and all.

“We’re starting small, but we have a big picture in our heads of where we want to be,” Caroline concludes.

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profile

Roger Hutchison

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that are painted like snapshots of dreamlike stories and act as windows to a peaceful invented world brimming with light. The beauty and purity of the pieces and the luminous colors he uses, which remind him of the stained glass windows at his church, have brought attention to his paintings.

Roger always enjoyed dabbling with art despite being completely self-taught as a painter. He says he developed his techniques through “trial and error,” but everything changed one night when he arbitrarily tossed aside his paintbrushes on a whim when he sat down to paint.

Instantly, he started using his fingertips to spread thick acrylic paint squeezed straight from the tube onto a blank canvas, with no idea what he may be creating or how the piece may turn out. For texture, he grabs anything he can find, such as bits of wood, paper towels and tree seeds and scrapes them into thickly layered, wet paint. Or, he uses blue painter’s tape to break up the surfaces of the canvases. After his first encounter with a canvas minus a brush, he was hooked. Roger decided to never return to the confines of brushes and more traditional methods and now exclusively employs textual paint handling and application methods that are most unconventional among “grown up” painters. Unashamedly, he demonstrates his ten paint-stained fingers and extends both arms, spreading his hands to reveal the rings of paint around his finger nails. “I am messy when I work,” he says, chuckling and reinforcing that he could not be persuaded to revert to less favorable working methods in exchange for keeping his hands clean.

At the Trinity Episcopal Cathedral bazaar (his first public art showing) Roger was stunned when he learned his

oger Hutchison is encircled by a rainbow of his candy colored canvases inside Mr. Friendly’s, where his paintings have been selling like crab cakes. It is hard to believe that only a year ago, this burgeoning 35-year-old painter had never even revealed a single piece of art to the public and now stands with over 40 of his whimsical (but highly contemporary) painted canvases, boldly exhibited for Columbia to see. It is remarkable how drastically a person’s artistic journey can transform in twelve short months.

Roger works as the Director of Children’s Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (running youth programming at the Trinity Center) by day and passionate acrylic “finger painter” by night. Since discovering his love for “moving his fingers through puddles of paint across a blank canvas,” he has been creating his energetic, intensely colorful artworks every night into the wee hours of the morning while his wife and six-year-old daughter are asleep (and returns to work at Trinity by 7am.) As a result, he has managed to feverously compile an unbelievable catalogue of work in a very short period of time. His extraordinary volume of paintings could easily pass for artistic output that spanned a person’s entire lifetime.

Fortunately for Roger, his fast paced work ethic has not hindered the quality of his artwork. The striking, contemplative and reflective works of art feature ethereal bands of intense, atmospheric color; geometric and abstract shapes and thick strokes of textured paint. They evoke unbridled, boundless landscapes of the conceptual worlds he imagines. Roger prefers using square-shaped canvases

text: Shayna Katzman photography: Melinda Register

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tic side of himself that he says has only made his quest for spiritual meanings and values stronger.

Modestly, Roger attributes the character of his art to the “happiness of the beautiful, organic world” that inspires him and the freedom that his finger painting technique provides. His paintings suggest feelings of the unadulterated, child-like pleasures his daughter experiences when she plays with paint. He aims to help others live full, peaceful lives and hopes to pass on his child-like appreciation for the beauty around us.

At the close of our interview, after mentioning that one of his paintings is reminiscent of Mark Rotho, he exclaimed, “I love Rothko! His art is on the cover of my thank you notes!” It seems this magical, never-ending, bright, colorful and symbolic world that Roger loves, offers and paints makes his art attractive, but after meeting him in person, it was clear that the man’s sincere, genuine character has also played a role in making his art an overnight success..

art was commercially viable. He sold an impressive thirty paintings in under three hours — every painting he brought to the event. Roger then swiftly arrived to Columbia’s art scene from obscurity and with no formal art training to speak of. His bright, textural canvases with dynamic compositions, sensuous color and a vocabulary of symbolism have been warmly welcomed by art buyers, art appreciators and restaurant diners alike and have helped the enthusiastic painter win an enviable resume of artistic achievements.

Since 2007, his work has appeared all over Columbia — from Trinity’s meditation and prayer book covers to the Piccolo Spoleto Festival to the Columbia Museum of Art (one piece was short listed by a juried committee to be featured in the 2007 Contemporaries Artist of the Year show). His paintings grace three different wine bottle labels, and he’s currently preparing for his first solo exhibition of paintings in North Carolina as well as a showing at Frame of Mind: The Art of Eyewear with great promise for further success. Despite recent acclimations for his art, Roger has no plans to swap his position with the church for a full-time artist title, affirming his spirituality will always play a leading role in his life. His nighttime paintings have helped him get in touch with a new, artis-

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Roger’s work will be on display at Frame of Mind: The Art of Eyewear in December. An opening reception is scheduled for Dec. 4 from 5:30-8:30pm.

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Anastasia Chernoff

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until a trip abroad to Botswana and South Africa. Inspired by local artisans and their work in concrete, Anastasia returned home to Columbia profoundly motivated to pursue her interest in this medium. She embarked on a self-taught journey that led her into a perpetual metamorphosis.

According to Anastasia, porcelain is undeniably feminine.

s your ass happy? Well, the asses created by Anastasia Chernoff are. To transcend typical communicative methods, the sculptor employs portions of the human anatomy to convey characteristics and emotions; hence, the happy derriere and the countless sentiments found in a finger’s gesture. The way Anastasia sees it, there is beauty in the booty. And amid her compilation of derrieres and other porcelain body parts are come hither hints in finger curls as well as scores of point making index fingers.

It is said that body language accounts for more than half of an intended message, with spoken language measuring only about ten percent. Soulfully in tune with this communication technique, Anastasia is a master at interpreting emotion and consequently creates physical representations of that elucidation. According to Anastasia, “everyone is beautiful in their own right and you can look into their eyes to see what’s going on beneath the surface.” Her sensual and suggestive pieces are sometimes overwhelmingly provocative in detail and purpose, but at the same time resonate with her own whimsical charm and charisma. Some of these same complex appendages, with all their suggestive allure, also manage to provide a definitive functionality by holding a purse or bath robe on the wall. These pieces are classified (deservedly so) as functional art. Undoubtedly, Anastasia’s abstract media is suitable for any environment and is certainly the result of endless musings on the human spirit and how it is unconsciously conveyed.

As an only child in the protective shadow of an independent mother and absent but very much visionary father, Anastasia affirms that at an early age she possessed an intrinsic magic of sorts, but failed to fully realize this potential

text: Jenny Shannon Wilderphotography: photography: Register text: Reese KasiMelinda Koshollek

I personify porcelain as a woman, because that’s what is most relatable to me, and, when I’m working with it, I feel that I become it. Or, shall I say, it becomes me? Or, we become each other? The process begins with the basic element of pure, unadulterated porcelain. She (the medium) is embraced and celebrated as she begins her existence. All my contact with her is both genuine and liberating. Knowing that if I want her to be receptive, she must be caressed and not hurried as she does not respond well to force. Life lends itself to her presence as she advances in maturity. In youth, she remains quite fragile, but maintains her solid foundation. At this point I must be especially mindful of outside pressures. If I am too aggressive she will no doubt crack or show some other symptom of stress.

Applying undue strain could easily fracture her spirit and in worst cases, she might even experience a break down.

With consideration and time, her essence can be restored, but she never forgets. No matter what I may try to do to compensate for what may seem like an error ... porcelain has a memory that never, ever forgets.

Eventually the moment arrives, and it’s time to let go.

After periods of prodding, manipulating, and rediscovering who she is, it’s time for me to say goodbye to her. I trust that I have made the right impressions while con-

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she is completely interwoven into my very fiber. Time passes, the dust settles and I begin again.

sciously impacting her being. The next stage in her evolution can be painful. She is no longer connected to me, she is on her own. Life’s kiln is dangerous and sometimes painful but full of lessons to be learned. She will be tested and her survival will depend on what I have instilled within her. I watch her fade away. I wait, observe and occasionally even inspect, knowing that even I have lost the ability to influence her, never to have any impact on her form again. Eventually she emerges. She is marked only by her own experiences now. She has proven resilient, withstood the intensity and is no longer affected by minor strains. She is refined and complete. I recognize that she has felt the heat and because of it, become rather arduous.

Content-wise though, I appreciate her strength. After a lifetime of this process I know that the higher I fire her, the stronger she becomes.

Following her commencement into a new world, as an inanimate debutante of sorts, she is now “available.” A stranger happens by and admires my phenomenal and very personal creation. He marvels, I question. He wants to take her for his own. I question. She wins his heart, he wins mine and in an instant, she is gone forever. More than anything, I hope she takes a part of me with her, as

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Anastasia readily admits that she becomes quite emotionally involved in her work, often “seeing nuances of her friends within the pieces” and revealing that her everyday life is somehow manifested into every one of them. She even talks to them as she sculpts them into being and kisses them goodbye before they enter the kiln. At times however, the “passing on” in this particular relationship can sometimes seem like chaos and madness, occasionally resulting in a kiln explosion which consequently destroys the piece. To most, this would seem devastating, but to Anastasia, “every aspect of the journey is important, whether the piece survives or not, because, in the process, I’ve had an emotional release and learned something both about my medium and myself.”

And in true Anastasia form, even this seeming disaster “is measured as yet as another life lesson,” which is greeted with acceptance and understanding. In the end, however, she is always pleased to see them go regardless of the outcome because, “at that point my journey with them is complete.”

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First Time in U.S. March 6 – June 7, 2009 From one of the finest Impressionist art collections in Europe, Turner to Cézanne features 53 stunning masterpieces by Cézanne, van Gogh, Monet, Millet, Pissarro, Renoir, Turner, Whistler and others.

Tickets must be reserved and admission is $15.

Members get in FREE!

Main at Hampton | 803.799.2810 | columbiamuseum.org The exhibition is organized by the American Federation of Arts and the National Museum Wales.

Image: Claude Monet, Water Lilies, 1906, Oil on canvas, 32 x 36 1/2 in. (81.5 x 92.7 cm), National Museum Wales; Miss Gwendoline E. Davies Bequest, 1951 (NMWA 2487). Courtesy of American Federation of Arts

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project

Cyber Fyber: Susan Lenz

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atively new. In fact, in her first ever blog entry, dated Friday, April 28, 2006, she wrote that since she had never really blogged before and wasn’t completely confident that she was actually doing it right, she would just leave her first post “as is and see what happens! If successfully done, I’ll continue!”

Today, more than four hundred fiber artists, in faraway places that include India, Israel, South Africa, the Benelux countries, the United Kingdom, Romania, Cyprus, Poland, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, all of the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Italy, Spain and France, as well as New Zealand and Malawi, are pleased she decided to keep at it. And they are demonstrating this pleasure by allowing the fruits of their own labors to be displayed in a gallery in Columbia’s Vista.

Each of these artists accepted an invitation issued by Susan in February 2008 via her blog, Art in Stitches, to exchange one of their own hand-stitched fiber art postcards or ATCs, (artist trading cards), with one of Susan’s cards that they had selected from photographs on her blog. She began by offering 130 of the 2 by 3 inch ATCs and 163 of the 4 by 6 inch postcards she had already prepared, but quickly became aware that she would need to offer more of her own creations

he connection between the South and fiber goes back to the birth of King Cotton in the 17th century and has known an ebb and flow that rivals the tides on our Atlantic shores. Today, the South’s love of the warp and the weave is still evident in our fiber artists who explore pattern, texture, color and the creative process. One such local artist has taken her love of cloth, her fascination with the stitch, and her flamboyant embrace of amalgam out of her one hundred-year-old Southern home, into her simple studio in Columbia’s Vista, and across the vast abyss of cyberspace where she shares it with fellow fiber artists throughout the world. The product of this massive exchange of art and inspiration is called Cyber Fyber and even those of us whose fingers tremble at the prospect of threading a needle can partake of these collected works first-hand for a brief period of time in January.

Susan Lenz hasn’t always been a cyber geek. While her aptitude with a needle and thread, and anything else she can work into a textile creation – keys, nails, organic matter – has developed in both intensity and potentiality throughout the decades, her mastery of technological communication is rel-

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ascent into the cyber arts community. Dijanne blogs about subjects like conducting a dyeing class in the Savoie, foiling cedars on a tie dyed quilt that tells the story of Gilgamesh and Enkudu, and pomegranates – she loves pomegranates.

Jill Rumoshosky Werner is one of the top art quilters in the United States today. She describes the products of her quirky work as “quilts of unusual proportions” – think a faucet protruding from nowhere and multi-colored quilted fabric pouring forth; think the toe of a giant shoe with elaborately quilted laces – and her inspiration varies from art deco to Frank Gehry. Susan included the Wichita artist primarily for the vast conceptual nature of her work.

Dale Rollerson owns The Thread Studio in Perth, Australia and finds her supplies in the hands of many of the world’s fiber artists, a common thread tying many together – pun intended, hence her inclusion in the exhibit. She teaches online workshops in contemporary textiles and is as passionate about the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team as she is about her work and art.

Doreen Grey, from Canberra, is a 68-year-old grandmother of four who embodies both the future and the history of textile arts in that she divides her time between teaching stitches to her 9-year-old granddaughter and patrolling the blogosphere where she shares and receives up-to-the-minute information on the intricacies of the online fiber arts community. One of her submissions will be her daughter Ebony’s first quilt.

Arlee Barr is one of those artists whose eclecticism is so far beyond expansive that words inevitably fail, as these are doing now. With inspirations ranging from Egyptian tomb art to the Pre-Raphaelites to Max Ernst, Arlee creates on the Sunshine Coast of Alberta, Canada where she says her “inner fairy godmother gifted her with concupiscientia oculorum, an intense visual curiosity which leads to sensory and imaginative excitement.” According to Susan, Arlee also represents “how Internet exposure is a lifeline to those living in remote areas.” One of the most recent of her projects was the enactment of a fiber arts version of cadaver exquis, or exquisite corpse – a play on the old parlor game/Surrealist

to meet the demand from other artists. It seemed that Susan’s desire to highlight the role of the Internet in the “supportive, global community of fiber artists” that she had personally identified struck a common chord among her cyber friends. The artists with whom she had become so comfortable online – sharing photos of finished works, discussing life and art philosophies and engaging in discourse on new techniques in contemporary fiber artistry – were just as eager as Susan to move their virtual community, or at least the artifacts of it, to a place in real space and time. And that is exactly what will happen when the Cyber Fyber Exhibition opens in Gallery 80808 in the Vista on Jan. 8, 2009.

Susan designed three distinct components to the Cyber Fyber Exhibition.

While the first component is the display of the ATCs and fiber postcards that she has been trading online over the past year, the second equally exciting element is an exhibition of invited fiber artists, many of whom are well known and respected within the field. Each of the 18 invited artists was chosen based on the criteria of what they or their work represents to Susan and the global community of computer-connected textile artists.

For example: Penny Sisto is a quilter who was born in the Orkney Islands of Scotland and has worked as a midwife in the Massai, LuBukusu and Kikuyu tribes of East Africa.

The subject of two PBS documentaries, Penny learned how to quilt and embellish from her grandmother. She combines that knowledge with the beading and collage methods she learned from her African friends to create soulful, portrait like quilts that almost always deal with marginalized peoples.

Her work has shown from Santa Fe to SOHO. Susan chose Penny’s work for the diversity it brings to the exhibit: She is sending two pieces from her Slavery collection.

Dijanne Cevaal is a teacher and writer who dyes, prints and creates original textiles in the Otaway Ranges of Victoria, Australia when she is not acting as curator of the many international traveling exhibitions she has produced throughout Europe and the Middle East. Dijanne’s was the first fiber arts blog that Susan read and she credits it with inspiring her

text and photography: Cindi Boiter

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technique in which a paper is folded into quarters and a different writer adds a line of poetry to each quadrant without viewing previous additions. Arlee enlisted the help of other online artists to do this – but with fiber.

As if the showing of the traded and invited pieces was not enough, Susan has developed as the third component of the Cyber Fyber project, a series of interactive events to take place during the exhibit’s run before it closes on Jan. 20.

She designated Saturday, Jan. 10 as Fiber Day during which she will conduct demonstrations for both adults and children. She is also partnering with a local business called Creative Sewing to display state of the art machines and embellishers. Saturday, Jan. 17 is ATC Trading Day – a day in which local artists can participate in artist card trading with no restrictions on media or artist age. International artists have also been invited to participate by mailing their cards to Susan in advance. During the entire exhibit Susan plans to have Internet access available to gallery go-ers to enable them to locate and view the web pages and blogs of the artists on exhibit. “I love the idea of a patron viewing a card they particularly appreciate, then logging on and complementing the artist right there on her blog,” Susan confides.

With such a multinational representation among the traded ATCs and postcards, along with the 44 U.S. states that are represented as well, the potential for human connection out of such a distinctly non-human medium as the Internet, is startling. And reassuring. Given the security of anonymity that the Internet provides, how very nice it is to know that there are people out there – artists – who are willing to take the risks that every outstretched hand, even the virtual ones, embody. People like Diana Lochala from Mississippi who traded for Postcard #14 and writes the recipe for Mint Juleps on the back of her ATCs. People like Judy Carpenter from Georgia who makes a mean watermelon salad and includes on her blog a counter that spins furiously as it ticks off the number of dollars being spent on the war in Iraq. People like Monica Magness of Alabama who traded for ATC #15, blogs about “the return of the domestic goddess” and uses her art to raise money to promote breast cancer research. And people like Susan Lenz who devoted a year of her life to bringing these artists together via a mad combination of cyber space and human hands – for no other reason than to make it happen.

Cynthia Boiter is an award winning freelance writer whose work is seen regularly in national publications. She is a six-time winner of the SC Fiction Project, a three time winner of The Piccolo Fiction Open, and a recipient of the Porter Fleming and Irene B. Tauber Awards for writing. She is currently writing a book with her husband about beer.

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You just wanted a nice home that was comfortable and fit your lifestyle… it’s harder than it should be isn’t it?

A pre-requisite for participation in the Cyber Fyber project was membership in the online community of fiber artists via Web site or blogging. To find out more about the artists participating please visit the following cyber locations.

Art in Stitches A day to day journal of fiber artist Susan Lenz artbysusanlenz.blogspot.com _______ Cyber Fyber cyberfyberexhibition.blogspot.com _______ Penny Sisto www.pennysisto.com _______ Musings of a Textile Itinerant Dijanne Cevaal http://origidij.blogspot.com _______ REDEFINED The Art and Writings of Jill Rumoshosky Werner wernerstudio.typepad.com/redefined _______

Clean simple lines… well intentioned designs your way.

Bring us your design ideas and we will get it made for you in America by real craftspeople. Rare and Well Done home furnishings exactly like nothing else.

Arlee Barr’s albedo chronicles of concupiscientia oculorum arleebarr.squarespace.com/designjournal _______ Dale Rollerson’s DOWNUNDERDALE Ramblings on Textile Art and Anything Else Relevant or Not downunderdale.blogspot.com _______ Purple Missus

By Lynda Monk www.purplemissus.blogspot.com

803.787.0076

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Radenko Pavlovich

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slim, muscular physique hints to the life he lived on stage.

Beneath the surface, he is a man who was once singled out from his entire country to attend a prestigious dance academy in Russia. He is also the son of a top military general, whom he devastated when he escaped Yugoslavia’s mandatory army service to pursue ballet. His mother, a neurosurgeon who hated communism, has remained close to him throughout his life.

“I can’t imagine going through life doing something I don’t love,” he says. “I was lucky and blessed to have my mother. She didn’t understand me but she always supported me.”

Radenko arrived in New York City on the Fourth of July in 1979. He knew immediately that there was something about America and the country’s sense of freedom to express oneself artistically that he loved.

“I can’t explain it,” he says. “It’s something that you have here that’s missing there —it’s an energy. Here, if you real-

hen Radenko Pavlovich was eight years old, he stood before a panel of ten people who looked him up and down. They stretched his legs in all directions and had him blow into a tube to check his lung capacity. They brought in his parents so they could speculate as to what physique Radenko may resemble at a mature age. As he stood there in tiny black shorts, the communist government of Yugoslavia decided that Radenko was, indeed, fit to pursue ballet.

Today, the Columbia Classical Ballet recruits exquisite dancers from around the world to display their talent in our city — all thanks to that boy in those tiny black shorts.

His appearance has changed quite a bit, but his love for ballet has not. Radenko’s journey to Columbia has been a wild ride of ups and downs, all of which has made him the man he is today — a man who loves life and the art that he brings into it.

On the exterior, Radenko is a humble, quiet man whose

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nity and in July of 1998, he founded the Columbia Classical Ballet.

Radenko has indeed given Columbia’s cultural community something new to look at through the Columbia Classical Ballet. The sole interest of the organization is to present ballet in its true art form. He believes there is nothing more beautiful than the human body; as he puts it, these dancers are athletes and their craft is visual art.

Radenko also believes the ballet has had a domino effect on the standards of other Columbia organizations.

“Guess what? If another business opens up, it forces other organizations to step up,” he says. “It makes them get their stuff together, almost like an evolution. We have changed ballet in Columbia without a question. We have given Columbia an opportunity to see exactly what you can find on the stages of London or Paris.”

Dancers from places such as Cuba, Japan, Hungary, Italy, Argentina and Ukraine have all come to Columbia to follow their dreams at the Columbia Classical Ballet. This path was paved many years ago by a young man who left Yugoslavia to follow the American Dream.

“We curved where Columbia is going,” he says. “We’ve given the city fresh blood. Without the arts there is no life.”

ly wanted, you can make something of yourself. It’s hard to say what it is because you can’t measure desire.”

Radenko “accidentally” found his way to the South in 1980 by showing up to a class that turned out to be an audition for the Atlanta City Ballet. Radenko refers to his time in Atlanta as “an amazing time in my life.” In 1984, he returned to Yugoslavia for the first time in five years.

“After a month in Yugoslavia, I said I’m going back home (to America),” he says. “This shocked me. This was the first time I referred to America as home.”

Two years after realizing America was “home,” Radenko was offered a job in Columbia that meant teaching, not dancing. His first impression of Columbia was during dinner at Goatfeathers — he then knew there was something special about this city. He decided to leave the stage in order to search his soul and teach in Columbia.

“I wanted to leave the stage on my own terms,” he says.

“There are too many old men and old women dragging themselves across the stage. Can you imagine someone forty playing Romeo and Juliet? Juliet is supposed to be 16! Some do it but it looks idiotic. You always want to get off before someone chases you off.”

In 1991, the Pavlovich Dance School was born.

Eventually, Radenko realized that his school alone could not fill the void missing from Columbia’s cultural commu-

text: Stephanie Flynn photography: Melinda Register

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Tim Floyd

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ing design “out of panic.” This led to a fruitful graphic design career — he’s worked for USC, Blue Cross Blue Shield and currently serves as the graphic design and brand manager for Palmetto Health. Tim says when he began working full time, he was so concentrated on his designs that he “practically stopped painting.”

In 1999, Tim and his wife Carol’s lives were turned upside down when their 12-year-old son perished in an automobile accident. “That event, along with turning 40, caused me to start painting again,” Tim says. He poured his pain and sadness into his paintings, finding that art can convey emotion better than any other communication method can. “It was therapy,” he says. “I found that paintings are a language without words. There is an undertone of feelings that paintings give you that can’t be put into words.”

Soon after taking up his favorite activity again, Tim organized an “art weekend” with his family, including two of his artistic nephews. City Art co-owner Wendy Wells provided Tim with a space to paint inside her gallery, and after catching a glimpse of his work, she asked him to do a show. He’s been exhibiting at City Art for about five years now and is the gallery’s top-selling artist.

Tim paints what he calls “fictional, abstract landscapes,” many of which are flooding with color and light, feature interwoven tree branches or roots and are touched with a

he lofty, industrial City Art gallery showroom was abuzz with patrons one recent Thursday night for a very special art show opening. Many stared in awe at the highly-textured, mood-carving, luminescent paintings with price tags in the thousands and some excitedly selected pieces to purchase — that night, one went to a collector in England and another to Germany. The artist, Tim Floyd, was all smiles knowing that the emotions conveyed in his works were influential enough for his fans to shell out upwards of 2k.

Tim’s road to local artist stardom was paved unevenly at times, but as a faith-guided man with a positive attitude and strong spirit, he saw roadblocks as green lights to live fully. What many would consider the ultimate tragedy — the death of a child — allowed Tim to unearth talent that would inspire those around him.

Growing up on a farm near Myrtle Beach, Tim wasn’t exposed to art until he saw the work of his uncle, a political cartoonist in West Virginia. “It was fascinating, and he encouraged me a lot,” Tim says. His talent first become evident in the first grade when his teacher took notice to his above average drawings, and that’s when art became the greatest passion in his life (aside from God and being an outstanding husband and father).

At the University of South Carolina, Tim continued to explore his artistic talents but chose to major in advertistext: Natasha Chilingerian photography: George Fulton

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feature interwoven tree branches or roots and are touched with a small paint brush bearing red paint in a single spot (“to add mystery”). Paint is not the only medium Tim relies on when creating his masterpieces —he often begins a new work by brewing a pot of espresso and swirling it onto the canvas as a base. It’s the first of many layers of medium, but this caffeine-fueled first step is still visible in his finished products.

The inspirations and thoughts behind his landscapes vary — “Lowcountry Morning” is the result of a week-long visit to Mepkin Abbey in Summerton and displays a row of oak trees in a haunting, almost dismal setting. “Exposed” reveals the twists and turns of roots underground, which Tim implied represent one’s past. But not all his paintings are landscapes —one giant, square-shaped canvas has been turned into a jagged checkerboard; the lines and colors resemble a map or circuit board (the title: “Google This”).

Another, “Grace Like Rain,” shows a brown, circular object created with a palate knife; it looks like a bird’s nest or a crown made of thorns and Tim says it represents unity.

Tim says he wants his work to remain exclusive to City Art in the Columbia area, but would love to be picked up by galleries in bigger markets, such as Atlanta, Charlotte or New York City. Otherwise, he hopes his art will continue to have an emotional impact on people who visit City Art, as it did for one woman who felt compelled to write to Tim. “I got an e-mail from a woman who saw a painting of mine at City Art and said at that moment, she knew what she wanted to do as far as her relationship,” he says. “It brought tears to my eyes.”

Tim’s exceptional talent has been well-proven, not just by the high price tags on his paintings, but by the effect his paintings have on people. He says his works are a result not only of refined technique and practice, but of the experiences he’s had in his life.

“When someone asks me how long it took me to do a painting, I say, ‘48 years,’ because it’s a culmination of a life of experiences, and I never could have done these in college,” he says. “I’ve experienced death, life, love, hope and fulfillment, and that has made me a better artist.”

Opposite page, from top: Connected, 2008, 36x44 Glo, 2008, 60x36 Marsh Path, 2008, 36x24

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Jarid Lyfe Brown

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arriving in Hollywood.

“I was used to a small group of artists, and there was a large group there,” he says. “You realize that you either have something special or you blend in.”

Jarid returned to Columbia in 1994 and immediately began showing his art. He won awards at the South Carolina State Fair and had exhibits in Columbia’s downtown library, Lewis+Clark gallery and Haven’s Gallery as well as at festivals in Sumter and Myrtle Beach. He says he sometimes showed at venues that weren’t his first choice, but did so anyway for the sake of getting his art noticed. “I sold out sometimes,” he says. “I just wanted to paint and show.”

Realizing that he had to do more than sell art to pad his bank account, Jarid began a career in the construction field, and other than a few commissioned pieces here and there, he put his painting aside and let the years go by.

However, art was always in the back of his mind. “There probably wasn’t a day that went by in those years when I didn’t think about it,” he says.

Construction work was financially satisfying; he acquired a two-story home in rural Gilbert, where he lives with his wife of four years, Anita, and their 16-month-old son, John Michael. Now 34, Jarid has taken up painting again in his attic/studio, which is filled with large easels that he’s turned into works of art — a green cat’s head, a

here comes a time in every artist’s life when he or she must decide if art sales can pay the bills efficiently or if another career must be pursued to make ends meet. For Jarid Lyfe Brown, a painter who set out to make art his life from the beginning, the latter choice was necessary. Now, after a long hiatus from painting and showing regularly, a door to the Columbia arts scene sits in front of him again, wide open.

Jarid will show his thoughtful, vibrantly colored, light emulating paintings — many of which depict animals that possess human-like qualities — at Frame of Mind: The Art of Eyewear this month, a move that he says should open doors to more shows, give him exposure and perhaps lead him to live his dream as a full-time artist. “Mainly, I just love painting,” Jarid says when asked how he feels about his re-emergence onto the scene. “I’m excited about painting again.”

Born in Atlanta and raised in the Columbia area, Jarid says he had a knack for drawing as a kid and was encouraged by his teachers to pursue art. In high school, he drew faces with charcoal and discovered oil painting, which is now the only form of art he creates. (“I love the workability of oil,” he says. “It creates a romantic feel and I like the fact that it won’t dry up on me.”) He attended the Savannah College of Art and Design for two years, where his experience was similar to that of a small town actor text: Natasha Chilingerian photography: Molly Harrel

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drama. When light hits something at night, it’s beautiful.”

Jarid typically begins a new work by sketching it onto paper, then translates it onto the canvas, painting in layers. While he sets aside time specifically for painting, Jarid says he sometimes works all night on pieces when he feels he “can’t stop.” He often comes up with ideas while laying in bed, whether they be “the little instances in life that make you happy or the moments in life when you’re sad.” He adds that many of his works act as time capsules.

“When I capture it, I can look back on my mistakes and also on the things that were extraordinary,” he says.

Jarid will soon see where this month’s show will take him (hopefully, it will lead to showings in large markets, such as Charlotte and Atlanta), but above all, he aims to paint every single day and create works that allow people to think about the moments in their lives that they usually take for granted.

“These are my days, my emotions,” he says of his paintings. “Every stroke that goes on a painter’s easel is an emotion. It’s a reflection of how you’re feeling those days.”

peach bird-woman in a mossy green dress, two deep purple and salmon pink elephants embracing one another amidst a night sky. So, why do animals keep reoccurring in Jarid’s paintings? It turns out that they are a reflection of himself.

“They’re portraits, and some of them are stories,” Jarid says, looking around at his works of art. “Most of them are self-portraits.”

One work that is certainly a self-portrait is a jungle green elephant displaying a tender expression and posture. Jarid says the elephant represents the expectations others have of him to be masculine, yet sensitive, as a man. “Elephants are huge, yet gentle, and that’s intriguing to me,” he says. “Every man wants to be strong, yet is pulled in directions to be sensitive.”

Some paintings show more than a single animal — in one work, a giraffe, dog and turtle stand near a fence under a night sky containing a crescent moon. Jarid says the scene represents a night in his life just after he ended a relationship, and when he walked outside, the moon shined in the shape of a crescent. The giraffe, which towers over the other animals, represents him if he were able to look ahead into the future. “That night changed my life,” Jarid says, adding, “I do night scenes because of the

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“There are two kinds of light- the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.”

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– James Thurber

he very best light for viewing a painting is outdoors in full daylight on a slightly overcast day. Fortunately, we get to live and enjoy our art indoors amid all the comforts of home. Why not use lighting to enhance that comfort and pleasure.

Think about your space in terms of task areas and focal points. Turn off the overhead fixtures. There’s no reason to light the air. Small focused lighting on two or three art or architectural elements coupled with pools of illumination near task areas – a seating group, a desk, a bedside - give the room an inviting feel. Save the overheads for family dinners and cleaning day.

Strategically placed table lamps can accent wall pieces while providing functional light.

Most paintings and other two-dimensional pieces can be clearly lit from a single position, usually from above with either a spotlight or fixture that creates a wide wash of unfocused light.

The objective is to light the artwork as smoothly and evenly as possible while minimizing splash over.

The very first thing to realize is that you have to have power. That means either electrical work or cords. Decent lighting with batteries is a pipe dream. You will also have visible light fixtures but there are many choices to suit your style.

The easiest way to incorporate art lighting is with picture lights that to attach to the frame and project out over the top of the painting. The needs of different types of art have resulted in variety in fixtures. Size matters. The larger the image the more wattage you will need. A landscape needs a broader light to illuminate the whole width. A portrait can do with a narrower light. Conventional frame styles lend themselves to traditional picture lights. Slim-line styles are available that work well with more contemporary frames. Both come in several finishes and with • Color can significantly affect performance of art lighting. Visible light has a range of color temperature from cool to warm which refers to the temperature of the light. Choose lamping that gives an even balance or replicates the lighting conditions in which the art was likely created. Temperature can be adjusted through lamp choice (cool fluorescent vs. warm incandescent), dimming (lowering the output warms the light), or color filters.

• Contrast is the difference in brightness or color between elements. The greater the contrast, the more readily our eyes differentiate between them.

Proper lighting improves vision by resolving images on the retina.

• Shadow can be deliberately used or avoided in art lighting. Highlighting and shadowing can effectively

incandescent light. Some larger pieces require the stronger beam of a halogen lamp. Halogen picture lights give off a whiter light and by varying wattage and spread pattern can be easily adapted to different purposes.

Ceiling mounted lighting is an attractive option and can be a simple as a single spotlight. Lowvoltage systems offer a major advance in art lighting for multiple pieces, and come in track and cable styles with extraordinary design options. These systems can also provide task lighting.

Recessed downlights designed with a tilt to aim at wall spaces are an excellent choice for a minimal look. They are best suited to architecturally prominent areas since they are hard to modify. Newer models have adjustable tilt and pan rotation available in the newer models which givesmore flexibility.

The top of the line in art lighting is a projector that beams an inconspicuous light custom sized to the dimensions of the painting. They give the most even corner to corner wash of light available and can be ceiling mounted or recessed.

The most important principle to good lighting design, of course, is to put the focus on the artwork, not on the lighting itself. When planning your lighting, consider the following six elements before choosing the light source and application.

differentiate the various surfaces to enhance or define them. A raking light, one that comes from a sharp angle, is effective on dimensional pieces but a poor choice on very flat works.

• A luminance ratio is a comparison of the brightness of the lit object to the surrounding area. Too high a ratio within the field of view makes vision difficult and/or uncomfortable. Too low a ratio fails to enhance detail. In other words, the lighting needs of the rest of the room must be taken into account.

• Glare has to do with reflectivity. Two types of glare reduce lighting quality; disability glare and discomfort glare. Disability glare is light that masks an object, for instance, late afternoon sun through a west window reflected on photos under glass and is often transitory, only occurring at a certain time of

day. Discomfort glare is an annoying or uncomfortable light source directly in the field of view. In some cases both can occur at the same time. Artwork with a very shiny surface or under glass will have glare, so the trick is to position the light so that the glare is not at eye level. Sparkle is a type of glare that actually enhances viewing. Like lighting directed onto hand-blown glass where the brilliance bouncing off details animates the object.

• Illumination level is the last component of lighting design. Solutions to lighting art vary greatly from a bright atrium to a cozy library. The room's use, task areas, traffic patterns and color scheme all come into play. Most rooms also benefit from variable lighting that can be changed from daytime to nighttime and varied from a quiet evening at home to a house party.

2828 Devine Street : 803.799.7405 : hofpgallery.com

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