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On the passing of Thomasena Stokes Marshall

S.C. folk arts, political pioneer passed away Jan. 7


Official Statement from the S.C. Arts Commission

The South Carolina Arts Commission expresses its sadness after learning that Thomasena Stokes Marshall passed this past weekend. Most notable among her many accomplishments is a successful run for a seat on town council in Mount Pleasant that made her the first and only Black member of the council in 186 years (per the Post & Courier). She appeared on the S.C. Arts Commission radar as founder of the Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival Association. The group was honored with the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award in 2017 (Hub coverage), and Marshall collaborated with the SCAC on that. The relationship led to the organization participating in FOLKfabulous@TheFair with McKissick Museum and also a Folklife & Traditional Arts Project grant from the SCAC in support of a sweetgrass basketry summer camp. The SCAC extends warm and sincere condolences to the surviving members of Marshall's family with gratitude for her achievements and hard work on behalf of a cherished traditional art form important to our state.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

State Art Collection gets 12-day run at S.C. State Fair

And FOLKfabulous is back for third year


Funnel cake? Check. Corn dog? Check. Cotton candy? Check. Tyrone Geter? Check.  Wait, what? To help celebrate its 150th anniversary, the South Carolina State Fair invited the State Art Collection to show off iconic contemporary works by #SCartists in the shadow of the famed rocket. Artists who have exhibited in the State Fair’s annual exhibition dating back to the early 1960s, works that reflect aspects of fair culture, and some iconic pieces from the State Art Collection are featured in the Rosewoods Building at Pig Tales, Blackberry Winter, & the Cabinet of Curiosities today through Oct. 20. In keeping with the fair theme, fair guests are invited to spin the new S.C. Arts Commission spinning wheel. When the wheel stops on a work of art in the exhibition, search that work out. Snap a selfie with it, and share it with your networks on social media! The artists and works, an event rundown, and more are available at SouthCarolinaArts.com.

McKissick Museum celebrates return of FOLKfabulous

Join the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum at the South Carolina State Fair for FOLKFabulous@theFair. This year, the museum's signature folklife festival celebrates South Carolina’s rich textile arts heritage, including Native American, African American and Mennonite quilting traditions in conjunction with the McKissick exhibition, Piece by Piece: Quilts from the Permanent Collection. You’re invited to participate and engage with artists and cultural traditions that make the Palmetto State home! Come to the Rosewoods Building to enjoy arts displays, demonstrations and hands-on craft activities, concerts and hands-on music workshops. You won’t want to miss the chance to try your hand at making a story quilt block or contribute to our yarn-bombing display. You’ll also find music to move your heart and dancing feet at a Harvest Dance featuring old-time music by Andy Brooks, a bluegrass concert by the Carolina Rebels, and Gullah music and storytelling by internationally renowned performers Ron and Natalie Daise. Click here for complete information on FOLKfabulous@theFair.

Folk traditions alive and featured at S.C. State Fair

Starting today, join the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum at the South Carolina State Fair for FOLKFabulous@theFair. This year, our signature folklife festival celebrates South Carolina’s vibrant pottery traditions, drawing on two McKissick exhibitions: Swag & Tassel: The Innovative Stoneware of Thomas Chandler and Place It/Face It: Pottery by Eugene. Also featured are Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award recipients and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative artists, highlighting the Folklife & Traditional Arts Program of McKissick Museum and the S.C. Arts Commission. FOLKFabulous@theFair brings together outstanding tradition bearers from around the state, so that we may better know and appreciate our region’s unique cultural heritage. FOLKFabulous@theFair is not an event to simply observe, but also an invitation to participate and engage with artists and cultural traditions that make the Palmetto State home. Come to the Rosewoods Building to enjoy arts displays, demonstrations and hands-on craft activities, an exhibit featuring South Carolina’s pottery heritage, concerts and hands-on music workshops, and our oral history station. New this year, Share Your Fair Story offers visitors an opportunity to record their South Carolina State Fair memories in preparation for the Fair’s 150th Anniversary in 2019. You won’t want to miss the chance to join in a community drum circle, try your hand at making a pot or a story quilt block, or contribute to our yarn-bombing display. You’ll also find music to move your heart and dancing feet: Piedmont Blues by Freddie Vanderford & Millbilly Three, bluegrass by Kristin Scott Benson & Friends, and a cappella spiritual and gospel singing by the Blackville Community Choir. Keith BrownFeatured ceramic artists and organizations include:

  • Rosa & Winton Eugene
  • Justin Guy of Old Edgefield Pottery
  • Catawba potter Keith Brown (right)
  • Columbia Art Center
  • South Carolina Clay Conference & Newberry Art Center
  • Southern Pottery
Find detailed program listings at: www.scstatefair.org. Don’t forget to plan a visit to McKissick Museum to view the exhibitions that inspired this year’s festival:
  • Swag & Tassel: The Innovative Stoneware of Thomas Chandler brings new archaeological and archival research to bear on our understanding of a 19th-century Edgefield potter (Aug. 2018-July 2019).
  • Place It/Face It: Pottery by Eugene is the first retrospective exhibition of ceramic art by self-taught, African-American potters Winton and Rosa Eugene of Cowpens. This husband-and-wife artistic team have produced a body of functional wares that speak to southerners’ shared experience of place, and sculptural works that address issues of particular concern to them (Aug. 18-Dec. 15).
McKissick Museum is free and open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. FOLKFabulous@theFair is made possible with generous support from the South Carolina State Fair, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, and the South Carolina Arts Commission.

FOLKFabulous@theFair 2018 Schedule

  • All activities in the Rosewoods Building, unless otherwise indicated with an *
  • See online or printed schedule for exact times and details. All events & activities are free with Fair admission.
Daily Events
  • McKissick Museum Exhibit: Pottery in South Carolina McKissick Museum introduces visitors to South Carolina’s pottery traditions. Learn about the building, glazing, and firing techniques used by historical and contemporary potters, and the minerals used to make clay bodies and glazes. Featured traditions include Southern alkaline pottery, Catawba pottery and more. Also, find out more about folklife and traditional arts.
  • Share Your Fair Story As we gear up for the South Carolina State Fair’s 150th Anniversary next year, McKissick Museum would like to gather your stories and memories of Fair traditions and experiences. Stop by and share your favorite memory of your family’s quilts, canned or baked goods, or other State Fair traditions.
  • Hands-on Experiences FOLKFabulous@theFair offers daily opportunities for hands-on experiences. No previous experience necessary to participate! Kindle your creativity.
  Wednesday, October | 12-6 p.m. Yarn Bombing ~ Yarn Bombers of Columbia Ever notice the yarn masterpieces adorning trees, parking meters and more on Columbia’s Main Street? The Yarn Bombers of Columbia decorate the Rosewoods Building, host an open stitching circle, and speak about their work.* *Yarn Bombers of Columbia onstage interview will be held in the Home Arts area, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Pottery Display and Hands-On Experience ~ Columbia Art Center The Columbia Art Center presents pottery displays and offers hands-on experiences in throwing and coiling clay pieces. Potters will have work for sale.   Thursday, October 11 | 12-6 p.m. Speaking with the Clay: A Tribute to David Drake ~ EboniRamm and Columbia Art Center Create your own story in clay! Poet EboniRamm and Columbia Art Center’s talented potters lead participants in tapping their creativity and experience to combine pottery and poetry. Pottery Display and Hands-On Experience ~ Columbia Art Center The Columbia Art Center presents pottery displays and offers hands-on experiences in throwing and coiling clay pieces. Potters will have work for sale.   Friday, October 12 | 12-8:30 p.m. Pottery Display and Hands-On Experience ~ Columbia Art Center The Columbia Art Center presents pottery displays and offers hands-on experiences in throwing and coiling clay pieces. Potters will have work for sale. Find Your Rhythm: Community Drum Circle ~ Columbia Community Drum Circle Join in a community drum circle! Drums provided. Since 2004, the Columbia Community Drum Circle has provided a safe, non-intimidating, family friendly space for anyone wanting to explore the joy of group drumming.   Saturday, October 13 | 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Pottery Display and Hands-On Experience: Rosa & Winton Eugene Rosa and Winton Eugene of Cowpens, SC demonstrate and talk about their work, highlighting techniques and forms that explore scenes of the rural south and the Eugenes’ experience as African Americans and concerned citizens of the world. They will offer a display, with pieces for sale, and a hands-on pottery activity.   Sunday, October 14 | 1-6 p.m. Hands-On Experience ~ Southern Pottery | 1-4 p.m. Participate in a clay experience: build your own mask or a face jug. South Carolina Treasures: Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative
  • Bluegrass Concert ~ Kristin Scott Benson & Friends | 3-4 p.m., WLTX Stage Join Kristin Scott Benson and an all-star cast of today's top bluegrass artists, including Shawn Lane, Marcus Smith, and Alan Bibey, for an impromptu set of top-notch music, also featuring Samantha Morgan, a recent apprentice in the SC Arts Commission’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative.
  • Bluegrass Banjo Workshop ~ Kristin Scott Benson & Samantha Morgan | 4:30-5:30 p.m. Come explore the roots and contemporary styles of bluegrass banjo, with Master Artist, Kristin Scott Benson, and Apprentice, Samantha Morgan. This will be an intimate, highly interactive workshop, with a Q and A session.
  Monday, October 15 | 12-6 p.m. South Carolina Treasures: Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative Catawba Pottery ~ Keith Little Bear Brown & Teresa Harris Master Catawba potter Keith Brown and apprentice Teresa Harris display and demonstrate their work, talk about their apprenticeship, and offer hands-on instruction in the pinch pot technique.   Tuesday, October 16 | 12-6 p.m. South Carolina Treasures: Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award Gullah Sweetgrass Basketry ~ Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Association Learn about Gullah Geechee history and the sweetgrass basket tradition. Enjoy a display and demos featuring multiple basket weavers, and take part in a hands-on activity.   Wednesday, October 17 | 12-6 p.m. South Carolina Treasures: Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award
  • A Cappella Spiritual & Gospel Singing ~ Blackville Community Choir | 12-2 p.m. The Blackville Community Choir has been gracing church services, weddings and other community gatherings since 1965. Come hear them in concert and join in a community singing session.
  • Indian Clay Traditions ~ Folk Artist Jugnu Verma | 2:30-5:30 p.m. Explore the origin and evolution of Indian tribal and folk art forms and their influence on modern Indian art and life, with Indian folk artist Jugnu Verma. Try your hand at Lippan, a form of clay art traditionally used to adorn homes in the hot, arid region of Kutch, India. Or, decorate a Diya, the clay vessel used to hold candles during Divali, India’s annual festival of lights.
  Thursday, October 18 | 12-6 p.m.
  • Immortal images: Decorating Techniques of Old Edgefield Pottery Justin Guy creates and talks about Edgefield Pottery and its design elements. He will teach how to create elemental designs using pen and ink, drawing inspiration from what is around us in our daily lives and environment.
  • Yarn Bombing ~ Yarn Bombers of Columbia The Yarn Bombers of Columbia return to the State Fair to host an open stitching circle and speak about their work. Stitch your own creation and add it to the display! Yarn Bombers onstage interview will be held in the Home Arts area, 3:30-4:30
  Friday, October 19 | 12-6 p.m. Pottery Display and Hands-On Experience ~ Newberry Arts Center & South Carolina Clay Conference The Newberry Arts Center & South Carolina Clay Conference present pottery displays and offer hands-on experiences in creating clay pieces. Potters will have work for sale.    Saturday, October 20 | 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Pottery Display and Hands-On Experience ~ Newberry Arts Center & South Carolina Clay Conference | 11 a.m.-4 p.m. The Newberry Arts Center & South Carolina Clay Conference present pottery displays and offer hands-on experiences in creating clay pieces. Potters will have work for sale. South Carolina Treasures: Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative
  • Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award | 3-3:30 p.m., 5:30-6 p.m. Piedmont Blues Concert ~ Freddie Vanderford & Millbilly Three Come hear South Carolina Piedmont blues legends Freddie Vanderford and the Millbilly Three, carrying on a Palmetto State tradition from the Upstate. (Millbilly Three concerts on the WLTX Stage.)
  • Piedmont Blues Harmonica Workshop | 4-5 p.m. Join Master Piedmont Blues harmonica player Freddie Vanderford and Apprentices Mattie Phifer Suber and David “Shag” Stepp for a hands-on Piedmont Blues harmonica workshop. Harmonicas provided.
  Sunday, October 211-5 p.m. South Carolina Treasures: Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award Hands-on Family & Memory Quilt Workshop ~ Peggie Hartwell Create your own fabric story block, exploring the use of color and design to find your "voice on cloth." Materials provided. See a pop-up display of quilts by Peggie Hartwell, who depicts her family stories, African American culture and history, and current world issues in her detailed and colorful work.

FOLKFabulous moves to the State Fair

The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum's signature festival, FOLKFabulous, has an expanded time frame at a new venue, moving from a one-day event at the museum to a 10-day extravaganza at the South Carolina State Fair October 11 - 22. Drawing on the yearlong exhibition “WELL SUITED: The Costumes of Alonzo V. Wilson for HBO’s® Treme”, FOLKFabulous@theFair 2017 celebrates the traditions and spirit of Mardi Gras—in New Orleans and South Carolina. Also featured are Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award recipients and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Initiative artists, highlighting the Folklife & Traditional Arts Program of McKissick Museum and the South Carolina Arts Commission. This folklife festival brings together outstanding tradition bearers in an immersive atmosphere to help visitors better understand our region’s unique cultural heritage. Each day of FOLKFabulous brings a new opportunity to learn and engage with narrative stages, concerts, hands-on-activities for the whole family, and even a King Cake Contest. Visit www.artsandsciences.sc.edu/mckissickmuseum for details, including a complete calendar of events.

FOLKfabulous festival to showcase Native American musicians, storytellers and artisans

The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum will present the second annual FOLKFabulous festival on August 23, 2014, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in front of the Museum on USC’s historic Horseshoe. This event is free and open to the public. FolkfabulousKeithBrownCatawbaPotterFOLKFabulous is the largest, single-day gathering of Southeastern Native American artists in the history of the University of South Carolina. The festival will feature Native American musicians, storytellers, artisans, and community leaders from more than six Southeastern tribes, each sharing their cultural traditions. Participating artists include Keith Brown demonstrating Catawba pottery (pictured right), Choctaw bead artist Roger Amerman, Tuscarora music by the Deer Clan Singers, and Cherokee storyteller and stonecarver Freeman Owle. Traditional food will be available from the Native American Café, and attendees will have numerous opportunities to talk with artists and community leaders. For a full listing of participants, visit artsandsciences.sc.edu/mckissickmuseum/folkfabulous-2014. FOLKFabulous will open McKissick’s newest exhibition, Traditions, Change, and Celebration: Native Artists of the Southeast. This exhibit represents year two of McKissick’s Diverse Voices series, which celebrates the traditional arts and folkways of the Southeastern United States. The South is home to a wide variety of deeply-rooted Native American tribal groups, each with its own dynamic history. Traditions, Change, and Celebration pays particular attention to five primary culture groups: Iroquoian, Muskogean, Algonquin, Mobilian and Siouan, and features the expressive culture of more than 40 Natives tribes throughout the Southeast. Related: McKissick Museum exhibition features artwork from 25 Native American tribal nations. McKissick Museum is located on the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe with available parking in the garage at the corner of Pendleton and Bull streets. All exhibits are free and open to the public. For more information, call Ja-Nae Epps at (803) 777-2876. This program is funded in part through the support of the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Humanities CouncilSC. Via: McKissick Museum

FOLKfabulous – celebrating 25 years of the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award

McKissick Museum will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards with FOLKfabulous, a folk heritage festival taking place April 27 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the University of South Carolina's historic horseshoe. The event features live music, dance, and storytelling; demonstrations; hands-on art-making activities; and traditional South Carolina foodways. This event is free and open to the public. Performers

  • Martha Benn MacDonald, Highland fling dance, Scottish balladry (Rock Hill)
  • Springfield Baptist Singing Convention, shape note singing (Greenwood)
  • John Fowler, storytelling (Boiling Springs)
  • Roffie Griggs, bluegrass music (Bishopville)
  • Lena Allen Davis, shape note singing (Anderson)
  • Freddie Vanderford, blues (Union)
  • Ricky McDuffie & Family, gospel quartet (Bennettsville)
  • Eastern Band of Cherokee Tribe
Artisans
  • M.J. (Malcolm James) Holden – luthier (Heath Springs)
  • Alejandra Tamayo – crochet/cross stitch/knitting (Trenton)
  • Quilters of South Carolina quilting demonstrations (Columbia)
  • Paul Moore, Congaree potter (Columbia)
FOLKfabulous is sponsored in part by the Humanities CouncilSC and the National Endowment for the Arts. McKissick Museum is located on the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe between Sumter, Bull, Pendleton, and Greene streets. For more information please call (803) 777-7251 or visit the website. Folkfabulous Via: McKissick Museum