Jasper Magazine turns 10
Time for a party!
After two previous attempts to celebrate that were rescheduled due to pandemic safety concerns, the Jasper Project is finally celebrating the 10th birthday of Jasper Magazine on Thursday, April 14 in the newly restored area over 701 Whaley’s 100+ year old swimming pool.
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The May/June 2012 issue of Jasper Magazine - the Word on Columbia Arts.[/caption]
The party begins at 6 p.m. with a VIP champagne reception then opens to the public at 7 p.m. for a night of music, art, food, and fun. A limited number of tickets are available at www.JasperProject.org.
Performances are scheduled for Post Timey String Band, Adam Corbett, Columbia Repertory Dance Company, Live Art from Michael Krajewski, and Lucas Sams, and DJs Preach Jacobs and Dick not Richard.
More than 20 artists will be exhibiting and selling their work in a gallery show curated by Laura Garner Hine. Artists include:
- Thomas Crouch,
- Cait Maloney,
- Dawn Hunter,
- Candace Thibeault,
- Michael Krajewski,
- Lucas Sams,
- Pam Bowers,
- Lori Isom,
- Eileen Blythe,
- B.A. Hohman,
- Bohumila Augustinova,
- Rachel Church,
- Gina Langston Brewer,
- Lindsay Radford,
- Jennifer Hill,
- Laura Garner Hine,
- Adam Corbett,
- Mike Dwyer,
- Jeff Donovan
- and more.
Jasper Magazine published its first issue in September 2011 and soon began to offer ancillary arts events including Fall Lines literary journal, 2nd Act Film Project, and several one-off arts and culture commemorations including Marked by the Water, Art from the Ashes, Syzygy, and the Supper Table, the organization’s most ambitious project to date. Filing for 501(c)3 status, the organization became a non-profit entity in 2016 and has since grown to publish several multi-disciplinary arts books and establish a number of successful collateral projects such as Tiny Gallery, Jasper Writes, the Play Right Series, Jasper Artists of the Year, and more.
Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer (1868-1936) was a teacher and social activist in Orangeburg. Born in Pickens, she taught at the Normal and Grammar Schools at Claflin College for 40 years. Her published anthology of poems Prejudice Unveiled and Other Poems (1907) examined the Jim Crow South’s propensity for lynching, racism, and social injustice. Moorer was also an advocate for women’s suffrage in South Carolina, especially in the Methodist Church.
The purpose of the Lizelia August Jenkins Moorer Prize, affectionately called the Lizelia Prize, is to offer a first-time BIPOC poet from South Carolina a publishing contract with Muddy Ford Press to publish their debut chapbook under the guidance of an established poet. The brainchild of Dr. Len Lawson, who is a member of the Jasper Project board of directors and the author, editor, or co-editor of four books of poetry, Lawson will also serve as project manager as well as editor of the winner’s chapbook and will collaborate with the winner on the construction of the book.
South Carolina BIPOC poets who have yet to publish a book of poetry are invited to submit 30-40 single spaced numbered pages in Times New Roman 12-pt. font and include a cover sheet with your name and manuscript title. Your name should not appear on the manuscript. The winning submission will receive publication via Muddy Ford Press, a cash prize of $250, and ten author copies of the book. Submissions should be in MS Word format and should be sent to 
Fall Lines – a literary convergence is a South Carolina based print literary journal that solicits submissions of poetry and prose internationally. With more than 500 submissions this year, more than 30 were selected for publication through a blind reading process. The winner of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry is Kimberly Driggers for her poem, “Imagine the Sound of Waves.” The winner of the Broad River Prize for Prose is Derek Berry for his story, “Sasquatch.”
Judy Goldman served as the judge for the prose competition and Délana R. A. Dameron served as the judge for poetry. DéLana R.A. Dameron is the author of Weary Kingdom and How God Ends Us. She is an arts and culture strategist who lives in Brooklyn. Goldman is the author of two award-winning poetry collections and two novels, Early Leaving and The Slow Way Back, which was a finalist for SIBA's Novel of the Year and winner of the Sir Walter Raleigh Fiction Award and the Mary Ruffin Poole Award for First Fiction. Her memoir, Losing My Sister, was a finalist for both SIBA's Memoir of the Year and ForeWord Review's Memoir of the Year. Her work has appeared in Real Simple, The Washington Post, and in many literary journals. She teaches writing workshops throughout the Southeast, and serves on the permanent faculty of Table Rock Writers Workshop.
Winners are sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation.
The public is invited to the free release event, readings, and awards ceremony on Sunday, August 18th from 2-3:30 p.m. at the main branch of the Richland Library. Copies of Fall Lines will be available and free.
Eartha Kitt placesetting by Mana Hewitt for The Supper Table.[/caption]
An homage to Judy Chicago’s iconic feminist art installation, The Dinner Party, and using Chicago’s project as a loose model, Jasper Project Executive Director Cindi Boiter conceived of The Supper Table as an innovative way of honoring some of South Carolina's largely un-celebrated, yet groundbreaking women in history. After consulting with experts like Marjorie Spruill, professor emeritus in women’s history at the University of South Carolina, Boiter selected 12 historic South Carolina women who, via their work in the arts, medicine, law, business, athletics, entertainment, and more, changed the course of human history.
Using the model created by Chicago, Boiter commissioned Richland Library Maker Coordinator Jordan Morris to create a 12’ x 12’ x 12’ wooden table at which visual artists would create place-settings inspired by and honoring the historic women. In addition to the 12 visual artists, a dozen artists each from the literary, theatrical arts, and film were also invited to participate. The result is a multidisciplinary arts installation and performance which will premiere in September along with the release of: