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‘Communal Pen’ writing workshop series heads to Newberry

The S.C. Arts Commission and S.C. Humanities are excited to continue Communal Pen, a creative writing workshop, in Newberry on Saturday, Jan. 19 to help you write to celebrate and explore connections to place and community. They have two questions:

  1. What are the memories, stories and traditions that make our community home?
  2. What landmarks, customs, sights and sounds connect us with family, friends and neighbors, while highlighting our unique experience and identity?
Sometimes, you’ve just got to write it down! Co-facilitators EBONI RAMM and MICHELLE ROSS will lead the workshop as you write to celebrate and explore connections to place and community. Often, it is in our written words that memory lives. The writing process can itself help us to awaken and preserve thoughts and traditions, offering insight, understanding and respect to present and future generations. This three-and-a-half-hour writing workshop runs from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Newberry Arts Center (1200 Main St., Newberry). It draws inspiration from the Smithsonian exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America as a springboard for igniting our own stories, giving voice to our shared and individual experience of place. Space is limited; registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Walk-in registration is welcome as long as space permits. Share it with your friends on Facebook! NOTE: marking yourself as "Going" on Facebook DOES NOT register you for Communal Pen. No previous experience necessary! We invite participants to view the exhibit before the workshop, and to pay special attention to those images and ideas that are most relatable you. On the day of the workshop, please bring a photo and/or object that has special meaning for you. This item will be used during a writing exercise.
The Communal Pen writing workshop is offered in conjunction with the traveling Smithsonian exhibition, Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Crossroads is presented through the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program as part of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. MoMS provides access to the Smithsonian for small-town America through museum exhibitions, research, educational resources, and programming. Communal Pen is developed through the S.C. Arts Commission’s place-based initiative, Art of Community: Rural SC, a new framework for engagement, learning, and action in rural communities. The writing workshops are coordinated through the SCAC’s Folklife & Traditional Arts and Community Arts Development programs, with generous support from the S.C. Humanities Council. Enjoy Crossroads at the Newberry Opera House through Feb. 3, 2019. The image at the top of this page is Old Sheldon by Varnville, S.C. artist Ment Nelson, who's no stranger to The Hub. Nelson celebrates his family, culture, and home community through his artwork. He is a Young Voice of the Art of Community-Rural SC initiative, and coordinator of the Creative Connectors, for the Create Rural SC project. On being an artist he says, “You never know who might be intrigued by your story.”
Deeply rooted in South Carolina, Communal Pen co-facilitator Eboni Ramm fell in love with the arts at a young age and was encouraged throughout her youth to express herself. Today, she is a gifted vocalist known for her special blend of timeless jazz classics with a pinch of poetry. Ramm resides in Columbia, where she conducts jazz poetry workshops in schools, libraries, and various learning centers. She serves her community as Richland Library's literary resident and as a teaching artist with ARTS ACCESS South Carolina and Youth Corps. She is a featured musician on SCETV’s education web portal, knowitall.org. Her publication Within His Star: The Story of Levi Pearson celebrates the ancestor who added strength to the unprecedented Brown vs. The Board of Education case. Learn more at www.EboniRamm.com. Communal Pen co-facilitator Michelle Ross is a folklorist and adjunct faculty in anthropology at the University of South Carolina Sumter. She holds a master's from the Folk Studies and Anthropology Department at Western Kentucky University. Ross embraces stories of all kinds. She helped establish the S.C. Center for Oral Narrative, through which she has co-created several writing workshops. Ross also works with the Mothers of Angels in telling and writing about grief from the death of a child, and has worked with veterans in telling and writing their stories. Her work has been published in The North Carolina Folklore Journal and an anthology of mother-in-law essays titled His Mother!; her poetry has appeared in Sandhill and The Petigru Review. For the past five years, she has been working on telling her Pontian Greek family’s refugee story, her most important project to date. Communal Pen coordinator Laura Marcus Green is Folklife & Traditional Arts Program Director at the South Carolina Arts Commission, where she manages several grant and award programs, and at the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum, where she develops programming in conjunction with folklife exhibitions. She holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from Indiana University and an M.A. in Folklore/Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Selected prior positions include Community Engagement Coordinator for the Museum of International Folk Art’s Gallery of Conscience, and work as a folklife fieldworker and researcher, writer, curator and consultant for the Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program, the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Iowa Arts Council, New Mexico Arts, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts, among others.

All levels of ability and experience welcome at 2016 S.C. Clay Conference

Registration deadline is Feb. 5. SC Clay ConferenceMaking Clay Personal is the theme of the second annual South Carolina Clay Conference, taking place Feb, 26-28, 2016, at the Newberry Firehouse Conference Center in Newberry, S.C. Presenters Michael Sherrill, Glenda E. Guion and Bill Griffith will take attendees through the journey of creating objects in clay that are uniquely personal and expressive of the individual artist. All levels of ability and experience are invited to attend. “I hope that the topic of making clay personal will open a dialogue about sorting out what is important to the clay artist when, at times, the choices seem endless,” says Guion. “We are bombarded with visual images and fragmented thoughts on a daily basis, either through our physical experiences or the new 'virtual realities.' Regardless of the clay material resources or the artist experience, trusting your gut instincts to develop a personal visual language for your work can be the most challenging part of creating the work.” Sherrill and Guion will take the stage on Friday and Saturday to demonstrate their work while interacting with attendees, answering questions and offering inspiration for finding a personal clay voice. On Sunday, Griffith will introduce attendees to the personal journeys of many well-known clay artists. “As makers, we often can reach a point when we become disengaged with our work and feel a need to change technically or aesthetically using new materials, forms and or content,” says Griffith. “Why and when does this occur and how and where do we find inspiration and motivation to make this meaningful shift? My lecture will include images and testimonials from several well-known ceramic artists who have experienced this transition, along with their personal thoughts and perhaps some helpful suggestions." The conference is presented by the Newberry Arts Center, which is a part of the City of Newberry Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department. “Our goal in having a yearly conference is to bring together clay artists and potters from across South Carolina in an effort to build a stronger clay community," says conference organizer Marquerite Palmer. "By joining together once a year, we gain knowledge from collaborative conversations, share upcoming workshop information statewide, and discuss individual challenges and successes. Through interaction, communication and education, we hope to move clay forward for the benefit of all S.C. clay artists and potters.” All conference attendees, amateur and professional, are encouraged to bring pottery and sculpture to sell at the 2016 S.C. Clay Conference Pottery Sale. The sale is open to the public and advertised throughout the state. A small percentage of sales is used to support the Newberry Arts Center and the conference. Art work from this year’s presenters will also be available for sale. Some of Newberry’s top restaurants will provide food for meals, the reception and the Saturday night barbecue. Coffee, drinks, snacks and more are also included in the registration fee. Several vendors will be displaying their pottery-related items as well as offering demonstrations and information. Registration is $225 for attendees and $125 for students. For more information and or to register, visit www.southcarolinaclayconference.com or contact Marquerite Palmer, mpalmer@cityofnewberry.com, (803) 321-1015. The South Carolina Clay Conference’s purpose is to assist in the growth and direction of South Carolina potters through presentation, demonstration, and networking opportunities. Conference organziers seek to create a flourishing clay community in the state of South Carolina, with the aspiration to move clay forward. Via: S.C. Clay Conference