← View All Articles

Jason Rapp

‘A Fine Hand’ exhibition features accomplished #SCartists

SCAC Fellows, State Art Collection artists included

This is not to be missed.

As it continues to celebrate reopening, Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center opens A Fine Hand this week:

“Dexterous skill, creative imagination and focused intellect pursuing the mystical aura of unique; gifts to the world that cultivate and revere beauty,” is how we envision the purpose and pleasure of this show.

Featured among the 16, #SCartists all, are names familiar to those who follow S.C. Arts Commission goings on. Jeri Burdick, Jocelyn Châteauvert, and Lee Malerich are all former SCAC fellowship recipients and all have works featured in the State Art Collection. Orangeburg's own Dr. Leo Twiggs (modeling his hands above) also appears in the State Art Collection and is a two-time recipient of the Governor's Award for the Arts. A Fine Hand opens this Wednesday evening with a reception from 6-8 p.m. It runs through Wednesday, Aug. 18 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Lusty Gallery (649 Riverside Dr., Orangeburg). Free.

Jason Rapp

Announcing the FY22 SCAC Fellows

for immediate release

Four South Carolina artists exhibiting hard work and exceptional ability in visual art, craft, and media production and screenwriting are recipients of fiscal year 2022 South Carolina Arts Commission fellowships.

The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) Board of Directors approved four $5,000 fellowships among several other FY22 grant awards to be announced on a later date. The SCAC’s four fellows are:
  • Kristi Ryba of Charleston County in visual art,
  • Clay Burnette of Richland County for craft,
  • Sherard “Shekeese” Duvall of Richland County for media production,
  • and Triza Cox of Florence County for media screenwriting.
Individual artists residing in South Carolina full-time were invited to apply last fall for a fellowship in any of the four categories represented in this cycle. Out-of-state panelists were recruited from each of those disciplines to review applications. Starting with this cycle and going forward, applications are no longer anonymous and awards no longer made solely on artistic merit. The panelists also considered achievements and commitment to the discipline in which artists apply, which can be more than one if separate applications are submitted. Panelists then recommend recipients of each $5,000 fellowship. “Fellowships recognize and reward the artistic achievements of exceptional South Carolina individual artists. Recognition from a fellowship lends artistic prestige and can often open doors to other resources and employment opportunities,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. “We will no doubt hear more from these amazing artists, and we congratulate them on this honor.”

About the FY22 Individual Artist Fellowship Recipients

Kristi Ryba | Visual Arts | Charleston County Winner of the 2020 South Arts State Fellowship for South Carolina and a 2018 ArtFields second place award, Ryba’s work has been touring the Southeast in painting and printmaking exhibitions since 1990.  A Magna cum laude graduate of the College of Charleston, Ryba also studied at Vermont Studio School and Studio Camnitzer in Valdotavvo, Lucca, Italy, and has her Master of Fine Arts from Union Institute and University, Vermont College. She has won various awards and scholarships. A founding organizer of Print Studio South, Inc., she served as its president and on its board and has taught locally in both adult and children's programs. Ryba was one of 10 artists featured in a 2002 Piccolo Spoleto exhibit and was invited to exhibit in Contemporary Charleston 2004 and in Helping Hands: an artist's debut among friends in 2005. Her work was featured in the 2018 Biennial in Columbia. Ryba also exhibited at Silo in New York City and her work was in the 2007 SOHO20 Chelsea show honoring The Feminist ART Project. Clay Burnette | Craft | Richland County Clay Burnette is a self-taught pine needle basketmaker who has been coiling longleaf pine needles with waxed linen thread since 1977. Burnette’s work is included in numerous public and private collections—including the State Art Collection—and has been included in more than 250 exhibition venues throughout the U.S. and abroad for 40-plus years. He has also been published in numerous international, national, and regional magazines, catalogs, and fine craft publications. Burnette has taught at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee since 2015. Images of his work are available at www.clayburnette.com. Sherard Duvall | Media: Production | Richland County Sherard “Shekeese” Duvall is a film and messaging professional from Columbia, S.C. He specializes in visual storytelling, film education, media strategy, diversity consulting and is an advocate of Hip-Hop culture. He’s produced commercial and documentary projects for VH1, Oxygen, and more. A 2021 Liberty Fellow, a 2016 Riley Fellow, a Leo Twiggs Arts Leadership Scholar and one of the founders of Columbia’s Hip-Hop Family Day: Love Peace & Hip-Hop. A 2001 University of South Carolina grad, Sherard is a product of Richland District One schools. Sherard is the Founder and Executive Producer at OTR Media Group, and the proud dad of his son, Cairo. Triza Cox | Media: Screenwriting | Florence County Triza Cox is a playwright, screenwriter, and theatre artist. She is currently the South Carolina Ambassador for the Dramatists Guild and is an associate member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. Her research and creative work center on playmaking using Jungian archetypes, motifs, and symbols of the collective unconscious. Triza holds an MFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Louisville and has trained with Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and the Mandala Center for Change as a Theatre of the Oppressed Facilitator. Her original plays include A Last Supper; The Willing, which recently received a staged reading with Triad Stage in Greensboro, North Carolina; God in the Midst of it All; and Lil’ Bard which was a semi-finalist in NYU’s New Plays for Young Audience 2018 and premiered at Charlotte’s Children Theatre in a staged reading. Triza has received a Kentucky New Voices grant for her playwriting.
A diverse group of panelists reviewed applications from the discipline in which they work. The visual art and craft panelists were Kesha Bruce, a curator and artist programs manager for the Arizona Commission on the Arts; arts consultant and curator Mark Leach based in St. Louis; and Holly Blake, residency manager for Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California. Reviewing media production applications were panelists Eleanor Savage, activist and program director with the St. Paul, Minnesota-based Jerome Foundation; and Bill Gaskins, (re)director of the Maryland Institute College of Art’s photographic and electronic media graduate program. Writer and producer April Turner of Charlotte was the media screenwriting panelist.
Four fellowships per year are awarded to artists working in rotating disciplines. One artist from each of these fields: prose, poetry, and theatre acting and playwriting will be honored in fiscal year 2023. To be eligible, artists must be at least 18 years old and a legal U.S. resident with permanent residence in the state for two years prior to the application date and throughout the fellowship period. Applications will be accepted later this summer following announcement by the SCAC. For more on discipline rotation, eligibility requirements, and the application process, please visit https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/grant/fel/.
About the South Carolina Arts Commission The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) is to promote equitable access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina. We envision a South Carolina where the arts are valued and all people benefit from a variety of creative experiences. A state agency created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the SCAC works to increase public participation in the arts by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in three key areas: arts education, community arts development, and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the SCAC is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources. Visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696, and follow @scartscomm on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Jason Rapp

Tuning Up: Student art call + Carter Boucher, Adrian Rhodes news

Good morning! 

"Tuning Up" is a morning post series where The Hub delivers curated, quick-hit arts stories of interest to readers. Sometimes there will be one story, sometimes there will be several. Get in tune now, and have a masterpiece of a day. And now, in no particular order...
[caption id="attachment_34666" align="alignright" width="150"] The world-famous Hub Calls for Art Megaphone.[/caption]

ArtFields Jr. is looking for student art

Submission deadline: February 12, 2021 The ArtFields Jr. Art Competition is open to South Carolina students in grades 1 through 12. All artwork submitted is considered by their review panel. Select pieces will be displayed during the month of April and final judging takes place during ArtFields. Schools and families are encouraged to attend the awards ceremony to support their student artists and developing artists throughout the community. Submissions for the 2021 competition are open through February 12, 2021. For complete details of the ArtFields Jr. competition, click here.

2020 is stopping neither Carter Boucher...

(Submitted material) Clarence Carter Boucher, Arts Access South Carolina master teaching artist, is continuing a very successful year. The website/blog https://www.detour-ahead.org/ is featuring three of his paintings and information about his art career, live now here. Plus:
  • "Art from the Heart," a hardback book about art, is going to include his oil portrait, Jesse James, composer.
  • Hip Pocket Press is publishing a piece of his flash fiction, Postcard to a Train Conductor.

... nor Adrian Rhodes

The 2020 SCAC visual arts fellow made a book of recent drawings, currently on view at 701 CCA as part of the 701 Prize Finalists exhibition. She is taking preorders for the book on her website through December 3rd.

Jason Rapp

SCAC prose fellow publishes new book

Scott Gould's latest available now

Scott Gould, a two-time recipient of the South Carolina Arts Commission's prose fellowship, is out with his latest book.

[caption id="attachment_13111" align="alignright" width="150"] Scott Gould[/caption] Koehler Books Publishing is out with Whereabouts, in which Gould "lyrically weaves a tale of escape and redemption and, ultimately, of how love somehow survives, no matter the twisting paths it travels." Here's a synopsis from Koehler:

"[a] coming-of-age story of an independent teenager who desperately longs to flee her small, claustrophobic hometown following the unexpected death of her father and her mother’s sudden remarriage to the local funeral director. As she attempts to map a new course for her young life, Missy’s search is constantly derailed by the men she encounters ... Missy Belue wanders the back roads of a forgotten South, looking for a safe place to land, earning fresh scar tissue from the confusing, complicated world outside her hometown."

Gould is the author of the story collection, Strangers to Temptation (Hub City Press, 2017). His work has appeared in Kenyon Review, Carolina Quarterly, Crazyhorse, New Madrid Journal, The Bitter Southerner, Black Warrior Review, Eclectica, The Raleigh Review, New Stories from the South, and New Southern Harmonies, among others. He is a past winner of the fiction fellowship from the South Carolina Academy of Authors and is creative writing department chair for the South Carolina Governor's School for Arts & Humanities.

Jason Rapp

Tuning Up: #SCartists as active as the tropics?

Good morning!  "Tuning Up" is a morning post series where The Hub delivers curated, quick-hit arts stories of interest to readers. Sometimes there will be one story, sometimes there will be several. Get in tune now, and have a masterpiece of a day. And now, in no particular order...

It isn't just the tropics that are active

Good soggy Thursday morning, Hub readers. As what's left of Sally creeps across South Carolina throughout the day and into tomorrow, take heart: despite everything tough weather and tough times, #SCartists are as busy as ever. Here's proof.
  • Columbia Metropolitan Airport (CAE, according to tickets) is back in "Tuning Up." The airport announced the selected artists for its 2020/2021 "Art in the Airport" program. Out of 115 submissions received from local artists eager to reflect the talents of the area arts community, four were selected to exhibit their artwork for the upcoming season:
      • Christopher Garvey (October 2020 – January 2021)
      • Ija Charles (February – May 2021)
      • Sonya Diimmler (June – September 2021)
      • Harold Branham (October 2021 – January 2022)
    "Once a traveler lands, these works of art will be the first artistic and cultural touchpoints to the region,” CAE's Kim Jamieson said. The exhibit location will be in the connector of the terminal, the walkway between the security checkpoint and the departure/arrival gates.
  • Camera taking high-resolution image of glass artwork in a studio settingFarther north and west on I-26, photographer Thomas Koenig and fused-glass artist Judy Martin are set to exhibit a collaborative work, Big In Glass, at Artists Collective | Spartanburg. The free and public exhibit will be open Oct. 6-31, 2020 Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Social distancing and other protocols will be practiced. Each artist is contributing 10-12 pieces of work. Martin will present a collection of fused glass creations especially made for this exhibit; Koenig will use macro photography (right) to present highly enlarged details of Martin’s work, giving the viewer a different perspective.

SCAC Fellow featured in Columbia

Back in the Midlands, 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia has a familiar face on exhibit now through Oct. 26. Well, her work is exhibited, anyway. "Reigning" SCAC fellowship recipient in craft Valerie Zimany has And I was Covered in Blossoms in the gallery Wednesdays through Sundays, 1-5 p.m. Visitors are required to wear coverings over mouth and nose (You know who you are. - Ed.). Zimany, a chair and associate professor at Clemson, is a decorated ceramicist who was awarded her fellowship from the SCAC for FY2020.
 

Jason Rapp

Unrestricted $5,000 grants to reward eligible #SCartists

S.C. Arts Commission opens applications for FY22 Fellowships

  • Open to artists in visual arts, craft, media production & screenwriting
  • Deadline to apply is Monday, Nov. 16, 2020
For Immediate Release COLUMBIA, S.C. – Resident South Carolina visual, craft, and media production or screenwriting artists can now apply for unrestricted, $5,000 fellowships from the South Carolina Arts Commission to recognize and reward their talents. The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) will grant four awards of $5,000 each to artists whose work comes from one of those four different artistic disciplines. The deadline to apply is Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. Fellowships recognize and reward the artistic achievements of South Carolina’s exceptional individual artists and are made through a highly competitive process. New for the FY22 cycle, the application process is no longer anonymous and awards no longer made solely on artistic merit. Consideration will also be given to achievements and commitment to the discipline in which artists apply. Artists may apply for more than one discipline, but must complete separate applications in full. Fellowships lend prestige to an artist’s reputation and can open doors to other resources and employment opportunities. Four per year are awarded by the SCAC to artists working in rotating disciplines. A lengthy list of accomplished fellowship recipients is available here. “The South Carolina Arts Commission wants to provide artists financial resources so that they may focus solely on their craft,” SCAC Artist Services Program Director Ce Scott-Fitts said. “These unrestricted grants enable artists to continue developing and creating art.” A diverse group of panelists from each discipline will judge the applicants. To apply, artists must:
  • be 18 years of age or older at the time of application,
  • be U.S. citizens and South Carolina resident with a full-time residence in state for two years before applying,
  • not be a degree-seeking, full-time student during the award period,
  • plan to remain in-state through the fellowship period (July 2021 through June 2022).
Applications may only be submitted online by midnight Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. To learn more and apply, visit the fellowships grant page on SouthCarolinaArts.com. Further questions about applying can be answered by Artist Services Program Director Ce Scott-Fitts (cscottfitts@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8203).
About the South Carolina Arts Commission With a commitment to excellence across the spectrum of our state’s cultures and forms of expression, the South Carolina Arts Commission pursues its public charge to develop a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education, and economic vitality for all South Carolinians. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in three key areas:
  • arts education,
  • community arts development,
  • and artist development.
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696.

Jason Rapp

FY21 S.C. Arts Commission grants to fuel state’s creative sector

$4.1 million to support arts, cultural work in at least 41 counties

[caption id="attachment_45056" align="aligncenter" width="600"]Group picture with big, colorful cutout letters spelling "thank you." The Allendale Rural Arts Team, led by Maven Lottie Lewis, celebrated its Hometown Heroes June 19 with recognition of front line workers in the face of COVID 19; and the unveiling of a community mural by Hampton County artist Sophie Docalavich. Photo credit: Xavier Blake.[/caption]
For Immediate Release

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Arts Commission is announcing grants totaling $4.1 million awarded in at least 41 South Carolina counties to support arts and culture work in the new fiscal year.

The grants, approved by votes of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) board of directors on June 18, will be distributed during the July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021 grant period to artists and organizations who applied for grants that support the agency’s work to further arts education, artist development, and community arts development across South Carolina. “This is a significant investment of public funds that will further the work of South Carolina’s creative sector. It will support quality arts education programming for South Carolina students. It will support many of the 115,000 jobs in and supported by our $9.7 billion arts and creative sector. It will also help make arts programming that is more representative and more accessible to all South Carolinians and our visitors,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. “The South Carolina Arts Commission is proud and excited to help provide those benefits for the people of South Carolina.”
Individual Artist Fellowship grants, announced earlier this month, and Artist Ventures Initiative grants further the agency’s artist development work by enabling creatives in South Carolina to focus on the creation of art. In the case of the Artist Ventures Initiative, those grants help an artist turn the art into sustainable income as they give artist entrepreneurs seed money to create an arts-based business or strengthen an existing one with needed materials or training. Four grants of each type, totaling just less than $37,000, were awarded. Arts education grants are heading to 76 schools and seven districts across the state, strengthening arts in school curriculum with a combined investment of $896,000. Education Pilot Project grants use $295,000 to help South Carolina organizations provide musical learning, summertime STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) camps, and professional development. Grants totaling $85,400 supporting the SCAC’s community arts development work are going to the 15 counties where The Art of Community: Rural SC is addressing local issues with arts and culture. These grants also keep unique South Carolina arts and cultural traditions alive by funding eight Folklife & Traditional Arts Apprenticeships for artists and folklife work done by four organizations. Also funded is the SCAC’s folklife partnership with the University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum. Additional grants to be awarded throughout the year offer potential for impact in all counties. Among them are Arts Project Support grants, which offer funding for projects by artists and arts organizations. Both grants have rolling deadlines, and project support grants are designed to be accessible, streamlining the application process to remove barriers often faced by small organizations and individual artists.

Amounts awarded to programs in primary grant categories

Arts in Education: $1,463,832 Grants help fund curriculum planning and implementation, artist residencies, performances, professional development for teachers and summer and afterschool arts programs.
  • Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Advancement: $770,000  Awarded to 83 schools and school districts that are participating in the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project, which works to ensure every child in South Carolina has access to a quality, comprehensive education in the arts. The ABC Project is cooperatively directed by the SCAC, the S.C. Department of Education, and the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop University.
  • Education Pilot Projects: $295,000 Grants initiated by the agency for partners who carry out education initiatives.
  • Arts in Basic (ABC) Curriculum: $272,832 One grant to support management of the ABC Project partnership.
Operating Support: $2,040,978 Grants help strengthen arts organizations that bring ongoing arts experiences and services to individuals, other organizations and communities throughout the state.
  • General Operating Support: $1,908,066 One hundred twenty-nine grants for arts organizations.
  • Operating Support for Small Organizations: $111,972 Forty-six grants for arts organizations with annual expense budgets of less than $75,000.
  • Statewide Organizations: $20,940 Six grants for arts organizations operating statewide.
The Art of Community: Rural SC: $85,400 Using arts and culture to address issues in rural communities with the help of local partners. Folklife and Traditional Arts: $104,033 Grants support programs that promote a greater understanding and visibility of South Carolina’s many cultures through documentation and presentation of traditional art forms, their practitioners and their communities.
  • Organization grants: $23,000 Four grants to support nonprofit organizations that seek to promote and preserve the traditional arts practiced across the state.
  • Apprenticeships: $10,000 Eight grants that support a partnership between a master artist, who will share artistic and cultural knowledge, and a qualified apprentice, who will then continue to pursue the art form.
  • Partnerships: $71,033 One grant to support management of the Folklife and Traditional Arts Partnership.
Subgranting: $69,000 Seven awards to local arts councils that distribute quarterly grants to organizations and artists in their regions. This program is funded in part by an award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina. Artists Ventures Initiative: $16,700 Four grants to individual artists for projects designed to help them develop the knowledge and skills to build satisfying, sustainable careers.  Individual Artist Fellowships: $20,000 Four grants to individual artists to recognize and reward their artistic achievements. These were announced in July 2020 after approval by the SCAC Board of Directors.
About the South Carolina Arts Commission With a commitment to excellence across the spectrum of our state’s cultures and forms of expression, the South Carolina Arts Commission pursues its public charge to develop a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education, and economic vitality for all South Carolinians. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in three key areas:
  • arts education,
  • community arts development,
  • and artist development.
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696.

Jason Rapp

Turn on tha radio, nah… really, turn it on

#SCartists gets national airtime July 22

Movements 2, 3 and 4 from Meira Warshauer's Symphony No. 1: Living Breathing Earth will be the last piece on the 2nd hour of the Wednesday, July 22 edition of Minnesota Public Radio/American Public Media's Performance Today program.

Living Breathing Earth album coverThe second hour of "PT" is broadcast from 10-11 a.m. on South Carolina Public Radio news and music stations. It will be re-broadcast on their weekend edition, and available on the show's website for 30 days. The performance will be the Feb. 3, 2007 world premiere by The Western Piedmont Symphony; John Gordon Ross, conductor, at First Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina. The movements Tahuayo River at Night, Wings in Flight and Living, Breathing Earth will be aired. Warshauer writes, "The title Living, Breathing Earth came to me in contemplating the image of the rainforests as lungs of the earth. I felt our planet, alive with all variety of creatures and plants living in symbiosis with each other, breathing in and out, and the planet as a whole, pulsing with breath. I also contemplated the earth rotating through space, a spinning orb of blue and green, at just the right distance from the sun to support life, and our protective blanket of air, the atmosphere of the earth, providing the medium for our breath. Since the 2007 premiere, Climate Change has markedly worsened, with the balance of Earth’s “breath” more untenable. In this symphony, I honor the planet which sustains us, with the prayer that we will change our course of destruction and choose life." Read her complete notes here. The piece was recorded for Navona Records by Petr Vronsky conducting The Moravian Philharmonic for the release Living Breathing Earth (NV5842). Warshauer received music composition fellowships from the South Carolina Arts Commission in 1994 and 2006. Read more about the Columbia-based composer on her website.

Jason Rapp

Decorated #SCartists highlight new gallery exhibition

SCAC fellows, Governor's Award recipients featured

[caption id="attachment_45026" align="aligncenter" width="600"]Unnamed by Edward Rice Unnamed by Edward Rice. 2019-2020. Oil. 84x42.[/caption]

What's going on? What does it mean? What's next? What really matters?

These are questions asked by Hampton III Gallery at its new exhibition, In Times Like These, which runs July 9 through August 29, 2020. From the gallery:

As our world changes, artists continue to create and explore through visual language. In Times Like These is an exhibition that allows the viewer to enter into the personal space of 20 Hampton III Gallery artists.These artworks were created from March through June 2020. All are on display in the center gallery. Visitors are welcome to view the exhibition during regular hours. Social distancing will be observed and masks are required during this time. 

Featured among the 20 Southern artists in the exhibition are several from South Carolina represented by the gallery, including recipients of two of the South Carolina Arts Commission's highest honors: individual artist fellowships or the Governor's Arts Award.

SCAC Fellows

  • Alice Ballard
  • Dr. Philip Mullen
  • Edward Rice

Governor's Award recipients

  • Jeanet Dreskin
  • Dr. Philip Mullen
  • Edward Rice
  • Tom Stanley
  • Dr. Leo Twiggs
Hampton III Gallery is itself a 2019 recipient of the Governor's Arts Award.
Going? Hampton III Gallery is located outside Greenville in Taylors at 3110 Wade Hampton Blvd., Suite 10. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday from 1-5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and other times by appointment. Free.   

Jason Rapp

SCAC announces four 2021 fellowship recipients

Individual excellence in writing, dance honored

for immediate release

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Hard work and exceptional abilities are earning four South Carolina artists practicing in the dance and writing disciplines fellowships from the South Carolina Arts Commission for fiscal year 2021.

The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) Board of Directors approved four $5,000 fellowships among several other FY21 grant awards to be announced at a later date. The SCAC’s four fellows are:
  • Sarah Blackman of Greenville County in prose,
  • John Pursley III of Greenville County for poetry,
  • Erin Bailey of Richland County for dance choreography,
  • and Tanya Wideman-Davis of Richland County for dance performance.
Individual artists residing in South Carolina full-time whose work covers prose, poetry, dance choreography, and dance performance were invited to apply last fall for fiscal year 2021 awards. Out-of-state panelists from each discipline reviewed applications and, based solely on blind reviews of anonymous work samples, recommend recipients of each $5,000 fellowship. “Fellowships recognize and reward the artistic achievements of exceptional South Carolina individual artists. Recognition from a fellowship lends artistic prestige and can often open doors to other resources and employment opportunities,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. A diverse group of panelists judged the nominees applying to the FY21 disciplines in which they work. The poetry panelists were Joseph Bathanti, writer-in-residence at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina; author Sandra Beasley, an instructor with the University of Tampa who lives in Washington; and publisher Lucinda Clark, principal with the Poetry Matters Project in Augusta, Georgia. Author/educator Catherine Reid of Burnsville, North Carolina and Charlie Vazquez, a consultant in New York City, judged the prose applicants. Panelists of the dance performance applicants were Laurel Lawson of Atlanta, Georgia with Full Radius Dance and Tamara Nadel of Minneapolis, Minnesota with Ragamala Dance Company. Maura Garcia, principal of Maura Garcia Dance in Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and Patrick Makuakane of San Francisco, California with Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu Dance Company served as panelists of the dance choreography applicants. Four fellowships per year are awarded to artists working in rotating disciplines. One artist from each of these fields: visual arts, craft, media: production, and media: screenwriting will be honored in fiscal year 2022. To be eligible, artists must be at least 18 years old and a legal U.S. resident with permanent residence in the state for two years prior to the application date and throughout the fellowship period. Applications will be accepted later this summer following announcement by the SCAC. For more on discipline rotation, eligibility requirements, and the application process, please visit https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/grant/fel/.

About the FY21 Individual Artist Fellowship Recipients

Sarah Blackman | Prose | Greenville County Sarah Blackman is the director of creative writing at the Fine Arts Center, an arts-centered public high school in Greenville, South Carolina. Her poetry and prose have been published in a number of journals, magazines, and anthologies and she has been featured on the Poetry Daily website. Blackman is the co-fiction editor of Diagram, the online journal of experimental prose, poetry and schematics; and the founding editor of Crashtest, an online magazine for high school age writers she edits alongside her Fine Arts Center students. Her story collection Mother Box, published by FC2 in 2013, was the winner of the 2012 Ronald Sukenick/American Book Review Innovative Fiction Prize. Her novel, Hex, was published by FC2 in April 2016 and in 2018 she joined its board. John Pursley III | Poetry | Greenville County John Pursley III teaches contemporary literature and poetry at Clemson University, where he also directs the annual Clemson Literary Festival. He is the author of the poetry collection, If You Have Ghosts (Zone 3 Press), as well as the chapbooks, A Story without Poverty (South Carolina Poetry Initiative) and A Conventional Weather (New Michigan Press), among others. In addition, he works as the poetry editor of Burnside Review and is an assistant editor for the South Carolina Review. His poems and reviews have appeared in Poetry, AGNI, Colorado Review, Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. Erin Bailey | Dance: Choreography | Richland County Erin Bailey is a South Carolina native who discovered her passion for dance at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville. She has degrees from Columbia College (BFA) and Texas Women’s University (MFA) and has her certification and licensure in massage. She is an adjunct dance professor at Columbia and Coker colleges and the University of South Carolina. Bailey has worked and performed with Columbia area dance companies since 2004 and has performed nationally and internationally at festivals like Piccolo Spoleto in Charleston. In 2018 she founded and remains artistic director of Moving Body Dance Company. She has twice received awards for her choreography work. Photo by Jesse Scroggins. Tanya Wideman-Davis | Dance: Performance | Richland County Tanya Wideman-Davis is the co-director of Wideman Davis Dance and is on faculty as associate professor at the University of South Carolina in the Department of Theatre and Dance and African American Studies. With an extensive career as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher, she completed her Master of Fine Arts from Hollins University/ADF (2012). Tanya has danced with many world-renowned companies, including Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Alonzo King Lines Ballet, Spectrum Dance Theater, Ballet NY, and as guest artist with Ballet Memphis, Cleveland San Jose Ballet, and Quorum Ballet (Portugal).  She received international acclaim as “Best Female Dancer of 2001-2002” from Dance Europe magazine. Photo by Sammy Lopez.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

With a commitment to excellence across the spectrum of our state’s cultures and forms of expression, the South Carolina Arts Commission pursues its public charge to develop a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education, and economic vitality for all South Carolinians. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in three key areas:
  • arts education,
  • community arts development,
  • and artist development.
Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696.

Load more