'Creative Spaces'

Charleston Arts Coalition to meet Tuesday at Theater 99 to discuss new center for the arts

Provided

This paisley belt buckle by Augusta, Ga., artist Paul Pearman will be on display during the 'Functional Art with a Twist' exhibit at Fish or Cut Bait Gallery on Edisto. The exhibit starts Saturday afternoon.

In April, a rare moment for Charleston artists, musicians, performers, writers and patrons of the arts took place when more than 100 people participated in a panel discussion focused on the rapidly diminishing real estate available for the arts in Charleston.

From the panel discussion, the Charleston Arts Coalition was formed.

It is a group of artists, arts professionals and members of the community who have joined together to work toward creating an all-inclusive unified center for the arts, encompassing visual, performance, music and literary art. Its goal is to find and modify real estate through out the city of Charleston, to house production, presentation and education space for the creative arts. The ultimate project goal is the creation of The People's Art Center.

The purpose of the first panel discussion held at Redux Studios in downtown Charleston was to open a dialogue about the lack of art space in Charleston. The focus of the follow-up on July 1 will be on how to effectively begin to solve this problem and foster collaborations between the arts and the real estate development community, says Jonathan Brilliant, the lead member of the Charleston Arts Coalition.

"The arts are a vital part of Charleston, benefiting the economy, tourism, real estate and the general cultural capital of the city," says Brilliant. "The arts in Charleston must be advanced through the development of a space that could provide the living artists of Charleston with support and a venue to interact effectively with the public. This would foster collaboration among artistic disciplines, enhancing each other and the community through exciting cultural events throughout the year."

The next open discussion titled "Creative Spaces: Developing a Unified Center for the Arts" will take place 7 p.m. Tuesday. The public is encouraged to attend. This will be more of a roundtable discussion and continuation of the conversation that began in April. The panel will consist of at least Chris Price, of PrimeSouth Group, LLC; urban planner Tripp Muldrow of Arnett Muldrow & Associates; Jonathan Brilliant, local artist and staff member of the Gibbes; and Fred Delk of Columbia Development Corp. Buff Ross will serve as moderator. The panel is composed of individuals who have worked on collaborative projects similar to the vision of The People's Arts Center. The goal is to create a road map for what action needs to be taken based on successful examples of art center developments in other cities around the Southeast.

The public is invited to join the newly created Charleston Arts Coalition from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. The discussion takes place at Theater 99. Theatre 99 is located at 280 Meeting St., downtown Charleston, above the Bicycle Shoppe, with an entrance to the upstairs at the rear of the building.

Those planning on attending the panel discussion are encouraged to draft questions and e-mail them to questions@peoplesartcenter.com, as there will be minimal time to answer questions the night of the event.

Visit www.peoplesartcenter.com for more information about the roundtable discussion, and to see some of the ideas being discussed. Call 805-8052 for more information about the panel discussion.

Redux grant

The purpose of the Redux Studios grant is to enrich the Charleston community by supporting a socially based arts project.

This grant will fund projects specifically designed to engage the community through contemporary art. This grant aims to benefit an artist or organization who is involving the community with projects that work to educate, engage and enrich the community's appreciation or participation with art.

Eligible projects could include, but are not limited to: social mural projects, open lectures and workshops, temporary exhibitions, publications, public performance, urban interventions, guerrilla architecture, social sculpture, interactive media and street performance.

Redux Contemporary Art Center will award up to $500 in grant money that must be matched by the applicant on at least a 1-to-1 basis. All applicants should expect that any or all projects funded by this grant must begin by Dec. 1. For more information, contact Redux at 722-0697 or e-mail info@reduxstudios.org.

Fish or Cut Bait

An eclectic trio of artists from Augusta Ga., Charleston and Edisto Island will be featured in a weeklong summer show at Edisto Beach's Fish or Cut Bait Gallery from Saturday to July 5. "Functional Art - With a Twist!" will kick off with a party to meet the artists Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.

Eclectic in this case means everything from wearable art to a spectacular Noah's Ark to an artful message about animal rescue. "The enormous talent these three throw into their art with a twist make the result functional, funny and inspiring," says gallery owner Brailsford Foster. "It is as one would expect from three people who mine with such intensity the depths of their personal creativity."

Originally from Augusta, "Paul Pearman is eclecticism personified, working with mosaics, stained glass, murals, sculpture, graphic design and jewelry which displays his talent for working with a variety of media and subject matter. Having worked in mosaics for almost the past decade,

Pearman has recently returned to jewelry making with "Art for Your Hips," a collection of one-of-a-kind belt buckles displayed at the gallery. Displaying the craftsmanship of times past, each has the look and feel of a family heirloom, and takes days to complete," says Foster. His work is displayed in boutiques, and galleries throughout the country.

Jo Watson is self-taught and motivated, working with functional pieces combining wood with other materials that often have humorous juxtapositions. A Charleston resident for nearly 25 years, her work reflects aspects of the sea, her family and the exuberance of Lowcountry life. "Each of her hand-crafted pieces has a raison d'etre and represents how she lives in the pursuit of original ideas," says Foster.

Edisto Island's Nancy Fishback, a registered nurse with an advance degree in community health, started on the path to being an artist in the mid-1980s when she took a trip with her sister, a ceramic artist. She became enthralled with the sense of community she found among the ceramic artists during the trip. Displayed in previous Fish or Cut Bait shows featuring table-size ceramic chess sets, Fishback's recent focus has been upon Lincoln, a locally bred stray who was rescued to become the neighborhood uniter. Adopted during the divisive Bush-Kerry campaign of 2004, naming a mutt Abraham Lincoln seemed somehow appropriate, and the dog who now takes care of the neighbors on each side of the fence is immortalized in Fishback's art.

Lincoln may or may not be attending the reception Saturday, but you definitely should. Fish or Cut Bait Gallery is located at 142 Jungle Road, Edisto Beach. For more details, contact owner Brailsford Foster at 869-2511.