Against the backdrop of blooming azaleas and swaying palmettos, springtime in the Holy City reveals a captivating array of cultural offerings.
From the soulful melodies of the Charleston Jazz Festival filling jasmine-scented air to the intricate threads of textile art and oral histories weaving tales of heritage at the Halsey, it’s easy to find stellar coming offerings from homegrown acts and international artists this spring.
Add a few more weeks and we’ll see even more art take over the peninsula — so don’t forget to keep eyes peeled for our robust coverage of Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto.
Kevin Earl Taylor’s homecoming
The Charleston art scene is buzzing with the announcement of a one-night-only show at Hed Hi Studio by Kevin Earl Taylor, a Charleston-born artist now making waves in Los Angeles. He’ll show his work in his hometown April 13, which will be the first time in a decade.
Taylor’s early life experiences in Moncks Corner and Mount Pleasant informed what he called in an interview the “foundation of his work;” a deep reverence for nature. Those experiences come through in detailed paintings that ignite questions about humans’ relationship to animals, sacred geometry and the interconnectedness of all living things.
“I kind of grew up doing a lot of fishing and hunting, catching turtles, the usual country stuff you do in South Carolina,” he told the Charleston City Paper.
But nature is not the only part of Charleston that’s rubbed off on Taylor. His art is also informed by the 10 or so years he spent working towards an art career in Charleston — in quite a punk and do-it-yourself manner. He hosted an art gallery in his downtown house at Spring and King streets, played in bands and even collaborated with other local artists to create their own Spoleto spin-off.
“I just started pasting stuff up on the street, trying to make things happen. During Spoleto, we made a fake Spoleto called ‘Spolatto’ where we put art at different locations around the city and handed out a map for it.”
In his April 13 show at Hed Hi, which is open from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m., Taylor said he’s excited to present a body of work that he calls a “postcard to Charleston.”
“The more I thought about it, I realized I wanted to have elements of those things that remind me of growing up here, making the show into a sort of postcard: ‘to Charleston, from LA.’ It’s like writing a letter home and saying, if it wasn’t for Charleston, I wouldn’t have had the inspirations that are so foundational to my work…. It’s a kind of thank you.”
Learn more about Taylor’s show Cluster @hedhistudio and @kevinearltaylor on Instagram.
Charleston Jazz Festival centers on celebration
The not-to-be-missed Charleston Jazz Festival offers a lineup of world-renowned artists from April 18 to 21. From the mesmerizing melodies of the Joshua Redman Group to the soul-stirring vocals of René Marie — plus the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Grammy winners Arturo O’Farrill and Charlton Singleton — the festival’s headliners are set to dazzle and delight.
The festival, an annual program by the North Charleston-based nonprofit Charleston Jazz, was founded in 2015 to further its mission to help keep jazz alive in Charleston, historically called the “cradle of jazz.”
“The history of jazz in Charleston is so incredible, and we felt like we needed to have this festival to celebrate it more on a global awareness level,” said communications director Lacy Miller. “It’s really cool to see these musicians are coming to Charleston specifically, because that’s where a lot of this music had its early years. The festival is a celebration of that.”
There are musical offerings ranging from swing to Latin jazz to Calipso, with performances at Charleston Music Hall, a finale at Firefly Distillery with the Charleston Jazz Academy students, and a VIP meet-the-musicians-mixer at Ann Street bar Share House.
And this year, for the first time, the festival takes the stage downtown at the Music Farm, which will be transformed into an intimate jazz club experience complete with tables and chairs for performances by the Pete Neighbor Quartet and the Southern Pines.
“If you listen to jazz, there’s something about being in a small, intimate venue, with the musicians right there in front of you, that makes it special,” Miller said.
Learn more at charlestonjazz.com/festival.
Halsey showcases two collaborative artists
The newest offerings at the always-adventurous Halsey Institute at the College of Charleston offer explorations of heritage by two female artists: Spandita Malik: Meshes of Resistance and Elisa Harkins: Teach Me a Song, on view now until July 20.
Malik, a visual artist from India now based in New York, shows a series of embroidered photographs. These works, from her ongoing Jāḷī series, are made by Malik in collaboration with women from self-help centers for domestic and gender-based violence in India.
In this context, “jāḷī ” denotes a stitch technique creating a net-like effect. Within Malik’s work, jāḷī extends metaphorically to symbolize interconnected networks and communities, especially those formed by women.
On view concurrently with Malik, Harkins’ exhibition Teach Me a Song is named for the artist’s ongoing project in translating and preserving Indigenous music. In the project, Harkins invited Indigenous collaborators to literally teach her a song. At the Halsey, Harkins reveals the recordings of these songs — which range from ceremonial and religious to rock and roll and electronic. Her practice of nation to nation sharing and trading music is presented as a means of decolonizing traditions of Indigenous music.
There’s an array of free and interactive events open to the public for these shows, like an embroidery workshop, artist talks and more at the Halsey. In addition to her visual art at the Halsey, in partnership with Spoleto, Harkins will perform a work called “Wampum / ᎠᏕᎳ ᏗᎦᎫᏗ,” an innovative performance described as “an act of Indigenous Futurism combining disco and Indigenous languages.”
Halsey Director Katie Hirsch explained the two current shows are presented together for their reflection on structures of power and representation of highly collaborative projects.
“Malik and Harkins give such joyous respect to the individuals and cultures featured in the work. This results in two exhibitions that are not only visually beautiful, but also moving and broadening.”
Learn more at halsey.cofc.edu.
High Water Festival
Finally, with their coming performance at High Water Festival, April 20-21, local indie rock band Babe Club rises to a new level. They’ll take the stage at High Water with acts including Fleet Foxes, The Flaming Lips, Noah Kahan and Hozier. Arts writer Stratton Lawrence caught up with Babe Club in a recent interview. Read it here.
Get inspired: More art to see
Take Me Out
April 11-21, Flowertown Players,
James F. Dean Theatre, Summerville
Directed by Michael Smallwood, the hit Broadway show Take Me Out follows the challenges and triumphs of Darren Lemming, a star mixed-race center fielder for the fictional Empires Major League Baseball team, as he comes out as gay. For times and tickets, visit flowertownplayers.org.
Alchemy Art Show
5 p.m.-9 p.m., April 13, Society Hall
A new sustainable creative event company, Craft, will host its launch event, the Alchemy Art Show at South Carolina Society Hall on April 13. There will be local art, vendors, musical performances and more. Proceeds from the $13 tickets will benefit Beyond Our Walls. @craft.chs on Instagram.
Brave New World
by Tyrone Geter
Through May 18,
Redux Contemporary Art Center
This solo exhibition showcases Tyrone Geter’s recent large-scale charcoal drawings and sculptural installations. Brave New World explores the intersectionality of climate crisis consequences. reduxstudios.org
The Art of Abstraction: Modernism in Quilting
Through Sept. 15,
The Charleston Museum
This exhibit, a collaboration with the Gibbes Museum of Art, brings together the beauty of abstract paintings by modern artists, including Robert Rauschenberg and Sallie Frost Knerr, alongside the Charleston Museum’s expansive quilt collection.
CharlestonMuseum.org.
Charleston Symphony’s program finale:
Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony
7:30 p.m., April 19 and 20,
The Gaillard Center
There’s two chances to see the symphony’s season finale Masterworks program, led by conductor Lina González-Granados and pianist Sara Davis Buechner. The concert features Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto, Symphony No. 7 by Antonín Dvořák and works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Learn more at Charlestonsymphony.org.
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