Press Releases
Check back often as we announce new events for the festival!
April 01, 2008
Columbia Open Studios 2008
April 01, 2008
Columbia Open Studios 2008
Saturday and Sunday May 3 and 4
Contact person: Wim Roefs
Columbia Open Studios 2008 will take place the first Saturday and Sunday May 3 and 4. For the event, 75 artists from the city of Columbia and Lexington and Richland counties will open their studio to the public from 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and 12:00 – 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Like last year, the event's first year, the Open Studios organization will produce a special tabloid publication listing participating artists and their contact information, images of their work, maps of the area and directions to the artists' studios. The Open Studios tabloid will be distributed with Columbia's The State newspaper and through art institutions across the state. Copies of the tabloid can be ordered by calling (803) 238-2351 or emailing wroefs@sc.rr.com. During the Open Studios weekend, road signs will further direct the public to artists' studios.
Last year, 66 Columbia area artists participated in the first Columbia Open Studios, and thousands of visitors came to see their art. The event was then part of the first Columbia Festival of the Arts. The festival won't take place this year but might return in 2009. The festival board decided, however, that Open Studios, perhaps last year’s festival most successful event, should go on regardless in 2008.
While this year's Open Studios will have more artists, there will be fewer locations. Instead of last year's 47 locations, there will be 42 this year. At the City of Columbia Art Center on Calhoun Street, 10 artists will participate this year, as opposed to three last year. At ECBO Studios on the corner of Blossom and Harden Streets in Five Points, four instead of three artists will participate, as is the case for the GROW studios on the corner of Bluff Road and Dreyfus Street in Olympia. In a new studio complex, Back Porch Studio and Gallery on Two Notch Road, five artists will participate. Vista Studios on Lady Street has 12 participants, one more than last year.
Attached is a list of all artists participating in Columbia Open Studios 2008. Also attached is a folder with profiles of all the participating artists as they will appear in the Columbia Open Studios 2008 tabloid. We also will send you a CD with images of art works from Open Studios participants. The Open Studios tabloid will be printed this week. If you want PDF files of the tabloid's maps locating artists' studios, please let us know.
Columbia Open Studios 2008 wants to give artists an opportunity to engage the public directly and show their art as well as their creative processes. The organization hopes this will create new marketing opportunities for artists.
The event also aims to provide easy access for the community to the visual arts and expose the public to the wealth of fine artists in Columbia and Richland and Lexington counties. This, the organizers hope, will educate people about the process of making art and create a dialogue between artists and the public. By giving people a chance to peek into artists' studios, get a sense of how they work and interact directly with artists, Open Studios hopes to generate excitement about area artists among seasoned collectors and first-time buyers alike.
1223 Lincoln St.
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 238-2351
wroefs(at)sc.rr.com
