Cynthia Boiter is a writer, editor, publisher and arts advocate.
In 2014, she won an Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award from the South Carolina Arts Commission for her work cultivating an "interdisciplinary and collaborative aesthetic" and promoting cultural growth in the Midlands and greater South Carolina. She and her husband, Bob Jolley, founded Muddy Ford Press, a press that publishes South Carolina writers and poets. Muddy Ford's main publication is Jasper Magazine: The Word On Columbia Arts, a bimonthly magazine that focuses on local artists and interdisciplinary arts appreciation.
The Daily Gamecock: What about Columbia inspired you to create Jasper Magazine?
Cynthia Boiter: Columbia is replete with artists from almost all disciplines, but in many ways prior to Jasper we were lacking a sense of community — a sense of knowing who the people in town were who had an artist's back. I hope that, with Jasper, our artists feel more connected to one another and to the arts patrons who honor them since Jasper came along four years ago. I also hope that artists feel a bit more valued and validated because that's what Jasper is here for.
DG: Why do you think many people don't know about Columbia's art scene?
CB: Not everyone is raised with the arts being a part of their lives. Or they think that art should get about the same amount of attention the typical South Carolina public school system gives it — an hour or less a week each of music and visual art, with no attention whatsoever to art history or theory, and drama and dance being something extracurricular. When this happens, people aren't necessarily comfortable with the arts, and sometimes the arts may be so foreign to a person that they are intimidated by them and don't know how to incorporate art into their daily lives. If art isn't part of your life ... it's easy to overlook the artists, artisans and craftspersons who are part of your community. Non-arts folks also seem to think of art solely as painting — which is just a small portion of the visual arts — without remembering all the facets of music composition and performance, dance, theatre, film, photography, design and so on.
DG: Do you think Jasper and Columbia's art scene has a symbiotic relationship?
CB: I like to think so. It certainly feels like Jasper and the Columbia arts scene have grown alongside one another. And that's why so many of us are involved in Jasper. We want to live in a community that needs and supports a magazine like Jasper. We are creating the culture we want to live in.
DG: Describe your ideal night out in Columbia.
CB: OK, I'd start off sitting outside with a drink and some friends at one of the city's great places to people watch, enjoy the weather, and chat with friends — maybe Hunter-Gatherer or Bourbon. Then I'd go to a gallery exhibit opening, somewhere like Vista Studios Gallery 80808, Anastasia & Friends or Tapp's Arts Center where I'd get to celebrate some new art and all that bubbling energy that comes off of a new collection of work and how it stimulates and inspires everyone around it. Then I'd just make it into my seat at Trustus Theatre where I'd see a New York City-quality play and visit with friends at intermission and afterwards. And I'd end the night, of course, at The Whig where I would eat late with my family and extended family of friends, sipping one of Will Green's delicious cocktail concoctions until Joy or Steve or Darien or Matt turns all the lights on and makes me go home.
Editor's note: Kirby Knowlton is an intern for Jasper Magazine.
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