Charleston's Paper Café welcomes local artists and musicians
Sarah Ruholl / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: The Verge
The Paper Café is an artist's haven.
The artists' space is currently a showcase of houseplants and a wide variety of pieces left over from previous art shows.
A ceramic breast sits on a shelf above a display case of exaggerated animal statues.
In the next room, which serves as the main gallery, Seth Carpenter's collection of photos that look like paintings and colorful, quirky collages are still on display.
Jennifer Black owns, runs and funds Paper Café herself.
Carpenter is her right hand man.
After a two-year hiatus, Paper Café reopened this spring.
The space hosts writing workshops as well as readings, art shows and open jam sessions.
Local musicians flock to the jams.
"When we had our first jam we felt like the Woodstock of Charleston," Black said about the initial session this summer.
Black was born in Indianapolis and spent several years in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. While in Ft. Lauderdale, Black worked as an artist's assistant, and her ex-husband was a commercial artist.
After moving to Charleston in 1990 because it was a good place for her to raise her son, she missed the culture of arts.
Her dream of creating an artistic community in Charleston came to fruition in 2003 when Just Spences moved to the square and became Spences on Jackson.
The unique, old house, which is a block from campus on Sixth Street, had caught Black's eye.
When the building opened up, she took the plunge and rented the place.
In 2004, the owners died in an accident, and Black bought the building from their family.
Since then, a community has formed around the Paper Café.
"We're sort of like the secret people find out about," Black said.
"Word-of-mouth is mostly how this place came together," Carpenter agreed.
Of the two, Carpenter is the organized one. Since meeting, they have each affected the other.
"He'd have everything all symmetrical and I'd come and just mess it up," Black said.
The artists' space is currently a showcase of houseplants and a wide variety of pieces left over from previous art shows.
A ceramic breast sits on a shelf above a display case of exaggerated animal statues.
In the next room, which serves as the main gallery, Seth Carpenter's collection of photos that look like paintings and colorful, quirky collages are still on display.
Jennifer Black owns, runs and funds Paper Café herself.
Carpenter is her right hand man.
After a two-year hiatus, Paper Café reopened this spring.
The space hosts writing workshops as well as readings, art shows and open jam sessions.
Local musicians flock to the jams.
"When we had our first jam we felt like the Woodstock of Charleston," Black said about the initial session this summer.
Black was born in Indianapolis and spent several years in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. While in Ft. Lauderdale, Black worked as an artist's assistant, and her ex-husband was a commercial artist.
After moving to Charleston in 1990 because it was a good place for her to raise her son, she missed the culture of arts.
Her dream of creating an artistic community in Charleston came to fruition in 2003 when Just Spences moved to the square and became Spences on Jackson.
The unique, old house, which is a block from campus on Sixth Street, had caught Black's eye.
When the building opened up, she took the plunge and rented the place.
In 2004, the owners died in an accident, and Black bought the building from their family.
Since then, a community has formed around the Paper Café.
"We're sort of like the secret people find out about," Black said.
"Word-of-mouth is mostly how this place came together," Carpenter agreed.
Of the two, Carpenter is the organized one. Since meeting, they have each affected the other.
"He'd have everything all symmetrical and I'd come and just mess it up," Black said.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.
Be the first to comment on this story