A Flexible Collective in Action:
Our MISSION Today
We believe that ART & TINY BUSINESS are nimble, adaptable, profitable, for the people and that BELONGING means celebrating many histories and cultures and BECOMING all we can TOGETHER.
That is why:
- we experiment, we research
- we exchange skills, we teach each other
- we take personal responsibility in partnership and collaboration
- we stand for environmental justice and socio/economic equity
- we denounce the negative cultural impacts of gentrification
- we amplify the voices of disadvantaged, low wealth and historically marginalized communities
- we share ownership of our work and imagine new policies
For us collaboration means reciprocity, shared ownership and autonomy.
We seek and involve Artists Cultural Workers Youth Tiny Business Partners :
to fully embrace THE ARTS AND THE SPIRIT OF THE ARTS as activators of sustainability
to build a mentorship legacy and awaken in YOUTH a spirit of agency and community engagement
to support and promote TINY BUSINESS, as a vital part of commerce and neighborhood
Our Core Leadership Team
Shanequa Rainey
SHANEQUA RAINEY is a ‘design-centric’ apprentice who lends her adept writing, computing, and artistic skills to many projects around the Rhizome studios. The only thing she loves more than cute stationery is collaboration on tough but rewarding projects. She dreams of becoming an art director and owning her own art studio one day.
Debra Holt
DEBRA HOLT is an educator and founding member of both the conNECKted and conNECKtedTOO projects, serving in various support capacities. She is a researcher for the Charleston Maps project, harnessing her anecdotal memories, interviews, and academic research skills to bring the Maps to life. She retired from banking and is now a substitute school administrator.
Sonia Osio
SONIA OSIO is a Venezuelan-born artist whose work celebrates both the diversity of our world, and the threads of the arts that can connect us all. She is known internationally for her Global Mandala. In Charleston, she co-created an installation commemorating the 100th anniversary of James Simons Montessori School, which uses paper mandalas designed by students, collective members, or others to create a large spiral of memories, dreams, and hopes because ‘another world is possible’. This installation, called “In the Whorl of Time”, will remain up for the full 19-20 schoolyear and is helping the students understand the legacy of their school in Charleston.
Aysha Bowens
AYSHA BOWENS is a high school senior at Burke High School set to graduate in 2020 as the Valedictorian of her class. Aysha brings her thoughtful, intelligent approach to all aspects of her work at conNECKtedtOO, and assists with social media management and content creation for all of the Rhizome social sites.
Pamella Gibbs
PAMELLA GIBBS is an experienced Activist, Educator, and Advocate for an equitable quality education. She is a recently retired primary school teacher assistant from James Simons Public Montessori, and was engaged in its 100th anniversary leading team. Pam Gibbs leads the development of the conNECKtedTOO Mentorship and Apprentice program.
Arianne King Comer
ARIANNE KING COMER is a BFA graduate of Howard University, and has served as an Artist in Residence in the state of South Carolina since 1995. She specializes in indigo batik dyeing, and presents lecture demonstrations on creating indigo textiles and preserving the heritage of indigo dyeing across the Southeast. She was the owner of Ibile Indigo House on St Helena House ’98-04. She is an active member of Alternate ROOTS, Charleston Rhizome and a designer for Seeking Indigo. Her work is in several traveling exhibitions nationally as well as statewide. She represents historical scenery as much as she fabricates wearable art, allowing others to practice with her. http://ariannekingcomerart.com/
Anastatia Ketchen
ANASTATIA KETCHEN entered the Charleston Rhizome Collective as one of two assistants for the “conNECKted: Imaginings for Truth & Reconciliation” project in 2017. She has served as an outdoor wilderness counselor/teacher. She leads D.R.I.V.E.N. LLC, a women’s support network and has developed an afterschool program called UP (Unlocking Potential) This program includes creative & performing arts, science education, community service and financial planning. She is also a Diversified Artist, publishing poetry and more. In 2019 she produced her play “I Heard Chicago Crying: Outcry”.
Timothy Hunter
TIMOTHY HUNTER is a student of science at the College of Charleston, but at the Rhizome studios he brings his gifts for painting and artistic design to various projects and installations. He is working on a new larger-scale installation temporarily entitled “When the water rises, so does the rent” along with Jean-Marie Mauclet, Morgan Kinne and others.
Theron M. Snype
THERON M. SNYPE is the conNECKtedTOO Tiny Business Coordinator. He is a native of Charleston, SC. And attended local public schools graduating from Burke High in 1967. He earned a BS degree in political science from Tuskegee University and an MA degree in human resources development from Webster University.
“My professional career includes seventeen years in the radio broadcasting industry. My roles included on-air announcer, operations manager, and general manager. I was employed with Cummins Engine Company eleven years serving as a human resources generalist and operations manager at the Charleston, SC plant. My employment with the City of Charleston began in 2003 as a project manager. In 2006 I was appointed minority enterprise business manager for the city serving in that role until my retirement in 2018.”
Gwylene Gallimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet
JEMAGWGA, GWYLENE GALLIMARD and JEAN-MARIE MAUCLET are the lead artistsof the Charleston Rhizome Collective. A longstanding collaborative artistic duo “JEMAGWGA”, some of their prior collaborations include two French cafes; art installations and participatory visual art programs about the health insurance industry, homelessness, the arts, gentrification and religious beliefs. Their work has received support from Ministère De La Culture (France), the SC Arts Commission, Alternate Visions, Spoleto Festival, the SC Humanities Foundation, Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, Alternate ROOTS, and the National Endowment of the Arts. They have led the creation of the Residency program at Azule, NC. www.jemagwga.com www.Azule.org
OUR HISTORY
ConNECKtedTOO → TINYisPOWERFUL →
As a group where Education, Art and Activism intersect, the CHARLESTON RHIZOME COLLECTIVE – grassroots, inter-generational and interracial by design – launched conNECKtedTOO in 2018 as a multi-faceted experiment, being constantly imagined, forged and promoted; a project of ART & CULTURE IN/WITH COMMUNITY FOR ETHICAL, SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.
This led to the creation of TINYisPOWERFUL.com, an online creative place where activities and stories generated through collaborations on the ground can be kept/rendered public. As the network grows and evolves so will the content and functions of TINYisPOWERFUL.com
About the Charleston Rhizome Collective
conNECKted.. Rhizome… Collective… All of these words imply a symbiosis, a network, a community. Each facet of the artist/activist/educator team known as Charleston Rhizome Collective was developed on a supportive, semi-stable foundation, a wealth of varied experiences and seeds that nurture and sustain all future endeavors.
The Charleston Rhizome Collective was born out of the advocacy generated by Alternate ROOTS to develop a presence in South Carolina. Imagined as a group of autonomous individuals bringing their personal skillsets to the table, the group is comprised of educators, activists, artists, and all-of-the-above or non-of-the-above combinations of caring individuals who see the worth and importance of Tiny Businesses in local communities.
For knowing more about Alternate ROOTS and its influence see https://alternateroots.org/
Based in Charleston, South Carolina, the Charleston Rhizome Collective became an Art-in/with community group, where education, art and activism intersect. By design, it is grassroots, interracial and inter-generational. Through the arts, it aims to amplify the voices of neighborhoods absent from public and private plans: social, cultural and economic.
For the long history of the Charleston Rhizome Collective look at http://jemagwga.com/you-comin/
For the Charleston Rhizome Collective work at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, look at http://www.youcomin.org/
For “conNECKted: Imaginings for Truth & Reconciliation” look at http://jemagwga.com/connneckted-in-progress/
The follow up to conNECKted is conNECKtedTOO, a project combining direct action with local TINY businesses to empower them in an economy overtaken by tourism and corporate development. Please move around and promote TINYisPOWERFUL.com / https://www.tinyispowerful.com/
For conNECKtedTOO the Charleston Rhizome Collective has worked with additional partners like ArtPlace America, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, South Arts, the South Carolina Arts Commission, the City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs, the Coastal Community Foundation, the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development, Jason Gourdine of the Black Collective, and quite a few Tiny Businesses.
The lead artists of Charleston Rhizome Collective have been Jemagwga, to be understood as a combination of the names of Jean-Marie Mauclet and Gwylene Gallimard, another combination being Gaulart & Maliclet, the name kept for the cafe more known as Fast & French. This duo of artist and sculptor spent decades creating collaborative works addressing systemic disparities and socio-economic injustices throughout France, Canada and the USA.
In 1984, they jointly opened Fast & French in Charleston, SC, a french-inspired and deeply personal bistro that remains beloved to this day. It may be thanks to its dedication to a unique structure that defies the biases and power imbalances of the usual ‘food n’ bev’ industry, and prioritizes an autonomous, supportive workspace. In turn it birthes a communal gathering spot for creatives, activists, and oddballs throughout the city. It now belongs to previous employees Jennifer Bremer and Lawrence Mitchell.
