Voices of the Team

JEMAGWGA, Gwylene GALLIMARD/Jean-Marie MAUCLET (JEMAGWGA) have evolved from creating art pieces, to organizing two French cafés offering all the features of an art & socio-economic sustainability project; from generating art engagements, to challenging artistic approaches, experimenting with multiple forms of collaborations and communication. They are the artistic guides in this project. www.jemagwga.com

PAMELLA GIBBS is an experienced Activist, Educator, and Advocate in equal measure for our children’s right to a quality education.

THERON SNYPE

My past community involvement has included volunteering as a mentor in local public schools, serving as team leader for the Cummins Charleston plant’s community involvement committee and serving on the board of directors for a number of non-profit organizations which worked to improve the community. Currently, I serve as a member of the CRC/PCLT board of directors and am chairperson of the trustee ministry for Central Baptist Church located in downtown Charleston.

ANASTASIA KETCHEN

I have previously produced and acted in productions such as The Vagina Monologues and Twilight Los Angeles. I am also a Gullah Geechee Performer for Fat Cat Productions, a djembe player, dancer and a TINY BUSINESS Owner. Through my program D.R.I.V.E.N. LLC and a grassroots organization UP (Unlocking Potential), I host events, workshops and speaking engagements that provide resources for young girls and women. I use the power of art along with restorative justice practices to provide expressive outlets to youth, reminding them of the foundation of their history.

VICTORIA RAE MOORE develops ideas, encourages people and spreads positive messages. She’s a creative entrepreneur, culture bearer, culture worker, and conNECKtedTOO program facilitator currently mastering the arts of business, public relations and social responsibility. She’s passionate about young people and creative expression. “I am an advocate for self-expression and creative arts education and love immersing myself in the passions and positive contributions of others.”

JASON GOURDINE “The story of us should be canonized through the lens of passionate truth-tellers.” Local filmmaker Jason Gourdine is the co-founder of Charleston based, digital media company, Black Collective. “While my parents instilled in me a proud legacy of my African ancestry, my working knowledge of slavery was learned through imagery seen through TV and films and what was taught to me in public school, which generally showed our ancestors in a docile, submissive posture, unwilling and unable to break their chains of oppression.”

DEBRA HOLT was born and raised in downtown Charleston in a family that has owned a small business for generations. She served as a banker for years before retiring and becoming a substitute teacher She represents the “conNECKted Corridor” community.

SHANEQUA RAINEY, aka RAIN

Design Centric – Enjoys Collaborating – Loves Pastel Aesthetic & Kawaii Culture
Can’t live without sticky notes and notebooks – Needs more sleep and stationery

Future Goals

Become an art director – Write an art book / Found a zine – Own my own studio (Raining Studio)
And a shop – Get a PhD

ANNA BROWN is an ‘administrative arts’ apprentice: She’s passionate about handling the nuts n’ bolts of arts activism as a way to support her fellow cTOO members in their work. As a part of conNECKtedTOO, she handles special projects research for various installations, including the large Memory Maps of the MLK District that were on display for Piccolo Spoleto 2019.

ALEXANDRIA MACKEY is a high school student at the Charter School for Science and Math. As an apprentice, she contributed her artistic skills to the Bet n’ Me n’ Me n’ You. Her sister Nyla added poetry to her representation of the Artist & Craftsman Supply store.

MARKELLE EVANS

Creative essence trying to manifest herself in meaningful projects but keeps making cartoons instead. She spends a majority of her time thinking of what constitutes the perfect sandwich, exploring new medias, and wishing she had a couple acres of land to farm. Her favorite mediums are ink and colored pencil. Her favorite sandwich is a good banh mi.

AYSHA BOWENS

In the year of 2020, I will be alum of Burke High School. The valedictorian of my class, I will leave but never forget Burke High School; the school that my family for four generations went to since the late 1960s; leave the school that is the only true connection that I have with my family. My family was born and raised in downtown Charleston, South Carolina but the majority has been displaced to surrounding suburbs and out of State.

TIMOTHY HUNTER

I’m Timothy Hunter. I’m a 20-year old from Myrtle Beach, SC studying chemistry and art at the College of Charleston. I’m apprenticing under artists Jean-Marie Mauclet and Gwylene Gallimard. I’ve been painting for 5 years, and I’m very drawn to painting portraits of friends, artists, and musicians who inspire me. Some painters I love are Kehinde Wiley, William-Adolphe Bougereau, Cesar Santos, Bo Bartlett, and Kayla Mahaffey. If you’re looking for some new music, I highly recommend The Water Album by Benny Starr.

MORGAN KINNE

We leave traces of ourselves everyday, in everything we encounter. And these traces offer clues to our identity. Even the smallest impression holds within it the creation of place, memory, and history. This is my catalyst. Each piece is a product of my experiences and projects the context from which it is inspired. Eventually, it comes full circle. And there is something about touching. Tactility is important..

ARIANNE KING COMER

Arianne is an art consultant, indigo and community arts advocate, lecturer, teacher, and textile artist. In 1992, Arianne received the UN/USIS grant to study under the renowned Batik artist Nike Olyani Davis in Oshogbo Nigeria, where her passion for indigo manifested. She was given the Yoruba name of Osun Ronke. In 2007, she had the opportunity to join The Charleston Rhizome Collective to conduct a textile workshop in batik and indigo at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya. She considers herself a messenger and mediator for the arts. She is a celebrated textile artist whose work is rooted in social justice and community advocacy.

KIT LONEY

For all of my adult life I have kept drawing and writing journals, and for the past twenty years I have made books. My engagement with conNECKtedTOO and the Tiny Business project has been to use my journaling practice to record my interactions with, responses to, and reflections about ten specific tiny businesses. As I made my way with this involvement, I chanced upon a “house page” structure by folding the bottom section of paper bags. I experimented, then came up with various techniques of hinging the pages together to make accordion book sections. This book structure is what was used for the city block-long representation of past and present tiny businesses which was on display in the back room of the Cannon Street Art Center last June. The collaborative aspects of this piece were new to me, and very exciting. Once I demonstrated the folding and painting processes to other conNECKtedTOO members, the piece took on a life of its own.

SHARON COOPER MURRAY

“I am a professional storyteller. Grassroots to me is a means to develop cultural resources that have not a part in the mainstream economy. These activities are designed to produce economic development opportunities for the culture one is addressing. My Grassroot activities revolves around the Gullah culture with specific emphasis on language, folktales and textile traditions.

SONIA OSIO

I discovered the sand Mandalas made by monks about eight years ago. As an artist I wanted to combine and to reinterpret where I come from with the fascinating Mandalas. I use the Mandala concept to gather and represent stories. The use of different materials is part of the story to tell, for example the mandala made for the Water Protectors in South Dakota was a medicine wheel made with colored water.

The meaning of mandala comes from Sanskrit meaning “circle.” Mandalas offer balancing visual elements, symbolizing unity and harmony.