Baring All For Art's Sake

CHARLESTON - Getting enough people to commit to taking their clothes off and posing with their art work wasn't easy, but Charleston artist Joanna Jackson was able to find 12 of her peers willing to bare it all.

"It was tough to find people, but we got enough of them," Jackson said.

Jackson and artists Hirona Matsuda and Spike (who goes by a single name) have been working on the calendar for a while, and recently other local artists joined in, including poet Marcus Amaker, who provided a haiku for each month, and Kate Wichlinski, Olivia Pool, Kristy Bishop, Julio Cotto, Jason Baxley, Nick Denitto, Abigail Marie, Shelley Smith and John Pundt who all stripped down for a photo. Each artist worked with a professional photographer to create their page.

The calendar, titled "Censored" will have an official unveiling Dec. 2 at the Blind Tiger Pub downtown, but Jackson will also be selling the calendars at the upcoming Charleston Art Outdoor Initiative's chARTwalk scheduled for noon - 5 p.m., Sunday Nov. 20 in Alcia Alley and the Avondale Point Business District.

Sales of the calendar will benefit chART, with 50 percent of proceeds going to help fund supplies and future projects. Jackson said the other 50 percent will be used to recoup the costs of producing the calendar and to provide the artists that took part with some compensation. The calendars are priced at $15, a total of 400 were produced.

"We definately wanted to do something for charity," Jackson said. "It's not something we wanted to profit on, but it is good exposure for the artists."

The goal of the calendar, to bring the work of area artists to a larger audience, and the goal of chART, to create spaces for area artists to reach larger audiences, mesh perfectly, Jackson said. She first learned about chART during it's block party kick-off at the end of June, and found a kindred spirit in chART Founder Geoff Richardson. She has since contributed a mural to the expanding chART gallery in Alcia Alley.

Amaker and Pundt have also contributed works to the chART Initiative. Jackson posed with the mural of a Volks Wagon bus she is creating on one of the walls in Alcia Alley for her calendar page. The murals have been host to several photo shoots and a music video since going up this summer, according to Richardson, who painted the "Dirty Hairy" mural on the back wall of his .

"We're very grateful that they have decided to make chART their benficiary," Richardson said.