♪ (upbeat music) ♪ Hello, I'm Beryl Dakers.

Welcome to Palmetto Scene .

It's Women's History Month, and we here at ETV are taking the time to celebrate the unique talents and accomplishments of some of our state's truly amazing individuals.

First we'll visit the Upstate where we find two talented artists who found a unique way to express themselves during the pandemic.

They believe that art connects the human to the human, and is the ultimate form of human expression.

♪ (classical orchestral music) ♪ <Nancy> Art to me is a universal part of self expression that human beings have, just like music and other things, and I think it's there within all people.

The story behind the pieces is very important, because that connects the human to the human, and I think there's so many millions and millions of levels of human expression through art, from the great masters down to just the scribbles of the petroglyphs, for example.

They're all important, and it's all that human being behind it that's making it important.

<Narrator> South Carolina artist and Winthrop alumna Nancy Thomas Woffard reconnected to her classical art roots, and set up a Michelangelo cast in her Greenville studio.

<Nancy> I think that the cast is a fundamental beginning to learning how to observe the natural world around you.

And the art student in that process is more aware of how to translate the natural world into the practice of drawing.

The human mind has more capability than we realize, so in trying to tackle a difficult task like this exercise, you do get a sense of accomplishment and encouragement to go further.

It automatically improves draftsmanship and that improvement in draftsmanship will stay with you technically for the rest of your life.

<Narrator> Nancy invited the O'Neal family to do a cast drawing exercise with her.

One line changes the entire drawing and all the relationships change, and that's why we have to correct so many times.

<Jimmy> Where it's really helping me is, you know, I go so far down the abstract worm hole.

Even though I layer a lot of realism and I've got a classical background.

I haven't done a cast drawing since I don't know, like 30 years.

So, getting to go back to the basics in the classical realm.

But it really helps me is with perspective from looking at one point and how things can change.

<Nancy> What our instructor always told us we need to do, come in, and take the first minute and just look at your cast drawing with a fresh eye.

And that is when you capture so many of the things that you didn't see when you left it the day before.

<Narrator> No matter the medium or genre of art you fancy, cast drawing is often considered a must-have experience to unlock an artist's potential.

Jimmy O'Neal echos the sentiment.

<Jimmy> I am an artist, and I'm pushing the boundaries of paint.

I developed a paint that is a mirrored paint about 20 years ago and have still been pushing different ways of making that a lens.

Because since I'm now working with a camera embedded in a painting, and wanting the viewer to see themselves as that painting, perspective becomes important.

It's just good to get your chops up again, you know.

And do something that's completely out of the realm or an exercise space that I've been in.

And also getting to work with somebody like Nancy, who's amazing.

You know, I'm in awe of what she does.

<Nancy> When I take a measure, you know, horizontally across the tip with the whole thing, you've got all your basic critical horizontals and verticals matching up really beautifully.

<Nancy> Cast drawing is a setup in the studio situation where you would be using a cast, a white plaster cast of usually a famous Greek or Roman figure.

And it's placed on a pedestal and you have your drawing, your easel, and your drawing paper next to it.

And there's a process you go through to align that piece with your paper and use your charcoal to replicate that.

And it requires a tremendous amount of observation, correcting, going back and remeasuring and your goal is to get an exact replica.

<Narrator> The O'Neal kids teamed up to draw the cast... with a little help from Nancy, of course.

<Mezzmyrh> I feel like this is a very powerful experience for my sister and I as friends and as artists.

We got to work together with Nancy to create this piece, and we learned so much because I had never even used a plumb line before, and now I'm like, that's all you need!

<Narrator> Even without traditional art training, the O'Neal kids took a lot away from this experience.

<Mezzmyrh> I learned so much from this process because Nancy, she taught us how to be active in our learning and go back and forth from being away from the piece and towards the piece.

So, it's very much an active process with the teacher.

<Nancy> I'm going to take a look at it through the rectangle.

I think when you learn, not only the technical aspect of your exercise and what you're trying to accomplish, but as you work this form, this particular figure, you start becoming emotionally involved in that form.

And then historically, you begin to think about that character in history.

So it enriches your art history as well.

<Narrator> Nancy says that during the Renaissance, the scholars realized that the classical Greeks had come to a deep understanding of the nature and beauty through figurative art.

Therefore beauty was in the antique , for them.

Art students had to master the antique before being allowed to draw from The Life .

<Nancy> As time progressed, certain, let's call them famous, characters in Greek and Roman history were preferred by the artist.

And so they became the standards that were used over and over again through the centuries in Europe as the Antilles and as the Classical instruction progressed.

So I think that Belvedere Torso that Michelangelo so adored would be a good example of that; the Venus de Milo; others that we see repeated over and over again.

And they were beautiful, and they were learning tools for how to represent beauty and perfection of the form.

Michelangelo is probably my favorite of artists and has been since my art school days.

But I think The Dying Slave, or The Dying Captive as its sometimes called, represents a condition in humanity and has great emotion to it.

And I wanted to have an opportunity to try to learn how he did that, to capture his genius as an artist as he was trying to give us an emotion at that time.

<Narrator> Emotion is ever present, from the original Renaissance artists' feelings, to the student executing a cast drawing, and sharing a piece of themselves in the replica.

<Nancy> I think the Venus cast for me is probably my most important piece because it was my second cast drawing.

But it was done at a time that my father was leaving us and I had great pleasure in working on that piece.

And so I think it imbues a kind of emotion in the work itself that was not in the plaster model, and expressed some emotional feelings that I had at the time.

<Narrator> Can you feel the emotion?

<Beryl> Next we're heading to Columbia to meet Tameika Isaac Devine, an attorney, city councilwoman, wife, mother of three, and the founder of The Possibilities Institute, who is now on a mission to become the first female mayor of our capital city, and in so doing, show young women that with the right spirit you can have it all.

<Narrator> Have you ever wondered how to integrate work, family life, and your passion without missing a beat?

Well Tameika Isaac Devine is doing just that, and showing others how to do it as well.

We caught up with Ms. Devine at a book signing with her daughter Jade.

Already a children's author, she says she's proud of her mom.

<Jade> I am proud of her because she's just not a councilwoman, she's a mother, she's a lawyer, she's a coach, and how she can juggle all that stuff, so basically every day it's just so amazing how she does all that stuff.

She does all that stuff, and shows others how to do it with The Possibilities Institute according to her husband Jamie Devine.

<Jamie> The Possibilities Institute is an organization that was founded by Tameika several years ago.

She wants to empower women, in particular coach women, offer speaking services to the community, and she wants ladies to have the integrated work life situation, where you can have it all.

You can have the work life.

You can have the family, and you can have all that you want, and so as her support, as her help mate, I'm here to support her, because this is her dreams, it's what she wants to do, so I just want to make sure that she's the best at whatever she does.

<Narrator> As an attorney specializing in the areas of real estate, probate, and business transactions, Tameika gets glowing reviews from clients like Laura Maguillo Gonzalez.

<Laura> This was the first time I bought a house with my husband.

We just got married a year ago, and she's just so helpful.

She was there every step of the process.

She did everything on time.

She is always there every time you need her.

She's just a great attorney.

I would recommend her to anybody.

<Tameika> Is there a process that if the neighborhood or community... <Narrator> The first African American woman to serve and be elected to Columbia City Council At-Large in 2002, Tameika Isaac Devine is hard at work alongside Mayor Steve Benjamin in her role as Columbia's Mayor pro tem.

When she's not at city council, Ms. Devine teaches other women just how to do all she does.

<Letra> The Mastermind class has helped me in so many different ways.

This session has really expounded upon how to integrate work and life, and just finding the joy in what you do.

It's not separating out the work with your life.

It's pulling it all together and just enjoying the journey for what it is.

<Tameika> Making sure that you have that time to get things done and accomplish.

<Letra> So being a part of this Mastermind class, it has helped me to be able to look at things in a different light and to expound upon those strategies that she has taught.

<Narrator> Tameika says her life experience is what made her want to champion and support women in their quest to have it all, which is why she created The Possibilities Institute.

<Tameika> I kept getting people asking me, "how do you do it all?"

and I realized that if more and more people consistently came to me asking about the same thing, that that was a void that maybe people weren't speaking to and actually mentoring and helping people with figuring out how can you still follow your professional dreams, as well as have the things that you're passionate about, and then also have a very happy fulfilled home life, and so The Possibilities Institute really grew out of that passion to want to help and support and empower other women on how do you have that type of lifestyle.

How do you go after your career or work in the community and still keep your family and your personal life first?

So that's kind of how it came out and it has grown really beyond what I imagined.

So it really is truly something I think that when you say when God gives you a vision, you just have to be obedient and follow it, it's something I feel like I had to follow, and He has blessed me and my clients in being able to really give me a passion behind supporting other people in having the life that they want.

<Beryl> And now this story... Just in time for March madness.

From a small town gym in Hartsville, South Carolina, to the hallowed Hall of Fame of Women's Basketball in Knoxville, Tennessee, Beth Bass's magical journey shows that the old fashioned values of hard work and determination can still reap big time rewards in today's modern society.

<Sports Announcer> She was the CEO of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association for 15 years.

[cheers and applause] She assisted with the WBCA's effort to launch the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

[cheers and applause] She received the President's Award from the National Association of Girls and Women in Sports.

[cheers and applause] She received the award for Honor from ETSU in 1998, which is given to alumni with outstanding accomplishments.

Ladies and gentlemen, 2019 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee, Beth Bass.

[cheers and applause] ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ <Beth> Hartsville, South Carolina is a special place.

Obviously, I'm very partial to it.

Some of the people I met there and grew up with, I stayed very much in touch with.

I always love to go back.

I used to always be embarrassed of where I was from, because of my accent.

My first job was at Converse in Boston, so you can imagine the grief I got.

They'd ask "where are you from," and I said, kind of apologetically, "I'm from a small town.

You never heard of it, but it is about an hour and a half inland from Myrtle Beach," because everybody knows where Myrtle Beach is, and he says, "don't you ever apologize for being from a small town."

He says, "small towns, thank God for small towns or there wouldn't be any real people in the world."

Back when I came along, we didn't even have a middle school, junior high.

Of course we couldn't play.

That wasn't legal, but we could practice with the team.

<Phyllis> I was a senior, and Beth was a seventh grader, and so Beth would literally run from the junior high school which was about a mile or so away, and we had to do warm ups back then.

The seniors, you know we don't like doing all that stuff.

Here comes Beth Bass running in the front door, and she just keeps right on running.

We said "look at that little kid" and we knew at that point that she had something and she was going to be great.

<Beth> Gotta talk about Pat Hewitt, right?

And so I was down on the other end of the floor there at the old gym, red and black, and I saw her walking up to me.

Those eyes and that stride, you can just feel the energy and the charisma, and the authority, and she came up and she says, "what's your name?"

And I said [spoken meekly] "Beth Bass."

And she said "well you stick with me.

I'll make you a superstar."

Right there it was like lightning struck me, and just somebody who was gonna believe in me and teach me as much as I could hold.

<Pat> I just knew she had true grit, she'd be a great player.

You know, she's self driven.

You don't have to motivate that.

She's motivated, she really is.

She always wants to get better.

She sets goals.

I used to ask my players every day, "what are you doing here today?"

"What's your purpose?"

"What are you trying to improve on?"

"Every day you should be able to tell me something that you're working on to get better at."

I didn't have to tell Beth.

She was self-motivated.

She was self-driven.

I knew it was coming.

It had to be, that she would be a Hall of Famer, so when she called and told me, I was elated.

I mean, I just cried, and I was just so excited for her, and I thought how befitting that it's come full circle.

She's always given back to basketball.

She first started with Converse, and then went to Nike, and then WBCA hired her as Executive Director, and then she retired, and Adidas said, "no."

Then for this to come at the top of all of that, it's just icing on the cake.

<Beth> This is my favorite part of my little bungalow here in Atlanta, Georgia, because it makes me feel like I'm in Hartsville, South Carolina.

I've got all my best buds.

I've got my Hartsville High Red Fox here.

I've got a Gator fan.

I know how that happened.

I've got an Arizona Wildcat fan.

They get to come, and this is my favorite.

You know, Pat Summitt, Dr. J, when you ask people what makes them so good at something, you're like, that's it.

Pat, you make sure you know the custodian, and you make sure you know the loading dock person.

You make sure you know the academic adviser that's gonna save you.

Everybody's important.

It takes all.

Everybody is just as important as the next person.

Pat was extremely humble.

I never played for her.

We just had a special relationship, and she just kind of took me in to her little tribe.

Not a day goes by I don't think about her.

I was with a group of great friends when I got the call that I was going in.

You have to keep it quiet 'til it was announced, so it was really like a ride.

You're just hearing from people.

I'm not on Facebook.

I'm supposed to be on LinkedIn.

It all blew up, you know.

People I haven't heard from in years, and that was really fun.

Pat Summitt said it so well.

I might not get the numbers right, but she said "I won 8 national championships.

I won one 1,038 games, 18 SEC titles," whatever she says, "but what I remember are the people's faces and smiles that were there with me on the journey," and that's how I felt.

I was kind of like not in a funk, but it's kind of surreal, because you're so busy, and you want to see everybody, so now when I look back at all the pictures and hear from people, everybody was having a great time.

<Event Attendee> I don't think Hartsville even understands.

I didn't understand until I came, what a big deal this is.

I mean, we have somebody from Hartsville, South Carolina who's in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, and we've spent the weekend here at the Hall of Fame.

We all thought we knew Beth, and we all knew that she was a contributor.

We all knew that she cared about her community, she cares about her country, but until we came here this weekend and saw what these other people saw in her, and the other things that she's achieved, I don't even think we understood what a big deal this was, so for Hartsville, South Carolina this is a big deal.

<Beth> If there's a little Beth Bass out there in Hartsville, South Carolina, what would I tell her?

I would tell her the sky's the limit, and just surround yourself with good people, good friends, good influencers and mentors.

Listen to 'em, but also listen to that small voice inside of yourself.

That you know that you can do it.

[cheers and applause] <Beryl> For more stories about our state and of course more details on the stories you've just seen, please visit our website at PalmettoScene dot org, and of course don't forget to follow us on social media, whether Facebook, Twitter or Instagram at SCETV hash tag PalmettoScene.

We leave you now with tonight's Palmetto Postcard from the Swamp Rabbit Trail of the Upstate.

For Palmetto Scene , I'm Beryl Dakers.

Good night, and thanks for watching.

♪ The Swamp Rabbit Trail network is essentially a road without cars.

Today we're at the Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery at mile marker 32 on the Green Line of the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail network.

The network of the Swamp Rabbit Trail is now 22 miles long.

That includes the Green Line and the Orange Line and even a mile section down in Fountain Inn.

So logistically, the way the trail came together is part of a national effort called Rails to Trails Conservancy.

On the Rails to Trails Conservancy, individual communities can sign up for notification when rail lines are essentially being abandoned and no longer being used for rail transportation.

We were signed up on that list, and back in the early 2000's, late 1990's, the community got notification that the owner of the rail was filing for abandonment, and what we did was created in 2009.

We're now at 22 miles of the network, but the first 9 miles were the trail between Travelers Rest and Greenville.

We pulled up the rail, and we just put down asphalt, and turned it into a trail.

Back in the 1880's is when the railroad got started, going between Greenville and Travelers Rest, with the goal of getting to Knoxville, and a goal of getting to the ports around Charleston, because there's a bunch of businessmen developing a quarter over the time and with funds available, it wasn't very smooth, and so people riding the train said it kinda hopped, like the native swamp rabbit of up near Furman and the swamps of the Piedmont, and so it just got nicknamed that.

Like the mayor of Greenville said, it was a sticky name, so the nickname of the railroad carried over to the nickname of the trail.

So there's so many different ways that people use the trail system.

When you sit for a few minutes, even on a bench anywhere on the trail, you start to notice crazy things like llamas.

We've had llamas, people walking their llamas on the trail.

We have hand cyclists using it because it's a safe environment for hand cyclists.

There are many people that don't have a car that use this as their transportation network to get to work and home, so really from biking, walking, anything with wheels that is human powered is the broad use.

Prior to the Swamp Rabbit network, we had a growing by culture, because we had the amenities of the mountains, the Blue Ridge escarpment, just destinations that are very attractive near the populations of Greenville and Travelers Rest.

I think really where the swamp rabbit came in, is it gave a very enjoyable and inviting opportunity for families to teach kids how to ride.

The fact that it's on an old railbed, the Swamp Rabbit, for the majority of the way is less than a 5% grade, so it's very easy.

Swamp Rabbit has definitely broadened the culture.

We have a dedicated culture here with professional cyclists retiring here, but it allowed people to go "riding a bike is no longer just something I did as a kid, it's the way I can get around my neighborhood, the way I go downtown to eat."

♪