Hello, I'm Beryl Dakers.

Welcome to Palmetto Scene .

In this episode, we feature artists who use the walls of the city to convey a message of unity.

In this first segment, we'll visit rising artist Ija Charles.

Ija has been painting life, not only onto her canvases, but onto the walls throughout the Midlands.

ETV's Desiree Cheeks had an opportunity to speak with her and to get more insight into her artistry.

<Ija> My name is Ija Charles, and I'm here from Columbia, South Carolina.

I was a military kid and I'm also part Louisianan, so I always call myself a "NOLA COLA" but since I graduated from South Carolina, this is my home town.

This is where I come from.

<Desiree> From a young age, local artist Ija Charles has been creating art from any resource she could find - no canvas too big or too small.

As a self taught painter, and now a well known up and coming entrepreneur in the art world, this talented artist is transforming spaces around the state to bring a new beauty and perspective to our daily lives.

<Ija> Art has always been a part of me.

It was like self therapy for me when I was growing up.

Once I got into middle school and high school, I saw how it also affected others that view my work, so it became more of bringing positive light into dark rooms instead of just me creating for myself.

<Desiree> Did you ever have like a this is it like an aha moment where you know this is what I want to be doing , like I want to paint .

Was that after you had already been doing any and everything, just trying to get your name out there?

When did it hit like I can really make myself something out of this.

<Ija> My senior year of high school.

Prior to being introduced to paint, I actually did not have access to it.

I was a "Make it Happen" girl, so when I would want to paint, I would go in the woods, pick berries, crumple up leaves.

Anything that I could get colors from, I would just make it.

My teacher Mr. Hicks told me "I can't teach you anything, so whatever you want, let me know," and I told him that I wanted to be introduced to paint.

They gave me the opportunity to actually purchase supplies that I never had previously, and I just fell in love with all the colors, and I never stopped ever since.

What inspires me as an artist is just the emotion that it brings to people when they view my work.

I feel like artwork should have a soul instead of it just being pretty, and when I have a story to follow behind it, people can take that with them, even if they can't take the art with them as well.

Where I find myself being in my element the most is when I'm outdoors.

My parents used to always take us outside to the riverfront or just public parks and areas, just so we could relax and just get our minds clear, and just enjoy the beautiful weather, so I love to paint outside and just enjoy the breeze, listening to the water while I create is meditation for me.

The story I'm working on is between my dad and my little brother.

Their bond was built from baseball, and honestly, it's something that held all of the family together, so I just wanted to showcase the very start of when baseball really just affected our family, because my little brother actually ended up going into professional baseball as he got older.

It's always been a part of us going to games, and I just wanted to showcase that happiness of my dad when they first went onto the field together.

As you'll see in my gallery as well, a lot of those pieces actually were created out here.

I do a lot of client work, but when I'm out here, it's mainly pieces that came straight from my mind, which you'll definitely see.

<Desiree> So Ija, I see you've got a lot of different techniques going on in your artwork here.

What would you say is your most used technique?

I'm very hands on, so I'll say that finger painting is definitely something that I use in my pieces.

I know brushes are traditional, but I just like to immerse myself into my work, touch it, and just knowing where I want the paint to lay with my fingers, I do that all day.

<Desiree> Alright, alright, yeah, and I definitely see that happening in this painting right here, which I absolutely love.

I would love for you to tell me a little bit more about this one.

<Ija> So this is my Sunflower Girl, her name is "I don't know you," I just wanted her to invoke the fact that she doesn't live by stereotype.

She might be free from the outside, but she's looking at you like are you going to really get to know me for who I am instead of what I look like?

and that's why I wanted her to really look down at you and just ask you that question.

<Desiree> And I definitely feel that her eye contact got me coming down the hallway.

It stopped me dead in my tracks.

This is a gorgeous, gorgeous piece.

<Ija> Thank you.

I don't like to limit myself as far as creating, and I always say the bigger the mural, the better for me because that gives me a chance to just put my imagination out onto larger scale canvases.

When I got the opportunity to be in West Columbia to do their interactive park for Columbia, South Carolina, I decided I'm not going to start doing murals.

It not only brought the chance for me to put my artwork on a large building, but also let those communities speak through it.

I got to showcase why it's fun to live in Cayce.

I was able to really just enjoy listening to the residents' stories of their experiences growing up there, and to paint on a two story building is definitely something that was up my alley, and I love driving past it every day.

<Desiree> Did you ever imagine it would be on a scale as big as this, where you know your schedule is booked and you're running around town trying to make appointments for interviews?

Did you ever dream this big?

<Ija> I knew it would happen, but I'll say this.

My dad calls me "Forest Gump" [both laughing] You remember that scene where he just got up and started running because he couldn't run anymore?

That's pretty much me.

I just love the fact that people love what I do because I would do it regardless, because my number one thing - it's called Ija Art, because without art, there's be no Ija, just like there'd be no art without me.

If you don't invest in yourself, no one will.

You have to live your best life.

Do what makes you happy, even if it's scary.

It's worth the risk.

I'm living in risk, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

I know that my artwork can spark many emotions in people, but I know that a lot of people don't smile, and if I can do that, I've done my job.

<Beryl> And now, a look at a mural project that speaks purpose to us all.

Under the train trestle on Rosewood Drive here in Columbia, there's a mural that is turning a lot of heads these days.

Realty Haven wanted their new location to be a beacon of light during troubled times, and in spite of opposition they pressed forward with a statement of unity.

>> I had a nightmare when I was a little kid, and my mom knew that I liked to draw a lot, so she asked me to draw what was in my nightmare.

She had me bring it to the fireplace and lit the fire and I threw it in there, and I never had that nightmare again, so ever since then, I guess it just stuck in my head and I just -- I'm obsessed with it.

>> Realty Haven is actually a real estate brokerage firm.

We originally started as a operations company for large scale investors, so we would help them acquire single family homes and turn them into rental properties.

As of lately, we have just pivoted our model to go towards starting a nonprofit which is Haven Home, that we can also buy single family homes and turn them into rentals, but we want to offer them an affordable level because of the inflation that we've seen in the market.

So the mural on the outside of the building ties into everything that we do here.

It was really intended to be a light in kind of dark times, and we wanted to be able to show our love for all of the people that make up our communities, and love for people that have made impacts on our individual lives as well.

<McClellan> Right now I'm working on my grandfather.

They retired him as a Brigadier General.

He's actually the son of Emily Douglas, who they named the park after, and he became the Postmaster of Columbia, retired as "Grandbilly," loved and adored by the entire community.

I haven't seen any representations of South Carolina, or any of the South for that matter, that ring true to the way I see it.

People don't realize how culturally diverse it is down here.

You know, when I go up north, and I go to different cities, unless you're in a large city, it's predominantly white.

I miss Black people and Latino culture and, you know, I miss all this stuff when I'm on the road.

<Lauren> I really love the idea of portraits.

We had gone down to Winwood Walls and kind of fell in love with that in Miami, the art scene down there, and McClellan's art that we'd seen samples of was really something that I connected with.

<McClellan> What I decided to do was make the mural match the sunset and the sunrise.

I bring in the crew.

We strip the walls down, prime it, and then we start with the mural work.

♪ (jazz music) ♪ We decided to put the Black people up first.

Right now it's so charged, and they seem to be needing representation.

>> McClellan had been talking to me about what he wanted to do, and he was saying that he thought that this was a big thing for the city, but also too, for the area, Rosewood area, and I thought to myself, he's right about that .

I do believe this piece turns a lot of heads.

McClellan chose to use some really bright colors, catches people's eyes.

He's also chose to use different individuals.

He used me to start the whole thing off, I mean, hey, and I'm wearing a black hat.

I'm looking like a superhero on the side of a wall, but also to everybody else who's on the wall looks like a superhero.

<McClellan> I had a feeling, you know, it might trigger somebody.

I had a bunch of people drive by and they thought it was George Floyd.

It's sad, but just putting a black person on a wall has become so charged that somebody decided to deface it and put something really terrible on it.

Honestly, it didn't surprise me.

[crowd chanting] Black Lives Matter!

<Cedric> The time in which the mural first began, definitely was in the heat of the moment where everything was taking place around the country and actually around the world, and though the Rosewood area is definitely a area that's progressive, I just still expected it to happen because the tensions are very high right now.

You do your best to navigate it, and in some cases, you have to face it head on.

You find ways to help you and assist you in dealing with these things, and it's definitely not an easy issue to deal with, and it's definitely not an issue that's going to be going away anytime soon.

<McClellan> I've had a couple people drive by and, you know, yell Make america great again and stuff like that.

Whatever your political views, it's weird to me that something that's meant to be inclusive, can be seen by some people to be such a divisive act.

<Cedric> That pretty much set everything in motion for all the attention that the work needed, so they unknowingly did something positive for this project.

<McClellan> It feels great.

It's satisfying to say the least.

<Lauren> We've had a lot of really great love and support from everybody that's here.

People coming by and taking photos with the artwork, leaving us wonderful messages on social media.

<McClellan> This is a lot more important than even I originally thought, and so we decided to make sure that everybody's represented.

<Lauren> And I thought acknowledging the Native Americans, especially in their home state, would be very impactful, and the Catawba tribe is the only recognized tribe in the state of South Carolina, and John George was their last living Medicine Man, who just passed away this year, and so we wanted to give that as a tribute to them.

<McClellan> It's basically been a mishmash of what looks good and also adds to the diversity of the mural.

>> So every time we drive past the building it's a reminder of how blessed we are and how far we've come from Luna's condition.

Two days after her second birthday, she had an arteriovenous malformation that ruptured.

>> Essentially she just had a stroke and lost the use of her right side.

<Kira> And we were in the hospital for eleven weeks.

She went through three brain surgeries, and she's just such a miracle.

<Bobby> Now she's about two and a half, and she's already regained the use of her right side.

She's walking.

She's moving her arm.

She's talking again.

<Kira> Every time we drive by, she says it's me, Luna and it's the cutest thing ever.

I hope in the future, she can bring her kids to see it one day.

>> Seeing my mom's picture on the side of the building was humbling, to say the least, and if you knew the background of my mother and all that she's gone through to be who she is today, you wouldn't be surprised that she's on the building as well.

Where do we even begin?

So somebody who lost her parents when she was nine, and then came here because of the Korean War, and all the pain that she's gone through and some of the experiences she's gone through, losing family to the North Korean side, and if you met her today, you'd realize, you know, that's a really strong woman inside of a tiny, humble, meek shell.

The strong woman is representing a lot of people on the side of the building.

There's a pretty large ethnic community here, and so I think representation certainly does help, and help acknowledge that they're here and they're making an impact in the community as well.

<McClellan> People just stop by every day, and they tell me we thank you so much .

I'm just trying to make something pretty for everybody, but I didn't expect it to be such an event.

I mean, I think it's something that we needed.

People are having a really hard time.

If I can do something to brighten up their day, it's special.

<Beryl> As we continue our theme of art, we'll travel down to a small South Carolina town that has one of the state's biggest arts festivals.

I'm talking about ArtFields 2021.

This popular event returns to Lake City April 23rd through May 1st.

The goal, honoring artists of the southeast with a week's worth of celebration and competition.

Tonight we'll take a look back at a previous festival for just a hint of what's to come.

>> Artfields is a southeast competition that calls out to artists in twelve southeastern states.

When we started Artfields, we started with pretty much two goals in mind.

One goal was to provide a platform for artists in the southeast that we pretty much didn't have anywhere else, and the second goal was to revitalize Lake City and downtown.

And so, through research we've seen that art does that, and so we brought this competition to Lake City.

We prepped for it, a lot of hard work, of course, but it's been working.

Over five years it has grown.

>> We've designed a mural, and then over the course of the next week we're gonna be painting it in, and people come join us and help us paint it.

Well, this festival has all different kinds of art, and then our art is a little more participatory, so it's kind of fun to see how art can change in environment and bring people together, and just have fun creating something, working together to do something.

♪ [singing, strumming guitar] ♪ >> Well Artfields Junior was kind of inspired off Artfields.

We recognize the importance of art in children's lives.

There's research out there that proves that children involved in the arts do well, so we started doing year round activities, and one thing we focused on was the Artfields Junior Art Competition.

We were hoping to have at least 300 students to apply, and we had over 500, and so we're ecstatic.

We have three venues this year.

We have primary, elementary, middle, and secondary on exhibit this year.

[chatter] ♪ [jazz music on saxophone] ♪ >> It's different.

It's different in the sense where we use our community, our volunteers.

We have over 300 volunteers that register each year.

They provide support from day one, and it's just a very long weekend.

[street performer drumming] >> My sculptures are twigs and leaves and branches, and then recently I started to play around with the idea of rocks, so yeah, I developed a process for making rocks, a collage with the vegetation, sculptures of vegetation.

I thought it was pretty exciting, especially for a small town, a surprising enterprise, very impressive.

We have artists from all over the southeast creating high quality art, and it seems to be building every year.

>> Really, I'm blown away.

I started with this organization before Artfields even had a name.

It was just a dream and a passion of local community members to make a difference in their community.

I want to see it continue to grow and touch people's lives, because art is so empowering.

It's people sharing themselves in Lake City through their art, and art creates conversation.

Rather that may be good, rather that may be bad, it creates conversation, and that creates growth.

So I'm hoping with Artfields, we'll continue to grow together, conversate together, meet new people, and make a difference and continue to grow.

<Beryl> In tonight's final segment, we'll revisit the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.

It's there the state continues to nurture young artists through unique programs that foster and develop creative expression for students from all across the state.

♪ [expressive flute music] ♪ >> There's just something, I think, really incredible about being able to convey something without words.

♪ [expressive flute music continues] ♪ I think that when it's done, it's really, really effective, and really powerful.

♪ [expressive flute music continues] ♪ I'd love to be a part of the team of artists in the world that are pushing for change, and using the arts in that way.

♪ [expressive flute music continues] ♪ >> The Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities is a public residential high school serving students in grades eleven and twelve primarily, and five art areas.

We serve students in music, creative writing, dance, drama, and visual art.

Our students come from all 46 counties of the state, and we're very proud of having graduates from a residential school as well as in our summer programs from throughout the state of South Carolina.

All of our students auditioned for artistic programs, and they're selected based upon the quality of that audition, and for the students in the residential program, they spend their junior and senior years on campus with us and graduate with a high school diploma from the state of South Carolina as well as an artist diploma.

>> Our students are passionate about the arts, which is why they have come to us, because they want to complete their high school education with us, so they are a student who is excited, engaged, and that carries forward throughout the work that they do, whether that's in their academics, or outside of class and student life, and so they are kids who want to immerse themselves in the arts, and we're always happy to see them grow and develop as young artists.

Academics here, however, allow our students to rise above.

We have small class sizes.

We have individualized attention from our faculty, and we're ready to support students wherever they come to us regarding their academics.

>> A lot of people I meet are surprised to remember that we're a public school, so students do graduate with a South Carolina high school diploma.

We're that kind of academic program, I think, that is geared toward working with these talented young people, so we do the kind of traditional subjects but in maybe untraditional ways, unconventional ways.

Just the fact that we have these kids in our classroom means that it's gonna be kinda unconventional.

They are unique, and that's both great and a challenge, but I have attended a lot of their events in the arts, and seeing them, a student who may struggle a little bit in statistics get up and sing very beautifully, you know, in another language and just be so very confident in that or the artwork that some of the visual artists do, that really is unique, and so you do get to see both sides of those students, and we have to try to find ways to address that through the academics.

For instance, the drama students love to read the word problems in class.

That is almost like an audition for them, so it is a unique experience here with them.

>> It's pretty incredible where people will go from here.

So this is a time where they try it all, and then they start homing in, so by the last semester, it's almost like a master's program, where they are doing a concentration, working directly with an artist mentor, and they get to do a big project by the end that's professional quality.

>> The Governor's School is magical, and the way that you feel when you first walk in is sort of unparalleled, because the architecture of the school and all the pretty foliage and then all the students hanging out and just loving their art and loving their fellow students.

It feels magical and it makes you want to stay forever.

>> When I stepped foot on campus, I knew this was the place to thrive in my heart.

I knew I'd be surrounded by other kids who have the same interests as me, and not only the students around me, but the teachers, the faculty, the residential life, it's all a community of support, knowing that this is my end goal is to become a professional dancer.

>> For our parents, I know that this requires a lot of thought.

I say that as a parent, and so they carefully consider whether this is the right fit for their student, and then we work with them to again be part of this community.

We want parents to view this as a partnership with us, working directly with the school, helping them to help their student to grow and develop into the great artist that we see come out of the Governor's School.

>> I remember she went into the audition, and I was told the audition was 15 minutes, and she was in there for about 45 minutes, and I'm thinking to myself what's going on ?

because she was in there and nobody came out.

Finally, Mr. Murray it was.

He was the head of the...

I don't know if he's still the head of the Drama department, but he came out and he said to me, we'll see you next year .

It was difficult at the beginning, because she had been home and she was the child that was always around me, but she made a lot of friends, you know, but one of the things that she spoke about was some of the friendships that she'd made had been lifelong.

>> I think that we have a very successful alumni base.

We are excited many of our alumni return home to South Carolina, and we're thrilled to see that growth and that connection with the state.

>> There's a lot of talent coming out of South Carolina, so it's an artistic base.

The problem was there just wasn't any outlets there for us growing up, you know, which since I came to Greenville and found my artistic haven here into Governor's School.

When I came to campus, it was my first time realizing that like people live and go to school in a completely different way.

I've never seen a campus or seen kids, you know, running around, doing the stand up third, country boy coming from Pendleton, you know what I'm saying?

So I'd never been around artists in this capacity.

I never hung out with dancers.

I never listened to someone practice Beethoven or Bach Symphony 12.

I'd never been around that community of people, but what I knew from that strangeness, was that it's where I needed to be in a very weird way, because in school I expressed myself.

I'm an artist, so I express myself in a very dramatic, intense, outward way, and some school systems don't know how to cater towards that.

They don't know how to teach kids that are in that kind of capacity, but when you come here and you find out that like oh, there are teachers here who understand that the arts and liberal arts or science and math and all that, they go hand in hand.

So after a while, once you get your feet sunk into it, it's like Oh, this is a special place, it's just a special place.

[speaking to students] Your objective, get to him.

>> For more stories about our state, and of course more details on those stories you've just seen, do visit our website at PalmettoScene.org and of course, don't forget to follow us on social media whether Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

It's @SCETV#PalmettoScene.

For all of us here at Palmetto Scene , I'm Beryl Dakers.

Good night, stay Strong, and thanks for watching.