OneColumbia

OneColumbia One Columbia promotes the arts and cultural events and coordinates public art in Columbia, SC

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2026 Morrison Award Ceremony! One Columbia for Arts and History, born out of Mayor Benjamin’s transition team for Arts and History in early 2011, has two primary roles: to advise and to amplify the arts and history community of Columbia, South Carolina.

✨ Artist Spotlight: Stephen Hayes ✨From sculpture and blacksmithing to installation and mixed media, artist Stephen Haye...
06/02/2026

✨ Artist Spotlight: Stephen Hayes ✨

From sculpture and blacksmithing to installation and mixed media, artist Stephen Hayes transforms found materials into powerful works that explore history, identity, labor, and the African American experience. Raised in Durham, North Carolina, Hayes describes himself not simply as an artist, but as a “creator” — someone who builds, fabricates, and reimagines the world around him.

Known for his acclaimed series Cash Crop and large-scale public art commissions, Hayes uses symbols, storytelling, and craftsmanship to spark conversations about culture, community, and resilience. His work has been exhibited nationally and has earned recognition including the 2020 1858 Prize for Contemporary Southern Art.

Whether working in metal, wood, ceramics, or printmaking, Hayes creates art that invites us to look deeper at the stories that shape our shared history.

Learn more about Stephen Hayes and discover other talented artists in One Columbia’s Artist Directory.

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06/01/2026

✨Masterpiece Monday: “Finally Finlay” by Jennifer Bartell Boykin✨

Finally Finlay:
a second life
well- lived,
a gift we didn’t
know we needed.

This nest of a park
for rest and joy,
for quiet from the noise,
peace down by the stream,
yawning forth
with a stretch of yoga,
pickle ball game picked up,
a hill to roll down,
or a quick workout,
a strolling walk,
a place to vibe to music
or enjoy a fun festival,
a place for comfort
or soothe.

Our place, our park
for our people.

A Carolina wren
rests on its nest,
watching over us.
Its loud whistled
notes call to us,
call us to more,
call us to be better.
This place of rock,
water, and soil,
this place to shake
from our weary minds
the dust of the day
and bask in what
the sun has to offer.

I think on the wren.

Her wings
waiting for a wind.
Her ears prickling
with the sounds of
children’s laughter.
Her eyes brooding
over the people
coming and going.

The stage faces
the city to serenade
its citizens,
who are waiting
for more,
who may sing back or not.

Do you remember walking around
the old pond to get to the other side?
You may be standing where the old pond
once was right now.
The new pond has a bridge
to bring us together quicker,
a bridge to a thing that
could look like peace.

The overlook plaza is where you can
spy with your little eye
the skyline of this city, our city:
O, Fair Columbia!
What you have for us today
may not be the same as tomorrow.

But we walk on.

In this sloped land of ridge and valley,
once a home to the Congaree People,
now a park for all people.

My city. Your city. Their city. Our city.

The Carolina Wren’s
song is sometimes a screech,
sometimes cheerfully loud.
What noise will you bring
to this park?

How will your voice add
to the chorus of people
here today?

Finally Finlay stretches forth
her wings to welcome us.
Finlay is for the folk, for all folk,
for our folk, for us and them.

Let it be so.

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Creativity, community, and the power of words ✍🏾✨We’re excited to spotlight this inspiring creative writing workshop led...
05/28/2026

Creativity, community, and the power of words ✍🏾✨

We’re excited to spotlight this inspiring creative writing workshop led by Columbia’s Poet Laureate, Jennifer Bartell Boykin, in collaboration with the Columbia Museum of Art. Using Rodney McMillian: A Son of the Soil as inspiration, participants explored ekphrastic poetry — using art as a pathway to reflection, storytelling, and original writing.

Jenn Bartell Boykin continues to shape Columbia’s cultural landscape through poetry, education, and community engagement, creating spaces where creativity and connection thrive. We love seeing opportunities like this that bring visual art and literary art together in meaningful ways.

This workshop has officially reached capacity — a beautiful reminder of how vibrant and engaged Columbia’s creative community truly is. 🎨📚

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05/28/2026

A huge THANK YOU to for publishing two articles about One Columbia! Check out their spring issue to read the interview with Kwasi Brown and learn about our amazing artists at the 🤩🤩🤩

Kick off your holiday weekend with this opening reception tonight! 👇👇👇Repost from •Joint us Friday evening for the Openi...
05/22/2026

Kick off your holiday weekend with this opening reception tonight! 👇👇👇

Repost from
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Joint us Friday evening for the Opening Reception of Curios by Janet Orselli!

Janet Orselli creates art with objects and space. The objects she assembles are leftovers from the past. Old baby carriage frames, bird’s nests, chairs, shoe soles, roller skates; broken bits of the discarded stuff of everyday life. These things are survivors. Orselli finds them in dark attic corners, in boxes hidden in the basement, or in the trash pile down the street. She uses these objects to create a language, tell a story and build a world.

“As a woman and as an artist, I’m persistent in reaching for what is real and finding ways I can most effectively express that through my work. It is the quiet voice beneath the noise that says the choice is ours.”

Did you know? Students who participate in the arts are nearly 4x more likely to be civically engaged as adults — volunte...
05/20/2026

Did you know? Students who participate in the arts are nearly 4x more likely to be civically engaged as adults — volunteering, attending community events, and investing back into their neighborhoods. 🎨✨

Arts programs do more than teach creativity. They help shape future leaders, storytellers, innovators, and communities that care for one another.

When we invest in the arts today, we’re helping build the culture of tomorrow. 💛

✨Artist Spotlight: Brittany Watkins✨Meet — a Columbia-based interdisciplinary artist, educator, and gallery director wh...
05/19/2026

✨Artist Spotlight: Brittany Watkins✨

Meet — a Columbia-based interdisciplinary artist, educator, and gallery director whose work transforms everyday materials into powerful reflections on mental health, consumer culture, memory, and personal experience.

Known for her large-scale installations and immersive environments, Brittany’s work explores the connection between our private emotional worlds and the public spaces we move through every day. Through collected objects, discarded materials, and layered storytelling, she creates art that challenges viewers to think deeper about stability, identity, and the human experience.

In addition to her artistic practice, Brittany serves as Director of at and continues to foster creative community throughout the South through education, advocacy, and collaboration. Her work has earned recognition including the State Fellowship and the South Arts State Fellowship.

Learn more about Brittany and explore her work through One Columbia’s Artist Directory. 🎨

✨ Masterpiece Monday: Passage by Greg Fitzpatrick ✨ “We are all simply moving through life, guided by love.” Take a m...
05/18/2026

✨ Masterpiece Monday: Passage by Greg Fitzpatrick ✨

“We are all simply moving through life, guided by love.”

Take a moment to experience “Passage,” a thoughtful piece in our public art collection. The artist found inspiration by spending time along the Saluda River, using the spinning leaf in the center to remind us that we all have our season and nothing is here forever.

The sculpture also has a heartwarming backstory. The artist originally used tiny steel figures of a family just to show the scale of the model. The selection committee loved the family element so much they thought it was part of the actual design! The artist completely adapted the final work to include them, even shaping the flower at the little girl’s heart to match a drawing his own daughter left on the refrigerator.

Public art connects us to our community and ourselves. Next time you walk past, we hope you take a second to pause and reflect on your own journey.

Have you seen Passage in person yet? Tell us what you think in the comments! 👇

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Public art belongs to us all and protecting it matters.After Ra Obelisk was vandalized earlier this year, conservators a...
05/15/2026

Public art belongs to us all and protecting it matters.

After Ra Obelisk was vandalized earlier this year, conservators and painters Georgia Lake and Jeffrey Donovan stepped in to carefully restore the work.

These photos capture the skill, patience, and dedication it takes to preserve public art for future generations.

Thank you to everyone helping protect the artworks that shape Columbia’s shared spaces and cultural identity.

Address

1013 Duke Avenue
Columbia, SC
29203

Website

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/stephen-g-morrison-award-2026-tickets-1983378609813?utm_expe

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