Powerfully tiny. 100 cubed. Murray at Middleton.
Maura's Three for the Week, 05/11/26 - 5/17/26
Staring into the professional headlights of the all-consuming Spoleto Festival USA, this has become the week I exhale. As I did last year, I have rented a marvelously scruffy Folly Island front-beach bungalow, and let the ocean do its thing.
For three days, I’ll be joined by my dear friend Susan, who I met at my first grownup job in the library marketing department of Random House Books for Young Readers. There, our days were filled touring new authors, and some backlist behemoths, too, including Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl, while also navigating our legendary boss, sort of the Miranda Priestley of the ABC set.
We’ll also dip a toe into some events, including Charleston City Paper’s Best of Charleston Party as well as a very intriguing garden soiree courtesy of the irresistible Wentworth shop. Here are other standouts on the list. Enjoy.
Engage with art, activism and small businesses via Tiny is Powerful
Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, 125 Bull St., downtown, Wed., May 13 - Sat., May 16
Since my late teens, I’ve been following the ever-inspired mission of Gwylene Gallimard and Jean-Marie Mauclet. Back then they had just started an art-powered Broad Street cafe, Gaulart & Maliclet, which today is mainly known as the beloved Fast and French. A few years back, they sold that to two employees, but the shared ardor for converging art and small business abides.
In recent years, the two have joined forces with other artists and activists in the Charleston Rhizome Collective, creating the online hub Tiny is Powerful. This week, the collective wraps up its community-centered Rhizome Art in/with Lab at the Avery, hosting conversations, workshops, a film, and mining topics including reparations, health care and more with cultural leaders Marcus McDonald of Black Lives Matter; Elder Carlie Towne of Gullah Geechee Angel Network; Santa Fe poet laureate emeritus Darryl Wellington; textile artist Arianne King Comer and others.
For more information visit tinyispowerful.com and hit DIVE IN.
Round 100 with Miles Davis and John Coltrane
Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., downtown Charleston, Sat., May 16, 5 and 8 p.m.
The week is upon us for this stellar event, which I mentioned last week. For the 100th birthday of both Miles Davis and John Coltrane, the Charleston Jazz Orchestra this Saturday performs Miles + Coltrane at 100, a night of music that changed the world. Two performances of this concert offer two chances to experience their music played live, big band style.
For tickets and information, visit charlestonjazz.com.
Make room for a Moveable Feast
Duckworth Gallery, 120 Meeting St. (entrance on Queen St.), downtown; opening reception is Sat., May 16, 5 - 8 p.m.; Exhibit runs through June 29.
This one is ideal for those savoring Charleston moments past and into the present. Moveable Feast is artist/gallerist John Duckworth’s tribute to his own good forturne in finding his way as an artist in Charleston over the past 30 years, moved largely by a local community of artists who have inspired him.
Celebrating three decades of Charleston artists, friendships, and creative exchange, the exhibition includes works by Duckworth, along with Douglas Balentine, Arthur Brouthers, David Boatwright, Kevin Harrison, Hirona Matsuda, Johnny Pundt, Michelle Seay, Lisa Shimko, Patch Whisky, Tripp Smith, Kevin Earl Taylor and Mickey Williams. The Saturday opening reception features Gradual Lean jazz band, wine and hors d’oeuvres.
For more information, visit duckworth.gallery.
One for the future: 10+4+1
Cannon Street Arts Center, 134 Cannon St., downtown. Fri., May 22 - Fri., May 29, various times
I’ve long contended that Charleston could benefit from deeper cross-pollination of artistic disciplines. This is informed largely by my year in Dublin, where I marveled at partnerships between poets with painters, musicians and filmmakers; dramatists and digital artists.
So it’s delightful to see 10+4+1, a collaborative project coming soon to Cannon Street Arts Center. Its anchor exhibit features works of sought-after local artists including Linda Fantuzzo, Joe Walters, David Higginbotham, Mary Walker, Lese Corrigan, Hirona Matsuda, Kristi Ryba, Jeff Kopish, Herb Parker and Yvette Dede. On May 23 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., the project presents The Yellow Wallpaper, which joins Annex Dance, Unbound Ballet and Collective SC. On May 24 at 2 p.m., a production of Brad Erickson’s play Kansas takes the stage.
Stay tuned on social media for more information.
Another for the future: Bill Murray and friends at Middleton Place
Middleton Place, 4300 Ashley River Rd., Charleston, Mon., June 1, 7 - 10 p.m.
Murray at Middleton: What more do you need? Middleton Place is hosting a one-night-only evening with New Worlds, featuring Bill Murray, Mira Wang, Vanessa Perez and Jan Vogler, presented beneath a tent under the Oaks at Middleton Place. Blending classical music, literature and storytelling, it promises to be a dynamic, engaging performance that is at once thoughtful and deeply moving.
I followed this project fairly closely when it launched, after it was sprung from a chance meeting on a flight between Murray and Vogler, a celebrated cellist. They’ve since performed at some epic outdoor venues, the Acropolis among them. Now, the open-air Charleston premiere brings together the world renowned actor with Vogler, the acclaimed violinist Wang and the equally stellar pianist Perez.
For tickets and information, including a limited-availability VIP option, click here.
Thanks Maura. I snagged tickets to 2 of these events!