Choral Society Performs this Weekend

The Hilton Head Choral Society's Spring Serenade concert will showcase four well-known soloists, two of whom are Hilton Head Island favorites. Spring Serenade will feature Hilton Head’s Lori Maurer and Keith Phares, Rebecca Flaherty of Savannah, and Jonathan Murphy of Georgia Southern University, Statesboro.

“When people find out that Lori and Keith are singing together on Hilton Head for the first time in many years, their first reaction is WOW,” Tim Reynolds, HHCS’s Artistic Director said. Since graduating high school and leaving the island to attend the Juilliard School, Phares has performed opera all over the world. “This is a special homecoming for Keith for many reasons, especially because he and Lori have a longstanding relationship with our community and the Choral Society."

The Spring Serenade concert will feature a variety of music showcasing the talent of the guest soloists, professional orchestra and choral society singers including the southeast premier of a newly commissioned piece by Austin, Texas composer Craig Hella Johnson entitled Song from the Road on an original text by Michael Dennis Brown from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

When & Where: Friday, March 22 at 8PM at First Presbyterian Church, 540 William Hilton Parkway

Tickets & Info Online Here

Flintknapping with Rex (so cool)

Archaeologists look at stone tools to learn about ancient societies and they also try to replicate these tools to better understand the work and planning that prehistoric people engaged in to craft them.   As an archaeologist, Rex Garniewicz has been making stone tools for over 20 years and on March 28th he will discuss both the history of stone tool making and show participants how to make their own chipped stone tools as part of the Coastal Discovery Museum's Art & Environment After Hours series.  Everyone will leave with an “arrowhead” that they made or helped make.  Whether or not you are skilled at replicating an ancient tool, you will certainly learn a lot about archaeology and have a new appreciation of what we can learn from what looks like a relatively simple stone tool. 

Rex started making chipped stone tools in 1989 when he was studying archaeology at the University of Sheffield.  He brought a bucket of English flint back to his dorm room and with no training managed to create a pile of broken rocks.  He still has some of his first failures which helped him understand how ancient people made stone tools.  Since then, he has worked with several flintknappers and refined his craft to the point where he can make tools that would pass for ancient ones.  In our modern world, there is some strange satisfaction in being able to make a tool completely from materials that you find in nature.

This program is designed for beginners, so you don’t need to have any previous experience with archaeology or stone tools, but it is best suited for an adult audience. After looking into the history of flintknapping from the first tools made some 2 million years ago to historic times, and seeing examples of real prehistoric tools, participants will learn how certain types of rock (obsidian, chert, flint, and other glassy stones) break with a conchoidal fracture.  It is this type of break, that can be directed using a hammer stone or a piece of deer antler, which allows a flintknapper to shape an arrowhead.  Of course, in the process a flintknapper sends razor sharp flakes of stone flying through the air, so it is not an activity for the faint of heart!  

Read the Rest of this Article on Flintknapping Here

HHI Arts Leader Receives State Award

Kathleen Bateson is the recipient of the 2019 S.C. Arts Commission’s 2019 Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts in the Individual category, which is “open to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional achievement and statewide impact through their leadership, support, and advancement of the arts.”  This is the highest award an individual can receive in the state for the arts.  

Bateson is president, CEO and executive producer of the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. She is past president of the S.C. Arts Alliance board, and served as the first chair of the Arts & Cultural Council of Hilton Head. She currently serves as Chair of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry’s Women in Philanthropy.

The 2019 Verner Awards will be presented on Wednesday, May 1 in a morning ceremony at the USC Alumni Center in Columbia.

Congratulations, Kathi!

Remembering Lou Benfante

Heritage Library member, volunteer and Board President, Lou Benfante was dedicated to the history of Hilton Head Island and through that dedication he became a part of history. Lou Benfante passed away on March 9, leaving behind a legacy of dedication and friendship, and a deep sense of loss felt all over Hilton Head Island.

His was a life spent in the pursuit of telling stories, unearthing the past and sharing the lessons learned. Benfante threw himself into his volunteer work for The Heritage Library, putting himself in the shoes of historic figures like General Ormsby Mitchel and William Hilton to guide tours. His love of the Island’s history was infectious, and meticulously researched.

Beyond his regular weekly tours of Fort Mitchel and Zion Cemetery for the Heritage Library, he spread his love of history through weekly lectures, articles in local publications and classes he led at USCB’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Lifelong Learning of Hilton Head Island. He loved bringing the historic character of General Mitchel to life. He even spoke at the National Underground Railroad Conference, shining a spotlight on our Island’s role in freedom.

Services for Lou Benfante will be held on Saturday, March 30th at 2:00pm at St. Francis by the Sea Church on Hilton Head Island SC. Everyone is invited.

Public Art Project - Help Us Create!

Photo credit: Courtesy of Stella-lee Anderson

Come out and make art with us! The end product will be a large-scale 8ft. by 8ft. wall hanging will be displayed in the new Carmines Recreation Building for all to enjoy. Lead artist, Stella-lee Anderson, will weave together all of the batik textiles crafted by herself and the community to create a large wall hanging for the entrance of the Rec Center. The purpose of the artwork includes educating children and their parents about lesser-known endangered and extinct species in the Lowcountry. The exhibit is sponsored by the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry and being facilitated by the Town of Hilton Head Island's Office of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the Island Recreation Association.

We've added more art making sessions to bring more of the community together to make the designed pieces that will be stitched into the final installation. 

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

• Saturday, April 3 from 9 AM - Noon in the Charlie Brown Activity Room at the Island Rec Center
• Saturday, April 10 from Noon - 3 PM in the Charlie Brown Activity Room at the Island Rec Center

Come out and join us to design panels with a resist and dye process. All ages and skill levels welcome. Parents must accompany children.  This will be a beautiful and unique new addition to our island's public art made by our community.

World Premiere Play This Weekend Only

If You Forget Me
by Nora Leahy
Directed by Sarah Newhouse

A dark comedy about love, family, and coming home.

Following an accident, Kate's fiancé is left with selective amnesia and does not remember her. Their engagement broken off, Kate returns to the comfort of her childhood home in the suburbs to pick up the pieces of her life. This dark comedy is an exploration of growing up, the nature of memory, and the process of letting go.

World Premiere production from Lean Lab.

Performances: March 20-23, 7:30 PM & March 24, 2:00 PM, 2019. 

HHPS Main Street Theatre, 3000 Main St., Hilton Head Island.

Tickets & Info Online Here

Happy 20th Anniversary, Jazz Corner

This March the legendary, award-winning jazz club and restaurant, The Jazz Corner, celebrates 20 years of presenting world-class entertainment incorporated with gourmet cuisine.

The Jazz Corner opened in March of 1999 with Sir George Shearing gracing the stage for a week-long grand opening celebration.  The club continues to maintain top levels of regional, national and international performers offering live entertainment seven nights a week.

"We started with the goal of offering a world-class supper club with both elegance and excellent food, but above all we wanted to have the very best jazz artists play while still supporting and growing a cadre of local talent." ~ The Masteller Family

There are many exciting new things to come at The Jazz Corner as Bob Masteller’s visionary legacy is being taken to new heights.  A Sunday Afternoon Series featuring Classical music favorites meeting Jazz rhythms, concerts from The American Songbook, and a Christmas Extravaganza began in 2018; Masteller’s dream of presenting a Jazz Festival on Hilton Head Island is in it’s 5th Year. In addition, the non-profit arm of The Jazz Corner, The Junior Jazz Foundation (JJF) continues the mission of preserving the Great American Art Form of Jazz through education and live performances.  This summer, the JJF will host its 9th Annual Jazz Camp bringing over 100 students from across the US to study Jazz right here on Hilton Head Island!     

American Jazz is 100-years-young, and there is still more to come at The Jazz Corner.

Last Chance: Tickets for Blues & BBQ

Save the Date: Free Junk Art Workshop

Come Make Art with Us and Save the Planet at the Same Time!

We partnered with the Outside Foundation to use non-recyclable trash pulled from the Broad Creek during this clean-up to provide us with materials for our FREE Junk Art Workshop Day in April!

Artist Stella-lee Anderson will be providing stations and creativity ideas for people to take non-recyclable items like CDs, bottle caps, dryer sheets, chopsticks, and more  and turn them into art. Published poet Miho Kinnas will be working with participants to write a three line poem to go along with their artistic creation. 

Junk Art Workshop: Friday, April 19 from 1-4 @ Shelter Cove Community Park, FREE!!

More Info about the Junk Art Workshop is available online here