SPOLETO BUZZ BLOG

Over at Don Conover’s Spoletoblog, he’s reprinted an article from last Thursday’s New York Sun in which the writer discusses being in Charleston for Spoleto’s opening weekend, which includes a description of Saturday night’s big Domain magazine bash at 77 Wentworth Street and makes mention of a number of local artists and scenesters.

OUT & ABOUT
By A.L. GORDON

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Yesterday’s column ended by describing how Charleston’s New Guard has brought new money and energy to the city’s cultural and philanthropic life.With an appetite for high culture and a strong belief in supporting the arts, members of the New Guard have become important patrons of the Spoleto Festival.

There’s another youth story going on in this city, which I discovered by veering off the Spoleto circuit for a late-night magazine launch party — not to imply that the affluent married-with-kids set is isolated from the city’s exploding youth culture. It was the New Guard’s most social animal, the artist John Dunnan, who told me about the bash.

When I arrived at the loft of the architect Neil Stevenson,I learned that it’s the spot for some of Charleston’s wildest parties. And as I walked through, it was clear why.

In the main room, a large screen projected blue films from the 1950s while deejays spun 1980s remixes. Everyone was tan. Some looked as if they’d come straight from the beach, while others had come from fancy Spoleto parties.

And others weren’t dressed at all. A few women posed as strip-club dancers and wore exotic feather headdresses designed by Leigh Magar. One of them had her body painted by artist Kevin Taylor, who turned her into part elephant, part wolf. As it was a perfect summer-like night, the most popular spot at the party was the roof. From there I looked out on the church spires in the distance and the odd assortment of guests, many of whom piled into outdoor beds that the party organizers built earlier in the day.

See the rest of the article here.