701 Center offers art in all forms

A mill worker who put in eight to 10 hours a day on an assembly line could also produce art, music, crafts, and storytelling. U.S.C. anthropologist Dr. Jonathan Leader has researched the lives and customs of South Carolina “lint–heads,” as the textile mill workers were called, and found an impressive variety of creative arts.

“Workers in the textile mills displayed their talents in many ways,” he told his audience at the 701 Center last week. “Some things were done for practical purposes, others just expressions of the creative spirit.”

Mill workers lived in modest, millowned housing but they found ways to decorate their homes and lives. “Art comes from the soul,” said Dr. Leader. “It is already there; it just waits to be expressed. We have found many items demonstrating the creativity of people who worked in rote jobs. They painted pictures, and engaged in carving and whittling. Sewing was a major outlet with accomplished seamstresses making quilts and their own clothing. We’ve all seen the delicate items they crocheted, such as baby bootees and caps and afghans.

“Music of the Appalachian style was everywhere, and they danced in their community centers. They put on their own theater performances, also, in a melting pot of casting where everyone who wanted to could take part.”

Storytelling was a way to relieve the tedium while standing at an assembly line. Unfortunately, most of these stories have been lost over the years since they were not usually written down for future generations.

The 701 Center, located in the Olympia section of Columbia, provides a venue for visual and performing arts in the historic mill district. It is housed in a building that stands as a testament to the active community life of the Pacific Mills neighborhood. At 701 Whaley Street, the large building once served as a recreational center for the community. Now being refurbished, it fosters art in all forms. Currently on display: Installation Art conceived and constructed by artists Gwylene Gallimard and Jean–Marie Mauclet. It depicts varied aspects of life in the Olympia Mill Village. With paintings and sculptural renditions, the artists show miniature buildings, a train track, a gravel pit, a library, and a mural of cotton pickers.

On Wednesdays and Saturdays for the next three weeks, The 701 Center is offering more discussions about art as related to the textile mill past. Call 238- 2351 for more information.