The last Spoleto SCENE party but the first White Party of Summer

By Laura Medina

The underground wine cellar

Most folks know Sean John Combs' White Party in Southhampton up in New York or the more intimate soirees dotting the Hamptons on Labor Day.

What most junior art patrons of Spoleto consider the final hooray of the social/arts season is actually the first White Party of Summer, SCENE's infamous (White Parties are required to be infamouse. Who assumes white is virginal?) White Party signals the end of the social whirlwind of Spoleto USA, hidden from the garden variety tourists. Not to fun-loving philanthropists, who came far-flung and near.

Since this is the new and next generation of Spoletians driving the international arts festival forward, they established a new tradition of showcasing the premiere mansion on the market as the celebration site, on 8 Vanderhorst Street, off the main drag of King Street.

Sure, attendees said it was a dump abused by nearby College of Charleston students but the girl has great bones and assets. The main split-level, two story colonial house retained its eighteenth-century skin but the interior is thoroughly sleekly Danish Modern. Amorphous water closets and the upstairs master bathroom were clothed in curveous light, warm wood. The carriage house-turned-condos in the backyard were no less chicly renovated.

People (or prospective buyers) hunted for the elevator (for elderly but wealthy residents) and the mystical wine cellar. If you go to the living room then asked where is it, someone will tell you "You're standing on it." Glancing down, it's the trap door you're standing on. Pop it open, ta-dah, it's the cellar, thirty degrees below the surrounding temperature. The sweltering party-goers loved going down for a tour.

Another surprise in the living room was more sly until people advised taking a closer look. Oops, naughty framed wallpaper, "Perfect Fit" by Redux Contemporary Art Center's Executive Director, Karen Ann Myer. This is female empowerment with a "wink-wink" nod to female sensuality.

For all my Los Angeles readers, Karen will make a trip out here on July 3rd at Luis De Jesus and her exhibit will up and running there until August 7th. When she's not being an artist, she's Redux's straight-forward executive director. This scribe bumped into her unknowingly and found her very friendly and informative. Intrigued, you can see her work on Scoop Contemporary on http://www.scoopcontemporary.com/paintings.asp?artID=107 and http://www.luisdejesus.com/news.php for her Los Angeles visit and the opening party from
5:00pm to 8:00pm.

Karen Ann Myers's portraits.

Wafting from room to room, down the spiral staircase to the inner courtyard in the back, the usually ivory and cream party-goers quaffed blueberry-acai lemonade mojitos and nibbled on Caviar & Bananas' caviar resting on a dollop of sour cream on plantain chips then had melting ice cream sandwiches before hitting the hot club and bar scene on Upper King Street.

What a way to start off a night and end a fest.