Book Signing Reception 

Claws is a new illustrated edition of an outdoor adventure story by Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973), South Carolina’s most prolific writer and the state’s first poet laureate.

A project of the Humanities Council of South Carolina benefiting the South Carolina Book Festival, this new edition of Claws is illustrated in beautiful and thoughtfully rendered charcoal etchings by Southern artist Stephen Chesley.

Chesley, a resident of Columbia, is a semiabstract artist working primarily in oils, charcoal and metal. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions and has been honored with a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Chesley says of his participation in the project,  "It is an ongoing vision to elevate cultural and educational awareness of the South's rich artistic heritage both past and present. Archibald Rutledge is a writer whose ability to inspire the imagination compliments the creation of a series of illustrations that can help reintroduce to a new generation the joy of art, literature, and the creative spirit."