Jackie Bobo turned a small studio tucked away under the Taylor Street parking garage into a dark, foggy environment with neon lasers and reflective tape cutting through the mist. A DJ spun tunes while visitors snacked, drank wine and observed the installation.
The space was lined with blacklights that helped the reflective paints and tape pop within the dim room. The artwork that made up the installation ranged from paintings to flashing lights to inscriptions on the walls, written in ink that lit up in neon when hit by the lights.
Happy and spooky may sound like contradictory words, but Bobo, a Columbia artist, put the two together for her Happy Spooky Soirée during February's First Thursday on Main event.
Bobo’s “Happy Spooky” art style is “whimsically macabre,” she said.
“I love to paint ghosts and spiders and spooky things, but I will often paint them with lots of brightness or swirls and curves,” Bobo said. “You wouldn’t quite know just from looking at it that the subject matter is so deep.”
Bobo is originally from Buffalo, New York, and moved to South Carolina in 2016. Her background was in speech pathology, and she began painting during the COVID-19 pandemic to help process her feelings about the complex and scary moment, she said. The "Happy Spooky" style draws from Bobo’s experiences as a Black, queer and neurodivergent creator.
“I often don’t have the opportunity to experience just the good or just the awesome of my identities,” Bobo said. “And so I used the two, and that’s how we ended up with 'Happy Spooky.' But that’s also the avenue through which I have learned to belong.”
Bobo learned about the studio on Instagram and had some friends encourage her to apply for the program.
Jackie Bobo presented her Happy Spooky Soirée, an immersive art installation, at the Taylor Street Garage Studio on Feb. 5, 2026. Starting at 6 p.m., the public was able to come and experience a whimsical mix of joy and darkness.
One Columbia, a city-backed arts booster, started the Garage Studio in 2024. A cohort of three artists works for a year in the space, without having to pay rent. Bobo is a part of the second cohort of artists to use the space. One Columbia Executive Director Xavier Blake worked with Mayor Daniel Rickenmann to turn the former police sub-station into studio space, Blake said.
When Blake began working for One Columbia, a common issue was a lack of space to work for artists, he said. Blake realized the importance of giving artists, particularly emerging creators, space to work, think and figure things out, he added.
For Bobo, having a dedicated creative space outside the home helps her brain get into “creativity mode," she said.
Blake watched as Bobo put together Thursday’s installation. He said he can’t think of any similar exhibitions in the city. One visitor shared Blake’s sentiment.
“It isn’t like any other art experience I’ve seen before, or anywhere in Columbia, really,” Derek Riley said.
Riley was one of the first guests to visit the studio Thursday. The ways in which the various components of the installation tied into the theme impressed him, he said.
“I wanted something new," Riley said. "And that’s what I found."
Going forward, One Columbia will work with artists to add more to the space and make it more complete for future cohorts, Blake said.
Bobo aims to build on her experience at the Garage Studio in the future, selling artwork and continuing to put on community events, she said. She recently sold her first piece, which was on display at the Richland Library before its sale.
“I’m over the moon about that, man,” Bobo said. “I was so excited. I'm so happy. I’m overjoyed. It’s lovely to be able to share your work and to know that your work is going to be in somebody’s home and loved by them.”