How I Go Columbia: Sara Cogswell

When Sara Cogswell moved to Columbia three years ago from Dayton, Ohio, she decided to make use of her past work experiences in programming and management of galleries to open Gallery West, an unconventional State Street destination that blends old and new artwork staged with antiques. Her shop has become known for art jewelry from around the world as well. “It’s an exciting time to be on State Street. Things are starting to brew over here,” said Cogswell, who lives on nearby Governor’s Hill, in downtown Columbia, with husband, Will South.

EAT: We love the restaurants on State Street, Cafe 116 and Terra. We are both vegetarians and they always accommodate us and put together vegetarian options. We eat a lot of Asian foods because there are lots of options with vegetables and rice. M Vista over on Lady Street, that’s kind of our go-to place.

DRINK: We go to Gervais & Vine, have a glass of wine or a drink and tapas.

PLAY: We tend to be homebodies when we’re not working. We each have a studio in our home, so that’s kind of where we re-group. We have balconies, so we sit out there. We go to the Nickelodeon. We like the small, hometown environment yet on a very professional level. We love that it’s a community effort. There is kind of a kinship to people who are not part of the mainstream who are succeeding in their dreams. We like the alternative movies that they show.

LISTEN: We mostly go to the USC School of Music performances. Anybody can take advantage of it; it’s not like you have to be a member or you’re going to have to put out a lot of cash to attend a fabulous performance. When we saw the Parker Quartet, it was an afternoon, free event, and we were just stunned by the quality. There’s chamber music, there’s swing bands, there are faculty performances, there are student performances — and a lot of it is free.

WHAT HAS SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT LIVING HERE: The number of things going on in a city this size. We looked at larger cities when we were considering our move, and we came to Columbia. We walked down Main Street. We loved the median in the middle and just the care, obvious pride in the downtown area and the museum. Even in the three years we’ve been here, we’ve seen this surge in the number of events and interest in the arts, in Indie Grits, theater, all the different arts events and festivals. The city has taken off. There just seems to be a lot of energy, and it’s not just in one age group. It’s always fun to see who’s going to be at an event that you attend because it really does cross generations.

Brad Muller

Oak Table’s Opie Patterson

Historic Columbia’s John Sherrer

This story was originally published April 22, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "How I Go Columbia: Sara Cogswell."