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A native of Charleston and a descendant of the Gullah community has been chosen to receive one of the most prestigious prizes in America.

Mary Jackson, a resident of Johns Island who grew up in Mt. Pleasant, is one of 25 winners of the MacArthur Foundation’s annual “genius grant,” a fellowship given to creative individuals distinguished by their efforts to push the boundaries of their respective fields.

The grant is worth $500,000.

Yes, that’s right — half a million dollars.

“I’m kinda speechless,” Jackson said. “I really don’t know what to say.

“When I got the call, it was astounding.”

For each of the next five years, Jackson will receive $100,000 with no strings attached, so that she can focus on an art form sprung from a tradition centuries old.

Jackson is a renowned fiber artist whose intricately fashioned baskets — made of sweetgrass, bulrush, and other Lowcountry plants — are displayed in museums around the world.

Some of these institutions include the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Museum of African American History in Detroit.

Some of her baskets have sold for as much as $20,000.

Jackson started learning to weave when she was four years old from her mother and her grandmother, who were themselves passing down a tradition that goes all the way back to slaves brought to South Carolina from West Africa and the Caribbean.

Baskets were utilitarian at the time, serving to winnow rice and other grains. Jackson has expanded the craft’s functional roots, creating finely designed and sculptural forms. She uses a variety of fiber to achieve an array of textures and colors. Her technique of coiling the fiber mirrors that of weavers currently working in Africa.

“She’s just extraordinary,” says Dan Socolow, head of the MacArthur Foundation’s fellowship program. “She turns a centuries-old art form into a 21st-century art form.”

Socolow said the fellowship is intended to aid recipients so they can be “a little bit freer and have a little bit more opportunity” as they continue to create and innovate.

As a MacArthur fellow, Jackson is now among an elite group of people that includes scientists, doctors, engineers, social activists, journalists, novelists, and artists.

Her award almost certainly ranks her among Charleston’s elite artists.

The “genius grant” is awarded every year to “creative individuals who inspire new heights in human achievement,” said Jonathan Fanton, president of the foundation in a written statement.

“With their boldness, courage, and uncommon energy, this new group of fellows … exemplifies the boundless nature of the human spirit.”

There have been 781 fellows since the fellowship began in 1981.

In the category of artists and writers, past recipients have included: pianist Stephen Hough, the surgeon and writer Atul Gawande, jazz violinist Regina Carter, novelist Thomas Pynchon, artist Kara Walker, journalist Katherine Boo, historian Jonathan Spence, choreographer Paul Taylor, art historian Kirk Varnedoe, filmmakers John Sayles and Errol Morris, and the late novelist David Foster Wallace.

Wow. It's hard to get back into blogging after an unexpectedly long hiatus. But, since fall is a time of renewal (at least for me), I thought I'd jump back in. The first leaves are starting to turn red and gold here in the Great Lakes region and I'll admit it's hard to truly focus on the arts with the looming election and global economic crisis. But I'll give it a shot...

One of the biggest cultural happenings is the opening of a new George Segal exhibition at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art (MMoCA). The show, organized by MMoCA, heads to Dallas, Kansas City, Mo., and West Palm Beach, Fla., after its run here ends in December. The show represents quite a coup for MMoCA in that a cast of "Depression Bread Line," which Segal did for the FDR Memorial in Washington, will head back to Madison and join the museum's permanent collection after the show is over. For preview coverage, see Isthmus, 77 Square or the Wisconsin State Journal. My review will appear in Isthmus later this week. I've been told the show will also be covered by the Wall Street Journal and Art in America, but I'm not sure when those articles will appear.

Madison's only professional theater company, Madison Repertory Theatre, opens its season this week with Becky Mode's "Fully Committed." The Chicago actress Amy J. Carle, who has performed with Madison Rep before, stars. I'm looking forward to seeing her again, since she was one of the best things about Madison Rep's production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" this past January. "Fully Committed" looks like fluffy fun, but we'll see.

This 40th anniversary year is an important one for Madison Rep. Former artistic director Richard Corley's contract was not renewed near the end of last season. While it sounds as though he and the board made a mutual decision to part ways, I can't help but wonder--and this is my own personal musing here--if he was blamed for not getting enough butts in seats. Which begs the question, who really is getting enough audience members in these tough economic times? And how will Madison Rep's direction change under its interim artistic director? The season's choices seem pretty safe (including well-known fare like "Bus Stop," "True West" and "My Fair Lady"), but of course the proof will be in the pudding.

Under Corley's tenure, I saw a few shows that I'd file in my "all-time most memorable" category, such as "I Am My Own Wife" starring David Adkins and "Permanent Collection" with a more local cast, including UW-Madison professor Patrick Sims.

About 45 minutes west of Madison in Spring Green, classical repertory theater American Players Theatre is winding down its season. I had a chance to catch a Sunday evening show of George Bernard Shaw's "Widowers' Houses," which didn't knock my socks off but was still enjoyable (as far as Shaw goes, I preferred APT's production of "Misalliance" two summers ago). APT is an outdoor theater in the woods and, when the weather cooperates, it's fabulous. Other times, it's, um, challenging--as it was Sunday. Light rain started almost as soon as the show did and got heavier throughout the play. Luckily, I had a tacky-but-useful plastic poncho so the rain didn't faze me too much, but it did halt the show temporarily at one point. That, coupled with two intermissions, broke up the flow of the play, but there was a sort of camaraderie between the audience members who stuck it out and the actors. In its own weird way, it was a fitting and fun end-of-summer experience--rain, swooping bats and all.