{"id":1452,"date":"2016-02-17T19:40:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-18T00:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2016\/02\/17\/talk-of-the-town-blair-knobel-03\/"},"modified":"2022-11-07T14:15:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-07T19:15:48","slug":"talk-of-the-town-blair-knobel-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/talk-of-the-town-blair-knobel-03\/","title":{"rendered":"Talk of the TOWN – Blair Knobel ’03"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We all have our favorite publications. The ones that arrive at our door each week. The ones we read on our iPads daily. Or even the ones we snag in the checkout line as guilty pleasures. For Blair Knobel \u201803, it\u2019s TOWN<\/em>,<\/a> a magazine that celebrates the culture of Greenville and the Upcountry.<\/p>\n

Which is no surprise considering she\u2019s the editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n

So how did a studio art major at Furman find her way to a leading role on Greenville\u2019s editorial stage? As with many young creatives, Knobel\u2019s tale included a journey to New York. \u201cI left Furman wondering what to do and initially spent a year in Anderson, S.C. producing and exhibiting photography and working at an art store,\u201d Knobel said. During that year, Knobel applied to internships across the country and finally landed one in New York City at the Aperture Foundation, a fine art photography nonprofit.<\/p>\n

She moonlighted at an art gallery and finally settled at Chelsea House Publishers, the first shift to words for this creative artist. \u201cI had done some writing before, but it was my attraction to visual art that actually led me to a place of wanting to work with words as their own art form,\u201d Knobel said. She quickly discovered her niche and the constant exposure to two favorite New York publications, Time Out New York<\/em>, and New York Times Magazine<\/em>, led her to her current passion: magazines.<\/p>\n

Soon, Knobel felt the urge to return to South Carolina. \u201cI loved New York but I longed for the flexibility and community the slower pace of the South affords,\u201d she said. Knobel utilized her Furman visual arts background to gain an internship in web design at the now defunct G Magazine<\/em>. She quickly became a contributing writer and gained more editorial experience.<\/p>\n

When two editors on staff took maternity leave in the spring of 2009, Knobel had the opportunity to excel. \u201cI took on an assistant editor role and managed the production of the September issue that year. It was a wonderful creative challenge, conceptualizing and determining how to get it done.\u201d By 2010 she was senior editor \u2013 but the economy\u2019s influence told a different story and the magazine folded by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was anxious, of course. But my intuition told me something would come along,\u201d Knobel said. That something was TOWN<\/em>, the brainchild of Jack Bacot, former TOWN <\/em>editor-in-chief, and Mark Johnston, TOWN <\/em>publisher. \u201cThe concept was a bit of a repackaging of the things we loved in G<\/em>, with a modern and edgy tone,\u201d she said. Knobel was asked to join the new team as managing editor and the first 100-page plus issue launched in April of 2011.<\/p>\n

Knobel was involved in the rhythm of the magazine from the start. \u201cMy aesthetic was reflected because of my fine arts background. I wanted the magazine to be a powerful visual experience.\u201d And when Bacot stepped down to pursue a new publication in September of 2012, Knobel was named editor-in-chief. \u201cI was excited but also nervous. But it was exactly what I needed for my life \u2013 I am soulfully connected to my work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knobel\u2019s artistic fingerprint is seen in each issue of the monthly magazine. \u201cEvery month is a varied and multi-faceted experience of our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Knobel produces 12 TOWN<\/em> issues per year and often employs Furman students as interns, even hiring Andrew Huang \u201911 as assistant editor. Overall, she is constantly working to establish a vision \u2013 for TOWN<\/em> and for her perception of the area\u2019s culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge with each issue is to find these stories that share the experience and culture of this place \u2013 but they are always there. The key is learning to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all have our favorite publications. The ones that arrive at our door each week. The ones we read on our iPads daily. Or even the ones we snag in the checkout line as guilty pleasures. For Blair Knobel \u201803, it\u2019s TOWN<\/em>, a magazine that celebrates the culture of Greenville and the Upcountry.<\/p>\n

Which is no surprise considering she\u2019s the editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":1453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,3,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-alumni","category-art"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}