Fine Art and Photography highlights include the Juried Art Show, Youth Art Show, and Juried Photography Show. Exhibits at museums and galleries in Abingdon serve as a cultural mosaic - from photographs of trains to displays of traditional pottery and contemporary artwork.
The Festival also offers lectures and workshops in both fine art and photography.
FINE ART APPLICATIONYOUTH ART APPLICATIONPHOTOGRAPHY APPLICATIONWORKSHOPSCOMMUNITY EXHIBITS AND RELATED EVENTS
Juried Fine Art Show
Entries will be accepted at The Arts Depot from 2-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19. The awards presentation and a lecture/slide show by the juror and watercolor workshop instructor, Steve Rogers, will begin at 7 p.m. Friday, July 24 at Abingdon Baptist Church, followed at 8 p.m. by the show opening and reception at The Arts Depot. The show will be on display July 24-Aug. 19, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Ed Chitwood will present Art Talks at 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 28-Aug. 6.
Youth Art Show
Entries will be accepted at William King Museum from 2-4 p.m. Saturday- Sunday, July 18-19. The awards presentation and reception will be held Sunday, July 26 from 2-4 p.m.
Juried Photography Show
Entries will be accepted at the Washington County Public Library from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. July 11. The awards presentation, lecture and reception will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 23 at Abingdon United Methodist Church. The jurors are Chris Duncan, Christopher Bradshaw and Earl Neikirk.
2009 Art & Photography Workshops
Watercolor Workshop with Steve Rogers
July 21 - 25, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.Christ the King Catholic Church - Fellowship Hall
“Painting Light and Color in Watercolor” is a watercolor workshop that will emphasize the use of light, color, and value. Students who are seeking to paint a convincing representation will advance substantially in these five days, while those who wish to attain a higher degree of insight into their subjects will also be pleased. Rogers paints and teaches in a very straightforward traditional manner without relying on “techniques”. Workshop participants will take away from the class knowledge about light and color and the way watercolor behaves. They will gain an understanding of painting upon which to build, instead of acquiring a collection of methods for applying paint. Demonstrations on how the medium of watercolor with its unique transparency and range of color and value can make our vision of a landscape live on the paper. Rogers also shows where various pigments will create beauty and where using the same pigments will bring disaster. One day of the workshop is devoted to reflections and the unique problems associated with painting boats and water subjects. Mini-demos will be throughout the workshop and Rogers provides personal attention to all who attend. The workshop is a relaxed, joyful experience.
Steve Rogers has been a professional painter for over 30 years, and is a highly sought after workshop leader who conducts his workshops all over the United States and Europe. Educated in the arts at Monmouth College in Illinois, Rogers is a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and received the 2008 NWS Purchase Award given to the “Best in Show”. His paintings have literally won hundreds of major awards all over the country. The Fine Arts Committee of the Virginia Highlands Festival is indeed honored to have Steve Rogers as this year’s workshop leader. Rogers will also be the judge for the Virginia Highlands Festival Juried Fine Art Show that will be on display at Abingdon's Arts Depot from July 25th through August 9, 2009.
Rogers is a full-time fine artist who lives in Ormond Beach, Florida, with his wife Janet, also a full-time fine artist. They teach watercolor workshops in the United States and Europe.
Photography Workshops
Chris Duncan’s passion for photography has taken him all over the world. He will discuss Digital Photography on July 28.
Tuesday, July 28, 7 p.m.
Abingdon United Methodist Church
Chris Duncan will present a free lecture on Digital Photography. Duncan has been photographing with SLR since 1981. His passion for photography has taken him all over the world in pursuit of images, including six continents and all 50 states in the U.S. He specializes in nature and sports photography, and also enjoys travel, portrait, event, architecture, and wedding photography. His favorite photography locations in the U.S. are Glacier National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, Yosemite National Park, Denali National Park, and, of course, our own beautiful Mountain Empire area. His international destination picks include Kruger National Park and the Swiss Alps. Duncan is a 1989 graduate of East Tennessee State University with a degree in Business Administration. He instructs in photography classes at Virginia Highlands Community College and tailors one-on-one classes for individuals. He is a founding member of the Twin Cities Photography Club (2007). His passion for photography contributes to a fun, informative, and dynamic program. To view his work, visit www.naturallywildphoto.com.
Free Workshops
Tuesday, Aug. 4, 5 p.m
Abingdon United Methodist Church
Jeff Sturgill will present two free workshops. Kids and adults can try
Light Painting; using photographic equipment, participants will turn off
the lights and “paint” with light. At 7 p.m., Sturgill will discuss Portrait
Photography, demonstrating how to light a subject for proper exposure,
white balance, composition and focus. Sturgill has a B.A. in fine art photography
and is certified by the state of Tennessee to teach photography.
A photographer for nearly 30 years, Sturgill is a member of the Professional
Photographers of America and has won numerous awards. He has
judged several local and national photography shows. His own images
have been published in Time, Sports Illustrated, Country Living, and Modern
Woodworking magazines.
Community Exhibits and Related Events
Cave House Craft Shop
276-628-7721www.cavehousecraftshop.org
Joan Manross of Abingdon won the 2008 Wolf Hills Quilting Guild challenge at the Cave House Craft Shop with her entry “Happy Birthday, Barter Theatre!” The “fabric photograph” celebrated the 75th anniversary of the historic theatre.
Craft Demonstrations (Saturdays July 25, Aug. 1, Aug. 8: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.) Both traditional and contemporary crafts will be featured.
Children’s Craft Classes (Saturdays: July 25, 2:30-3:30 p.m.; Aug. 1 & Aug. 8, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.) Artisans from the Cave House Craft Shop will share their talents with young visitors every Saturday during the Highlands Festival. Simple classes in quilting, pottery, and weaving will be held on the lawn of the Craft Shop.
Emory & Henry College
276-944-6866www.ehc.edu
The Vivian Beer exhibit at Emory & Henry College features contemporary sculpted chairs.
“Vivian Beer: A Colorful Tide” (July 25-Sept. 26: Festival hours are 12:00-5:00 p.m.) This exhibition of contemporary sculpted chairs in metal craft and other media may be seen in The 1912 Gallery. Architecture plays a significant part in Beer’s sensitivity to form. She says that she turns her pieces into “three-dimensional steel calligrapher’s lines.” Her chairs may resemble an architect’s maquette or model at first glance, yet they become streamlined works of stunning beauty. Beer maintains a studio in Asheville, NC, and exhibits and teaches nationally at such venues as Palm Beach 3 in Florida, Penland Gallery in North Carolina, William Zimmer Gallery in California, The Mint Museum in Charlotte, and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair.
William King Museum
276-628-5005www.williamkingmuseum.org
Art Activities in the Cool (Wednesday, Aug. 5 and Friday, Aug. 7: 2- 3:30 p.m.) Cool off with activities at William King Museum. Make whimsical clock faces. Paint a “watercolor resist” clock with movable hands that look like a bird’s feet or perhaps boxing gloves. Create prints in retro- Crookshank style using the collagraph process. 276-628-5005.
Exhibition, Reception & Lecture: “Buying Time: Clocks Along the Great Road, 1790-1870” (Opening Reception July 31: 6:30-8 p.m.) This exhibition will tell the complex story of buying and selling clocks in the South from the late eighteenth century through the Civil War. Featured will be tall case clocks, shelf clocks, and wall clocks with strong ties to the history of Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. Clocks in the eighteenth century were largely manufactured in the northeastern United States, primarily Connecticut, and then transported southward to be placed in custom built, regionally made cases. Later, clock manufacturers such as Eli Terry and Seth Thomas began to produce smaller, complete shelf clocks that were sold throughout the South by industrious peddlers. Frustration grew over the amount of goods being “imported” from the North, and the producers’ resourcefulness was tested by the creation of heavy taxes on their merchandise, but they developed new methods to circumvent these obstacles and capitalize on the demand for clocks. The exhibition will continue through January 3, 2010, at William King Museum.
Clock Talk (Tuesday, Aug. 4: 6:30-8 p.m.) Jim Coulson, a member of the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, will discuss the history of clocks and their manufacture in the United States. He will also speak about developing a clock collection and provide visitors with some useful hints about antique clocks and their value. The presentation will be followed by a reception and a tour of the exhibition “Buying Time” at William King Museum.
“Pillars of Bohemia” is one of the exhibits at William King Museum. Shown is a detail from a painting by Shawn Crookshank of Abingdon.
“John Kingerlee: A Painter’s Passage” (continues through Sept. 6) Kingerlee is a 70-year-old British-born artist who currently resides in rural Ireland. His expressive paintings combine gestural brushstrokes and collage, defining images that float between representational form and abstraction.
“Pillars of Bohemia” (June 26-Oct. 11) This exhibition serves as a retrospective, documenting the evolution of three locally renowned and cherished artists whose presence within our arts community defines the unconventional undercurrent of the contemporary scene. Shawn Crookshank, Richard Houser, and D.R. Mullins have created reputations that derive as much from their bohemian personalities as from their raw and expressive works of art.
EVENTS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE
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