Category Archives: current events

Glimpses Into Appalachia

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There’s a better way to explore West Virginia’s mountainous beauty and hear about the people living in Appalachia than you have been presented with recently. We are telling our story with art exhibits, serial podcasts and several books.

Fine art and Spoken word collections coordinated by Women of Appalachia Project have opened in Morgantown, WV. (Check the WOAP blue link for schedule of other venues).

As a textile artist I was happy to see several works incorporating fiber were selected along with photography, printmaking, oils, watercolors, ceramics and jewelry. Up through October 29 at the Monongalia Art Center, 107 High Street, Morgantown the project is celebrating 10 years. All women living in or with strong ties to any of the the 420 counties in Appalachia can enter. Their motto reads “ We believe that all women are capable, courageous, creative and inspired. We tell our stories through our art.”

Two of the artists I met told me a bit of their stories. Nancy L Abrams documents life through photographs. Her journalism career lead to The Climb from Salt Lick, a memoir of Appalachia, published this past spring by WVU Press.

Cheryl Ryan Harshman works in clay monoprints, fabric collage, and is an author. An award winning artist she is listed in Tamarack Foundation’s Creative Network. . Our discussion included the process of making clay prints, a medium with wonderful unexpected results.

Marc Harshman is West Virginia’s  poet laureate and married to Cheryl. I have heard his voice on WVPublic Radio reading work and now enjoyed his warm smile and artistic interests in person.

For those of you who can not visit the state soon, tune in and read reports from 100 Days in Appalachia which was born the day after the 2016 election. “Weary of the influx of bus tours and parachuting journalists seeking insights into rural America, we launched 100 Days to push back on the national narratives that had reduced our region to a handful of narrow stories.”

I have promoted the podcast series Inside Appalachia to studio artists in Alaska and Maine because the interviews by host Jessica Lilly bring the neighbors right into your home. On October 20 there will be a live taping of Inside Appalachia at the Raleigh Playhouse and Tavern, Beckley, WV. Two videos featuring broom maker James Shaffer and millman Larry Mustain will be shown and the gentlemen interviewed. I was invited to open an exhibit at the Raleigh through November 12, I have themed “Glimpses Inside Appalachia“. Two dozen of my pieces ranging from views around our home to environmental and social issues will be hung. Looking forward to meeting Jessica and the team and talking about art.

WVPublic Broadcasting has a lineup of podcasts from decades of Mountain Stage to the new Us and Them. Check them out and subscribe.

To finish out our stories here are some more books. Real page turners that you sit with and meet people while exploring the mountains.  Hippie Homesteaders, Carter Taylor Seaton introduces us to the influx of youth in the 60’s and 70’s who came to drop out and learned hand-crafts and life skills. “Forget what you know about West Virginia. Hippie Homesteaders isn’t about coal or hillbillies or moonshine or poverty. It is the story of why West Virginia was—and still is—a kind of heaven to so many.”

The Mountain Artisans Quilting Book, Alfred Allan Lewis is out of print but worth searching for the stories of how a cooperative of marketing women and traditional sewers created contemporary fashion.

The soothing voice of All Things Considered’s, Noah Adams traces the New River from its origins to joining with the Gauley as the Kanawha River heading to Ohio in Far Appalachia. Legends and locals fill the pages as he travels slowly along and often on the river.


I expect you will think of the people and places of West Virginia, and Appalachia with a deeper appreciation after listening and reading. Remember we are “Almost Heaven”. Check out WVTourism.

 

 

 

 

Shapes in Life-Rolls and Pipes

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Time to work large, the subject warrants attention and big draws people to look. 

I cut off a piece of linen 60″ x 80″ which leaves a maximum finished size of 54″ x 74″ or two runners 26″ x 74″ (after excess to put on the frame). The size choice will be the first of many design decisions.

The innocent circle shape can be seen along our country roads during haying season as farmers make huge rolls to feed their animals in the winter. The wide open fields are green then turn tan as the grass dries. Rolled, the new grasses grow back and the cycle continues year after year with care from the caretaker of the land-the farmer. I have been inspired by this cycle since youth when the shape was a smaller rectangle but the colors and care the same.

Now there are different objects along many through ways stacked by the thousands waiting to go underground after the trees have been felled, stripped, and piled ready to be sorted for their end use-barbecue brickettes, lumber, paper pulp, firewood. Or they will be connected under the fields scarred by digging, or under the hundreds of waterways that are home to golden trout, endangered hellbenders and many other species besides our nourishment. This manmade project will transport gas extracted from the land more aggressively than in the past. The pipelines going through West Virginia and many other states are not benefiting the residents.  The corporations intimidate our legislature to hold off taxing them so we will be left with roads to repair, lost income to tourism and natural guides yet a wound across our mountains. I have depicted the straight lines for power in Progress into the Mountains. Now comes specifically the pipes and resulting lines.

Coloring comes next, what do I want the viewer to see? Green rings with dark rust centers, tan circles and green background. Will I use the rows alternating the subject? Or twelve inch squares of each pieced like a traditional quilt pattern?

There is a smaller design coming along too using the green plastic straws I save, mixed media is still my favorite studio time.

Do you see shapes, lines or colors daily that could become your visual statement on life?

 

 

 

 

A town hall with a Senator

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On a different topic than artmaking, but relevant to my work since government attention to issues is refocusing and I am reacting to those actions by being informed.

I have not been in Civics class or Social Studies since 1973 but I attended a session today. Senator Joe Manchin was invited by the Hampshire High School DECA and Social Studies department to a town hall format presentation at the school. Since I am not involved with a family member in the school system, I would have missed this opportunity if we did not subscribe to the Senator’s October 24, 2017 newsletter which listed the event as a public affair. After verifying with the news staff at Hampshire Review (our local weekly media outlet) I decided to attend. He was coming barely 20 miles from my home after all.

Pulling onto the grounds of the school there were several students at the “check-in” station, I asked if I needed to verify purpose and was directed to the main office to sign-in. Come to find out the event was in the Auditorium accessed from the back parking area and no sign-in was necessary. The space filled with chatting students (some with breakfast in bags although a sign said no food or drink and I had not brought my coffee in recalling such restrictions in my youth). Some received a listing of the questions the class had agreed would be asked, to act as presenters during the session. The press was represented, Board of Education members, Commissioners, Economic Development Director, state official and school staff along with many fellow public citizens.

audience Hampshire High town hall with Senator Manchin

Just a few minutes after the 9:00 am scheduled start, the US and WV state flags were processed by FFA members, the Pledge of Allegiance said by the audience and the Senator was introduced by a Hampshire High Senior who holds office in a local and state organization.

I am going to say my reasons for attending were to confront the Senator with an issue about rescinding the clean power plan guidelines and listen for comments which I could interpret as not representing the progressive, open United States I picture for 2017 (a defensive attitude). I realized at the end of the hour and half that there is a place in our lives for encouragement, support, acceptance, and assistance not divided by party affiliation, economic or social status and certainly not divided by religious beliefs or media bias. The social internet rabbit hole that sucks so many down with emotional buttons and quick captions is not LIFE. Conversation and compromising to achieve change is better than bickering.

Senator Manchin knew the profile of his audience and spoke with encouragement, challenges and lessons for the juniors and seniors just starting out in the world and hit home to even this “senior”. He related stories from high school days as a football player and visiting Romney four years staying with two families who he continues to keep in touch with. How an injury in college changed the path of a football career and having to knuckle down and study for his degree.

The student’s questions ranged from asking how and why he entered politics…he wanted to help beyond his own community. What does he like and dislike about being a Senator? The responsibility to be part of helping WV, the US and realizing those actions reverberate around the world is an honor; negative – the politics of saying the other side is wrong because they are the “other side”.
What can be done about poverty? Federal government has fought “the war on poverty” since President Johnson, but are we giving money out or training/educating people for the skills needed in jobs today? In the 1930’s President Roosevelt instituted the Rural Electrification Act and everyone got electricity. Now in 2017 Manchin has discussed with the President the need for Rural Connectivity….updating the internet access in our state and many others to equalize the opportunity for broader education, business, communication while staying in our communities.
The opioid epidemic needs to be funded and addressed as an illness, not a felony. More treatment centers, education of medical personnel to not prescribe as easily, and a minimal tax on each pill made paid by pharmaceuticals to fund these avenues should be parts of the program the President has recently announced.

The wall, the 2nd Amendment, health care, medicare, arts funding, environment, LGBTQ acceptance were all topics explained, or at least addressed in a courteous question and answer format.

Senator Manchin’s overall message was a pep talk to the students: You live in a country that allows you to do whatever you want. You just need to decide what that is, figure out how to achieve it with finances, education, opportunity and act. Nothing should be a barrier, inviting students to contact his office for guidance. The students must be educated, clean (of drugs), and prepared to enter the next phase of life. Every child should expect five elements: a person to trust, a support system, a safe place, to develop skills, and then to give back to others. We all can think of how to fill these needs for children/people in our community.

photo session with Senator Manchin

I left energized, actually emotional as I recalled the exciting challenging debates in my Social Studies class those many years ago, and optimistic that the next generation of Hampshire High students will contribute to their community near and far. I hope you meet some of them along the way.

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