Carpe You Some Diem!

October 20-22 is the Create WV conference I WISH I could attend.  Maybe next year.  It’s difficult for me to take time off from teaching, because I usually have to take a lot of sick days with my children, and — although I have some great substitute teachers at Charleston Catholic — I hate being away from my classroom.  Still, the conference is awesome, and I really want to go next year, so maybe I’ll go for it. 

A lot of West Virginia Bloggers are writing about their own creative communities in honor of the conference, and you know I’m all about creativity!  Believe it or not, Spencer WV is a textbook example of West Virginia’s Creative Communities Under Construction!  

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Spencer and creativity is the artist Jeff Fetty and his Leaning Oak Forge.  You probably know Jeff from his giant daffodil sculptures at Women and Children’s Hospital in Charleston, WV, or his wrought-iron flowers at Trace Fork shopping center.  You probably don’t know about the Gates of Heaven at the United Methodist Church in Clarksburg, the chandeliers he made for Tamarack, or all the other architectural details he’s added to our favorite places.  The point is, this guy is a rockstar of a blacksmith, and his home and forge are both located here in Spencer, West Virginia.

But Jeff’s story goes beyond “local guy does something really cool.”  Jeff is giving back to his sleepy little hometown by creating an artists’ workshop where he will lease out spaces for artists to have their own studios.  At current, this project is still very much in the “under construction” stage.  There are plans for events and activities that will benefit the entire town, but they are still in the idea phase right now.  I am excited to see it happening, though — there are so many creative individuals in this tiny town that it couldn’t NOT be a true Creative Community!

Here are a few others who make this town creative:

*   Artist, children’s book author, and toymaker Mike Titus.  He is getting ready to launch his new website, The Frog Museum, any day now.

*   Artists Philip and Margaret Arabia, who offer art camps and classes from their home studio.  Margaret is also art teacher at St. Agnes Catholic School in Charleston.

*   Organic Farmer George — primarily a farmer of organic veggies, but who also makes some really fun, abstract oil paintings.

*   Julie Greathouse, a mixed-media artist who can create art out of anything she can get her hands on.  While a lot of her art is “on hold” right now as her priorities have shifted toward caring for her beloved mom, she has created a line of patchwork purses, bags and accessories made from vintage fabrics called “Juju Bags,” and is currently building an Etsy shop to sell them online.

*   Artist Rodney Harper is probably best known for his tattoos, but his surreal paintings and drawings have won awards.  He also wrote and directed a campy horror flick called “Pretty Girls Make Graves” (in which Mike Titus stars and I have a hilarious cameo spot!)

… and these are just a few.  There are plenty more local artists who simply haven’t gotten their work out there for others to see because, until now, there really hasn’t been a real art community.  I am really excited to see the opening of Jeff’s artists’ workshop, and to see what our community artists and artisans will do with it!  Spencer, WV is truly a Creative Community Under Construction!