Carpe You Some Diem!

This blog post is part of “A Better West Virginia Day,” a collaborative blog effort by West Virginia bloggers to overturn some of the negative stereotypes about West Virginians and our fine state.  Please visit A Better West Virginia for links to more WV blogs participating in this event.  Also, feel free to post your own - be sure to add your link in a comment at A Better West Virginia!

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Quick!  What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I say “West Virginian Art?”  Go ahead and think about it for a second or two.  What popped into your head?

If you’re like most people, you’ll think of a painting of a barn in the snow — one of the many nearly-identical pieces hawked at gift shops and craft fairs and other sites that showcase “Appalachian Art.”  Not that I’m knocking paintings of barns in the snow…  barns are pretty and readily-available subject matter in rural parts of the state.  But did you know that West Virginia has a cutting-edge art scene?  A dare-I-say “Avant Garde” group of rising artists who are painting things other than wildlife and rural scenes?  Who knew, right?

If you visit downtown Charleston very often, you’re probably saying “Duh!”  and rolling your eyes, because you’re familiar with names such as Paula Clendenin and Charly Hamilton, whose colorful abstract works look like they’ve been ripped off the walls of galleries in New York, L.A., or even London (and could have been — these folks have exhibited their highly collectable works all over the world!)  These two artists, as well as a few others, were among the first of the envelope-pushers in the “new” art scene of West Virginia, opening the door for the local appreciation of artists such as Rob Cleland, Traci Higginbotham, Mary Grassell, Peter Massing, Stan Sporny, Laure Williamson, Mark Wolfe, Amy Williams, Jamie Miller, Rick Lee, Dane Klingaman, Mark Tobin Moore, and so many others.  And these are just the artists whose names come to mind as my fingers are flying across the keyboard, typing this blog post  – there are many more, all over the state, spreading their barn-less creativity from Wheeling to White Sulphur Springs.

Here are a few interesting facts about the West Virginia art scene:

*     Artist Felix Krysak, a West Virginia native, was so moved by an exhibit of Pablo Picasso’s that he saw as a young man living in New York City that he began painting on his own.  He never showed his art until 2006, at the University of Charleston, and his art has been critically acclaimed and sought-after by collectors ever since. 

*   Sculptor Jamie Lester, the designer of the West Virginia quarter, also created the  “Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance,” a memorial to fallen firefighters from September 11th, 2001, along with the Don Knotts Memorial, the Statue of Jerry West at WVU, and other well-known memorial sculptures across the country.

*   Berkley Springs, WV, is listed as the #7 small-town art destination in the United States — Just behind Santa Fe, Taos, and Key West!   The town even beat out Boulder, CO!  (I am not sure who compiled this list, but I got it from the Macie House group on Yahoo, moderated by uber-West Virginia-arts-activist Jeanne Mozier.)

*   Charleston’s Juliet Museum of Art, located inside the Clay Center, is home to works by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Matisse, Chuck Close, and other historical artists, along with art from many well-known West Virginia artists?  (If you have a minute, click the link and peruse the online listing of art in the permanent collection.  You will be impressed!)

*   Charleston’s FestivALL has become so popular in the few years it has been around that it has changed from a weekend event to a 10-day celebration of all the arts for the 2008 season! 

*   Artwalk – when Charleston galleries open their doors and stay open late to allow people to walk from gallery to gallery, and entice them with artist lectures and appetizers – has grown so popular that it now has its own website and the city occasionally provides free transportation from one end to the other.  Other West Virginia cities, such as Huntington and Berkley Springs, offer similar “gallery crawls” on a regular basis.

With evidence like this, it’s obvious that West Virginia is host to not only some great cutting-edge artists, but also a growing base of people who love and appreciate a variety of art and cultural events.   Not convinced?  Festivall starts in two days.  Don’t miss it!