Sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kappa Delta Omega Chapter Sorority, Sharon and Bob Bushnell, Ashley and Ronnie Fultz, Olivia and Pres Garrett, Harold Jones, Karyna Jones, Susan and John Kellett-Forsyth, Lynwood Artists
Rodney Scott "Rupe" Dalton (1965–2022) was a nationally recognized artist from Henry County, Virginia. His paintings depict scenes from the everyday lives of his friends, family and neighbors and speak to the traditions of many Black Southern families.
Often called a renaissance man, Rupe was a barber by trade, a comedian at heart and a born artist who used airbrush to create works with depth and soul. His work elevated airbrush to new heights and his powerful subject matter invites memory to play an intimate roll in viewing his work.
A never-before-seen work by Rupe will be unveiled at the opening reception on Jan. 27.
Admission Free
Sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kappa Delta Omega Chapter Sorority, Sharon and Bob Bushnell, Ashley and Ronnie Fultz, Olivia and Pres Garrett, Harold Jones, Karyna Jones, Susan and John Kellett-Forsyth, Lynwood Artists
To meet Freeman Vines (b. 1942) is to meet America itself. An artist, a luthier, and a spiritual philosopher, Vines’ life is a witness to the truths and contradictions of the American South. He remembers the hidden histories of the eastern North Carolina land on which his family has lived since enslavement. For more than fifty years Vines has transformed materials culled from a forgotten landscape in his relentless pursuit of building a guitar capable of producing a singular tone that has haunted his dreams. From tobacco barns, mule troughs, and radio parts, he has created hand-carved guitars, each instrument seasoned down to the grain by the echoes of its past life.
In 2015, Vines befriended photographer and folklorist, Timothy Duffy (b. 1963) and the two began to document Vines’ guitars and his life story. Soon after, Vines acquired the lumbered boards of the tree on which Oliver Moore was lynched in 1930. Confronting the silences and memories of this dark episode in his local history brought Vines face to face with the toll of racial terror on his own life and work.
In addition to Vines' haunting sculptures, this exhibit also includes a number of tintype photographs by Duffy.
Hanging Tree Guitars is organized by Music Maker Foundation, a non-profit that provides financial grants and assistance to senior and vulnerable artists — those marginalized by age, poverty, race, gender, etc. — because these are the artists least likely to have the resources to share their musical messages with the world. Since 1994, Music Maker has served over 500 musicians whose work spans the entire history of American music.
Admission Free
Sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kappa Delta Omega Chapter Sorority, Sharon and Bob Bushnell, Ashley and Ronnie Fultz, Olivia and Pres Garrett, Harold Jones, Karyna Jones, Susan and John Kellett-Forsyth, Lynwood Artists.
A Richmond, Virginia native, Robert Wright Forsyth IV (1952–2021) often found himself at odds with society and the world outside the pond-side forest cottage he called home. As a link to the world around him, he began photographing the natural world. Forsyth was fascinated with the interplay of light, object and motion. When he began work with Norfolk Southern Railroad, machines took on a larger role in his photography, incorporating a sense of space very different from the wooded pond he loved. The natural world and the mechanical world formed a union that he explored until his death.
This exhibition is on loan from the Robert Wright Forsyth Estate and Trust.
Sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Kappa Delta Omega Chapter Sorority, Sharon and Bob Bushnell, Ashley and Ronnie Fultz, Olivia and Pres Garrett, Harold Jones, Karyna Jones, Susan and John Kellett-Forsyth, Lynwood Artists
The Lynwood Artists Gallery features work by Rocky Wall. Wall is a photographer and self-described "tech geek" from Axton, Virginia. He works in 35 mm, digital photography and graphic art. His scenes range from landscapes to wildlife to night photography, and include many shots of southern Virginia scenery.
The Lynwood Artists Gallery is curated by Lynwood Artists, an organization for practicing artists in the Martinsville-Henry County area. Its members share a desire to stimulate understanding and enjoyment of fine art and the artistic process, while providing area artists with opportunities to exhibit and further develop their talents.
Susan Lenz works in partnership with her materials to articulate the accumulated memory inherent in discarded things. By using multiples of seemingly mundane items, she puts into perspective the abundance of life and the capacity to keep things as if for a "rainy day." Paper clips, keys, bottle caps, buttons, nails, plastic spoons and old clock parts are combined with dominoes, film reels, old toys and holiday decorations. These and so many other, often vintage, items are repetitively hand-stitched into meditative patterns on sections of old quilts, bringing an extraordinary new life to otherwise everyday things.
Other altered works addresses marriage, systemic racism, genealogy, reliance on mechanical appliances and common adages. In each piece, Lenz uses a familiar object in an unexpected way to voice current ideas and social concern.
Lenz's work has appeared in national publications, numerous juried and invitational exhibitions and at fine craft shows including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Craft Shows. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Textile Museum in Washington, DC and the McKissick Museum in South Carolina. Susan has been awarded fully funded fellowships to several art residencies including Great Basin National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, The Anderson Center, PLAYA, Hot Springs National Park, the Studios of Key West, and Homestead National Monument. She has been featured on art quilting television programs, Columbia Museum of Art’s educational videos, and South Carolina Etv. Her solo shows and installations have been mounted all over the world, including at Mesa Contemporary Museum of Art and as far away as the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.
Admission Free
Linda Starr is an artist of passion whose work exudes the same colorful and playful energy as her spirit. Her intuitive painting process is an arrival point reached over a multi-decade career as a painter. In Starr's work, nothing is planned or pre-engineered. She applies paint on canvas without conscious thought to the subject, often rotating the canvas in different directions before determining how the images will emerge.
Her paintings are often sculptural, laden with texture and vibrant color, and always full of story. Starr uses shape, patterns and repetition to create whimsical scenes with rich tones and meaning. Much like the way a story provides setting, plot, characters and action to elicit an emotion from the reader, Starr intends to do the same for the viewer with her work.
Whether she is creating icon-like imagery of strong female leaders, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, or a surrealistic cityscapes full of detail, Starr hopes to energize the viewer and to provide them with that same sense of joy that she feels during her spontaneous and free painting process.
A New York City native, Starr spent 10 years in private study with Carla Re’, 15 years in the film industry and 10 years designing window displays. Since relocating to North Carolina in 2007, she co-founded the North Carolina Women’s Art Collective and works to champion opportunities and make space for women artists of her age.
Admission Free
The Lynwood Artists Gallery features work by Lisa Garrett.
The Lynwood Artists Gallery is curated by Lynwood Artists, an organization for practicing artists in the Martinsville-Henry County area. Its members share a desire to stimulate understanding and enjoyment of fine art and the artistic process, while providing area artists with opportunities to exhibit and further develop their talents.
Expressions is an annual exhibition of work by artists from southern Virginia and the surrounding regions. This showcase of regional talent features an eclectic mix of work from hundreds of artists working in watercolor, oil and acrylic, mixed media, drawing, photography and sculpture.
Visit the museum to vote for the People's Choice Award. Winner will be announced after the close of the exhibit.
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