Arts on Main

Community Arts Center in Gloucester, Virginia

The Poetry of Persistence

Our February exhibit allows us to peer through the lens of five female photographers who utilize both visual and written language to explore the theme of persistence. 

Featured artists include Erlene Hendrix, Helen Jones, Cait Layton, Sue Maida and Asiya Al-sharabi.

“When disasters strike it is sheer determination and persistence that rebuilds communities. After hurricanes, tsunamis, wildfires, earthquakes and wars we humans somehow find the grit to keep going to rebuild, reinvest, revitalize and renew. Something in our DNA pushes us ever forward. The will to survive. The determination to prevail. It is this will, this persistence that I celebrate with this collection.”

-Sue Maida

 

 

“Persistence can be perceived as a trying time, or it can be embraced as a revelation.”

-Helen Jones

 

 

“I always had mixed emotions, but what I wanted the most was for us to get over all fear and become strong powerful women.”

-Asiya Al-Sharabi

 

 

 

“My wish for you

Is that you persist.”

-Erlene Hendrix

Two Views in the Tidelands: The Works of Carolyn Dudley & George Jennings

Our November exhibit features the work of local artists, Carolyn Thompson Dudley & George Jennings. The joint exhibit showcases the local landscapes of the beautiful areas surrounding us in Gloucester.

“My artwork comes from my perception of landscape and the people around me.”

-Carolyn Thompson Dudley

“Art, in one form or many, has always been in the back of my mind, often finding its way forward to be examined and  practiced.”

-George Jennings

Live music by Lori De los Santos and John Sullivan with special guest, Bill Gurley

Lori de los Santos is a singer/songwriter who lives in Gloucester, Virginia. With her husband, John Sullivan on bass, she plays acoustic songs from all genres of music including folk, blues and Americana as well as some of Lori’s original songs.

Lori has been playing guitar and writing songs since the mid-1970’s, influenced by artists such as Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Billie Holiday, Lead Belly and Flora Purim. Currently, Lori is performing and touring with Virginia Beach singer/songwriter, Mark Rogers, as part of his band. Her harmony vocals are featured on Mark’s new 2019 album “Laying It Down.”

John Sullivan has been studying bass for the past five years and is performing with local musicians as well. He decided that after years of being a “roadie” he wanted to play!

First Friday is on November 1st from 6pm-8pm and is free and open to the public, with beer, wine and paninis available.

Friday Sponsored by Theresa & Troy Stavens

Holland Wentz Etheridge One Woman Show

 

Our October exhibit is a one-woman show by multi-award winning artist, Holland Wentz Etheridge. She states “I feel excitement and the urge to draw and share what I see and experience. I find great beauty in sharp contrasts, patterns, intimate details, and subtle gradations of value and color,from the palest to the darkest. My process of creating involves intense, patient observation.Intimate relationships develop with each subject. Realism becomes interpretation.”

 

 

 

Live music by Louis Vangieri

Come and enjoy the versatile sounds of acoustic-guitarist/instrumentalist Louis C. Vangieri aka The LCV Project. He performs a blend of folk, country swing, pop-rocker, traditional, soft jazz, peaceful new age, classical, nostalgia and well written original works.

Free and open to the public.
Beer and wine cash bar. Paninis for purchase.

First Friday sponsored by Jeanne Hockaday, Virginia Country Real Estate

 

 

 

Quilts of River Country

Quilts of River Country

The art of quilting has expanded through the years. From the days of scissors, cotton fabric and hand needles to today’s rotary cutters, acrylic rulers, sewing machines, fusible batting and embellishments, quilting is an exciting art form.

The quilters of the Middle Peninsula are at the forefront of a new style of quilting fusing the old and the new. In this show you’ll see the beauty and precision of of traditional quilting artfully blended with the new techniques and patterns that keep the craft of quilting relevant to today.

 

First Friday Opening on September 6th from 6-8pm

First Friday sponsored by Catherine Peterson

Live music provided by Saint Julien’s Creek Revival

Free and open to the public with a beer & wine cash bar and paninis for purchase

 

 

Saint Julien’s Creek Revival

Formed in 2016 out of “NorFOLK, VA”, the musicians of Saint Juliens Creek Revival were brought together through the local bluegrass picking circles.  Recognizing a mutual love of roots music and three-part harmony, they soon branched off to explore their own sound, and Saint Juliens Creek Revival was born.  The band’s mission is to engage the community in roots music by bringing an eclectic a mixture of folk, Americana, bluegrass, gospel, and original tunes to its audiences.  The varied backgrounds of its members provide a unique combination of musical styles that is both contemporary and steeped in tradition, with influences ranging from 19th Century parlor tunes to Western Swing to Rock & Roll.  Saint Juliens Creek Revival is making plans to record their first demo soon.  

Dathan Kane Exhibit

An exhibition by Dathan Kane and curated by Asa Jackson, Kane works with bold, abstract, black & white organic shapes to reflect things he sees on a daily basis. Hard lines & edges capture your attention and question the absence of color. Kane is an artist born and raised from Hampton, VA. He has received his Bachelors of Fine Art degree from Virginia State University in 2014 where he focused primarily on illustration and painting. His work has been exhibited across the peninsula at various galleries including the Meredith Art Gallery in Petersburg VA, Newsome House Gallery in Newport News, Downing Gross Cultural Art Center in Newport News, 670 Gallery in Hampton, Charles H. Taylor Art Center in Hampton, Hampton Roads Convention Center, Can Festival 2015/2016, the Armstrong/Slater Gallery at Hampton University, Neon Festival 2017 in Norfolk, An Achievable Dream Middle & High school in Newport News, Hermitage Museum in Norfolk, Virginia MOCA in Virginia Beach, James River Country Club in Newport News as well as Elixir Sensory Gallery in Hampton. He also completed various murals across the city of Hampton  and had his first international exhibition in 2017 at the Sichuan Contemporary Gallery in China.

 

“I look at black and white as a choice between one thing or another and if this is the decision I choose…let it be a bold!” – Dathan Kane

 

Narissa Bond

Live Music with Narissa Bond

Blessed with a warm soprano, this award-winning musician has released several albums including one, “False Gods”, scheduled for 2017. You can hear her idols in her music, from Joni Mitchell’s finely crafted songs, and from Tracy Chapman, a sharp rhythmic and melodic sense. But Narissa is her own woman. She studied classical music, and jazz guitar, and there are elements of that in her work, as well as a nod to the blues and a strong connection to contemporary folk.

“Narissa has set a new standard for the art of singing and songwriting … she is the real thing.” – DJ Barry Graham

 

First Friday sponsored by Ron and Karen Flow

Gloria Coker: “Poetry, Music & Motion”

“Poetry, Music & Motion” – An Exhibition by Gloria Coker

Gloria was always the kid in elementary and high school who was prodded by her classmates to draw the teacher. A good way to get into trouble. But she never planned an art career- too much insecurity. So no art school, but rather a major in psychology and employment in the mental health field which thrives on insecurity. Then after 4 years of taking classes while raising two children, Gloria received her M.ed in Counseling at William and Mary and immediately joined the staff of the Daily Press as a news illustrator and courtroom artist ( including the spy trial of John Walker’s brother, Arthur).

Her series of paintings of important women began and ended when she asked JoAnn Falletta to be a subject for the series and instead wound up producing art for four years for the Virginia Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic. Thus began a continuing series involving music. Then after three years of ballroom dance lessons with her husband it was a natural evolution to paintings of dance. And now she turns her attention to abstract landscapes that often have hidden figures. Just cannot shake the human figure!

In 2008 she was nominated for the prestigious ALLI award. She has been a wine label illustrator, an art teacher, lecturer, book and magazine illustrator, workshop teacher, and all around contributor to the arts in her community. She has shown in many galleries, solo shows, prizes and has collectors such as Tom Clancy, JoAnn Falletta, Fuzzy Zoeller, the family of Bruce Hornsby and Ernie Els.

Her work was used in posters for the Harborfest in Norfolk and for three years for posters in Hampton Bay Days. Large pieces of children by Gloria hang in the Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters in Norfolk. A painting of the submarine “Newport News” is in the collection of Harbor Bank with prints in every Newport News public school. One of her paintings would have been seen on the Dexter series had the camera gone to the top of the stairs and there are glimpses of two paintings in the December 2011 TV movie “Christmas Kiss”.

Live music provided by Lori de los Santos & John Sullivan.

Lori de los Santos is a singer/songwriter who lives in Gloucester, Virginia. With her husband, John Sullivan on bass, they play acoustic songs from all genres of music including folk, blues and Americana as well as some of Lori’s original songs.

Lori has been playing guitar and writing songs since the mid-1970’s, influenced by artists such as Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt, Billie Holiday, Lead Belly and Flora Purim. She was one of the top ten finalists of the TAO Sea Level Singer/Songwriter Festival Emerging Artist Contest of 2009 and has performed with local musicians and at the Blackberry Jam Festival in Franklin, Tennessee with “Carol & Dale”. She is one of the vocalists on their album “Be Here Now”. Currently, Lori is performing and touring with Williamsburg singer/songwriter, Mark Rogers, as part of his band.

John Sullivan has been studying bass for the past four years and has begun to perform with local musicians as well. He decided that after years of being a “roadie” he wanted to play!

The opening is from 6:00pm-8:00pm and is free and open to the public, with beer, wine and paninis available. The exhibition runs for the month of October.