Fresh Perspectives at the Jones House
Downtown Boone Art Crawl this Friday

By Frank Ruggiero

The Watauga Arts Council’s galleries in the Jones House Community Center abound with fresh perspective this May, with two new exhibits installed in time for the Downtown Boone Art Crawl this Friday.

Mazie Jones Gallery

Downstairs in the Jones House’s Mazie Jones Gallery, area artists Marsha Holmes, Tara Belk and Beth Andrews are showing “Three Point Perspective.”

Over the last 18 months, the trio has met once a week to paint, teach and learn from one another’s own expertise. Unsuccessful in finding constructive criticism at home, the three started meeting to seek each other’s brutal honesty.

At their first meeting, Holmes, Belk and Andrews each painted a plein air piece of the same subject, then realizing each version was unique to the artist in terms of personality and style.

“We thought this would be a good show to share – three different perspectives,” Belk said. “Over the last 18 months, by encouraging each other, we completed about 60 (pieces) between the three of us.”

The show at the Jones House showcases 49 of the artists’ pieces, including watercolor, graphite, charcoal, acrylic, oil, pastel and collage.

“We held little workshops with one another,” Belk said. “Whatever one of us was working with, we could teach the other how to do so, too. It’s about sisterhood, having someone you can trust to give honest feedback. Rather than compete, we worked together to help each other grow.”

Thirty-eight years ago, Holmes and Andrews were college roommates at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After having gone their own ways for 30 years, they were surprised to learn that they both lived in Ashe County, where Belk has been Holmes’ neighbor and friend for the past 20 years.

Holmes teaches art at for the Watauga County Project on Aging, Belk teaches pottery and watercolor at her Trade, Tenn., studio, and Andrews is a graphic artist, though she also works with the art therapy program at Watauga Medical Center’s cancer center.

“We have grown close and become sisters on this journey,” the three agree in their artists’ statement for the show.

They also hope to share their collaborative spirit with others.

“We just encourage people to get together with other artists and create something,” Holmes said. “The growth we’ve seen in just 18 months has been tremendous. We just made our own little classroom to stretch and grow and all those things an artist needs to do.”

Each piece displayed includes a description detailing its meaning and the artists’ interpretations, and Holmes said the show will be exhibited by the Ashe County Arts Council in August.

Open Door Gallery

Upstairs in the Jones House’s Open Door Gallery, Appalachian State University students from art instructor Dr. Janet Montgomery’s open-source art class have bridged the digital divide, bringing their electronic art to the gallery walls.

A couple years ago, Montgomery began exploring the digital art technology available, focusing on free or online open-source software. “Because when you get a teacher out in school trying to teach art, there’s also no budget to work with; they’re lucky to even have computers, so this means they don’t have to go out and buy expensive software,” she said.

These free or open-source programs, such as Lunapic, GIMP, GoAnimate, Tux Paint and Inkscape, are “something you and I or any ordinary joe could download on their computer or use on the Internet,” Montgomery said.

Using these resources, Montgomery developed a pilot course at ASU, or as she calls it, an experimental seminar.

The class has an enrollment of five students – Will Joines, Justina Brinkley, Whitney Freeman, Chelsea Schroeder and Dave Gordon – all of whom will have artwork on display at the Open Door Gallery.

The students produced images and movies with the goal of creating an electronic portfolio “to prove you can do something without having to be a graphic designer,” Montgomery said. “You can make interesting images and movies using just what’s out there.”

Montgomery was learning alongside her students, and she said the enthusiasm is contagious. “One of them called me today – and this is what makes a teacher’s heart glad – and told me he now just goes into GIMP and messes around with images whenever he has the time. This is where things are going, the use of media – electronic media, I should say.”

Both exhibits will be on display until May 29, from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. The galleries are also open Thursdays from 7:30 to 11 p.m. during the acoustic jams at the Jones House.

Reception & Live Music

A reception to welcome the exhibits will be held Friday, April 3, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., held in conjunction with the Art Crawl. Music, food and beverages are free, and the arts council invites the public to attend.
The reception will be accompanied by music from members of the ASU African Music and Dance Troupe and the ASU-Community Music School, who will perform on the Jones House lawn from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The performance is free to attend, as are lessons in Yankadee, a West African full moon dance.

Indoors, singer-songwriter Sharon Mitchell will serenade gallery patrons with standards and old favorites on the Jones House’s antique upright piano.

From 5:30 to 8 p.m., award-winning regional author Maggie Bishop will attend the reception to chat with patrons. Bishop is the author of “Appalachian Paradise,” “Murder at Blue Falls” and “Perfect for Framing,” to name a few.

The Watauga Arts Council galleries are sponsored in part by Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff and Grassroots Funds of the N.C. Arts Council. The council is housed in the Jones House Community Center, located at 604 W. King St. in downtown Boone. For more information, visit www.watauga-arts.org on the Web.