Residents and visitors to the Eastern Shore love spending their time here because of the quality of life. Much of that joy comes from the natural surroundings. On First Friday, July 1, the RiverArts Main Gallery will have an eclectic exhibit, “Celebrating Rural Life”. First Friday guests are asked to vote for the Peoples’ Choice Award, which will be announced at 8 pm that evening. The show runs through July 30.
Curators, Jack and Barbara Fancher, have challenged artists to interpret this theme broadly, capturing the beauties, wonders, and perhaps even the oddities of rural life. Some artists may be inspired by the seasonal rhythms of planting, a bountiful harvest, an early frost, or how light and shadow play across a changing environment. Some enjoy capturing the bustle of parades, fairs, summer parties, farmers’ markets. Others are taken by the wildlife.
When Master Knitter, Sue Wright, enters a piece in a show, it is always special. Friends of hers raise sheep. Sue has knit a vest from the wool of a sheep named Snuggles. It is made of lambswool, so called because it is made from the wool that comes from the first shearing of the sheep.
Tom McHugh, long associated with the Mainstay, is an award winning artist in his own right who has painted all his life. When his children were born he began to paint in mixed media using all kinds of medium from glue, to acrylics, newsprint, glitter, etc. Some have called his work whimsical; others have described it as “outsider art”. For this exhibit he will use mixed media to capture Bay fisheries caught by watermen including crabs, oysters, rock fish, perch, clams, etc.
In the Studio Gallery, there will once again be an exhibit of “Humans of Kent County”. People from all walks of life are interviewed to capture something special about them and/or the times they have lived in. A broad range of volunteers conduct these interviews and photograph the individual being interviewed. It certainly encourages the viewer to appreciate the diversity of Kent County.
RiverArts is located at 315 High Street, Chestertown, MD, 21620. It is open on Sunday from 11 – 3 in addition to Tuesday-Friday, 11:00-4:00, and Saturday, 10:00-4:00. First Fridays the Gallery and Gift Shop are open until 8:00pm. To learn more about RiverArts go to www.chestertownriverarts.org or call 410 778 6300.
Chestertown RiverArts is a vibrant, member-supported community arts center that offers a dynamic, unique program of exhibitions, classes, lectures and special events.
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