The Beauty and Influence of Appalachia

Artists Archives of the Western Reserve

• Favorite
• 
• 
• 
• 

• Date Friday, September 06, 2024 - Saturday, November 02, 2024
• Register Now

Founded in 1996 by notable Cleveland sculptor David E. Davis and eight other prominent Ohio artists, including Shirley Aley Campbell and Patricia Zinsmeister Parker, the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve (AAWR) emerged from a shared vision. Recognizing the risk... more

The Beauty and Influence of Appalachia – curated by Lisa Kenion

The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve (AAWR) welcomes autumn with a survey exhibition of talented artists working in a variety of media from throughout the Appalachian Region. Additionally, a campus-wide opening reception will be held on September 6 in partnership with The Sculpture Center who will be opening two exhibitions – Bun Stout: The Dream Continues, and Billy Ritter: Record of Process & Modern Artifacts. There will be a live music performance at AAWR during the opening reception, featuring Joe Thrift and Mark Olitsky. If you are a fan of old time Bluegrass, folk, or banjo and fiddle music don’t miss it!

The Beauty and Influence of Appalachia is an exhibition curated by artist Lisa Kenion for the Artists Archives. Kenion has been a member of the AAWR’s exhibition committee for close to ten years and is herself a celebrated fine artist as well as a part of the Studio Foundry. The foundry is a successful business owned by artists here in Cleveland which casts bronze sculpture for many of the public commissions here in NEO and across the country. Her maternal grandparents were from the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina. As an artist with roots in Appalachia dating back to the 1700’s she has a personal, as well as a historical interest in the region.

The Appalachian region has been shaped by several different geological processes throughout millions of years. The bedrock of the Appalachian chain is over a billion years old, with the mountain chain itself being created twenty million years ago. The diversity in geology led to a diversity in the ecosystems, and this diversity is also reflected in the existing cultures that have settled there.

The oldest regional cultures are those of the Native Americans, which have existed in Appalachia for thousands of years. Much of the food we eat today, are from crops that Native peoples developed. African American influences, such as the introduction of the banjo, can be found in music, as well as food. Waves of European immigrants from several different countries, Scottish, Irish, English, and German culture, among others, have left their mark as well.

Because the influence of the Appalachia people has now gone beyond its boundaries to influence the culture of mainstream America, Kenion took a wider perspective on the geographic parameters of the region. She chose to embrace artists from adjacent geographic areas, included on some maps and not others, as part of the territory used for her selections.

It is the merging of these influences that gives the region its resonance. The final exhibition includes the work of eighteen artists, representative of the many cultures mentioned above. Kenion’s hope as the curator of this exhibition is that the influence and beauty of the region can be appreciated through the art created by those who currently live in, or are descended from the people of this diverse, underrepresented, and often misunderstood, region of our country.

Art Bites Programming to accompany the exhibition includes the following lectures, and events:
Professional Practices: Violin Making with Joe Thrift
Saturday, September 7, 1 – 2:30pm
Joe Thrift has been making fine violins, violas & cellos since 2016 using the highest quality European wood, and his own varnish & color. Trained in England he has memberships in the Violin Society of America and the Southern Violin Assoc., and currently teaches violin making at Surrey Community College in Mt. Airy, NC. In-Person in the AAWR Gallery. Register on Eventbrite, by phone at 216.721.9020, or via info@artistsarchives.org

Performances: Musicians Cary Moskovitz and Mark Olitsky
Saturday October 12, 8 – 9 pm
Mark Olitsky is widely known for his unusual, driving clawhammer banjo style. Cary Moskovitz is a multi-instrumentalist and singer who has performed solo and in bands over the past 40 years. Both are multiple award-winning musicians. Eventbrite registration coming soon, by phone at 216.721.9020, or via info@artistsarchives.org