• Beginning Linoleum Block Printing (TWD052612) ● Kate Anderson ● May 26-27● Sat-Sun, 12-4pm

• Polymer Clay 101 (SCU060412) ● Teri Walters ● June 4-5 ● Mon-Tues, 10am-5pm

• Hot Glass Day Class (GLS061012) ● Lara Davis Phelps ● June 10 ● Sunday, 1-5pm

• Introduction to Color Theory (BIZ061112) ● Carolyn Deck ● June 11 ● Monday, 5:30-8:30pm
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• Laminated Felted Scarves (FIB061712) ● Glenda George ● June 17 ● Sunday, 9am-5pm

• Shibori (Japanese Tie Dye) (FIB062312) ● Glenda George ● June 23-24 ● Sat-Sun, 9am-5pm

• Introduction to Wood Turning (WOD063012) ● Dennis Ross ● June 30 ● Saturday, 9am-5pm

• Jewelry 101: Accessories in Polymer Clay (JWL081812) ● Teri Walters ● August 18 ● Sat-Sun, 12-4pm

This year began with the New Works exhibit, featuring the latest works by both new and established artists and artisans.  All the work for this exhibit had to be made within the past year and never exhibited before, thus, giving the artists an opportunity to share new work with the community.

The winning piece was entitled “Mabry Mill,” a quilt by Susan Brittingham.  Fred Jones won second place with the painting “Citizens United” and third place was a tie between Ernest Bryant with “Rifle for Tim” and Swede McBroom with “Meditation Hall Doors.”

Participating artists included Charlotte Lou Atkins, Samuel A’Court Bason, Susan Brittingham, Ernest Bryant, Ron Campbell, Audrey Caywood, Rick Cooley, Lore Deighan, Susan Egbert, Aileen Fletcher, Glenda George, Art Haase, Winter Hart, Don Johnson, Fred Jones, Charlie Knighton, Floyd Bud Lohr, Gina Louthian-Stanley, Cheryl Mackian, Glenda McAlexander, Swede McBroom, Nathan Popp, Dennis Ross, Karen Sewell, Helen Shaw, Sylvester Simard, Kimberly Simmons, Gretchen St. Lawrence, Agnes Stringfellow, Teri Walters, Howard Wenger, and Gerri Young.

“Congratulations and thank you to these talented artists for their contributions,” said Lore Deighan, Gallery Coordinator.

Mabry Mill by Susan Brittingham

Citizens United by Fred Jones

On Saturday, May 12 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm, author and playwright, Joe Maiolo, will be at The Jacksonville Center reading from his newest book My Turkish Missile Crisis.

Maiolo is well known for co-writing the play, The Man Who Moved a Mountain, which when produced by The Jacksonville Center in 2002, was directed by the late Jo Burke and starred Michael Patton, Chris Shackelford and others during its run at The June Bug Center.

Joseph Maiolo was born in West Virginia, and raised in the Cumberland Mountains of southwest Virginia.  He has degrees from the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the United States Naval Academy.  He is a professor of English at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he teaches literature and fiction writing.  His short stories have been in many publications, magazines and anthologies.  Several of his stories and a novella have won national awards, including citation in The Best American Short Stories, a Pushcart Prize, two National Endowment for the Arts Literacy Fellowships, and three PEN/Syndicated Fiction Awards. Maiolo has completed two novels, assembled a collection of his short stories, and is revising a memoir.

Maiolo’s memoir, My Turkish Missile Crisis, moves deftly from a visit to the impoverished Italian village of the birth and girlhood of his grandmother to the camaraderie of the Officer’s Club in Turkey to the tension of the air base at DEFCON 2 as the United States and Soviet Union crept closer to catastrophic global war.

In the thirteen months Maiolo spent in Turkey he was an eye-witness within the Turkish side of the Kennedy and Khrushev saga, supervised the dismantling and removal of the warheads under his charge and had almost had to launch, and listened in horror as word spread around the base that President Kennedy had been assassinated.  He paints a very personal picture on this larger canvas of world events.

On Saturday, May 12 from 5-8pm, The Jacksonville Center will highlight the current Hayloft Gallery exhibit, Make Me Laugh, with a Meet-the-Artist reception. The reception will include a reading and a puppet show. The exhibit opened May 2 and runs through June 29.

For this exhibit, the center offered a challenge for artists to create artwork that is humorous or whimsical.  This exhibit includes a variety of media including mixed media, sculptures, paintings, drawings and photography.

The participating artists are Malcom Black, Robin Boucher, Ernest Bryant, Laura Byler, Ron Campbell, Lore Deighan, Martha Dillard, Art Haase, Susan Icove, Fred Jones, Sidra Kaluszka, Bud Lohr, Louie Scott Lovitt, Darcy Meeker, Gayle McTighe, Jeanie O’Neill, Ann Shank, Helen Shaw, Petie Stringfellow, Liz Stucki, Susan Sutterer, Ron Sutterer, John Tobin and Geri Young

The activities at the center begin at 5:30pm with a reading from author and playwright, Joe Maiolo.  He will be reading from his newest book My Turkish Missile Crisis.  Joe is well known for co-writing the play, The Man Who Moved a Mountain, which was produced by The Jacksonville Center and performed at The June Bug Center in 2002.

Refreshments will be served at 6:30pm and the puppet show presented by Mr. Mojos Magical Puppet Troupe will begin at 7pm in the community room.  Both the exhibit and reception are free and open to the public, though a $3 donation would help offset the daily operating expenses at the center.

‘Round the Mountain: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Network and William King Museum are pleased to host Conversations, a monthly gathering for artisans to network and discuss current topics in the making and business of craft and fine art.

May’s Conversations will be an interactive discussion about time management. Neva Bryan will be guest facilitating for Nick Aloisio. Please note that this particular meeting starts 30 minutes earlier than the usual time.

Be sure to join fellow creative types in William King Museum’s library (second floor) on Thursday, May 3 at 6:00 p.m. The address is 415 Academy Drive, Abingdon, Va.

This is an open invitation to all the region’s artisans.

For more information, please contact Neva Bryan, ‘Round the Mountain’s education coordinator, at 276.492.2403 or nbryan@roundthemountain.org.

Conversations is made possible, in part, through a Virginia Highlands Community College Small Business Development Center Jobs Act Program grant. `Round the Mountain is supported, in part, by the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission.

The exhibition will open with a First Friday reception on May 4^th and will run through June 24^th.

First Friday Opening Reception: March 2, 5:30-8:00pm

Helina Metaferia & Amber Robles-Gordon

Amber Robles-Gordon is a mixed media artist who works mostly in assemblage. The work she creates is representational of her experiences and the paradoxes within the female experience. She focuses on fusing found objects to convey her own personal memories, inspired by nature, and her belief in recycling energy and materials. Robles-Gordon has been creating and extensively exhibiting her work for over 15 years. She has exhibited in California, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, New York, Ohio, Spain and throughout the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area. Robles-Gordon has also been invited by the Smithsonian and other organizations to teach workshops and was commissioned by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 2010 to create a mural for the Windows in to DC project at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. In 2010, she also completed her Masters of Fine Arts from Howard University. Most recently, she has been granted an apprenticeship from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, D.C. Creates Public Arts Program.

Helina Metaferia is an Ethiopian-American artist specializing in mixed media artwork. She works with themes of power, self-realization, and femininity. An intuitive artist, she combines the process of introspective meditation and creative art forms in order to tap into a higher consciousness. Her art has been shown in museums and galleries nationwide. She has also completed over fifteen large scale murals in the Washington, DC region. Helina received her formal art education at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and at Morgan State University.  In addition to working as a fine artist, Helina is the founder of The Meta Experience, a visual and healing arts company that provides creative wellness services. She is a certified holistic practitioner in Integrative Yoga Therapy, Shiatsu and Thai Massage, and is a Reiki Master. She has been teaching visual and healing art classes in community based programs since 2004.

Other events throughout the building that night will include the re-opening of the Co-op Gallery with new works on display as well as an open house of Riverviews Second Floor Art Community. The LMS Rock Bands will perform live in the Craddock-Terry Gallery.

For more information, please call 434.847.7277 or visit www.riverviews.net.  All First Friday events at Riverviews are free and open to the public.

May classes begin with a rainbow of color in Scott Cole’s Kaleidoscope making class. Scott comes to the Jax from his home in western North Carolina where he teaches regularly at The John C. Campbell Folk School. He has been making his beautiful copper, brass and aluminum encased and etched kaleidoscopes for over 20 years and brings his master level skills to the Jax on May 11-13.

Precious Metals Clay artist, Annie Armistead will visit the Jax on Sunday, May 13th for a 5 hour workshop on making jewelry from precious metal clays. PMCs are a special malleable material with precious metals powder mixed in, allowing the user to hand form jewelry that will be fired to solid perfection.

The Jax also looks forward to a long weekend out-of-doors with Bedford-based plein-air artist, Ed Gowen, May 18-20. Although essentially self-taught, Ed has studied under such masters as Kevin MacPherson, Ralph Oberg, and Charles Sovek. In his paintings, he manages to establish the effect of space and has a technique that wields the power to suggest mood—some of his works shining with the brightness of life while others brood with the depth of shadow. This class will take their inspiration directly from the Blue Ridge Mountains by spending at least half the workshop outside on the Parkway or other space around Floyd.

The month will draw to a close in our pottery studio when Mike Lalone, Pottery Studio Manager at the John C. Campbell Folk School, brings his special skills in sculptural work to the Jax for a week long workshop on ceramic portraits, May 21-25. Learn the special skills involved in sculpting facial features in clay in a fun and creative environment. Mike’s special love of clay and years of teaching both children and adults the art ceramics makes this class a sure-fire way to unwind and grow at the same time.

(Remember that we offer gift certificates and they make great gifts too!)

All classes at The Jacksonville Center require pre-registration. Register online at jacksonvillecenter.org or call during business hours at 540-745-2784. Our new satellite location, The Jax Galleria, offers class registration downtown at The Station on South Locust.

Activities during the reception will include demonstrations from local art instructors such as blacksmith John Riddle and ceramics artist Sidra Kaluszka. Glenda George will demonstrate her felted soaps course and give attendees a chance to try it out for themselves. There will also be kids’ activities with Afternoon Arts teacher, Sarah Greene and assistant Rebekah Bordeaux and a talk/demonstration from Japanese Woodworker and Jax instructor, Yann Giguere. Yann will give a one hour talk/demonstration from 4-5pm introducing his love of the art and the goal of the classes he will be teaching in June. Yann is owner and founder of Mokuchi Woodworking and will be teaching a 4-day series of classes on knife sharpening, planing, and small stool making. Registrations for classes made during the event will receive a 10% discount on class tuition.

“I’m really excited about this year’s reception. We have some great demonstrations and activities planned and, of course, great people leading them. I hope we can give people a taste of how fun it can be to participate in our educational programming here at The Jax,” said Amy Avery-Grubel, Director of Educational Programming. The community is encouraged to attend.  The exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.

For more information about these exhibits and more, visit www.jacksonvillecenter.com, email info@jacksonvillecenter.com or call (540) 745-2784.

Click here to read ASAE Feedback letters from the participants.

Click here to read ASAE Feedback letters from parents of the participants.

Click here to watch the Community Night Thank You Video