Artsbridge Executive Director Megan Newbanks with a painting by LeeAnn Gallucci, “Auto Accident.” (Photo Provided)
PARKERSBURG — The third annual Winter Solstice Art After Dark hosted by Artsbridge will be held 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Local artists including painters, poets, musicians and wood carvers will display their work and performing open mic for the public.
Live demonstrations also are planned.
Among those are Joe Bello, who cuts figurines and objects from food boxes and stained glass artist Loren Conley.
Kathy Pollack, a former teacher and grandmother of seven, has used poetry to deal with a severe golf cart accident and the resulting chronic pain.
LeeAnn Gallucci expressed the impact of a car wreck on her life, in the painting “Auto Accident.”
The father of a young man with years of heroin addiction will share what gave him hope and strength, and young adults from the West Virginia Children’s Home Society Transitional Living Program also will display their artwork.
Other artists are Fred Trivet, Kate Hushion, Jennifer Sharp Crowe, Chris Hoak, musician J.P. Chandler and writer Janice Farnsworth, among others.
Hands-on arts activities will be available with Parkersburg Art Center Managing Director Jessie Siefert, including mask making, rock painting, book poetry, mindfulness meditation with Pamela Santer and a winter solstice blessing by the Rev. Annie Mullins from First Presbyterian Church.
“Art helps us to function in a world where there’s been a lot of anxiety and angst, and it seems like there’s more of it,” Gallucci said.
This is the third year for Art After Dark.
“Last year, with COVID, we had to do it virtually,” Wendy Tuck who organized Art After Dark with Artsbridge Program Coordinator Diane McDonald, said. “We’ll have the exhibit in person this year, but we’ll do it safely. Everyone should wear a mask.”
The Winter Solstice theme was chosen because it is the darkest and longest night of the year, but it is also the moment when the earth shifts and days get longer.
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