by Charles Hendricks | Nov 9, 2018 | artwork, citizen architect, Coloring pages, community, Holiday, Rotary
The holiday season is upon us and our list of fun events is growing. Please mark your calendars!
December 1st:
Cookie Tour as part of the Winter WonderFest – The Depot is the pick up location for the Cookie Tour box. This tour has stops at Agora Downtown market, withSimplicity, Yellow Button, Green Hummingbird, Walkabout Outfitters, Lady Jane, Larkin Arts, OASIS Fine Arts and Craft, and Virginia Quilt Museum. The self-guided tour allows you to spend an afternoon shopping downtown and you get gourmet locally made cookies! Get your tickets HERE.
If you bring in a colored Depot on the 1st we will have a Gaines Group flashlight for you (while supplies last).
December 1st
That same day there is an art market at Larkin Arts from noon – 6pm, photos with Santa at Hardesty Higgins Visitor’s Center from 1pm – 3pm, Polar Express at 4:30 in Court Square Theater (shop at a downtown retailer during the Winter Wonderfest and get into the show for free), Caroling throughout downtown, and the Grinch will be on the prowl. It sounds like an incredible day of fun downtown.
December 7th
Art Opening and Holiday party at the Depot – join us for our annual Holiday Party. Visit with Santa in the R.S. Monger & Sons Window and Door Showroom, then come upstairs to check out the goodies.
Of course, bring your colored depot to get a Gaines Group flashlight (while supplies last). We are hosting student artists in December from Eastern Mennonite School to benefit the EMS Interact We Serve Club. This club does at least one service project for the community through the school year!
We are also thrilled to welcome back Red Wing Academy students to our space again this year.
Red Wing Academy is hosted by Eric Brubaker of The Steel Wheels as a four-day intensive camp held at Eastern Mennonite University on July 7-10, 2019.
Red Wing Academy is open to non-beginner violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, mandolin and banjo students. Students will receive individual and group instruction from highly trained music teachers and will also be coached by members of The Steel Wheels throughout the week. Daily curriculum will include group classes, mini lessons, improv and jam sessions, technique and tone development, stage performance, electives, recreation, panel discussions, and more. Each day will close with a camp wide rehearsal to practice for Red Wing performance.
Throughout the 4-day workshop, students will learn several tunes to perform collectively. On Friday, July 12th, 2019, the Academy experience will culminate at Red Wing Roots Music Festival with a live, on-stage performance with The Steel Wheels.
December 7th
Holiday Parade Downtown – the 2018 parade is themed Capture the Magic. Starting at the Rockingham County Office Building at 7:00 am this annual event brings together the entire community. Claim your space along the street route early in the day for the best views of the floats, trucks, and the big guy at the end.
December 8th
Christmas at Crossroads Gingerbread House Contest is returning this year. During this annual event at Crossroads Valley Brethren-Mennonite Heritage Center you can experience the small strength and beauty of candles in the still and silent darkness allowing respite from the hubbub of commercialized Christmas chaos. Take this time to reflect on the experience of Advent preparations as they might have taken place 100 years ago. For tickets and more information go HERE. This annual event also includes a Gingerbread House Contest – don’t limit yourself to the traditional house – go all out and design / build something cool. We are going to serve as the design judge again this year! There will be more information coming and a good chance you will want to be named winner!!!
In addition to the traditional candlelight tour there will be hands-on family crafts, live music and singing, and holiday refreshments.
by Charles Hendricks | Oct 25, 2018 | artwork, community, First Friday, Local Leaders, Office Culture
Each month on the First Friday we host a new artist art opening in our building’s 2nd floor gallery at the Chesapeake Western Depot at 141 W. Bruce St. (second floor entrance is on Chesapeake). Artwork will remain on exhibit through the month. Come view the show and get a tour the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
November 2, 2018
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Gaines Group Architects
141 W. Bruce St. Suite 201
Harrisonburg, VA
First Friday Art Opening – Art and Activism
Media used in “Art and Activism” includes photographs by activists, textile work, and steel maquette which illustrate the motivation for and progress toward the creation of “The Defenders” moveable steel sculpture by Mark Schwenk and Cheryl Langlais, which opposes the 2 pipelines to be constructed by Dominion Power [now renamed Dominion Energy] across WV and VA to deliver fracked gas to the coast for shipment to foreign buyers. Funding for the full size sculpture came from local donations and a Kickstarter effort produced by Rosie Lynch and Ana Rampy. Prints of Karen Ryder Lee’s original painting of the Great Gray Owl, symbol of this project, will be for sale. The sculpture is now installed in Stuarts Draft near where pipeline is to travel across land visible from 3 local schools. It will be moved to several more sites in pipeline pathway of pipeline construction.
by Charles Hendricks | Oct 1, 2018 | artwork, community, First Friday, Local Leaders, Office Culture
Each month on the First Friday we host a new artist art opening in our building’s 2nd floor gallery at the Chesapeake Western Depot at 141 W. Bruce St. (second floor entrance is on Chesapeake). Artwork will remain on exhibit through the month. Come view the show and get a tour the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
October 5, 2018
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Gaines Group Architects
141 W. Bruce St. Suite 201
Harrisonburg, VA
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Confluences
Scott Jost
The Chesapeake Bay and its watershed extend over parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. Chesapeake Bay is the third largest estuary in the world, and its watershed is home to more than 17 million people. In these photographs and my forthcoming book, Confluence: Rivers and Streams in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, I am creating a portrait of this vast historical and ecological treasure by focusing on its river and stream origins and confluences. To date, I’ve photographed approximately 180 sites in 6 states.
Differences in the landscapes surrounding places where rivers and streams originate reveal the Chesapeake Bay watershed’s tremendous range and diversity. Confluences are the points at which waters originating in varied geographies and ecosystems within the watershed meet. They are often historically important in relation to settlement, industry, commerce, transportation and defense, and represent important intersections of nature and culture.
Confluence: Rivers and Streams in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, expected from George F. Thompson Publishing in fall 2019, will include 70 full-color panoramic photographs, an essay on the photography by Seth Feman, Curator of Photography at the Chrysler Museum of Art, several additional brief essays written by environmental historians and others with specific expertise in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, maps, and interpretive captions.
Through these photographs, I hope to contribute to a greater understanding of the historical and contemporary Bay and its watershed, and to reflect on its prospects for the future.
Ultimately, I hope my work can contribute to an enhanced awareness of and appreciation for our local, regional and national waterways.
by Charles Hendricks | Sep 3, 2018 | artwork, community, First Friday, Local Leaders, Office Culture
First Friday Art Opening with Viktoriya Samoylov
“Significantly Cheaper than Therapy”
September 7, 2018
5pm – 8pm
Gaines Group Architects
141 W. Bruce St. – Second Floor
Harrisonburg, Va
Acrylic, Oil, Digital Drawing, and Resin Art.
I am Viktoriya, a Ukrainian-American in the Shenandoah Valley.
This current selection of pieces is a reflection of personal changes within myself specifically in the past few years. Local places, places I’ve traveled, portraits of family, and art experiments are included.
Subject matter and mediums are consistently changing. With time, I’ve begun creating pieces that carry an emotional connection to me, as opposed to simply a visual appeal or statement.
Though I no longer own most of the pieces I’ve created in the past fifteen or so years, I begin the arrangement with a self-portrait of myself that I created as a preteen, of myself, age 10.
It ends with another, of myself, age 29, and 11 months.
Follow my journey: Instagram @onepixelcreative
Past First Friday Events
Caroline Conlon
Greg Versen
Joey Laughlin
Ellen Vanover
Aaron Zook
Amanda Dicken
by Charles Hendricks | Aug 17, 2018 | citizen architect, community
I have heard that true service is when you help someone who can never help you in return. It is a call to action to reach out a helping hand to others. It is the Rotary calling card – service above self. It drives us to support one another without worry of labels, politics, or greed. This has become a main focus for my design work through my career. I want to build a better and stronger community through design. This means designing houses for clients that are energy-efficient. This means reducing overall demand on our power grid and our impacts on climate change through fossil fuel consumption reduction. This means capturing rain water to reduce erosion and flooding downstream. This means designing apartment communities in ways that bring neighbors together to meet each other. Design can solve a lot of problems, and it can also build good. To me, this is why I design. As Sam Mockbee said “everyone, rich or poor, deserves a shelter for the soul.” This comes in all forms of service and community work. It comes as drawings of a new project. It also comes in the form of sharing advice on how to improve your building to reduce your utility costs. It comes from teaching young people the value of design. It comes through service to my community. To me community means helping each other without expectation of anything in return.
A story of impact from design
Renew Rocktown arranged for Our Community Place to get a free energy audit through the Sustainable Building Coalition in Harrisonburg. Energy Audits is a service our firm is able to provide in partnership with equipment provided to us by HEC. We offer residential audits in Harrisonburg through HEC and outside of Harrisonburg through our firm. We can also help non-profits and small businesses by providing free energy audits.
The energy audit provided a list of strategies to help this community organization reduce their energy consumption.
OCP then partnered with volunteers to install LED bulbs in their building, the fastest return on investment we identified. Then Renew Rocktown, through the efforts of Jeff Heie helped them get a grant to solarize their roof. This could provide 70% of their energy needs through a clean energy source. For a non-profit, reducing utilities bills allows them to better serve their community. This work that started with an energy audit, then volunteers working on lights, then solar pv on the roof will have a ripple effect in our community for years to come. This is my community!
by Charles Hendricks | Jul 30, 2018 | artwork, community, First Friday, Local Leaders, Office Culture
August 3, 2018, 5pm – 8pm
141 W. Bruce St. Suite 201,
Harrisonburg, VA
Facebook Info
Each month we host a new artist in our building’s 2nd floor gallery at the Chesapeake Western Depot at 141 W. Bruce St. (second floor entrance is on Chesapeake). Artwork will remain on exhibit through the month. Come view the show and take a tour of the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
Bio:
Caroline Conlon has been living in the Shenandoah Valley area for the last decade. In association with her recent graduation earning an Advanced Studies Diploma from Wilson Memorial High School, she also excelled at Shenandoah Valley Governor’s School in the two-year Arts & Humanities program where she received the Art Achievement Award for most fully embodying the subject in her endeavors. Caroline is a multimedia, abstract artist who uses mainly acrylics, watercolors, liquid inks, and pens to create her art. Inspired by the unpredictable shapes and patterns of the Abstract Expressionist movement, Caroline’s process involves the spontaneous application of materials followed by a more careful and deliberate approach to unify and finish. She finds art to be a comfort and stress relief as it allows her to express herself in a productive, beautiful fashion.
Description:
Connecting the Dots by Caroline Conlon is a collection of expressive, abstract work ranging from 2016-2018 which attempts to capture and document the process of embracing the unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of splattering, pouring, flicking, and smushing. Whether it be utilizing traditional media in a non-traditional fashion or the creation of random patterns and working to unify them, Caroline works outside the box to not only archive but build upon these images as she reacts to them. The art combines the harsh and erratic with the soft and delicate. Brightly colored and vibrant, this show is bold and immersive for the viewer as they observe this interesting technique.
Media:
Mixed-Media including but not limited to acrylic, micron pen, graphite, ink, spray paint, and watercolor.
Conlon’s mixed-media work enhances the Chesapeake Western Depot’s lineup of previous First Friday artists, which most recently displayed works with photography, watercolor, ink, and gouache.
