An artist with a camera documenting the beauty of the world. Tony DiStefano has called home many beautiful places from the forests of Western PA to the mountains of Southeastern New York State. He has now found his place in Harrisonburg – an area rich with opportunities for creative souls – for more than half of his adult life. You might recognize Tony from his many local shows and his earlier collection, “Through the Lens” back in 2019!
Tony’s work documents his love of the outdoors, as an avid hiker and fisherman since childhood, he has found wonder in nature. Inspired by his brother’s and uncle’s work with macro photography, Tony began his photographic journey in 2013. A prolific shutterbug, he has captured and shared hundreds of captivating images, ranging from birds, flowers, and insects to rural vistas and natural light portraits. While Tony’s work primarily focuses on nature he enjoys highlighting the tiny details organisms have to offer that wouldn’t normally be noticed by the human eye, giving small organisms a big personality through his macro lens. His work also highlights the beauty of texture found in nature like a praying mantis skin or a humming bird’s wings!
For more information on this event or to rsvp check here! Tony’s work will be featured along with Lori Mier’s!
Lori shares her story and inspires others through the written word. She loves chai tea and mountain sunrises with her son and is heavily influenced by the beauty and wholesomeness of nature. She invites you to meet the author at “Christmas at the Depot” on December 3rd along with other artists, Red Wing Academy, and Santa!
Broken Crayons Still Color: Life Afteris the first book by Author, Lori Mier. She is also the author of Merin and Her Very Bright Star: A story of resiliency, a children’s book that was deeply inspired by Lori’s own story of loss and healing. This book has been reviewed in the Citizen and praised as an excellent source for children to understand resiliency. She uses her story to inspire and nurture a love of reading. She has a degree in Social Work and currently works independently as an Ecotherapist Guide, Life Coach, and nature photographer, combining all of these to offer a unique and healing experience. Her healing nature photography has been published on the cover of AT Journeys magazine as well as in Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine and local travel brochures. Lori lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with her husband and son, working to make her community a better place through her writing and photography.
Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) is paving the way in theatre productions with their creation of ‘U2 Romeo and Juliet‘ under the direction of Justin Poole with musical direction by Jerry Holsopple featuring Prince Bellerose. This original performance features a classic story with a twist, utilizing the intense music from the legendary band, U2.
The show was excellent according to Charles’s summary, saying “as always the students at EMU have shown that they have exceptional acting skills and musical talents.”
We could not be more proud to have been a sponsor of this amazing performance and thrilled to sponsor many more art-focused events such as First Friday, featuring Matty Tesch and Andrew Stronge. Supporting the arts community is a primary focus for our firm as we believe beauty in all forms builds a better community for all.
While you might have missed out on viewing this season’s performance, community members know to expect another amazing theatre experience next year featuring Eastern Mennonite University’s talented ensemble. For those yearning for an immersion in the arts, stay tuned for the upcoming EMS High School Musical, Alice in Wonderland, the SVCC Choir Christmas performance, and for those seeking a little more adventure, the Any Given Child as we root for Nathan May (who has an amazing singing voice that he will not get to use in this competition).
We can’t believe it is already November and we are ramping up for the first Friday festivities with featured artist: Matty Tesch! Matty was born and raised in Findlay, Ohio, and later attended Bowling Green State University (BGSU) to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design. Between being a freelance designer and marketing executive Tesch spends her free time painting natural subjects and experimenting with color interaction. She enjoys exploring the relationship between opposite tones and blending, pulling inspiration from light interactions on skin.
Most of her artwork focuses on ridiculous-looking animals and their relationship to color and pattern. Her peculiar subject matter branches directly from the pandemic- as the world became tenser she pursued lighthearted inspiration. “My paintings have no purpose other than my own amusement, I paint for myself and it has worked out well so far.” Her love of detail also plays a part in her work – throughout school she focused most of her energy on subject details disregarding the container itself, she solved this problem by just working on smaller “mini” pieces.
You can check out more of Matty’s colorful creations through the month of November at theCW Depot! Or check out her Instagram for her newest pieces! You can also learn more or RSVP to this event here.
Andrew Stronge was born in Sunderland, England, but moved to the states when he was young. He always had an interest in art and illustration, and he had creative parents who allowed him to express himself all over his bedroom walls. At the encouragement of extended family, Andrew went to school for web design and computer programming, but after a few years working in Charlottesville on different UVA department websites, he realized that he was moving too far away from his passion in illustration. He decided to pursue a job at a local screen printing company where he could use his artistic skills. He started off doing grunt work around the shop, but quickly moved up in the industry, eventually becoming lead designer and operations manager at one of the larger local screen printing companies.
While working full time, Andrew continued to pursue his own art, doing the occasional freelance illustration job or small craft fair, and even illustrated a children’s book called Mathematical Mischief. A charity event called Screens ‘n’ Suds in Richmond, VA inspired Andrew to combine his skills in illustration and screen printing to create his own screen-printed posters. His art has always had a strong pop-art inspired style of bright colors and bold lines, and his work in the screen printing industry had perfected his technique. This medium allowed Andrew to create unique hand made prints of his work that were much more affordable than the hand-painted canvases he had been selling, allowing him to reach a larger audience.
In 2016, Andrew decided to make the leap to leave his job to pursue Stronge Designs full time. Andrew now travels all over the east coast to show and sell his work at comic cons, craft shows, and punk rock flea markets. He occasionally sets up live screen printing events where he can educate people on the process of printing t-shirts and his posters. When he’s not traveling to a show, he is a stay-at-home dad to his 1-year-old son, Alister, and has turned a passion for collecting vintage toys into a small business called Time Capsule. Through Time Capsule, Andrew and his wife, Adrienne, sell vintage toys online and in a shop called Oddballs Collectibles in Richmond. Andrew lives at Lake Monticello with Adrienne, Alister, their two old pugs, and a very large robot and vintage space toy collection, a passion of his that you can see reflected in a lot of his sci-fi inspired work.
We are thrilled to jump back into another First Friday celebration this month with artist, Sara Harper. Based in the Shenandoah Valley, Sara Harper explores the depth of nature with line and form in drawings and oil paintings. Her work evokes a deep appreciation for both complexity and simplicity in nature and is characterized by the practice of observation.
Varied lines and brush strokes are used in Sara’s oil painting portraits of animals and people. These pieces are created with the philosophy that there is great intrinsic value in the rich inner life of each subject. Harper’s dynamic use of color breathes life into her work in a way millions of artists have struggled to achieve, her intricate color layering and delicate brush strokes show she has not only mastered realism but is making it her own.
Sara isn’t just highly experienced with color relationships and layering, through her ink pieces she exemplifies a masterful eye of proportion, shape, and balance – especially when it comes to nature. These pieces and many more will be on display at the CW Depot through the month of October. You can also RSVP to the opening night to meet the artist. We are requiring masks be worn inside and encourage you to be vaccinated if you attend this event.
For more artwork, you can check out Sara’s Instagram and Etsy!
