May 14^th Second Friday Art Walk with an opening and artist reception for Texture Artistry by local quilter and artist Marilyn Hower and ceramicist/painter Lindsey Kincaid from 5 until 8pm.  Pickin’ on the Porch, sponsored by The Bank of Marion, starts at 6 pm and features a free live musical performance. Listeners are urged to bring bag chairs or blankets for lawn seating. The concert will be moved inside in inclement weather.

Marilyn Hower has lived in Marion, Virginia for almost twenty-five years, and began quilting in 1985.  After exhibiting and teaching fiber art throughout the Southeast, Hower worked as a Resident Studio Artist at the William King Museum in Abingdon, Virginia during 1996-2000.  After taking an introductory drawing class in the Emory and Henry Art Department in 2006, she enrolled as an Art Major, and received a second Bachelor of Arts degree in May 2009.  Hower is currently employed by Emory and Henry College as curator of The 1912 Gallery and arts assistant for the Visual and Performing Arts Division.

According to Hower, “My work is a marriage between paint and fiber. I mix and pour or scrape acrylic paint directly onto plain cotton canvas or fabric until I am satisfied with the newly created image. I then embroider rayon, cotton and silk threads (with my sewing machine or by hand) onto the canvas to enhance the painted image.  In some pieces I reverse this process or repeat these steps until the composition is resolved. My work is influenced by my life long love of needle arts and my goal is to create an artistic liaison between the two media.”

Lindsey Kinkaid, a resident of Damascus, Virginia and graduate of Emory and Henry College, focused her training on ceramic art, collage, and painting. Kincaid’s art captures the textures she sees around her in a stylistic composition to draw in the view and invite them to discover new experiences upon successive viewings.  Kinkaid explains her work, “Within each piece is a separate segment of art that I have pulled together to create something new and captivating. Painting is the whole process of creating the composition not just the final product. The creation is always evolving.”

Paintings by Holly Thomas, a new member of the Appalachian Spirit Artists Association, as well as recent work by other gallery artists will also be on display. The gallery’s exhibit of local talent includes: Ned Johnson, CiCi Brown Vesce, Duane Cregger, William Fields, Avery Cornett, Tracy Thompson, Sylvia Richardson, David Fields, Marilynn Peacock, Terry Hayden, and Suzan Sukle.  Paintings range from traditional to impressionist, landscapes to landmarks, oils, acrylics, digital giclée and mixed media. Other work includes jewelry design, fabric art, photography, stained glass, fused glass jewels, mosaics, and “green” handicrafts.