On Friday, June 2nd from 5:00pm-7:00pm, we are thrilled to host a First Fridays Gallery Opening at The Depot featuring artistVeronica Horst! Veronica is a talented artist with experience in a wide range of mediums. Their exhibition ‘Stitched in Place‘ brings together embroidery, watercolor, pen and ink, 3D canvas elements, and interviews to create interactive portraits that tell the story of each individual’s connection to a space. Join us to welcome Veronica and to enjoy food, refreshments, and community. Also don’t miss our other featured artist, Asha L Beck for her exhibition “The Earth on Our Backs”.
Below they share more about their work and journey as an artist, and you can view the online gallery and expanded artist statement here.
Veronica Horst (they/she) graduated in May 2023 from Eastern Mennonite University with Bachelor’s degrees in Art and Psychology. Originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they have enjoyed living in Harrisonburg and exploring the Shenandoah Valley. Veronica values experimentation as part of the artistic process and has utilized mediums including ceramics, stained glass, wire, fabric, charcoal, paint, and stitching. They created and displayed their first mixed media series entitled “Stitched in Place” this Spring as their senior thesis project at EMU. Although the pieces being displayed are not for sale to the public, commissions are open for anyone interested in a map portrait of their own!
This event is free and open to everyone. Snacks and refreshments will be served and we look forward to seeing you there! See the event page and RSVP here.
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 anytime and get a tour the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
On Friday, May 5th from 5:00pm-7:00pm, we are thrilled to host a First Fridays Gallery Opening at The Depot featuring artist Bill Del Gallo. Bill is a talented artist, specializing in acrylic paints and pours of cosmic colors. Join us to welcome Bill and to enjoy food, refreshments, and community. You do not want to miss the dazzling array of colors in his artwork. Below he shares more about his work and journey as an artist.
Dozer’s Cosmic Creations is an art experience created by Bill Del Gallo, a local to Harrisonburg, VA growing up in the Broadway area.
Dozer’s Cosmic Creations specializes in fluid art using various techniques such as Flip Cup, Open Pours, Dutch Pours, and Swiping. All acrylic paints are mixed with latex-based pouring mediums, then applied to canvas and manipulated by tilting, spinning, and even through use of a blowtorch to achieve these exquisite cosmic and psychedelic inspired pieces. Many pieces are also UV reactive or glow-in-the-dark to give them more depth and reveal alternate images within each creation.
Bill took up this hobby in preparation for double heel surgery and was taught by his good friend Brad Robbins of Louisa, Virginia an independent artist in his own right. Since 2019, Bill has been a featured artist online, at local breweries, and in art festivals. He does commissioned work and sells his own private creations as well.
This event is free and open to everyone. Snacks and refreshments will be served and we look forward to seeing you there! See the event page and RSVP here.
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 anytime and get a tour the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
First Fridays Downtown has been going strong all year, and we are excited to feature artist Joey Truxell for our first gallery opening of 2023 at the Depot on Friday, April 7th, from 5:00pm-7:00pm. Join us in welcoming this multi-talented artist. He shares about his work and journey as an artist below:
Joey Truxell is a father, husband and philanthropist who resides in his hometown of Waynesboro, Virginia. His passion is creating art that aims to make people reflect, reminisce and challenge the way they see art.
He began his journey as a young artist in 1974. Joey has worked as a graphic designer, muralist, fashion illustrator, wedding dress designer, book illustrator, freelance illustrator and painter. He graduated from VCU with a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1991 with a focus in figurative illustration.
The gallery “FACES and PLACES”:
“Working primarily in acrylics, it is my goal to capture the light. It is the light that tells the whole story. In a matter of minutes a brightly colored landscape can become a dark silhouetted mass framed by the setting sun. When it comes to people or animals the light is inside them. As an artist, pulling the light out of each subject is the focus. I use color, shadows and imagery in my pursuit to find the light in every piece.”
“Art should both challenge and inspire the viewer.”
Joey Truxell
This event is free and open to everyone. Snacks and refreshments will be served and we look forward to seeing you there! See the event page and RSVP here.
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 anytime and get a tour the Depot! We will have food and drink available!
We absolutely love supporting and partnering with Red Wing Academy each year. The students get the amazing experience of learning from area musical experts and some of my favorite people ever. Red Wing Academy is hosted by Eric Brubaker of The Steel Wheels as a four-day intensive camp held in June at Eastern Mennonite University. These campers then get a chance to perform on stage at Red Wing Roots Music Festival on June 23rd.
The camp is open to non-beginners that play violin, viola, cello, bass, guitar, mandolin, and banjo from age 5 – 19. Student have individual and group instruction from an amazing array of teachers and get to play some incredible music together. I have attended their week ending performance at EMU several times and always make a point to see them at Red Wing Roots Music Festival.
Gaines Group Architects sponsors the camp each year as a way to support the next generation of musicians in our community. A focus on musical instruction not only teaches kids how to play, but studies have shown that it accelerates brain development in young children, particularly in the areas of the brain that are responsible for processing sound, language development, speech perception, and reading skills.
Next in our lineup of creators participating the First Friday holiday gallery opening is Lynn Adams. Lynn is excited to partake in the festivities and will be sharing her handmade wool and wood turned items.
First Friday Artist, Lynn Adams
Lynn and her family have lived in the Harrisonburg area since 1981, except for a a short time in 2011-2013. They have been involved in Boy Scouts, the church and the Builders Association for many of those years.
She has always enjoyed crafting and working with her hands. She has worked on a range of projects from costumes to wood projects. During Covid, she was in search of something new to learn. She had worked with fabric, yarns, and glass and needed a new challenge. She found needle felted wool and wood turning.
Both are using what is found in nature and that helps bring out its own personality. The wool is naturally dyed and 100% organic. The wood is what we can find from here or from friends, or traded with other wood turners. She sometimes uses acrylics in some of the turnings to add interest and variety.
Be sure to come out to meet Lynn and enjoy all of the vendors, live music, and visits with Santa on December 2nd, from 5:00-7:00 pm. Find the event page and RSVP here. And in case you missed it, read up on the other vendors who will be sharing their work here, here, and here.
Laurence Heine is among the talented group of creators contributing to our First Friday holiday event and gallery opening on December 2nd at the Depot. Laurence has previously shown his work at the Depot and we are grateful to have him return! Get to know Laurence and his photography in his biography below.
Sunset Beach Sunrise, photo captured at Sunset Beach, NC
“I have been interested in photography since childhood, when I mostly photographed railroads and steam engines – I remember my first camera was a plastic Kodak box camera. I was a photographer for my high school and college yearbooks and my college newspaper, and for two years I was the college yearbook photographic editor.
Over the years I have amassed boxes of slides and photos, many of which have never been looked at. Since switching to digital cameras, I have also taken thousands of digital images (more than 2000 images during an 18-day trip to National Parks in the west in 2015).
I am primarily interested in photographing nature and scenery, ranging from butterflies and insects to sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, waterfalls, wildlife, and scenic panoramas. I also enjoy photographing ‘distressed’ (as in abandoned or forlorn) buildings and objects and am now doing a lot of macro (extreme close-up) photography.
My desire is to capture specific moments or scenes that are meaningful to me, so I can share those moments or scenes so others can enjoy them too, whether by displaying a mounted and framed print or by sharing them online.
I mount and frame my best or favorite photographs so others can appreciate them, too. I have displayed photos at the Rockingham County Fair, The Smith House Gallery, Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, in the offices of Dr. Stacie Dietz and Appalachian Physical Therapy, at The Gaines Group Architects, and at the Staunton Innovation Hub. I received two First Place awards in the 2018 Rockingham County Fair and a First and a Second Place award in the 2022 Rockingham County Fair.
Because almost every photo has a story, my wife, Beverly, and I started a photo blog (www.blinspirations.com) featuring some of our photos and describing the circumstances which led to the photo being taken, as well as information about the location of the photo and some technical aspects of the photo.”
