#worldtelevisionday exists to bring awareness and acknowledge the power television has, in 1996 when this holiday was first created it was to bring attention to the effect television had on decision-making by spreading information. While television is important to understand what is happening in society, we decided to look at the fun side of television.
In honor of #worldtelevisionday our team is sharing their most binge-worthy shows to get you through the weekend! Through the pandemic, television has become a more crucial part of our lives, no one can say they haven’t spent an entire night binging their new favorite show. The pandemic highlighted just how important media is to people, and how it can actually work to keep us sane through hard times. While we are all one cohesive team we have very different tastes in what television shows we watch in our free time. Deborah love spooky mysteries, and of course, Charles is all about the classics.
From spooky murder mysteries to sweet baking shows we all define binge-worthy in our own way. Maybe our favorite shows will be your next weekend obsession?
In honor of #nationalsandwichday our team is celebrating by ordering takeout from Lola’s and enjoying a delicious lunch together! While national sandwich day exists to honor the inventor of the sandwich (John Montagu) we are taking this time to take a breather and enjoy quality time with one another.
And if you are curious about some of the best sandwiches in Harrisonburg, we have attached our Lola’s order for those who would like their own piece of #nationalsandwichday.
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.
Our very own Deborah Smith has begun her leadership training through LHR here in Harrisonburg Virginia! Founded in 1979 this program strives to encourage aspiring leaders to grow in communication skills and encourage community involvement through monthly sessions. We are incredibly proud that our introverted architect survived a full day of team-building activities, and learned and retained more names than ever before thanks to the help of those games!
The first session of the program was held at Horizon’s Edge and focused on team building within the cohort and identifying qualities of good leaders and teams. The day was filled with group activities that helped everyone get to know each other and also taught lessons on communication, working in large and small groups and leadership. The activities ranged from rock, paper, scissors tournaments where everyone that lost had to cheer on the winners (Deborah won a round!), to building towers out of spaghetti and marshmallows (she also won!).
Throughout the duration of these activities, it was important to listen and understand the leadership style of every single person involved. While some were more naturally inclined to step forward to lead the group, others held back while still offering helpful advice on how to improve strategy. Overall these exercises proved just how important it is to make your entire team feel heard and appreciated, especially through group challenges. Afterwards, the teams sat down and reflected on their core values and discussed how vital small and large decisions can be to the end goal at hand.
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!
