On Friday, June 2nd from 5:00pm-7:00pm, we are thrilled to host a First Fridays Gallery Opening at The Depot featuring artistAsha L Beck! Asha is a talented artist who is also on staff here at The Gaines Group Architects as the Office Manager/Marketing Team Leader. Join us to view her powerful photo exhibition entitled “The Earth On Our Backs” and to enjoy food, refreshments, and community. Also don’t miss our other featured artist, Veronica Horst for her own exhibition “Stitched In Place”.
Below Asha shares more about her work and journey as an artist, and you can view the online gallery and expanded artist statement here. Contact her if interested in reading her full length thesis.
A local from the nearby Linville area, Asha L Beck (she/her) is a recent graduate of Eastern Mennonite University with a Bachelor’s in Digital Media & Communications. She also currently works as the Office Manager/Marketing Team Leader for The Gaines Group Architects and spends many of her evenings painting the mural in the EMU Science Center. Asha loves to dabble in a wide range of art forms including watercolor, ink sketches, ceramics, photography, graphic design, and dance. She is drawn to art forms again and again as a way of expression and story-telling.
“The Earth on Our Backs” weaves bodily experience with natural forms to create a definition of beauty that is rooted in inherent power from the earth. It exposes beauty as an interplay between forms that are more similar than we might imagine. Instead of seeing ourselves in nature or seeing nature in us, we can see that nature is us and we are nature.
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, 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!
“Growing up in extremely rural Virginia, I have always been inspired by my number one muse, nature, and the materials that are derived from it. After working in a jewelry-crafting supply store in Richmond, I began making jewelry about 10 years ago because simply put, I wanted to make original things for myself that nobody else had. Earth Metals has been the slow-developing process of turning the hand-crafted items I make and sell to friends into a tiny side business and regular hobby. I try to use natural materials when I can and have a penchant for using recycled materials as well. My work is a sum of multiple influences, from my deep fondness for the outdoors to the slight obsession with all things celestial. The literature and music that I love weave their way into my work. Death and its beautiful, rightful place in the cycle of nature is also something I’ve always pondered; you’ll see that theme reflected in my work as well. I am obviously an ardent fan of skeletons. I try not to take my art too seriously; I create for the pure and simple joy of creating. “
J. Nicole Clatterbuck is a sometimes-jewelry designer, sometimes-nature photographer, educator, caretaker, writer, and freelance music booking agent in the Shenandoah Valley. She’s also an avid reader, a mediocre painter, traveler, and a passionate outdoors explorer. She has lived in a number of stunning places but will always count herself lucky to consider Virginia “home.”
Nicole Clatterbuck will be a featured artist at Christmas at the Depot, to RSVP to this event checkhere. Or to learn more about the other featured artists at this event check out Lorie Mier, and Tony Distefano.
