ART BY NIGHT

ART BY NIGHT

Ron of Elite Limousine Service escorts Debi Stump to the car

How lucky I am to live in a city with a vibrant art community like that here in Roanoke -- especially since I'm an artist. Tonight was "Art by Night," which is held the first Thursday of each month. One of the unique features of this event is a limousine service that takes you from gallery to gallery absolutely free. Where else can you find that?! The participating galleries allow the patrons to spend the evening viewing unique art while enjoying fabulous food and drink.

Here I am emerging from the limo with our historic H&C Coffee sign in the background

The gallery I'm associated with is Center in the Square. We are centrally located in the historic farmers' market. I'm a bit prejudiced, but I would have to say that our gallery has many works that are competitive with almost anything you'd find in galleries in a much larger city. I wish I could focus on each of the artists who have work in the gallery, but time does not allow. Featured here are a few of the many talented artists.

Ursula Dilley

Ursula attends the Savannah College of Art and Design. She has just returned from spending eight weeks studying printmaking and art history at SCAD-La Coste, the school's French campus.

Ric Stump

Ric Stump is a cabinet maker who restores furniture and creates unique wood tables. He also makes urns for pet ashes. He explained that he started making the urns at the request of a friend whose dog had died. He uses drainspouts from St. Vincent's Orphanage, a now-closed facility previously located on the Roanoke Catholic School campus.

One of Greg Ballou's paintings

Greg Ballou specializes in mixed-media paintings. I fell in love with the one shown above.

Brian Sal Corral

Sal works in mixed media, too. Here, he's shown with one of his unusual works depicting the evolution of life. Hearing Sal discuss his work and philosophy of art is worth a trip to the gallery for that alone.

In this piece by Katherine Devine, you can almost feel the circling energy

Meridith Entingh, on the left, with a customer admiring one of her beautiful woven scarves

Janet Wimmer, shown here with one of her paintings of a scene from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Gene Barfield’s photograph of Cinque Terre

You have to come by the gallery to hear Gene tell you how he was "forced" to stay in the pink "casa" at the top of the hill with a breeze coming through his window and a view to die for.

Here I am with some of my work

Last but not least, the founder of our gallery, Deborah Goglia, shown here with some of her vibrant photographs

All of the food for "Art by Night" is provided by the artists. My Caesar Pasta Salad disappeared quickly. I had many requests for the recipe which I will post in a few days. It was a fun, successful night.