FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – 3/18/10
Morgan Arts Council • Berkeley Springs, WV
Press contact only: Tricia Strader • southernbellets@juno.com
Or Mary Hott: 304-258-2300
CIVIL WAR GALLERY SHOW IN BERKELEY SPRINGS
BERKELEY SPRINGS, WV ---- Civil War images both historic and contemporary fill the Gallery and Paradox Room at the Ice House in Berkeley Springs in a show opening with a special reception on Friday, March 26 at 7:30pm. The exhibit hangs through May 2 and is produced by the Morgan Arts Council.
Friday’s special reception follows an Artwalk that starts with a special reception at Mountain Laurel Gallery from 5 to 7:30pm.
Valor in the Valley, curated by Tricia Lynn Strader, marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in the region especially Stonewall Jackson’s 1862 Bath-Romney Campaign. An accompanying exhibit, John Brown: 19th century sketches by David Hunter Strother adds another dimension to the gallery show.
Dozens of items are on exhibit for Valor including paintings, sketches, woodwork, quilts and photography. An award-winning living historian and writer, Strader wanted an exhibit both educational and inspiring. “Besides art, the show will also have original textiles and reproductions of items Civil War soldiers may have had with them,” said Strader.
Artists represented are a Who’s Who of Civil War artists including limited edition signed and numbered prints and giclees on canvas by John Paul Strain, Bradley Schmehl and Mort Kunstler, praised as the premier historical artist in America. “These men bring not only military but the homefront to life in a way that stirs the senses, almost putting us right in the room or situation,” said Strader. She credits authorized area dealer, Framing Matters, with making their work available.
Other artists include watercolorist, Ellen Russell; woodworker, Frank Strader; and quilter, Ann Kessel of Shepherdstown. Two photographers use special techniques to capture the mood of the war including Tim Johnson's ghost photography, and Earl Mills’ digitally mastered images.
Berkeley Springs artist, Earle Andrews breaks from his standard themes to create a special watercolor of the Bath-Romney Campaign for the show. Last Stand at Cold Run depicts a Confederate soldier's struggle during the campaign in Bath of 1862. “His fellow Confederates now dead…..this soldier struggles to make it back to his unit on the other side of the ridge. But first he has to survive getting there, and the Yanks on the other side of Cold Run Valley have different thoughts,” commented Andrews about his artwork.
The collection of original sketches and eyewitness accounts of John Brown’s trial by David Hunter Strother, is the most unique documentation of this important event. Strother was a popular artist and writer of the day who lived in Berkeley Springs for much of his life. Strother arrived in Harpers Ferry within 36 hours of the 1859 raid, gained close contact with Brown and made many sketches of Brown and his men at that time and then later during Brown’s trial and execution. The Strother exhibit is on loan from the West Virginia University Regional Collection.
Period music is featured in a concert by the Civil War Comrades on Saturday, April 10 at 7:30pm at the Ice House. As a prelude to the concert, local reenactors from the 5th Virginia Volunteer Infantrystage a Living History Encampment with Demonstrations on the Ice House lawn during the day.
The curated gallery exhibit is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the West Virginia Commission on the Arts, West Virginia Humanities Council and hotel/motel tax revenues. The Ice House is located on the corner of Independence and Mercer. Gallery hours are Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. For more information call 258-2300 or check online at www.macicehouse.org.
