50th Annual Bath County Art Show is July 19 – 27

 

The annual Bath County Art Show opens Saturday and it will be one of the largest yet.  Cathy Singleton is with the Bath County Arts Association and she’s the co-chair for this year’s show.

“This is the 50th Bath County Art Show and we are dedicating it this year to the two women who started the art show back in 1964, that was Elinor Hopkins and Christine Herter Kendall,” says Singleton.  ”And they would be very pleased to see what the art show has become today.”

So far there are 297 regional artists signed up, bringing 820 entries.    

“This year our judge is Al Gury and he is the Chairman of the Painting Department at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts,” says Singleton.  “And we have not had him before, so we’re very excited to have Mr. Gury judge our show this year.”

All the artwork at the show is marked for sale and proceeds benefit the Bath County Arts Association. 

 “The exciting thing for all of us is how it’s evolved over the years,” says Singleton.  “When we first started selling the artwork the most we could do was maybe give out one scholarship to a graduating senior who wanted to further their education in the arts. And now we’re able to support so many programs throughout the county.  The Jazz and Blues Festival, Mountain Valley Players, we bring Children’s Art Network to the schools from Staunton, we offer a field trip to the Taubman Museum in Roanoke to the high school students.  We also offer a trip to Blackfriars Theatre for the senior classes at the high school. We support Mountain Valley Strings, which is a children’s music program that’s several years old now.  Missoula Children’s Theatre happens every year and we’re proud of all those programs that we’re able to be participating in.”

Categories at the Bath County Art Show include oil and acrylic, watercolor, mixed media, charcoal, pastels and graphics, photography and sculpture.

“You know my favorite two days are the two days that we take in artwork because it’s kind of like Christmas,” says Singleton.  “You never know who’s going to show up, you don’t know how many entries there will be or what will come in.   And I enjoy that.  And over the years you make a lot of friends with the artists and they come back and it’s just nice to see them all again.”

The 50th Annual Bath County Art Show runs Saturday, July 19th through Sunday, July 27th  at Valley Elementary School.  It’s open daily from 1 to 5, except on Sunday the 27th when the hours are 10 to 2.  Admission is free.  If you purchase artwork you can pick it up on Sunday, July 27 between 10 and 2.  Donations to the Bath County Arts Association as a patron are tax deductible, but art sales are not.

Story By

Bonnie Ralston

Bonnie Ralston is the Assistant Station Coordinator at WVLS and a Highland County news reporter. She began volunteering at Allegheny Mountain Radio in the fall of 2005. In 2006 she became an AMR employee and worked in Bath County for eight years as the WCHG Station Coordinator and then as the news reporter there. She began working in radio while in college and has stayed connected to radio, in one way or another, for more than thirty years. She grew up in Staunton, Virginia, while spending a lot of time on her family’s farm in Deerfield, Virginia. She enjoys spending time outside, watching old TV shows and movies and tending to her chickens.

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