How do you throw an art happening in a time of quarantine and pandemic?
Here’s how: Install art by five up-and-coming West Virginia artists at Taylor Books art gallery in Charleston, WV; invite beloved performer/actress and West Virginia native Ann Magnuson to introduce the event; and throw open the doors—virtually—on a most unconventional ZOOM gathering from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.,Thursday, October 15.
In other words, ‘Prepare for a Party, Not a Meeting,’ as Tamarack Foundation for the Arts (TFA) celebrates and showcases the work of its five 2020 Emerging Artist Fellows: Jessie McClanahan; Psychoflauge, Jes Reger Davis, Jaci Rice, and Nevada Tribble.
People can RSVP/register for the event at TamarackFoundation.org/EAFShow
“We’ll be playing with the whole notion of a ZOOM gathering,” says TFA executive director Renee Margocee. “Some ‘rooms’ will include the artists, live, and available for chatting. Others will feature video visits with the art itself. Others will include background about this year’s group of some of West Virginia’s finest emerging artists.”
Each year, TFA looks out across the hills and valleys, the towns and hollers, of West Virginia, and chooses five artists to showcase in that year, while also helping them to build sustainable businesses around their creative passions.
“We put no limits on the definition of an ‘emerging artist’ in West Virginia,” said Margocee. “They may be any age and do any style of work. They just must be exceptional at what they do, whether with a brush, scissors, videoscreen or whichever way they create art.”
Below are profiles of the 2020 EA Fellows. In the weeks ahead, TFA will announce how to apply to become a 2021 Emerging Artist Fellow. Watch for a special announcement of the person chosen as the 2021 West Virginia Master Artist, another TFA program, which celebrates lifelong achievement in the arts. Stay in touch with those announcements through the website: tamarackfoundation.org and via a free newsletter at: tamarackforthearts.substack. com.
