Artbeat celebrates first anniversary
The Artbeat gallery, located on High Street in Waynesburg, is celebrating its one-year anniversary of showcasing local artisans and their works.
The Artbeat Gallery, located at 52 E. High Street in Waynesburg, recently celebrated its third anniversary of showcasing contemporary art by regional artists.
WAYNESBURG – Shortly after Artisans, an arts and crafts co-op on High Street in Waynesburg, shut its doors in March of 2012, building owner Mark Fischer, spoke to former Artisan members Jim and Linda Winegar about the empty gallery space.
“Mark has an antique shop around the corner and said that he thought having a gallery that showcases contemporary art in close proximity to his antique store makes for a good match,” Linda said.
Fischer asked the Winegars if they might be interested in opening another gallery in the same space. With former involvement in a number of galleries, including the Artists Co-op in Washington, Pa. and another they helped set up in Massachusetts, the couple decided to give Fischer’s request a try.
Both Winegars are potters, and they could have featured only their work in the new gallery. Instead, because they have a lot of friends who are also artists, they decided to include their work as well.
“Besides, as potters, we couldn’t hang our work on the walls, so it made sense to include art that could be hung,” Linda said.
Artbeat, as the gallery is called, had its “soft opening” on July 29 of last year with the work of 30 regional artists on display. Roughly a quarter to a third of the artists are from Greene County, although some hail from as far away as Pittsburgh, West Virginia and central and Eastern Pennsylvania.
Artbeat’s grand opening came on September 28, 2012, a gala affair with food and live entertainment by the Dan Baker Trio in the gallery.
Looking back on the past year, the Winegars said they can pinpoint many highlights of the past 12 months. In February, they staged a special exhibit of Jefferson artist, Kyle Hallam’s assemblage art, made by using a good deal of recycled material into the final creations. In April, the gallery brought in Miriam Rubin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette food and gardening columnist from Wind Ridge, who spoke about her newly released book “Tomatoes.” A Culinary Institute of America graduate, Rubin was the first female to work in the kitchens of the Four Seasons Restaurant.
In conjunction with the July Walk the Chalk First Friday event in Waynesburg, Artbeat opened a show of the paintings of Dave Lesako, an artist from Wind Ridge. Earlier on the day of the opening, Lesako created a chalk drawing of an Indian with a bow and arrow outdoors in a niche in the wall of the gallery.
Recently, Artbeat hosted an evening of poetry readings with Line Assembly, a group of young poets currently traveling the nation. One fortuitous encounter came from a chance meeting at a party with Sandy Liebhold and Jennie Bardwell, who casually mentioned they were opening a bakery in Mt. Morris. The Winegars thought a weekly bake sale at the gallery would be a good fit for both them and the Rising Creek Bakery, as the establishment is called.
“Working together with the bakery, we send out a weekly email letting folks know what will be available at the gallery in the way of specialty breads, quiches, pies, cookies and more” Linda said. “After we order the items for them, they can pick them up here at the gallery on Wednesday. We also order enough goodies to handle any walk-ins that might want to buy something yummy. It’s proven to be a wonderful relationship.”
Linda grew up in Waynesburg and met Jim, a native of the Wexford/Warrendale area, while they were both students at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, they moved to Worcesster, Massachusetts, where Jim took a teaching job.
In 1987, they moved back to Greene County so their then five-year-old daughter, Amanda, could be close to her grandparents, who lived in the county. The Winegars now live in Graysville.
Currently, 57 artists exhibit their work at Artbeat, including several potters other than the Winegars. Works available for purchase include furniture, wood work items, baskets, jewelry, paintings, glass, mosaics, hand made puppets, hand made soap, photography and books by authors such as John Dorean and children’s book writer, Dave Howard.
“One very unique item is the hand made paper by Wellsburg artist, Russell Shaffer, who embeds images into the paper with materials like seaweed, leaves and flower petals,” Linda said.
As they have in the past, the Winegars still take their pottery to craft shows, but now that they have the gallery they don’t go to as many.
“In thinking back on the past year, I find the wealth of the creative spirit of our artists to be inspiring,” Jim said. “We opened the door last year with about 30 artists and have doubled that number now displayed in the gallery. While the economy in general has stagnated, it seems our artist community has revved up their creative efforts and contributed magnificent works that now grace the walls and displays at Artbeat.”
“One of the encouraging things that has happened at Artbeat is the number of people that have discovered us. The Greene County community has been very supportive from the day we opened the doors, but we have also seen an incredible variety of people visiting from states all up and down the eastern seaboard and other regions across the country. People personally spreading the word about the gallery has been very effective, but we also have benefited from the efforts of the Pennsylvania Welcome Center, Greene County Tourism, Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful and the support of the local media.”
As Artbeat co-owners, the Winegars take turns manning the gallery, which is open every day but Sunday. The long hours do take time away from their own pottery making activity, but they still find time to create their art while at home.
“We’re glad to be able to have a place where local residents can buy art without having to drive all the way to Pittsburgh and beyond,” Linda said.
For more information, call Artbeat at 724-883-9058.