Playwright and Performer

• JLP Productions, owner
• DC Black Theatre Festival, committee member

Lynchburg Living Editor Shelley Basinger: Jennifer, you have a very long history in the area’s theater community—particularly writing your own original plays. When did you first develop a love for the stage?
Jennifer Petticolas: I worked behind the scenes doing set design and building sets while attending Livingstone College
in Salisbury, North Carolina. When I declared my English major, my dean said, “Are you sure you don’t want to do theater?”

He saw something in me then that I didn’t see. But I chose English because I have always enjoyed writing and especially creative writing. That love started at Dunbar High School in Lynchburg, with Mrs. Jordan and Mr. Watson.

SB: Where did life take you with that English degree?
JP: After finishing college, I got a teaching job at a junior high school in Baltimore.

I had been teaching three or four years when the faculty wanted to do a play about the history of our country and incorporate some dance into it, so I volunteered to write it. That was the first play that I wrote, and it really piqued my interest.

SB: When did you return to Lynchburg? And did you get involved in theater right away?
JP: I came back to Lynchburg in 1976. I remember my oldest daughter was trying out to be in Annie and told me, “Mom, I want to be Annie.” I told her I didn’t know if they would cast her in that role, and she ended up being casted as one of the orphans. She said, “Well, if I can’t be Annie, I’m going to be the best dancing orphan up there.” I thought if she can do it, I can do it too! Later on, I was cast in For Colored Girls and started getting involved with the Fine Arts Center (now Academy Center of the Arts).

SB: Since then, you’ve written numerous plays that have gotten acclaim both locally and beyond. What are some of your favorites?
JP: One piece that I was most proud of focused on suicide awareness. A friend, Kim Kittrell, came to me and told me about how her daughter, a former E.C. Glass student, had committed suicide at college. She wanted to get the message out that there is help for people who are struggling with depression. I did an interview with Kim, which was a very difficult process. She talked about her daughter being a dancer and how her daughter always felt like every woman should have a little black dress. I titled the play that, Little Black Dress, to symbolize a sophisticated woman and also, depression. I also got help from the medical community to make sure we were giving out the right message. This play has been performed in Virginia, Maryland and D.C. The Campbell County Branch of the NAACP presented us with an award for the play.

Another favorite is Sunday’s Child, a play I wrote for Johnson Medical Center about the life of Dr. Robert Walter Johnson.

I did a lot of research for that one, including interviewing about 30 or 40 people on the telephone and visiting his grandson’s house in Maryland.

SB: You also have focused on black history through the years. Most recently, “People Died: The Struggle for African American Voting Rights” was shown at the Lynchburg Museum.
JP: That was a little different than a play, six short monologues highlighting six real-life individuals who died fighting for African American voting rights in the ’60s. After we did that Lynchburg City Council Member Sterling Wilder came to me and said, “That lit a fire under me.” It just feels good to know that you are making a difference, causing people to think differently. That has been my whole purpose.

SB: Could we see anything new from you in the coming year?
JP: Suga is a play I started working on a few years ago. It’s about a husband and wife—the husband has diabetes and high blood pressure—and how his health affects their sex life. I’ve thought about taking that off the shelf. When George Floyd was killed, I started working on a piece about Floyd and Emmett Till.

It feels like I’m always working on something!

SB: Finally, what advice do you have for aspiring playwrights?
JP: Just keep pushing. You have a story in you, I think we all have stories in us. Write those stories. If you need help, reach out.

Get in Touch:
Email Jennifer at jlp7139@yahoo.com
or send her a message on Facebook.

Mosaic Artist

Lynchburg Living Editor Shelley Basinger: Dotti, there are very few people teaching and specializing in mosaics. How did you develop an interest for it?
Dotti Stone: Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s,
I started doing some stained glass commission work while having a career doing portraits, weddings, and corporate photography in Northern Virginia and D.C. until 2005. In the early 2000s, when I went to visit a cousin in Rochester, we went to an art show and I saw some mosaics there. I thought, “This is kind of interesting,” so I started taking some classes.

SB: What intrigued you the most about mosaics?
DS: The history of it goes back so far, thousands of years, and it’s such a solid, durable artform. There are a lot of excavations going on in parts of the world, and they uncover these magnificent floors. That’s what I love about mosaics. You can make things that go on the wall, sculptural works, or, in some cases, you can walk on them. It became a passion of mine to get this out to people, to appreciate the history and enjoy it as an art form.

SB: You are able to do that through your mosaics classes at Bower Center for the Arts in Bedford.
DS: Yes, I teach beginner kids all of the way up to more experienced adults. A lot of people enjoy just taking a pot and putting a lot of different colors on it. But in all of my classes, I try to get more into the art form of it. Even with kids, they like to play with things, but they like to see something that takes on some shape.

SB: What is one of your favorite pieces you’ve created so far?
DS: “Breaking Down the Barriers to Cultural Diversity” is one of my favorites (see photo at top). It was a part of the Immigration exhibit the Bower Center hosted last year. When we did that exhibit, we had no idea what kind of response we would get. But it was very well received.

SB: And coordinating exhibits like that one is another role you play at the Bower Center?
DS: I’ve been associated with the Center since 2009 or a little before. I started teaching a class at that point. Then, somewhere along the way I became the exhibits manager. There is an exhibit committee, and we plan what exhibits we are going to have. Several years ago, Bower Center began reaching out to artists in other states to participate in one or two annual national juried exhibits, in order to diversify the artwork the community can enjoy in addition to following their favorite local and regional artists.

SB: What are you working on now?
DS: I’ve been working on a mandolin that I’ve had for ages. I mosaicked a travel guitar and a violin. At one point, I wanted to do a cello, until I realized how many square feet I would be working with!

SB: That would be a LOT of work! How do you plan out your mosaics?
DS: I usually start with a few sketches, but when I want to be able to move or resize one or more components without constantly redrawing, using a computer facilitates these design changes, experimenting with color, plus enlarging to the final size to make a “cartoon,” which is mosaic vocabulary for the pattern.

SB: Seems like patience is important if you are interested in mosaics.
DS: It does take a long time to complete a piece, and you do have to have patience. The time doesn’t matter if it’s really something you are just drawn to and, as warn I my students, it’s very easy to get hooked on mosaics.

Get in Touch d.stone@bowercenter.org

How a Stunning Portrait of a Lynchburg Icon Will Help LOCAL Students

When award-winning Lynchburg artist Kevin Chadwick attended an Old City Cemetery Candlelight Tour two years ago, he had no idea he would be walking away with the inspiration for his next painting. “The actor playing Blind Billy sitting on his stool looked like a painting to me,” Chadwick recalls.

Blind Billy, beloved Lynchburg fifer, was born a slave in 1805 and died a free man in 1855 after members of the Lynchburg community collected funds to purchase his freedom. His impressive musical prowess, displayed at balls and parties and on street corners, endeared him to the community and ultimately secured his freedom before he passed. Chadwick couldn’t stop thinking about Blind Billy and how he wanted to make sure this resilient character was a permanent piece of Lynchburg’s history.

“Upon hearing his story, I was hooked and came back the next week at dusk to ask the startled actor if I could photograph him,” Chadwick says. “He played the part so well that I could feel Blind Billy’s love and connection he had to his flute playing.”

That actor was Chris Evans, a highly involved member of the local theater community. Evans had no reference of Blind Billy before playing the role but says he used his perception of the time period as well as historical anecdotes to represent him as best he could. “People enjoyed his company. He was someone they benefitted from so they wanted him around. But I think not being able to see his environment was his benefit. It also was easier for people to accept him. He wasn’t intimidating,” Evans explained.

The painting took several weeks to complete, and Chadwick notes that the scene was a product of his imagination. “I imagined a darkened room with a fire going and Blind Billy quietly playing his flute,” he says. “Warm tones were used with bits of wallpaper to give me the chance to paint more patterns.”

Before painting Blind Billy, Chadwick already had experience painting Black individuals. “I had an old photo of a laughing woman in my files and every time I came across it, it made me smile,” he says. “Seeing it again years ago, I decided to paint it and posted it on Facebook. To my surprise, it got the most likes out of any of my earlier works and I thought that maybe I had hit on something. My technique has progressed through the years and more and more I find an invigorating challenge in capturing the likeness using all the beautiful tones and highlights found in painting dark skin.”

Combining oil paints and water-based paints poses an additional challenge, but it is one that Chadwick relishes. “It is a bit of a balance since the skin tones are in oils and the patterns are in flat water-based paints,” he notes. “Until the oil work is done at the end of the process, the paintings sometimes look flat. Painting the faces and hands brings the painting to life in a wonderful and sometimes surprising way.”

Chadwick’s exquisite portrait of Blind Billy is valued at $12,000 and could easily be displayed in a museum, but he chose instead to donate it to the Lynchburg Beacon of Hope and Lynchburg Art Club “Art for Achievement” event in November. The hybrid virtual event includes a live art auction featuring eight pieces of art, as well as a silent auction. Proceeds from the event will support Lynchburg Beacon of Hope’s college and career access work for thousands of Lynchburg City Schools students and help fund “Stay Close, Go Far” scholarships. “Stay Close, Go Far” provides free community college or a scholarship to one of Beacon of Hope’s local college or technical school partners for hundreds of LCS graduates from 2019-2024.

“With all of the violence and injustice happening on our streets these days, I felt I had to do something—and that permanent change can only happen with education,” says Chadwick. “The donation of ‘Blind Billy’ is a tremendous gift to our event this year,” says Joan Foster, Development Director of Lynchburg Beacon of Hope. “It is extremely important to our history in Lynchburg and to Lynchburg Beacon of Hope’s mission to tear down the barriers for young people that prevent them from achieving education and training after high school.”

Fittingly, Lynchburg Beacon of Hope originated in 2011 as a direct result of the City of Lynchburg’s Dialogue on Race and Racism in 2009 and 2010.

“The education sub-committee of these talks birthed the idea that any student who graduated from a Lynchburg City School would be supported to go on to post-secondary education by this community regardless of their GPA, economic status, or zip code in our city,” Foster says. “Beacon of Hope strives to empower and equip Lynchburg’s young people to seek higher education by building a pathway between high school and higher education.”

To help facilitate this mission, Beacon of Hope operates three privately-funded “Future Centers”: one at E.C. Glass High School, one at Heritage High School, and one at Central Virginia Community College. These centers provide mentoring, assistance in learning and practicing study skills, and much more.

Last year’s inaugural “Art for Achievement” event was a great success, and Laura Hamilton, Executive Director of Lynchburg Beacon of Hope, believes this year’s hybrid virtual event could be even more fruitful. “The Lynchburg community is an extraordinarily philanthropic one,” she says. “We have already seen some long-time events find their way into the ‘virtual space’ and we are hopeful that as our passion for supporting our young people has not waned during the pandemic, neither will the community’s passion for supporting our work.”

The partnership between Lynchburg Beacon of Hope and the Lynchburg Art Club imbues these “Art for Achievement” events with a strong sense of community. “‘Art for Achievement’ truly represents the home-grown nature of Lynchburg, as the Lynchburg Art Club was founded in 1895 by the then-Supervisor of Art in the Lynchburg Public School System, Bernhard Gutmann,” notes Foster.

Although this year has been challenging in unprecedented ways, events like “Art for Achievement” can provide a sense of hope and forward momentum while also helping us honor the memory of people like Blind Billy, who weathered the strongest of storms while also pursuing his passion.

“Like Lynchburg Beacon of Hope itself, ‘Art for Achievement’ represents the true grassroots nature of the Lynchburg community,” says Hamilton. “Artists coming together, young people coming together, philanthropists coming together—this collective of individuals can and will make a tremendous impact on the community now and for decades to come. It is an honor to be able to play a small role in community transformation, one painting and one student at a time.”

Kuumba Dance Ensemble Continues to Thrive During Pandemic
Photography by Ashlee Glen

The beat of the drums was powerful and hypnotic and seemed intrinsically connected to the dancers leaping and gesturing adeptly across the floor. Dressed in beautiful, bright costumes, the performers seemed focused but also free. Their unified movements indicated that they had clearly rehearsed rigorously for this performance, but there was an easy exuberance in their presentation that created a relaxed, yet dazzling, environment—you couldn’t take your eyes away from them.

I first saw the Kuumba Dance Ensemble perform in 2018 at the Lynchburg Public Library, where I work as a youth services library assistant. On that day, there was someone else behind the scenes who caught my eye as well. Directing the dance routine was ensemble founder Sheron White. Her pride in her students was a joyous thing to witness. I was immediately struck by her positive and infectious energy and by the camaraderie she had fostered within the company. I knew then that I wanted to be part of this extraordinary group, and I got my chance to do so the following year.

Last fall, I had the privilege of participating in White’s Adult Afro-Caribbean dance class through Lynchburg Parks and Recreation. She and the other members of Kuumba made me feel so welcome and encouraged me to express myself at a time in my life when I really needed an outlet to do so. It was one of the best and most freeing experiences of my life, and I cannot thank Sheron enough. It is an honor to share a piece of her story and spotlight the important work she’s doing in our community.

White had a strong and varied dance background before eventually focusing on African dance in the mid-80s. In 1986, she moved from Lynchburg to Baltimore, where she taught dance at several middle schools and joined an African dance company. Her dance teacher suggested that she visit Africa, and she did so in 1996.

“My professor said, ‘You cannot teach African dance unless you go to Africa.’ So I went to Senegal, West Africa,” White recalls. “I learned so much. The culture in Africa was so amazing and accepting.”

Upon her return to the U.S., White moved to a different dance company in D.C. and became a principal dancer. She ultimately decided to move back to Lynchburg in 2013 and established Kuumba Dance Ensemble in 2017.

Kuumba was originally called “Lynchburg Afro-Caribbean Dance Ensemble,” but White found the name clunky and decided to change it.

“The reason I named it ‘Kuumba’ is because when I went to Africa, they named me ‘Kuumba’,” says White. “At first, I hated that name! We had a naming ceremony and everyone else got these cool names—I can’t remember what they were—but I got ‘Kuumba’? Well, that was my own inability to understand what that name meant. It means creativity. Come on, Sheron!”

Over the past three years, Kuumba has grown from four adult dancers and one drummer to about 40 dancers—30 of which are children—and seven drummers. A partnership with Lynchburg Parks and Recreation and the aid of donors such as the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation have added to the ensemble’s momentum, and even a global pandemic hasn’t slowed it down.

“We wanted to engage our children and keep them motivated during the pandemic,” White says. To that end, White connected with a hip-hop instructor from Alabama who offered virtual hip-hop classes for Kuumba students twice a week.

Kuumba also participated in the Academy Center of the Arts’ Juneteenth 2020: An Exercise in Resilience event on June 19. The live-streamed event, which was put on by the Academy, the Juneteenth Coalition, and The Listening, Inc., featured several Black artists, performers, and local figures.

“The pandemic was in full bloom, so we practiced in my backyard,” notes White. “We were limited to ten people. It was difficult, but we made it happen.”

Part of the difficulty was learning how to work in masks, which includes practicing proper breathing techniques.

“We actually ended up performing in masks made by Cynthia Hudson, one of our drummers and seamstresses,” says White. “During practices, I always instruct the students to walk away, remove their masks, take deep breaths, and drink lots of water when they get winded.”

Safety is paramount for White, who cares for her 94-year-old mother. “It is huge for me to socially distance and keep things safe for everyone,” she says. “In addition to wearing masks, we take temperatures before classes. When bad things happen, we don’t get discouraged. We problem solve and figure out how to make things work.”

White and other members of Kuumba resumed classes in early July. Participants were able to choose between in-house lessons at Lynchburg Parks and Recreation and online lessons. Kuumba will hold a virtual recital on November 7, and White’s inspiration for the theme of the performance is very close to her heart.

“There is a book written by Mychal Wynn called The Eagles Who Thought They Were Chickens that I used to share with my students when I worked in schools,” White says. “I use this book to help children understand that they can soar and feel good about who they are no matter what other people think. This year, Kuumba is going to draw inspiration from this book to catapult us into talking about the beautiful eagles of Africa and how they soar, and about how when people cut you down, you rise above.”

In preparation for the recital, instructors from Africa will hold virtual dance classes and teach choreography inspired by eagles while White comes up with her own twist on the theme for additional choreography. Although tickets and other details are still in the works, there will be an opportunity to make donations to support Kuumba’s continued growth.

Kuumba also plans to perform at the annual Kwanzaa celebration at Miller Park on December 30 if conditions allow, and White hopes that the celebration will be extended next year. “In 2021, we’re looking at having Kwanzaa celebrations each of the seven days of Kwanzaa,” she says.

As Kuumba continues to adapt and thrive through these unprecedented times, the overarching goal of the group—to spotlight and honor African culture while also supporting and celebrating other cultures—will stay the same.

“I believe that, in Lynchburg, culture matters. Whether the culture is white, Black, Mexican, Asian, or something else, it’s rich here,” says White. “It’s a good idea for us to learn about other cultures. We wouldn’t be afraid of different cultures if we tried to understand where those cultures come from. We [at Kuumba] see what we do as an opportunity to teach people about African culture. When we perform, we hope to provide instruction, share a rich tradition, and show that we are all more alike than unalike. This is my calling.”

Abstract Artist

Lynchburg Living Editor Shelley Basinger: When did you first start painting?
Sunshine Lewis: I started painting in 2008. I had been painting for fun alongside my close college roommate and friend. When she passed away later that year, I had such a deep loss and I kept at it. I realized it was a great outlet for me.

SB: Art is so healing. How did you end up where you are now?
SL: Art found me—I wasn’t looking for it. I believe creativity has the power to heal and is beneficial for everyone. I look back at my art and I’ve grown into my style. It has evolved and changed over time just like I have. It’s been a great tool and a gift to me. I’ve always loved texture and layers that build upon one another. The more I painted and the more mistakes I made, the more I learned. I figured out what worked for me and what I really love. At the urging of friends and family I reluctantly started to put myself out there more and started selling. The more I sold, the more confident I became. I realize art is subjective. Not everyone “gets” abstract art. And that’s ok. I have had people ask me, “What is this?” and I’ll reply, “Whatever you want it to be.”

SB: Do you enjoy doing commissions?
SL: Yes! But only if they allow me creative liberty to make most of my own decisions. I’m okay to ask them for a broad idea of colors and movement. But if there is a client who has too many specific ideas then I am not the artist for them.

SB: You also work closely with the interior design community. How has that helped you take your artistic career to another level?
SL: I decided to send emails to local interior designers whose work I’m drawn to. Eventually it paid off. I’m honored that they would want to use my work, it gives me another foothold in the market and exposure, too. They put my art in such beautiful spaces and it just comes alive.

SB: Your art is full of color and texture. What inspires you to create?
SL: I’m inspired by music, nature, old books, the texture of old brick walls, the sea, and traveling. I can find inspiration in many places and things.

SB: Aside from long days painting, what else keeps you busy?
SL: When I’m not painting, I’m hanging with my three boys and husband. We love to be outdoors at the lake and love to travel. I’m also a birth worker and come alongside families to help them prepare for birth and achieve their birth goals.

SB: Sounds like you don’t have a lot of free time on your hands! What’s next for you? Is there anything you want to accomplish in the coming years, either in your art or in life in general?
SL: I’m looking forward to focusing on a new collection and taking some time off to focus on filling up my online store.
More travel. More experiences. More inspiration.

Get in Touch
Website: www.sunblewis.com
Instagram: sunblewis

What the Curation of The Cocktail Party Could Mean for Anne Spencer’s Legacy
Photos by Ashlee Glen

Although she never set foot in New York City, Anne Spencer was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance.

Spencer’s involvement in this hugely important cultural movement, which fostered and celebrated the intellectual and creative accomplishments of African Americans, began with a visit from James Weldon Johnson. In addition to being a renowned African-American writer, Johnson was also a civil rights activist and field secretary for the NAACP.

When he came to Lynchburg, he—along with Spencer and other activists—established a Lynchburg chapter of the NAACP. Johnson became fast friends with both Anne and Edward Spencer, and he discovered early on that Anne was a talented writer whose poems demanded exposure and deserved acclaim. Before long, Spencer had a poem published in The Crisis, an NAACP-published magazine, and another poem published in The New Negro: An Interpretation, a groundbreaking anthology of African-American work edited by Alain Locke, who is often referred to as the father of the Harlem Renaissance. Anne and Edward’s Pierce Street home quickly became a hub for African-American artists, writers, and intellectuals passing through the South.

Despite her increasing popularity and friendships with such prominent people as Johnson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Langston Hughes, Spencer valued her privacy and enjoyed spending time working alone in her garden. Additionally, only about 30 of her poems were ever published even though she likely wrote at least a thousand during her lifetime.

“Anne’s poetry has activism in it, but it’s not in-your-face activism,” says Shaun Spencer-Hester, one of Anne’s granddaughters and the executive director and curator of the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum. “She kind of used nature and incorporated it with activism to address things that she didn’t think were always fair or equal.”

Spencer’s simultaneous compulsion to write (and disinterest in seeking fame for her writing) led to the existence of a painting in the Spencer House with a fascinating backstory.
When it came to writing, no surface was off-limits for Spencer—including her own bedroom wall. Spencer would wake up in the middle of the night and write any number of things—poems, ideas, grocery lists—on the wall of the bedroom she shared with Edward. At one point, he suggested they have a painting done on the wall. Anne agreed.

“My grandfather was trying to protect my grandmother,” Spencer-Hester says.

“My grandfather had a pool table in the attic, and in order to get to the attic, you had to walk through my grandparents’ bedroom.

The community of people who knew of her knew she was a person who often wrote for privacy, so they could have said that the writing on the wall meant that she didn’t want to be bothered with people. They also could have said, ‘What about that Anne Spencer? She’s just too much!’

My grandmother wasn’t afraid to step out, but that wasn’t the kind of thing women did during that time period.”

Ultimately, Dolly Allen Mason, a friend of the Spencers, painted The Cocktail Party on a canvas that was pasted directly onto the Spencers’ bedroom wall in 1944. The painting depicts a large gathering of smiling, well-dressed men and women, along with two large disembodied grins in the background.

In a 2018 C-Span interview, Spencer-Hester mentioned that her grandmother said the painting was “about having to go to a party and put on a phony smile.” Spencer-Hester notes that this statement refers to her grandmother’s aversion to disingenuity rather than an aversion to social gatherings in general.

“She was definitely not an introvert, but she also didn’t need to have people tell her who she was,” Spencer-Hester says. “There was nothing phony about her and she would tell you exactly what she thought but was never cruel with her words. I think she was just saying that people don’t always act genuine at parties. When you go to a party, you’re in the moment, feeling out the room, and maybe you’re not really being you.”

There is another intriguing layer to The Cocktail Party: who it potentially depicts. Spencer-Hester speculates that some of Spencer’s famous friends may be portrayed in the painting.

“In my 12 years of involvement with the museum, I have gotten to know these people by reading my grandmother’s papers,” she says.

“They have really become familiar to me. I pass this painting daily, and one day I looked at the gentleman in the bottom righthand corner, at his profile, and I’m like, ‘That’s James Weldon Johnson with his big forehead! And that’s his wife Grace! And that could be W.E.B. Du Bois in the bottom lefthand corner with two of his smart women that he liked to travel with!’”

Spencer-Hester believes that Spencer herself might be depicted in the painting as well.

“My grandmother used to talk about, and has written about, her and her friend Mary Rice putting on their best red dresses or red hats, and that meant that they meant business,” Spencer-Hester says. “When they wore red, that meant they were going out into the community to do some shaking up!

In the painting, you can see two women with red on, so maybe that’s them.”

Regardless of the particular figures portrayed in the painting, its historical and cultural significance are undeniable. In January, The Cocktail Party was selected from more than 40 applicants as one of the Virginia Association of Museum’s “Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts.” Although the top two prizes ultimately went to other artifacts at other museums, the Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum received an award of $500 to put towards the painting’s restoration.

Mark Wittl, conservator and owner of Virginia Art Conservation and Restoration, LLC, recently met with Spencer-Hester to look at the painting. “It is a well-executed, whimsical painting of social interaction in happier times,” Wittl says.

“I am thrilled to be a part of this exciting project and hope the joy I personally feel when I complete a restoration can be shared by all who view it in the future.”
Following a May visit to inspect the painting, Wittl returned to the Spencer House in June to remove the oil-on-canvas artwork from the wall—a necessary part of the restoration process since portions of the wall are experiencing internal failures, he explained.

The removal was successful, but intense—it took Wittl about four hours to extract the canvas inch by inch. He transported the painting to his studio in Roanoke for restoration, which includes cleaning, mounting it to a suitable substrate, touching-up and framing. Wittl believes the entire process will take eight to 12 weeks.

After it’s restored, the original painting will be framed; a copy will be printed and rehung inside the museum where the original used to be located. Spencer-Hester also says they are making some limited edition copies available for purchase, with proceeds going toward the restoration of The Cocktail Party.

Once the painting came off the wall, Spencer-Hester was thrilled to unearth another surprise: more art. The Cocktail Party was covering up three smaller paper paintings. “One of the three paintings is intact. The other two adhered to The Cocktail Party,” she said.

As The Cocktail Party is restored, Spencer-Hester is excited to investigate these new pieces of her grandmother’s past—and hopefully unearth more secrets of her legacy as well.
“There is another layer to remove as we get down to the plaster. Dranny’s scribbling on the wall has yet to be seen,” said Spencer-Hester. “How exciting to find the artwork. It adds another layer to the story. Oh, if these walls could talk…”

Lynchburg Living Editor Shelley Basinger: Christina, you made headlines in June for your mural on 13th Street, “Make Waves,” that was created right at the height of local demonstrations about racism. How did you learn about the blank wall at Hill City Hardwoods?

Christina Davis: At first I was tagged on the social media post and then the owner, Randy Smith, ended up messaging me directly. We have been trying to get together on a project for awhile but the timing wasn’t right since I just had my daughter a couple of years ago. We agreed, “Let’s do it now. It’s so needed.”

SB: This all happened pretty quickly, right?
CD: It did—we tried not to procrastinate because we really saw this mural as an opportunity to join in on what was happening in our nation and community. With assistance from family and Randy, we spent about four days working on the mural—which included scraping and fixing up the wall. It might have taken less time if it weren’t for the heat. We worked mostly in the morning before it got too hot.

SB: Tell me a little bit about the mural. Who is it we see there?
CD: A lot of my work exhibited at the Academy Center of the Arts and other local places is portrait work—animals and people. A lot of my portrait pieces are almost like a self-portrait, because artists always put a little of themselves into everything they create. I wanted every black woman to feel represented as beautiful, strong members in our social and family circles. So this piece is coming from the community—a positive visual of a black woman and the role models we can find in our own community. “Black Girl Magic” can happen in small towns and we don’t always have to look to big time stars for that.

SB: She appears to be swept up into water. Why did you portray her in that way?
CD: More like she is setting it in motion. It’s a play on the social media movement we are seeing right now—people tagging and passing things along, tagging other women and uplifting them. “Make Waves” is just like when a hashtag goes viral, and we were hoping that would happen with #blackgirlmagic—that other people would take their own pictures and use their own visuals. Water is constantly in motion and we hope that the current Black Lives Matter movement keeps flowing as well. It is one powerful way to spread a message with almost little to no words.

SB: Personally, why did you feel a need to tackle this project?
CD: As a black art teacher and a woman having grown up here, I think our voices are very important and need to be heard. As an art teacher, you wouldn’t believe the things I have heard children say about race. I believe we are seeing the result of being silent. Generations before me were often silent or turned the other cheek, and over the past 100 years that’s proven it does not work. But I must point out this is not an angry piece. I’m trying to speak my thoughts and reach out in a strong visual way.

SB: What’s next for you?
CD: I work with lots of local camps (Blue Ridge Montessori school, Discovery Kids, Jubilee, etc.) teaching art classes, so that will be a large part of my summer. But I plan to do three more murals this summer and they are going to be in spaces that the community can see.

New Artistic Amenities in Bedford Await Brighter, Busier Days Ahead

Art, in its many forms, has become a source of distraction and comfort to many of us during these disconcerting times. Community-driven art initiatives are especially important—they serve as tangible reminders of what we can accomplish and share with the world when we work together.

Bedford’s recent beautification initiative, known as “The Loop Project,” is a shining example of what community partners can achieve. Some of the most recent additions to the Loop, the town’s popular walking route, are steel-fabricated benches and bike racks that display a local artist’s unique design.

Last July “The Loop Project” received an AARP Community Challenge Grant, a grant awarded for projects that aim to make immediate improvements and jumpstart long-term progress to help residents of all ages. The project was one of 159 projects selected from over 1,600 applications.

“The Loop is well-known within the town and beyond as a walking destination,” says Bedford Economic Development Coordinator Mary Zirkle. “The existing pedestrian amenities (concrete benches and wood-slat trash cans) were also starting to show wear and needed a facelift.”

The task of beautifying these amenities within the timeframe stipulated by the grant (about four months) was a challenge in and of itself, then town staff decided to add another challenge on top of that: the designs used for the proposed benches and bike racks would be chosen from submissions from the general public.

Fortunately, local artist Megan Davies was up for the task. She submitted the winning designs for the benches and bike racks and was also asked to come up with a sign design based on the findings of a “Design the Sign” public workshop. Her painting of the Peaks of Otter, called “Shape Our Land,” was selected for the bench design, and another one of her drawings of the Peaks was used for the bike rack design.

“So many people in this area love the iconic mountains, so I felt that design was a great fit for a public piece,” Davies says. “I love simple line-work. The lines and sections of the painting could be constructed into a bench several different ways, giving the fabricator more freedom and flexibility.”

To ensure that the design guidelines would call for proper functionality, Zirkle touched base with David Hanowitz, owner of Central Virginia Manufacturing. “I had met Dave in 2018,” Zirkle recalls. “I remember him saying they like to make different things that aren’t [always] industrial. I needed expert advice as we tailored the design guidelines when putting out the call for designs.”

After several businesses put in a bid for the project, Hanowitz’s manufacturing proposal was ultimately selected, and he and his team were excited for the unique challenge.

“I have worked with customers in the past to recreate artworks using our metal fabrication abilities, but this project was unique in the fact that there were several pieces of art to be incorporated into the different builds,” Hanowitz says. “Many times we cannot 100% recreate a drawing or painting to transfer over to cut-and-formed steel due to limitations within the material or machinery used.”

But after what Hanowitz describes as “many hours” designing the benches, they feel like they came as close as they could to making Davies’ painting come to life on a steel canvas. “At the end, we were very pleased with the outcome,” he says.

Central Virginia Manufacturing produced six benches, all of which have been placed, and six bike racks, all of which were in the process of being placed in mid-April. Two of the six benches are smaller, backless benches, and all six benches bear the new town brand on their legs. All the signs that have been produced have been placed, and a few additional signs are being made.

Although neither Davies nor Hanowitz reside in Bedford, they both feel strong ties to the town and are delighted to play a role in its beautification and advancement.

“Whenever I talk to other artists about how and where to get involved, I always stress to plant some artistic roots in Bedford,” says Davies. “The art community in Bedford is more like family and everyone is so supportive of each other. Bedford is my art home.”

“The community will embrace a project like this, especially when members of the community are directly involved with the design work,” Hanowitz notes. “These projects always benefit local companies that are involved as it gives examples of their abilities and can help foster future projects with other local businesses.”

Zirkle hopes this initiative will be the first of many art-focused projects, and community collaborations, in Bedford.

“I hope the benches and racks will encourage people to add more public art of their own and to request that of the town,” she says. “I want visitors to see that we are a creative and welcoming community, and these pieces can help convey that. Maybe one day we can have an ‘Art Walk’ of some kind for people to discover unique pieces and appreciate them. I think art should be a year-round celebration of what Bedford is.”

During the Pandemic…
“Public Works placed these benches while this pandemic was going on. The director and I talked about how important it was for people to see things like this happening, that work on improving the community continues. The bench installation came at the perfect time with people needing to get out safely and to see something new that brightens their day.”
– Mary Zirkle, economic development coordinator in Bedford

Wooden Camera Sculptures and Photography
Photos by Lucas Moore

Lynchburg Living Editor Shelley Basinger:
John, where can you trace your love for photography and cameras back to?
John Shuptrine: It started when I was a teenager and continued through college. I grew up on film and at a time when it took longer to learn the craft of photography because you didn’t have that instant feedback. I started to get serious about photography about 25 years ago. Most of my photography is black and white.

SB: This was while you were working as an anesthesiologist?
JS: Yes, photography was a wonderful outlet. Along with the support of my family, it helped me stay centered during some of the busier work times of my life.

SB: Where did the idea for these wooden camera sculptures come from?
JS: After I retired, I literally woke up one morning with the idea of building these wooden bodies and then adding on some old camera parts. I had dabbled in woodworking all my life. It quickly evolved from that. They were a little crude at first but got more finished over time. Now, I display them in local and regional craft shows, and have won some awards. I’ve also been published in Artful Home magazine.

SB: About how long does each camera take?
JS: I would say at least a couple of days—from gluing different pieces of wood together to shaping the wood to adding the parts. I look at the piece for a while and I kind of just let it tell me what to do next. I just let my mind go.

SB: What’s your favorite part when you are creating?
JS: For me, it’s all about the wood—the beauty of some of these pieces of wood and incorporating them and their colors. It’s got an energy and a life to it. I also feel really good about repurposing old or non-working camera parts, give them a new life.

SB: How many have you made so far?
JS: About 300. Of those, I’ve sold or donated about 150. Occasionally, a local organization needs one for a fundraiser and that means a lot to me that I can help that way.

SB: What’s next for you? Are you itching to start up any new projects?
JS: I have started to create more furniture, some end tables and coffee tables. It’s delightful to make functional woodworking stuff. And I have ideas for some huge boxes of leftover metal camera bodies. But first I need to learn how to weld. I recently joined Vector Space on Fifth Street so I can do that.

SB: What’s your advice to aspiring artists, young or old?
JS: Be patient. And be kind to yourself. Let yourself make some really ugly stuff… until you don’t. I’m learning how to paint right now. Painting is very challenging for me. So I’m having to be patient and kind to myself. And let myself make some really bad-looking paintings.

Get in Touch Visit johnshuptrineart.com

During the Pandemic…

“I’ve found a greater need to spend my quiet time being creative. I’ve found with all of the stress around us, it’s been a place of sanctuary.” – John Shuptrine

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS EXPLORE EXPRESSION THROUGH HIP-HOP

Photos by Lucas Moore

What happens in Freestyle Fridays, stays in Freestyle Fridays.

That’s the rule teacher Casey Wood has for students in his “Exploring Language and Culture Through Hip Hop” class at E.C. Glass High School, an elective that explores hip-hop and rap as an art form.

As soon as the bell rings on Fridays, the classroom is quickly transformed into a makeshift performance space. Students circle up and huddle around their “DJ booth,” a filing cabinet with a computer and speakers on top. But it does the job as they pass the microphone around and rap about whatever comes to mind.

As the music blasts through the speakers, other students are scattered around the room. Some write, some draw, and others choose to quietly watch the performance unfold.

“The teacher next door is pretty understanding,” Wood jokes. “He doesn’t give his students tests on Fridays since he knows what we’ll be doing in here.”

A Bedford native, Wood began teaching English at E.C. Glass in 2006.

“Growing up, I had a lot of teachers who inspired me,” he said. “When I was halfway through college, I just knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Over the years, Wood wanted to find a more creative way to teach classic literature—a way that was relatable to his predominately black students. He already had a form of Freestyle Fridays in his English classes as a way for students to burn off steam following a long week of learning vocabulary. That led him to present the idea of a hip-hop elective to the administration. A musician himself, Wood thought this could be another way to bridge the gap with his students, since most of them have listened to hip-hop since their childhood.

“I started thinking about how I could connect Charles Dickens to Tupac,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s all about how people use words to touch other people. Words matter and influence our lives, but art looks differently to other people.”

This is the third year Wood has taught the class, which is open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. It has a strong following, with nearly 100 students enrolled over three sessions.

“We cover poetry, storytelling, some lessons on hip-hop artists, and politics. This year, we’ve introduced a music production continuation of the class where our students can do some recording or DJ,” Wood explained.

The coursework also allows room for creativity. For example, Wood asks students to choose an artist and see how far back they can trace his or her influences—some dating all the way to Mozart. More recently, the students studied Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city” album.

When Tavian Edwards first signed up for the class, he saw it as an easy way to fulfill his graduation requirements. But after he was assigned a project about the meaning behind “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye, he realized the impact music has on the world.

“You don’t really listen to the lyrics most of the time,” Edwards said. “But when you sit down and focus on it, you can see how much pain and feeling [Gaye] put into that song and how he wanted to bring the community together.”

Senior Victoria Jenkins also had mixed feelings about the class before it started.

“At first, to be honest, I didn’t know how learning hip-hop from a white teacher was going to go. But I appreciate Mr. Wood’s incorporation of the culture and how he tries to understand what rap music means to us,” Jenkins said, adding that the class is a true safe haven for students.

Senior D’Kiya Jackson agrees, saying many students feel like they can’t truly express themselves while at school—but in this class, there is a different vibe.

“Mr. Wood is open to everything,” Jackson said. “Whether you like poetry or jazz, if you like hip-hop, he’ll allow you to express yourself in any form. He doesn’t exclude anyone. … That’s really important with kids our age.”

Though Freestyle Friday is a time to perform, Wood doesn’t pressure his students to share publicly. Fridays are also a time for students to journal, draw, record or pursue whatever art form they choose. For example, in the weeks after Kobe Bryant’s death, Jackson took time to sketch out a tribute to the basketball player during Friday’s class.

Wood said there are many benefits to giving students open-ended time to be creative.

“It boosts their voice and gives them confidence,” he explained.

And Jenkins said she has seen many classmates come out of their shells this year by embracing the rhythms of rap or hip-hop—regardless of their background.

“It’s not just a certain group of students rapping in the class,” she said. “You got all types of genders, colors… everybody’s rapping. It’s not condensed to one type of person.”

“It’s not the same type of rap either,” Edwards added. “It’s not just heavy beats or snare drums. You can have something that’s more spiritual. Sometimes there’s pan flutes and the beats can switch and become a different type of music.”

The impact this class has had on students continues well after they graduate. Wood says he still keeps in touch with some of his former students.

“Many feel like they’ve found their voice [because of the class],” he said. “That’s how I judge if I’m successful as a teacher.”

As Jenkins, Edwards, and Jackson get ready to graduate in a few months, they are already reflecting on what they’ve learned from Wood and his hip-hop lessons—that anything is possible if you just put yourself, and your voice, out there.

“You have the ability to be open in the world,” Jackson said. “We’re entering a new chapter in our lives and Mr. Wood taught us to be open. Try new things. It’s okay to step out of your comfort zone.
I feel like that’s what his class is about. It’s about expressing yourself and being free.”