Forget the Civil War and modern “progress.” Artists in two Shenandoah Valley towns are triumphing over the blows of history – by creating and displaying their wares in its very midst.

Glass “fussing.” Above. Doug Sheridan creates works of glass at Sunspots Studio in Staunton. Opposite page. Glass fish are on display at Sunspots’ gallery.

Perched on metal bleachers inside Staunton, Va.’s Sunspots Studios, we watch glass artist Dan Scogna extract a small shapeless lump of molten glass from a 2,100-plus-degree furnace. Mesmerized, we “watch art happen,” as Scogna moves through choreographed steps, alternately rolling, molding, blowing, spinning, heating and cooling, until the once-shapeless lump is transformed into a stunningly beautiful vase.

As Scogna labors, Doug Sheridan, who owns Sunspots with his wife Caroline, explains the intricate procedure to inquisitive spectators. When one comments on the painstaking process, Sheridan replies, “Yeah, it really should be called glass fussing instead of glassblowing, since there’s very little blowing involved.”

Located in a renovated 1929 warehouse on South Lewis Street, Sunspots has an expansive gallery, filled with unique handmade copper and glass creations for the home and garden. Caroline Sheridan estimates that nearly 50,000 people from all over the globe visit Sunspots each year. The studio hosts daily glassblowing demonstrations and the Virginia Hot Glass Festival each April.

Staunton’s Historic Structures

Sunspots is one of nearly a dozen galleries in downtown Staunton, a city now famous for its five national historic districts that hold an impressive collection of restored or renovated structures dating from the late 18th through early 20th centuries.

After surviving the Civil War unscathed, many of Staunton’s early structures were demolished, in the name of progress, during urban renewal projects of the 1960s. Many more were threatened, but they were saved through the efforts of the Historic Staunton Foundation, an organization formed in 1971 by a group of citizens who successfully fought the destruction of Staunton’s architectural heritage.

During the last 30 years, more than 250 buildings have been restored or rehabilitated. Handsome Victorian, Italianate, Greek Revival and Federal style structures now house an array of thriving restaurants, eclectic shops, theaters and bed and breakfasts. They also provide fitting accommodations for the influx of art galleries, drawn by Staunton’s renaissance.
Shining examples of Staunton’s flourishing art community are located in the 1890 Crowle Building, on West Beverley Street. The Beverley Street Studio School, which occupies the top floor, was started in 1992 by a group of practicing artists whose mission was “to teach the practice and appreciation of visual arts.”

“The caliber of the school’s faculty and the variety of its offerings has drawn students from all over the region, not just Staunton,” says Mary Echols, one of the school’s founding members and a current board member. “People have told us that it transformed their lives!” she adds.

Co-Art Gallery, an artists’ cooperative that was formed in 1997 by members of the school, is located on the street level of the building. With more than 40 members, whose works encompass a variety of mediums and techniques, Co-Art is the largest artist coop in the Shenandoah Valley. Adjacent to the Co-Art Gallery, a separate gallery is maintained by the Studio School, for exhibitions of regional, national and international artists.

Along with other downtown galleries, Co-Art holds a Fourth Fridays Gallery Open House. A reception is held for that month’s featured artist, whose works are exhibited at the front of the gallery. A Gallery Jam, featuring local musical talent, usually follows.
On New Street, the newly opened R.R. Smith Center for History and Art is housed in what was originally the Eakleton Hotel, designed in 1893 by noted Staunton architect T. J. Collins. The beautifully renovated Second Empire style structure is the new home of the Staunton Augusta Art Center, as well as the Augusta County Historical Society and the Historic Staunton Foundation.

Quilting. Martha Degen has worked in Staunton for 25 years. Go to BlueRidgeCountry.com for more profiles.

The Staunton Augusta Art Center, formed in 1961, is a community art organization whose mission is “to make art accessible to all people.” The center provides a venue for artists to teach, exhibit and sell their work.

“Along with more space,” says Executive Director Beth Hodge, “our new home in the Smith Center provides us with the proper climate and security systems that will allow for loans of museum-quality art work.”

During the year, rotating exhibits fill the gallery. One of this year’s most anticipated is “Artists and Place: Celebrating the Bounty of the Region.” Running May 25 through July 7, the exhibit will showcase the work of 13 of the area’s most talented artists and artisans, including painters, potters, glassblowers, quilters and jewelers. The center’s largest annual event is Art in the Park, a juried art show and festival held Memorial Day weekend at Gypsy Hill Park.

Artists in Cahoots. The co-op is on a corner on Lexington’s historic Main Street

“Staunton is a community that is growing in its sophistication and appreciation of the arts,” Hodge notes. “In addition, we have a large group of very talented regional artists. One feeds off of the other. The more the community welcomes the art, the more artists are drawn here.”

Lexington’s Architectural Heritage

Some 35 miles south of Staunton, the city of Lexington is also experiencing a growing interest in the visual arts, as evidenced by its increasing number of art galleries.

Lexington is best known as a college town, with the adjoining campuses of Washington & Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute located just one block north of downtown. As we navigate through streets bustling with college students, we feel that atmosphere of excitement and stimulation so common in college towns, where there’s always something interesting going on.

The visual arts are, in fact, thriving at W&L. The Staniar Art Gallery is housed in Wilson Hall, the newest addition (2006) to the Lenfest Center, a facility that has hosted performing arts in the region since 1991. The Staniar Gallery hosts revolving exhibits that feature the works of students and faculty as well as professional artists. On the day of our visit, the exhibit is “Re-Visioning Lee,” a fascinating collection of paintings, portraits and sculpture depicting Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who served as president of Washington and Lee after the Civil War.

John Owen’s hands. The decoy artist works in his Lexington home studio.

Like Staunton, Lexington has strived to preserve its architectural heritage, with many restored buildings dating from the late 18th to the mid-19th centuries gracing the central business district. In the 1970s, Lexington enhanced its 19th-century appearance by replacing concrete sidewalks with brick ones and burying utility wires underground, something Staunton later undertook in the 1990s.

Seven art galleries now inhabit buildings in Lexington’s historic downtown. They carry a wide range of art and crafts from local and national artisans.

The oldest of the galleries, Artists in Cahoots, is a cooperative gallery of 14 local artists and craftspeople located on West Washington Street in the Alexander-Withrow House (c. 1789), one of Lexington’s oldest buildings.

At the gallery, we chat with founding member George Makinson who has just opened up the shop, something he’s done nearly every weekday morning since it opened in 1980.
While working as a publisher’s representative, Makinson fell in love with the Blue Ridge region and moved his family to Lexington in 1950. When health problems forced him to retire, he began searching for something to occupy his time. At North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where they spent a great deal of time, his wife began studying painting. While watching her paint, Makinson thought, “that doesn’t look too strenuous,” so he took it up himself. Initially specializing in beach scenes, he soon turned to the mountains and valleys of home for his inspiration.

Clock tower, c. 1890. Staunton’s artistic sensitivities are reflected in, or perhaps inspired by, its historic architecture. The building above was once a YMCA; it marks the center of town.

In the late 1970s, Makinson rented a small space in downtown Lexington, where he painted and sold his work. Other artists expressed interest in sharing the space, inspiring him to found the co-op, and shortly thereafter, they moved into their present location.
At age 90, Makinson still comes to the gallery most days, where he maintains a small workspace in one corner. He paints a little and chats with customers who return year after year to visit with one of Lexington’s best-known “fixtures.” He enjoys the town’s friendly atmosphere and its variety of attractions, which, he reasons, accounts for the tide of visitors and students who choose to move here, as well as its numerous lifelong residents.

“There’s something about this town,” he says. “People just don’t want to leave.”
Down the street at Nelson Fine Arts Gallery, a 10-member artist cooperative founded in 1998, we find pastel artist Dorothy Blackwell preparing for the evening’s First Friday reception and exhibition. Held on the first Friday of each month, the reception introduces the gallery’s guest artists as well as that month’s featured member artist. Blackwell says their monthly receptions are usually packed.

Other downtown galleries include Artisans on Washington Street, whose featured artists include potter Jan Jarrard, well known for her House Mountain pottery, and Studio Eleven, a gallery and art school. The art school offers year-round classes and workshops, and the gallery features ongoing exhibits of prominent artists and monthly visiting artists.

The Staniar Gallery, Lexington. A current exhibit displays art depicting Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

The Rockbridge Arts Guild, an organization of regional artists interested in nurturing the visual arts and crafts in the area, sponsors juried spring and fall art shows on Hopkins Green in downtown Lexington, and a judged art exhibit at the Rockbridge County Fair.

Interviews Coming Soon