Summer may be coming to an end, but there are still lots of opportunities to enjoy Berea's natural beauty and outdoor events! Come hike the Pinnacles or take a leisurely walk through the Artisan Village and on College Square.

 

September brings with it more exciting events, concerts, exhibits, demonstrations, and chances to enjoy experiences that are uniquely Berea. Visit Berea and make memories that will last a lifetime!

Hope to see you soon, 

Artists from all levels are invited to attend the Visual Arts Academy from the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen.

From painting to bead work, everyone is sure to find something they will enjoy. 

These events are updated monthly, and can be found by visiting  kyguild.org. For more information call 859-986-3192.

Come on out with family and friends for your next art adventure! 

633 Chestnut St. 

Join our talented studio artists to create beautiful creations of your own!

9am-6pm Daily

200 Artisan Way

Juxtaposition by Ray Papka

 

Innovators

September 1-  Robert Berger, of Berea, will demonstrate his watercolor techniques at the Kentucky Artisan Center from 10:30am to 3:30pm. 

 A former United States Marine, graduate of the University of Richmond and retired insurance executive, Bob Berger developed his talent of painting with watercolors by taking workshops and by simply painting. Moving to Berea in 2006, Berger says intricate subjects challenge him. 

In his studio on Chestnut St. in Berea, Berger can be found painting a variety of subjects including historic buildings, the cosmos and especially trains. Berger has a special fascination for trains and his studio is just down the road from the railroad tracks that go through Berea.

September 8-  Shirley Jeter, of Lexington, will demonstrate watercolor painting at the Kentucky Artisan Center from 10:30am to 3:30pm.  

Jeter grew up in a rural area outside of Louisville, KY where she developed a love of nature and art. These two interests led her to a degree in art from the University of Kentucky. She exhibited her work at art fairs and eventually turned exclusively to watercolors.  

Jeter is well known for her floral paintings, but she also paints landscapes, buildings, portraits and still life. She has taught classes in watercolor for over 10 years and when not painting on site she paints from her own photographs. Her paintings utilize strong color while maximizing the whiteness of the paper.

September 15- Three members of the Berea Welcome Center Carvers will be on hand to demonstrate their individual carving techniques and talk with visitors from 10:30am to 3:30pm. 

These Central-Kentucky artisans demonstrate on the third Saturday of every month at the Kentucky Artisan Center. 

September 22- Louisville artist Elizabeth Foley, will demonstrate relief printmaking from birch wood and linoleum blocks from 10:30am to 3:30pm. 

Foley received a BFA in graphic design from Washington University and her MFA in printmaking and M.Ed. in secondary art education from Ohio University. She has been exhibiting artwork consistently for fifteen years and has taught art for the past nineteen years. She recently moved to Louisville where she now has a studio. 

Foley is fascinated with pattern and enjoys the spontaneous methods involved with relief printmaking. She often repeats different patterns in a variety of colors within the same print. She states, "I am obsessed with circles and I see them everywhere. They are in the potholes in the Louisville streets, the cliff dwellings in New Mexico, and the ironwork in Barcelona, Spain."

September 29-  Lexington artist Marianna McDonald will demonstrate her pastel painting techniques from 10:30 to 3:30 at the Center.  

McDonald started painting in oils as a teenager and her summers were spent on a five-generation family farm in Randolph County, WV, where she fell in love with the land by walking its hillsides and valleys. 

 When asked why she prefers painting landscapes Marianna responds, "As long as I can remember, I've loved the land, especially open areas with little interference of human activity. These places represent unrestricted freedom and solitude. By emphasizing light, shadow, and expressive color with pastels, I hope to give the viewer the experience of connecting with these places."  

McDonald received her BS degree in art with an emphasis in painting and graphic design from Murray State University. After working for the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper for 14 years, she left in 2001 to become a full-time artist. 

 McDonald is well known throughout the region for her dramatic and colorful works. She generally paints plein-air (outside and on-site), and is often seen at work creating her paintings on the grounds and in the surrounding fields of Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, where she has a studio.

Courtney Howard

The September installation in the "See the Art...Meet the Artisan" showcases the work of Courtney Howard.  Her work will be on display at the Madison County Public Library Berea during August. Courtney will give a presentation at the library on Sunday, September 30th at 2:00 pm.

Monday - Thursday 8:00am - 6:00pm

Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm

Sunday 1:00pm - 5:00pm

Openings by Melanie Johnson

(through October 12, 2018)

Lower Traylor Art Gallery 

Melanie Johnson received her MFA in Painting from Indiana University. She is Associate Professor of Art & Design and co-coordinator of the Foundations Program at the University of Central Missouri. She lives in Kansas City. 

 Artist Statement: "I make large scale figurative drawings and paintings using imagery derived from observation and composite sources. Narrative is employed loosely in my work and I draw primarily on the familiar as a catalyst for making. The imagery gives form to a dissonant accrual of lived experience, family histories and anecdotes, appropriated iconography and the acting out of roles both obligatory and imagined. Surface, palimpsest and indexical histories of making are meaningful in my process. I want the physical work to encapsulate imagery representative of a lived moment as well as the history of its own manifestation. The work should conjure a habitat that has one foot in reality and the other in a state that evokes the slipperiness of memory, longing or a disquieting curiosity." 

My current body of work draws from the personal history of growing up in a textile mill town in SC where many people were employed by textile mills in the area. I witnessed first hand the impact of the industrial production of textiles and the industry's demise as many of the mills left the country for cheaper labor. The intimate experience of living within a community whose lives revolved around such a blue-collar identity impacted me greatly. As I revisit former mills whose tall clock towers once dominated the landscape, I collect scattered bricks that litter the landscape picking and choosing those that provide a hint of peeling paint or embossed stamps identifying the brickyard from which they came. I am fascinated by the connection of the production of both the bricks and the cloth. Both are such common objects, used and then discarded in our disposable economy. Both have become invisible and under appreciated, not dissimilar to the laborers who produce such objects. Exploring this interconnection between architectural structures, cloth, and laborers, I am creating work that examines the connection between the making of such common, often discarded, objects and their cultural value.

Seeing the Air Bend by Gail D. Panske

(September 10, 2018 - October 25, 2018)

Upper Traylor Gallery

Fridays 7pm-10:30pm

July 6 - September 7

Artisan Village

3 Artist Circle

Join us on Friday nights in July - September for a family-friendly community block party! Featuring national, regional, and local live music and performance art, handmade arts and crafts vendors, Kentucky Proud local foods, performance art, children's activities, and a family fun atmosphere.

Presented by the Berea Arts Council, First Friday Berea, Berea Tourism & Berea College Entrepreneurship for the Public Good, including sponsorships from MACED and Mountain Tech Media.

Go to firstfridayberea.com  or call (800)  598-5263 for more information.

Appalatin | Big Maracas

September 7

7-10pm

Go to  firstfridayberea.com  or call (800)  598-5263 for more information.

Thursdays 7pm-9pm

Winter Location: Russel Acton Folk Center

212 Jefferson Street 

A family friendly jam session held by father-daughter duo Donna and Lewis Lamb. It's a truly unique Berea event!

Call (800)  598-5263 for more information.

September 18, 8:00pm

Phelps-Stokes Auditorium

Berea College Campus

Mexican Folk Meets Jazz and Classical Music The Villalobos Brothers use their violins and voices to redefine contemporary Mexican music. Their original compositions masterfully blend elements of jazz, rock, classical and Mexican folk music to deliver a powerful message of love, brotherhood and social justice. Free and open to the public.

Berea Family Dance

Contra Dance

3rd Friday

September 21  8:00pm - 11:00pm

Open mic, open band. $3.00 for everyone.
Activities Room, Alumni Building

Berea College Campus

4th Saturday
September 22 7:30pm-11pm
$9 regular price, $6 students & seniors (65+)
212 Jefferson St. (Russel Acton Folk Center) . 

Saturday's dance starts with a beginners session, from 7:30pm-8pm that will teach you everything you need to know, then dance the night away to foot-stomping live music, and a rotating cast of experienced callers. Bring a snack for the break if you're so inclined - your fellow dancers will appreciate it!

For more details call (859) 985-5501 or go to bereacontradance.org.

Street Dance at the Spoonbread Festival

September 22 1:30 pm - 2:30pm

W Jefferson St. 

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Join Oh Contraire! for a street dance at this year's Spoonbread Festival!

For more details call (859) 985-5501 or go to bereacontradance.org.