What is current Appalachian culture and who are the people of the Appalachian region are questions an exhibit at the Kennedy Museum of Art, located in Lin Hall at the Ridges, is asking its visitors.
The exhibit, Appalachians: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective, began Aug. 26 and goes through Dec. 23. It is part of a project that encompasses five components, said Lee A. Gray, guest curator and project coordinator.
The core of the project is the exhibition
she said.
The project is a partnership with area organizations including Stuart's Opera House, Hocking College Student Center, Foothills School of American Crafts, Hocking College Arts and Sciences, Riverwind Magazine and Movies 10. Project events include a Literary Symposium and Gallery Talks.
Gray said she did not want to focus on the history of Appalachia because everything she has read or learned about Appalachian culture has centered on the past. The question in the exhibit was how Appalachians see themselves now.
In Appalachian culture there is a great sense of humor and a tremendous diversity in experience and perspectives. Gray said it has an abundant culture, contrary to the stereotype.
The exhibit represents four themes of Appalachia: spirit, tradition, people and place, she said.
Those four themes were kind of the heart and soul of how people identified themselves Gray said.
She and the museum curator, Jennifer McLerran, discussed focusing on the uniqueness of Appalachian culture and cultural references to southeastern Ohio, Gray said. It started with wanting to celebrate Appalachia because of the celebration of Ohio's bicentennial year.
Letters were sent to about 3,500 people and places, and they received about 170 responses; the responses that most profoundly represented contemporary Appalachia were chosen, she said.
Artists featured in the exhibit are regional, from the tri-state area of Kentucky, West Virginia and southern Ohio, primarily those who identify themselves as Appalachian she said. This includes people who are from Appalachia or connect themselves with the region.
The different types of media in the exhibit include oil, photography and sculpture.
There was a large diversity in the work submitted
and that's reflected in the final selection of works
she said.
William Rhinehart, an artist included in the show and coordinator of technical services at Alden Library, said having the individual pieces as part of a larger exhibit gives them a little more meaning. He has eleven carved wooden guitars in the exhibit.
I think everything complements each other
he said.
A video is included in the exhibit, which Gray said is to encourage people to ask questions about how Appalachian people currently define or identify themselves. The screen is designed to look like a covered bridge to set the context for viewing the works.
I wanted something that would tie together all of these things and act as a starting point
Gray said.
Sandra Sleight-Brennan, co-producer and writer of the video, said she wanted to raise questions of what Appalachian identity is and how it influences art.
She tried to raise questions in the video in such a way that people could come up with their own answers
Sleight-Brennan said.
The exhibit is funded by grants from the State of Ohio, Department of Development and the Governor's Office of Appalachia with additional funding from the Ohio Arts Council, the Athens County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Friends of the Kennedy Museum.
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