Smith House Galleries Opens Multiverse of Media September 6

HARRISONBURG, VA – Arts Council of the Valley (ACV) celebrates the opening of a new exhibition, Multiverse of Media, at Smith House Galleries on September 6, with a reception 5-7pm during First Fridays of the Valley. Multiverse of Media, by Blue Ridge Community College(BRCC) Art Faculty, features collage, drawing, mixed media, painting, photography, and ceramics. Artists featured include Brittney Barnhart, Claudia Furlow, Jessica Martinkosky, Jerome Sturm, and Herb Weaver. Visit the opening reception, sponsored by E&M Auto Paint and Supply Corporation, for a chance to meet the artists, explore their work, and enjoy light refreshments.

The exhibition runs through Sept 27, with in-person visits Monday-Friday, 11 am to 4 pm and on Second Saturday Sept 14, 10 am to 2 pm. The exhibition will also be available online (valleyarts.org/current-exhibition).

Brittney Barnhart, an artist born and raised in Pennsylvania, creates works in "Magic Realism,” blending reality into fantasy. Barnhart earned her MFA in 2006 with a specialization in painting from Bowling Green State University. Graduate school was a defining part of her life, guiding her to learn the Old Masters’ technique that she would adopt and adapt. Brittney taught as an adjunct professor at Columbus College of Art and Design and as an Art and English teacher in Angouleme, France before owning a coffee shop/gallery with her husband in Columbus, OH and writing, illustrating, and self-publishing her novel A Stranger from Afar. Barnhart currently lives in Waynesboro, VA and works as an adjunct art professor at BRCC.

Born in Arlington, VA, Claudia Furlow now lives in the wilds of Page County, VA. After earning her MFA in painting from - and teaching at - Georgia Southern University, Furlow also taught at Savannah State University and is now Adjunct Professor of Art at BRCC. Furlow’s works amplify the eclectic and incidental, observing simple moments in time as epic life events. Immersed in and enchanted by minutiae, Furlow honors the joy and pain of living as they are magnified through her art.

Jessica Martinkosky, who earned her MFA in Ceramics from Virginia Commonwealth University and BFA from James Madison University (JMU), has served as Educator at the Peninsula Fine Arts Center in Newport News, VA; been a resident at the Cub Creek Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Appomattox, VA; and now teaches ceramics, communications, humanities, and art history and appreciation as Professor of Fine Art at BRCC.

She has participated in exhibitions throughout the United States, including Virginia, Connecticut, Texas, and Idaho, and is currently a PhD student in the University of Kentucky’s Educational Leadership program. Martinkosky’s artwork investigates the complex relationships among spirituality, nature, and humanity, incorporating content about organic and planetary rhythms, the cycles of life, time and the seasons, and commentary about our effect on the planet.

Jerome Sturm has worked as a professional photographer and photojournalist for more than 20years, with his creative works melding new technologies and historic photographic processes. While using fresh digital technology to create his images, Sturm’s works emulate the forms of many antique 20th century processes including lantern slides, hand-colored photographs, and Gum Bichromate prints. Sturm, whose blended style of photography has been accepted for exhibition both locally and nationally, was the first university photographer at Elon University and has since managed photography at Liberty University, earned his MFA at Radford University, joined the Bedford Artisan Trail, and now teaches photography and graphic design at BRCC.

After graduating from Eastern Mennonite University (BS in Art Education) and JMU (MFA in Ceramics), Herb Weaver dedicated four decades to teaching students in middle school, high school, and college. Weaver was also involved with the Advanced Placement Program, serving as “Chief Supervisor” of the scoring process of art portfolios from thousands of high school students throughout the world. His artwork - creatively driven by expressions of peace, social justice, political dysfunction, and environmental issues - has been shown in more than 200exhibitions in the United States and abroad.

Arts Council of the Valley is located at 311 South Main Street in Downtown Harrisonburg, Virginia. Programs are supported, in part, by 2024 Cultivating the Arts Platinum Sponsors: Eugene Stoltzfus Architects, James McHone Jewelry, Kathy Moran Wealth Group, Matchbox Realty, and Riner Rentals.

Arts Council of the Valley (ACV) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to cultivating the arts, creating experiences, and connecting communities throughout the City of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. Since it was established in 2000, ACV has grown into a multi-faceted community organization that fosters innovative partnerships among area businesses, civic organizations, schools, and artists. Today, ACV manages Court Square Theater and Smith House Galleries, funds local art projects through its Advancing the Arts grant program (awarding more than$498,300 since 2001), supports public art initiatives, and coordinates monthly First Fridays of the Valley community gatherings.

ACV is supported in part by the City of Harrisonburg, the Harrisonburg Redevelopment &Housing Authority, and the Virginia Commission for the Arts, which receives support from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. To learn more, visit valleyarts.org.

This press release was provided by Martha Hemingway at Arts Council of the Valley.