Writers & Wine offers variety of talented artists

  • Marie Gunther points out shotgun shells used in her three dimensional piece "Through a Glass Darkly" to Tom Vogler. The piece was on display at the Andrews Art Museum on the second floor of the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center during Writers & Wine.
    Marie Gunther points out shotgun shells used in her three dimensional piece "Through a Glass Darkly" to Tom Vogler. The piece was on display at the Andrews Art Museum on the second floor of the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center during Writers & Wine.
  • Junior Appalachian Musicians Grace Allen, Jaeden Love, Billy Allen and Nathan Perrine perform folk music as the finale for Writers & Wine on Saturday night.
    Junior Appalachian Musicians Grace Allen, Jaeden Love, Billy Allen and Nathan Perrine perform folk music as the finale for Writers & Wine on Saturday night.

        Andrews – Small circular tables surrounded the stage Saturday night at the Valleytown Cultural Arts Center for Writers & Wine, a sampling of arts and wine in the area.
        As they sampled FernCrest Winery's Maidenhair White or Lace White, or Calaboose Cellars' Seyvel or Revinoor's Red, patrons listened to Bob Grove, Loren Leith, Jim Davis, Joan Howard and Mary Ricketson read aloud their original works, often revealing the story behind the story as they introduced each piece.
        Ricketson of the Ridgeline Literary Alliance organized the writers for the event. "We like to perform our writing whenever we can," she said. "It's nice to combine it with a variety of types of arts."
        During the intermissions, visitors could view the visual art show in the Andrews Art Museum upstairs. Each room featured different artists – Tom Vogler, Marie Gunther and Richard Greene.
        Gunther participated because Vogler, director of the museum, asked her to after the interest in her work at the annual 50/50 Art Show this spring. Her room was filled with steampunk and literary-inspired, three-dimensional works, a form she started working with about two years ago. "It's the first time I've had a gallery showing with a room full of my art," she said. "It's nice."
        Between the prose and poetry readings, Eric West took the stage for a dramatic reading in which he read the roles of both Charles Dickens and Charles Dodgson (also known as Lewis Carroll) in a scene from the play A Perfect Likeness by Daniel Rover Singer.
        The evening concluded with a performance by a group of the Junior Appalachian Musicians. Grace Allen played both guitar and stand-up bass, Billy Allen played mandolin, Jaeden Love played banjo and lead singer Nathan Perrine also played guitar.
        West, president of the Valleytown Cultural Arts & Historical Society, said he hopes to be able to invite the public to another Writers & Wine event in the spring to raise money for the building's air conditioning and heating fund. The former First Baptist Church of Andrews, built in 1923, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
        The society accepts donations throughout the year on its website, vcahs.com, as well as through the AmazonSmile program. It has also started a sponsorship program for productions.
        For details, call 361-2781 or email info@vcahs.com.