Dilg is an artist with the fiddle, feet and illustrations
Larry Hypes
Contributing Writer
CHRISTIANSBURG – What can be said to an artist whose musical talents extend beyond verse and chorus?
The answer is: Graphic Artist of the Year as voted by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Gina Dilg, who performs locally and teaches fiddle lessons each Monday to students in an after-school class at the Montgomery Museum of Art and History, earned the honor on Sep. 18 in ceremonies in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The award is presented for excellence in physical and/or digital graphics (album artwork, logos, social media, etc.) within an eligible time frame. Dilg presented work between April 2024 and April 2025.
She won the top honors.
“This is totally surreal. Many thanks to the IBMA and to the artists and merchants who have trusted me with their work. Thank you so much,” said Dilg at the event.
Dilg, guitarist and fiddle player, has performed in venues from California to Virginia and worked with various promotions including at the Center for the Performing Arts at Virginia Tech, the Floyd Country Store, the Mt. Airy (NC) Fiddler’s Convention, the Appalachian String Band Music Festival (Clifftop) near the New River Gorge in Fayette County, West Virginia, and a variety of others.
A Texas native, she has traveled extensively, and it was during a “jam session some 15 years ago that she met the man she married, multi-talented musician Jason Dilg. He is music director for the Montgomery Junior Appalachian Musicians group at the Montgomery Museum and a performer who sometimes says he will “play whatever instrument the band does not have” in his travels. Mr. Dilg is also a publisher in his “spare” time.
Gina is not only an instrumentalist but also a noted “flat foot” dancer, using the traditional Appalachian folk dance technique which she describes as “using my feet as another instrument, what I would call a ‘percussive instrument’ to complement the music being played by using the feet, heel and toes, to add to the song.”
Flat footing is generally regarded as being Appalachian in origin, having developed from a blend of Irish, African American and Native American dances. Gina, along with Jason, was recently featured in a segment of Blue Ridge Public Broadcasting (PBS) in which she was shown demonstrating her skills and knowledge of the craft. A variety of performers was also shown on the program.
“She is a talented fiddler with a great ear and has become well known in our region as an award-winning musician, flatfoot dancer and illustrator,” Jason Dilg says of his wife. “She also carries around in her head a sizeable chunk of known tunes from the Tohona O’odham people, having grown up in Albequerque, New Mexico. She began her studies with Jeannie McCleary and also made the fiddle she plays under master luthier Joe Thrift of Elkin, N.C. She brings great enthusiasm and seeing it live on in our local young musicians.”
Gina has her own illustrating company, continues her playing and teaching, and plans to keep working and enjoying the many creative loves of her life.
