Angelica Ramos
Contributing Writer
CHRISTIANSBURG- The Montgomery Museum of Art and History hosted their annual Arts NRV Market on Friday June 7, 2024 and Saturday June 8, 2024.
The annual Arts NRV Market hosted over 30 local artists and artisans as well as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts On the Road traveling art exhibit.
Walking into the museum on Friday or Saturday, residents were met with booths, stalls, galleries and tents in the parking lot full of art for everyone. Keith Martin, owner of Bearded Beadworks, showcased jewelry and art made with micro seed beads and delicate attention to detail. The Stray Shop, a woman-owned company that provides consumers with cat-themed stationary, apparel and goods, and their owner Taylor Carrol donate 10 percent of every purchase to animals in need and have something for every cat lover. Carrol designs all of the designs on the products The Stray Shop sells.
The Arts NRV Market hosted artists and their wide-ranged forms of art from Scallywag Letterpress with their cheeky handmade paper products, to Filamina Jewelry and Kay Cook with their handmade jewelry, to painters of all mediums like watercolors, pastels, oils and acrylics.
Residents deeply enjoyed not only the local art, but the mobile exhibit from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
In conjunction with the event, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts On The Road hosted an exhibit called “Love, Laughter, Tears: An Artist’s Guide to Emotions.” It hosted art focusing on the emotions that connect human beings to each other from many different time periods and in different mediums, including photography as well as paintings. Residents walked through the exhibit slowly to take a pause with the art and enjoyed the interactive displays beneath some of the work and on the wall before exiting where they could illustrate their emotions using technology.
After looking at art, speaking to vendors, and enjoying the VMFA on the road exhibit, residents enjoyed the wine garden, food from Copper Dog and Co and other activities like active art demonstrations from New River Arts and Fiber, Backyard Stone Carvers and Fire and Sky Pottery Studio. There was something for everyone at this year’s Arts NRV Market.