BEX Arts week to begin Friday

Jul. 12—A week filled with artists.

Workshops ranging from basket weaving to filmmaking as well as community art installations are just a few of the more than 50 events planned as part of the 2023 BEX Arts Week.

Saja Montague, Beckley Art Center's (BAC) visual art director and president of BEX Arts Week, said the event is designed to interest people of all ages.

"Everyone's an artist, and everyone has a voice, and we just want to highlight all of those voices," Montague said.

BEX Arts Week kicks off Friday and runs through Saturday, July 22.

Scattered throughout the week are workshops taught by artists who specialize in a variety of fields including pinhole photography, weaving, digital art, bioplastics, filmmaking and more.

Thanks to a grant from the Beckley Area Foundation, Montague said each workshop will cost $10.

"One of our main objectives of this year was to, well, it's a main objective for every year, but we just want to bring really cool and interesting classes, that are usually pretty expensive, down to an accessible price so that anyone in the community could have the chance to come to them," she said.

Montague said the majority of workshops are open to people of all ages though some may require adult supervision due to the technical aspects involved in the class.

When asked which workshops she's most excited about, Montague said, if she had to choose, it would be the filmmaking and pinhole photography workshops.

The pinhole photography workshop will take place noon-3 p.m. Sunday, July 16, at 337 Neville St.

During the workshop, Montague said participants will make their own cameras using soda cans.

"We're also having the Camera Obscura room as part of that workshop. So the first thing you'll do when you walk into that workshop, is you'll walk into a room-sized version of what you're about to make in that can," she said. "So it's like very cool and sciencey and interactive and I think it will be really fun."

The filmmaking workshops will be taught by Marshall University Professor Tijah Bumgarner. According to her university bio, Bumgarner completed her first feature film in 2017 called "Meadow Bridge," which is a coming-of-age narrative set in rural West Virginia.

"(Bumgarner) has been making movies all across the world for a long time and she's just really inspiring and a really great teacher," Montague said. "... And her workshop could be for anyone. I mean, even if you don't know much about film or you've never taken a filmmaking class or you're super interested in filmmaking, I think any skill level or interest level would be great for it."

The filmmaking workshop will take place 5 p.m. Monday, July 17, at the Raleigh Playhouse.

There will also be several opportunities for people to participate in community art projects.

The first of these community installations will take place 3-9 p.m. Saturday, July 15, at Freedom Skate Park and is being called the BEX Walk of Art.

This piece was designed by local artist Brennah Staunton and will include a long canvas that will be open to the public to paint.

"She wants to make it look kind of like a red carpet so it's going to be available for anyone passing by or anyone in the community that wants to come and paint this, like, walk of art," Montague said.

A second opportunity to participate in the BEX Walk of Art project will take place 4-9 p.m. Thursday, July 20, at the YMCA Sports Complex.

People can also participate in a Bill Withers Community Paint project, designed by Robby Moore, at the Beckley Art Center at 600 Johnstown Road in Beckley from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 18, and 3-6 p.m. Thursday, July 20.

The final community art project will take place 6-9 p.m. Saturday, July 22, at the Raleigh Playhouse during the BEX un-Fair.

Designed by Nick Tankersly, Montague said this community art project is similar to ones done during previous BEX Arts Weeks.

Montague said Tankersly is creating several large cardinal cutouts, similar to Beckley's "Rising Cardinals" sculpture in downtown.

"They're gonna be installed on buildings and on walls and on bridges ... and people can come to the un-Fair on the 22nd and do the underpainting for underpainting for all the birds, so they actually get to have a chance to paint those permanent bird installations," she said.

Overall, Montague said BEX Art Week, which stands for Beckley Entertainment and Art Exhibition, is all about bringing people together.

"So this is our fifth year doing BEX and originally we just wanted to get all of the community together to come up with really fun and exciting art programming," she said. "We really want to saturate everywhere with art and installations and do it in a way where anyone, even if you're not an artist or you're not super into art, you have the opportunity to have a voice and have interest and an experience during BEX week."

For a full schedule of BEX Arts Week events or to register for a workshop, go to bexwv.com.

Email: jmoore@register-herald.com