Chincoteague Island .Net

The arts are alive during the 2nd Saturday Art Stroll on Saturday, July 11. The Art Stroll, coordinated by the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance, offers an eclectic mix of free artistic and cultural activities in locations throughout the town. Most events take place from 6:00 – 10:00pm unless otherwise noted. Pick up InfoMaps at participating shops, the Chamber of Commerce, and many restaurants, hotels, inns, and other lodging.

Begin your stroll in the afternoon, 3:00 – 8:00pm, as members of the Chincoteague Carvers & Artists Association gather in Robert Reed Downtown Waterfront Park to demonstrate, exhibit and sell their work. Also, visit Gull Watch Basketry 10:00am – 3:00pm for a basket-making demonstration by Helen Sheets.

Then head over to Maddox Boulevard to Island Arts for more carving with a demonstration by Jennifer Daisy. The Island Cottage Collection hosts jewelry demonstrations by Laughing Dog Jewelry, soap making by Marianne Warren, wood carving by Hunter Wolfe, handmade baskets by Debbie Finnegan and pine needle baskets by “Reds” Miller. Island Cottage is also exhibiting watercolors by Diana M. Davis and decoys by Floyd “Sawdy” Jester. Across the street, Marion McDonough demonstrates painting on shells at Visions of Color.

Cruise on over to Church St and visit the Linda Nerine Gallery where Michael Garbacz will create paintings and luminaries and Linda Nerine features her own “A Broad Abroad” photos and treasures from Europe.

Back on Main Street, stop in at the Kite Koop for live acoustic music. Bring your shadow puppets to Egret Moon Artworks and win cool prizes in their big competition. Continue down Main Street and stop by the Island Library to see watercolor paintings by Barbara Schmitz.  Wine, Cheese and More has wine tastings from 6-9pm. They are also featuring sea glass nautical art by Ellie Mercier. Meet the artists at Island Butterfly where mother/daughter team Carla and Scharlene Leonard display their wild pony photography. Across the street, watch Mia Weldon demonstrate her talent in glass bead-making while DJ Michael spins favorite tunes at Psychotronic Music and Beads.

Continue up Main Street to Threadgoodes with paintings by Joyce Umphlett Reed and live music by guitarist Don Chapman. Next door, at Bayside Arts Coop is hosting a farewell for nature photographer Elwye Ess and offering 10% her works. Carver Mark Pleasanton will also be on hand to demonstrate his craft. End your stroll at aNopheles Blues with the infamous Soiree. Bring your favorite blind date and a poem you have created to read aloud.

Keep in mind that while the shops and galleries listed above have special events scheduled this month, other members feature art, books, antiques and specialty foods in their shops and many provide special treats during the art stroll. These include the Bookhounds, Guinevere’s. Flying Fish Gallery, the Osprey Nest Gallery, Sundial Books and Vintage Rose. For more information, visit the CCA website at www.chincoteagueculturalalliance.org.

The Chincoteague Cultural Alliance presents its new free film festival, SUMMER CINEMA SERIES, outdoors and on the big screen. Movies will be shown on alternate Thursdays in July and August at 9:00 P.M. in the downtown waterfront Robert Reed Park.  Bring your lawn chairs and blankets for an entertaining evening with family and friends.  Old-time refreshments at old-fashioned prices will be available under the Pavilion.

On July 9, the Series kicks off with a tribute to one of our finest actors, Paul Newman, in the classic buddy film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” about two outlaws trying to survive the end of the old West.

July 23 features “Step Into Liquid”, a visually spectacular documentary of surfers riding the most famous and unusual waves on the planet.

On August 13, the Series presents “Babe”, a recent classic about a pig, who with the help of friends, learns to be anything he wants to be—even the greatest “sheep pig” of all time.

On August 27, the Series closes with the comedy, “Waking Ned Divine”, a modern fable of how a small Irish village finds a way to collect the winnings of a national lottery.

The Chincoteague Cultural Alliance is a non-profit organization formed to enhance community life through arts and culture. The Summer Cinema Series is supported by grants from the Town of Chincoteague, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and sponsorship by the Kite Koop.

Author Warren Gray, the Maryland writer of action novels “Death Stalker,” “Steel Dragon,” “Persian Ghost,” and “Black Falcon,” will be at Sundial Books, 4073 Main Street, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday, June 22, 2009 to talk about his latest book.

“Death Stalker” is a fast-paced action novel about the relentless CIA/MI6/Mossad hunt for a real-world terrorist during the last year of his life. Mr. Gray is also the author of three earlier military action novels, “Black Falcon,” about an infamous German terrorist hiding in Albania, “Persian Ghost,” about stopping Iran’s deadly nuclear weapons program, and “Steel Dragon,” the destruction of North Korea’s latest intercontinental missile.

Copies of “Death Stalker” and “Steel Dragon” will be available for purchase and signing at Sundial Books during this event.

Mr. Gray is a former career intelligence officer with experience in special operations and counterterrorism.  He served in Europe and the Middle East, earned parachutist wings and eight more military qualification badges, twenty military medals, and seventeen additional awards.  He earned four college degrees, including a Master of Aeronautical Science degree, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Combat Targeting School.  He is married and has two grown sons, an Air Force pilot and a Virginia police officer.

For more information about the books, see the author’s web site at: www.freewebs.com/warrengray.

Enjoy art under the stars at the 2nd Saturday Art Stroll on Saturday, June 13. The Art Stroll, coordinated by the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance, offers an eclectic mix of free artistic and cultural activities in locations throughout the town. Most events take place from 6:00 – 10:00pm unless otherwise noted.

Begin your evening with a free concert in Robert Reed Downtown Waterfront Part at 5:00pm. Hemlock Hollow brings their foot-tapping music to the Island as part of CCA’s Music at the Dock series of outdoor performances. Then bring your musical instrument to Egret Moon Artworks for a groovin’ jam in the garden, stop in Guinever’s to watch artist Marion McDonough paint scenes on conch shells and visit the Kite Koop for their live and lively acoustic music. Earlier in the day, Helen Sheets demonstrates her basket-making skills from 10:00am – 3:00pm at Gull Watch Basketry.

Heading to the next block of Main Street, stop in Sundial Books to meet local photographer Ron Hugo, visit Wine, Cheese & More for a taste of wine from Holly Grove Vineyards and watch watercolor artist Chris Holmes demonstrate his skill at Island Butterfly. Then step over to Psychotronic Music and Beads where DJ Michael spins favorite tunes and Mia demonstrates glass bead-making.

Take a side trip down Church Street to the Linda Nerine Gallery featuring pencil sketching and Island scenes in varied media by Lucy Rohm, beaded jewelry by Fabrice and “A Broad Abroad: Impressions” by resident artist Linda Nerine. Then head back down to Main Street for a stop at Threadgoodes, which is celebrating their first anniversary with tastes of their new gourmet treats.

On Maddox Boulevard, Island Arts is featuring artist Donnie Thornton painting on feathers and,  at Visions of Color, Pamela Stambaugh demonstrates wire wrapping dichroic glass. Island Cottage Collection has demonstrations in metalsmithing by Jim Warren, soapmaking by Marianne Warren and wood carving by Hunter Wolfe as well as Watercolors of the Eastern Shore by Diana M. Davis, jewelry by Erin Hammond and pottery by Jeremy Wright.

Bring out your inner poet for the 2nd Saturday Soiree at aNoPheles Blues. Limerick writing

Keep in mind that while the shops and galleries listed above have special events scheduled this month, other members feature art, books, antiques and specialty foods in their shops and many provide special treats during the art stroll. These include Bayside Arts Co-op, Flying Fish Gallery and the Osprey Nest Gallery. For more information, visit the CCA website at www.chincoteagueculturalalliance.org.

The Chincoteague Cultural Alliance (CCA) presents a photo contest and show, called Give Us Your Best Shot: A Day in the Life of the Islands. Contest participants are invited to start taking photos on Friday, June 19th and will have until 2 pm on Saturday, June 20th to enter them into the contest in one of four categories: nature, people, structures and “the unexpected”.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the first, second and third place contestants in each category ($100, $50 & $25 respectively), and a grand prize of $250 will be awarded for the Best Photograph in Show.  Winning entries from photographers 12 years and under will receive gift certificates for ice cream from The Island Creamery.  The awards will be made at 8pm on Saturday, June 20th at the Chincoteague Island Senior Center.

A companion photography show will also take place on Saturday, June 20th from 12-6pm in the Robert Reed downtown waterfront park where photographers can display and sell their work.

The idea for the photography contest “was to do with photography something along the lines of the plein air painting weekend in September, something that would capture a moment of island life,” explains Jim Dayton, who brought the idea to the CCA in January. “The beauty of a photography contest,” says Dayton, “is that pretty much everyone has a camera, so it is immediately open to all ages and all levels of skill.”

A registration fee of $20 (for those over 13) allows each contestant to enter 2 photos. Entries – digital only – should be submitted for judging at the Chincoteague Senior Center between noon and 2 pm on Saturday.

Three judges will review all of the photos. Dayton is one of the judges, along with James Stanfield, a 35-year veteran photographer for National Geographic, and John Beam, a professional artist and instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The judges will present the prizes at the Senior Center at 8pm. Weather permitting, photo entries will be shown on a large screen at the downtown park after dark.

Pre-registration for the photo contest is strongly encouraged; photo show participants must pre-pay for their exhibit spaces. To pre-register, visit the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance website at www.chincoteagueculturalalliance.org, or pick up a registration form at Egret Moon Artworks, Sundial Books, or Threadgoodes on Chincoteague Island.  For more information, visit the website or call Jim Dayton at 757-894-2540.

CCA events are supported by the Town of Chincoteague, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.