An eye for beauty

The annual judged show sponsored by the Fine Arts Festival Association of Rockingham County provides local residents with a unique opportunity to showcase their particular talents.

The FAFA began the festival 65 years ago, opening the door for residents 16 years of age and older to enter personal works in 16 different categories.

“I’ve always been amazed at the variety of talents exhibited by folks in Rockingham County,” said Barbara Collins-Golding, a new FAFA board member. “Every time I walk around this exhibit, I discover something I didn’t notice the last time.”

A total of 84 artists entered works in categories ranging from poetry and fiction to music, sculpture and watercolors. Hundreds of beautiful works of art on canvas, photographic paper or fiber are brightening the lower lounge of Whitcomb Student Center this week. Interspersed throughout the room are sculptures ranging from a brightly colored cat to a delicately handcrafted Spanish galleon.

Jimmy Terry’s detailed ship sculpture, “Maranatha,” took about three months to create. Terry used a broad range of readily available objects to create the piece – including parts of a bookshelf, pizza boxes, a flowerpot, wooden coffee stir sticks and burlap. The creation earned him second place in the sculpture category.

One table in the exhibit is dedicated to the literary entries, including a couple poems by Mayodan resident Curtis Dunlap that merited first-place and honorable mention this year. Dunlap has written poetry most of his life, but really began to take it seriously about 10 years ago.

“There are a lot of poets out there who have inspired me, whose poems didn’t leave me scratching my head thinking, ‘What in the heck is the poet saying here?’” Dunlap said.

That was his goal – to write poems that clearly conveyed a story in a variety of poetic forms.

Dunlap said most of his writing comes from stories he has heard throughout his life or events that happen in the daily course of life. The seed for his first-place poem, “Weekender,” was planted nearly two decades ago when a relative would tell him about some of his encounters with the encounters with the law.

“The stories intrigued me; they were often humorous, occasionally sad, and always entertaining,” he said.

A few months ago, Dunlap started trying to form those tales into a story.

“After a day or two of writing, ‘Weekender’ took the form of a poem,” he said.

Dunlap’s honorable mention entry, “Sunday at the Piggly Wiggly,” unfolded before him on a visit to a local retail store. He rushed home and jotted down the details of the event while they were fresh on his mind.

“I spent a couple of days tweaking, sent the finished poem to a good friend of mine, Canadian poet Aurora Antonovic, who suggested that I change the store to make it more Southern,” said Dunlap. “In that respect I’ve taken a little artistic liberty to, hopefully, enhance the poem.”

Golding was one of the poets in competition with Dunlap this year, but she said the awards were not really the prize for her.

“It’s about the writing for me,” she said. “I do it because I love it.”

Golding’s first involvement with fine arts was music. It was her sister, Mary Alice Collins, that got her interested in other areas of art.

“I’d follow her to different art exhibits and she would come to my concerts,” said Golding. “It’s just the last few years that I’ve gotten involved in writing poetry.”

That love for different aspects of art also led Golding to become a member of the FAFA’s board and help produce the annual festival, as well as the association’s fundraisers. The association’s annual major fundraiser, Wine & Dine, was held April 10 in Eden. Golding said the event raised about $2,500 to help meet the costs for this year’s festival.

The festival awards monetary prizes for first-, second- and third-place winners in each of the 16 categories – awarding $100, $50 and $25 respectively. The coveted Best of Show winner is awarded an additional $500.

This year’s Best of Show award went to Randy Billingsley for his black and white photography entry, “Illuminated Too.”