Local Artists Get Grants from Arts Council

Nan Mahone Wellborn painting of Buffalo Creek (above); Tim Thornton (below left) and Jeanne Larsen (below right).^

Three of my buddies are among the recipients of the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge's 10 $1,000 grants to regional artists for their professional development. Jeanne Larsen, a wonderful writer and professor at Hollins, and Tim Thornton, a former award-winning daily newspaper reporter who has been working for WVTF Public Radio of late, and Nan Mahone, who left The Roanoke Times a year ago as marketing director and has blossomed as an artist, are among the winners.

The Grants for Artists Program (GAP) is funded by anonymous donors within the community. This year’s Grants for Artists Program recipients are:

• Rita Cammarano, Roanoke, literary artist;
• Christine Carr, Roanoke, visual artist (installation art);
• Gail Greer, Roanoke, visual artist (3D, sculpture);
• Paige Hodges, Fincastle, performing arts (musician);
• Suzun Hughes, Roanoke, visual artist (2D, painting);
• Jan Knipe, Radford, visual artist (drawing);
• Jeanne Larson, Roanoke, literary artist;
  
• Nan Mahone Wellborn, Roanoke, visual (open air painting);
• Tim Thornton, Shawsville, literary artist;
• and John Wilson, Roanoke, visual artist (3D, large sculptures).

Knipe will use grant funds to create a series of large scale drawings for inclusion in an upcoming exhibit and catalog publication at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, while Thornton will conduct field work to create a radio documentary during the second annual New River Expedition. Fincastle performing artist Paige Hodges will use grant funds to record a full length record for her band the Sad Cobras.

All Grants for Artists Recipients will be recognized at this year’s Perry F. Kendig Awards on Wednesday, June 9 at Roanoke College.