 All photographs by Michael Keller |
In 1992 Culture and History was still heavily involved in promoting West Virginia crafts and craftspeople. An author had written an article for Mid-Atlantic Country magazine that was sort of a whirlwind tour of a number of craftspeople's studios and various outlets. Unfortunately for the magazine, most of the author's photography was not useable. They contacted our agency about some artwork to illustrate the story. We didn't really have on hand much that would help out, but we were able to organize a quick two day shoot, doing some work at a couple of close locations and then a full day traveling and shooting in the Eastern Mountains, that would flesh out the story nicely.
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| This was grueling but fun. Some of these folks I already knew, but in most of the cases finding their studios was exciting and made heavy use of my county road maps. Of course, due to the lead time of the magazine, I was traveling and photographing in winter for the summer issue (June 1992 features a beach on the cover). It involved hauling and setting up lights at all of the locations (artists only THINK their studios are well- lighted), and trying to frame out the ugliness in the corners, like stacks of plastic buckets full of clay or duct tape holding a shelf together. |  |
On this page you can see the studios of Connie and Tom McColley, basketmakers in Chloe, WV, and Scottie Wiest, a potter in Elkins, along with the display area of the Art Company. |
We finished the shoot at the Art Company of Davis, a co-operative gallery located in Davis, WV. There's lots of fine work there, both artwork and craftwork, at all price ranges and tastes, so the next time you're skiing at Canaan, visit the Art Company. |
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| Flipping seasons, the December 1996 issue of Mid-Atlantic Country carried a feature on Christmas holidays at the state capitals of the region. Charleston writer Colleen Anderson called me up for some photos of Christmas at our Capitol, and the one of Lincoln ran full page, opening the story. |  |
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