The Local Arts Scene
I remember my wife (Elizabeth) and I stopping in downtown Appomattox sometime after last Thanksgiving to look for a few holiday gifts. We’d always heard that it was best to shop locally - support town merchants, build the tax base, and save gas - but what if you wanted to buy something unusual, like a purse made out of a cigar box? Wasn’t the arts and craft scene much livelier in Farmville and Lynchburg?
But we gave it a try. In an hour or so, we’d found a nice selection of antiques, crafts, and pottery at Country Charm, the Historic Appomattox Station Arts & Crafts Center, Baine’s Books & Coffee, and the Appomattox Gallery & Tea Room. On the edge of town along 460, we also stopped at Wilkins Myrick to check on framing options for several photographs and to look at the paintings in Patricia Myrick’s gallery.
That afternoon, we came home with a good haul of art-related gifts without stepping outside Appomattox County. But while we were both happy, we were also a bit embarrassed: we’d been quite unaware of just how much our town had to offer. More and more, we’ve come to realize that Appomattox is the home of a lively arts scene, complete with music, crafts, and theater.
The Arts and Appomattox Schools
At left: Shannon Vladyka and Wendy Richardson.
One good place to find the arts working in the Appomattox Community, though perhaps not the first place that pops up in many folks minds, is in our school system. I stopped by the high school, where I spoke with art teacher Wendy Richardson and art student Shannon Vladyka.
Richardson expressed hope that students will be able to incorporate art into a profession. “I wanted the kids to have an opportunity to use art as part of their careers or their lives, other than just hobbies.” She also expressed hope that as a teacher she could, “… have an impact … on certain individuals.”
Proof of that impact is the fact that Richardson is still at school, the day after most teachers have left for the summer. I find her in her classroom watching a film with the student artist of the year, Vladyka. Later that afternoon, they will drive over to the Wilkins Myrick gallery where one of Vladyka’s works is on display. “I thought before it rotates out,” Richardson told me, “she [Vladyka] might like to see it over there.”
The Arts & Craft Center
Another central location for the arts in the community is the Historic Appomattox Station Arts & Crafts Center. Located across from the Appomattox Gallery in downtown, the Arts & Crafts Center works as a co-op, featuring quilts, ceramics, and wooden toys, all made by area artisans.
“Basically, we are all local arts and crafters,” Susan Hopkins, a member of the Arts & Craft Center, told me.
The Arts & Craft Center opened in 1974, and while craftspersons have come and gone, the shop is still going strong. The shop, operated by group members, also illustrates how the arts can bring in tourists and shoppers from nearby counties.
“…There [are] … people who come to Appomattox just …to come in this store,” Hopkins said, “or they come shopping just for all the specialty stores that are here.”
Hopkins own passion includes working with stuff that many folks, not realizing the potential, might carelessly toss into the trashcan. “I’m a recycling person,” Hopkins told me. “I like to turn old things into new, like all those cigar boxes,” she said, pointing to a store shelf, “were all used cigar boxes … and now I made purses of them.”
Wilkins Myrick
There are also multiple connections between artists, craft shops, and galleries throughout Appomattox. This is evident, for instance, when stopping by Patricia Myrick’s gallery and viewing the nicely framed artwork by Vladyka. Vladyka’s artwork will remain on display throughout the year.
Myrick has worked closely with Richardson and other art teachers in Appomattox, passing along mat boards and extra materials for students to use in the classroom. Speaking of the arts in Appomattox, Myrick told me, “…We have four schools that have an art teacher … There are many school systems that do not offer art. … And I think anything we can do to stimulate creativity in our children - it opens avenues to them in the future.”
Myrick also believes in the strength of the local arts scene, but stresses the need for connections between artists, galleries, and shop owners. “Don’t go to Lynchburg, don’t go to Farmville …,” Myrick said. “Appomattox County has a lot of talent, and I am so happy to refer people, but I have to have people [artists] come to me and say, ‘…This is what I do.’”
Building Community Arts - The Future
Yes, Appomattox, there is an arts community right around the corner. And while I have focused mostly on the visual arts, it’s important to remember that Appomattox has an lively music scene at Baine’s Books & Coffee, the Corner Grill, and Granny Bee’s, and its own theater at the Appomattox Courthouse. All of these venues equal a happening arts scene, complete with eccentric bearded artists, transplanted thespians, hippy banjo players and pottery girls.
The challenge, then, is not to create a local arts scene in Appomattox - we definitely have one - but how to, as Eric Clapton one sang, “let it grow.” Could Appomattox benefit from an arts council like the one in Buckingham? Could the town establish a spring arts festival similar to the one in Rustburg? Could the creation of a livelier arts scene help draw more tourists to Appomattox? These open-ended questions only wait for the inspired answers of local artists, town and county officials, art teachers and students, and shop and gallery owners.
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