Rocky Mount Center reunites cars, crafts for fundraiser

Combining a car show and an arts show might seem counterintuitive. Yet the Rocky Mount Center for the Arts in Franklin County tried it last year and ended up surprised by how well it went.

More than 1,500 attended, raising $5,000 for the center. “We’re really pleased,” said Joan Rogers, 64, the center’s founder and co-director.

She’s hopeful the second go-round will go even better. The center’s Arts & Crafts Festival and simultaneous Car Show for the Arts take place 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Benjamin Franklin Middle School in Rocky Mount.

The arts and crafts on display will include wood-turning, jewelry, photography, clothing design, knitting, quilting, beadwork and more. There will also be adult and youth juried art shows.

Meanwhile, cars and trucks will comp ete in eight categories — including people’s choice — for best-in-show trophies made from stainless steel mufflers and glass hand-blown to resemble flame. Called “Flaming Tailpipe” trophies, the awards are made by Rogers’ daughter, Carolyn Rogers, a glass artist whose studio is in the center, and James Simms with the Outlaw Cruisers Car Club in Franklin County.

Volunteers with the Outlaw Cruisers will be running the car show, Joan Rogers said. “They just did a phenomenal job for us last year.”

Rogers joked that the presence of craft booths gives the car enthusiasts’ wives something to check out and vice versa for craft enthusiasts’ husbands. “There’s fun for everyone.”

This year the center has added children’s activities. Joan Rogers said she hopes to be able to add a little more to the festival every year.

Rogers’ family bought the The Grainery, the downtown Rocky Mount building that houses the center, in 2009. Retired from working in public relations at Ferrum College, Rogers said she puts a lot of her own money into the center.

Though the center rents studio space to artists and charges for some classes, the steep electric bill of the glass blowing facilities required the center to start holding fundraising events.

Much of the center’s offerings are free — including the art festival and car show, though the center did charge car show competitors $20 to register and craft show participants $20 per booth or $20 to enter the art show. Roger s said it’s most important to her to make the center’s art offerings accessible.

Rogers, her daughter and other artists are working on a mural on the side of the The Grainery that pays tribute to Vincent Van Gogh by reproducing a collage of elements from the artist’s best-known paintings.

Joan Rogers said that she had never imagined that her retirement would be spent running a nonprofit. “This is my second calling in life.”

For more information on the center and its events, call 483-1317, email rockymountarts@hotmail.com or visit www.rockymountarts.org.

Theater’s new home

This past week, Roanoke Children’s Theatre moved out of the Taubman Museum of Art after five years performing in the Taubman Theatre, and set up shop in the Dumas Center for Artistic and Cultural Development across the railroad tracks.

Friday, they put a new coat of paint in their offices at the Dumas, and Saturday they brought their costumes and equipment. Artistic director Pat Wilhelms said the staff is looking forward to putting up the giant window signs announcing the company’s new season.

The Taubman was a great place to start a business, she said. “It allowed us to really dig some roots ... we are just so excited to spread our wings.”

The move to the Dumas gives the growing theater company access to additional classroom space, a dressing room, nearby free parking and a larger theater.

The Dumas seats 180 while the Taubman Theatre seats 150-175.

RCT’s first season in the Dumas starts with the musical “How I Became a Pirate” in October, then “A Little House Christmas” in December, “Teen Brain” in February 2014 and “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” in June 2014.

For more information, call 309-6802 or visit roanokechildrenstheatre.org.

Floyd juried art show

The Jacksonville Center for the Arts in Floyd will hold a reception at 5 p.m. Saturday for its annual juried art show in its Hayloft Gallery.

Exhibition juror Sam Blanchard, a Virginia Tech sculpture professor, will discuss his award selections. The show will be on display through Oct. 5. Admission is free.

For more information, call 745-2784 or visit jacksonvillecenter.org.

On the Arts blog

A Dorothy Gillespie sculpture, a World War II ship flag and an old Roanoke water works map are candidates from Southwest Virginia for the Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts list. Learn more at blogs.roanoke.com/arts.

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