The James River Arts Council is dedicated to promoting a greater understanding and appreciation of all the arts through education, encouragement and support of arts organizations and local talent, and by providing art information to the Scottsville and surrounding region.JRAC was formerly the Scottsville Council of the Arts, but we have grown over the past few years and our new name better reflects the larger region we support.
All meetings of the JRAC Board are open to the public and held quarterly. Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate.
The James River Arts Council has decided that it can do more to help regional artists by offering a special artist membership category. The artists membership includes reduced entry fees for JRAC sponsored shows; contact information may be added to the website with links to artist websites; and artist members can display up to four images of their work on the JRAC website.
The current artist directory can be found here. If you are interested in an artist membership please contact us at JRAC @ avenue.org.
The JRAC Board of Directors will meet on Thursday, July 23rd at 7:30 pm at the Scottsville Baptist Church Fellowship Hall. This is a public meeting and anyone with an interest in the arts is welcome to attend
Get involved! James River Arts Council is a volunteer organization that needs your help to plan and organize concerts, exhibits, shows and workshops. Poets and writers are welcome at our Writer's Group or Poetry Workshop. Photographers, sculptors, and artists in all media are encouraged to participate. However, we need a band of hearty individuals to serve on the board, help with membership, prepare the newsletter and help plan events. Please contact us if you want to volunteer.
The James River Arts Council Photography Group invites you to a Two Person Exhibit, opening on March 7, 2009 and running to May 2, 2009. One of our newest , youngest, and definitely exciting members, Nathaniel Kidd, will be showing a set of grand, and detailed landscapes of “Kidd’s Dairy Farm”; including star trails, night exposures, creek and landscape photos, both in black and white and color digital images .
Also showing will be veteran photographer, Chris Hogger. His images are of "People and Places in Prague"; including digital color architectural shots, city-scapes, and some surreptitious candid shots of the local folk.
The show will be hosted by Nature’s Bridge Health Store, 492 Valley Street (US 20), Scottsville, Virginia during normal business hours (10 am. to 6 pm.), Wednesday through Saturday. The official opening of the show will take place from 2 to 5 pm. On Saturday, March 14th, 2009.
In 2004, the James River Arts Council published Riverbanks to Mountaintop, a compilation of local authors. Two stories written by Jim Herndon were included in the book. Jim has now published his first book chronicling his youth in Madison County. The 348-page book provides a unique perspective of rural Virginia in the '50s and '60s. Jack's Shop: Beyond the Front Porch borrows its title from the historic name of the tiny hamlet of Rochelle, his boyhood home. Until the Civil War, the tiny village was named Jack's Shop for a blacksmith who labored there.
The book contains the stories enjoyed by many in the 2004 publication, such as "Ernie, the three legged Dog" and "The Skunk who came to Sunday Lunch." Jim hopes to write several more books about Jack's Shop, his debilitating disease at age 12, and his years of rehabilitation. He is participating in the Virginia Festival of the Book in March 2009. The book can be found at www.jacksshop.com. It is also available at Barnes and Noble and www.amazon.com. You can contact Jim by writing JacksShop@gmail.com.
Jim will be participating in the 2009 Virginia Festival of the Book this March. It is very exciting to have one of JRAC's participants find success with his artistic endeavor.