Published: May 30, 2008 10:45 am      

Art, music highlight gallery’s open house

COVINGTON, Ind. — If you haven’t yet had a chance to visit Fourth Street Gallery in Covington, Ind., consider stopping by Saturday when gallery owners Debra Duncan and Jim Deschene will kick off the summer season with an open house.

“It should be a fun time,” Duncan said. “We’d like to acquaint the public with some of the artists and give people an opportunity to see what we’ve got to offer.”

The event will feature snacks, live music and a chance to chat with several of the artists represented at the gallery, including basket and gourd artist Sue Billingsley of Fillmore, Ind.

“She’s a really talented artist,” Duncan said. “She’ll be doing basket-weaving demonstrations, and she’ll tell some great stories while she’s doing it.”

At noon, local guitarist and songwriter Brian Clem will play his own songs as well as some well-known tunes in the courtyard behind the gallery. He will be followed at 2 p.m. by Bailiff’s Hollow, a Celtic band.

“We play some really wild stuff. I call it ancient Irish jazz,” said the band’s singer and guitarist Mike Byers of Williamsport, Ind.

Byers said he and the other members of the band — Mary Lawson of Williamsport and Paula Dillard and Chuck Whittemore of Lafayette — have been playing their traditional Irish music together for nearly 10 years, mostly in the Lafayette area.

“Some of the Celtic music is comparable with the classic composers. They are complex, beautiful melodies,” Byers said.

Byers also will be on hand to talk about his fused-glass art and handmade jewelry.

“The artists are really enthusiastic about (the open house),” Duncan said. “Everybody likes to talk about what they do and nobody likes to talk more than artists.”

Weather permitting, the open house will include an art exhibit by fifth-graders from Covington Elementary School. Under the supervision of art teacher Kay Hunter, the children will create chalk drawings on the sidewalk.

Hunter hopes to talk to visitors about a children’s arts academy that she plans to start this fall, after retiring from teaching. The academy, open to children of all ages, will be in the lower level of the gallery and aims to bolster the students’ creativity through different visual arts seminars.

“One week they may be working on self-portraits, another they may work with clay or do mosaics,” Duncan said.

The open house will mark the opening of the gallery’s courtyard, which Duncan and Deschene have outfitted with patio furniture and umbrellas, as well as butterfly wind chimes, stone sculptures and newly planted flowers. Speakers playing music will add to the pleasant atmosphere and Duncan said customers of Kuppa Koffee are welcome to enjoy the patio as well.

“People will be able to bring in a cup of coffee, read the paper and relax, as long as the weather allows,” Duncan said.



FYI

Fourth Street Gallery in Covington will have an open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT Saturday. The gallery is at 322 Fourth St., on the east side of the courthouse square.