‘Printed Matter’ exhibit on display
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BUCKHANNON -- The MIB Gallery is excited to announce "Printed Matters: an interactive print exhibition." This exhibition utilizes an innovative format that invites community members to curate the exhibition in a salon-style display.
Visitors can select prints from the following artists: Art Werger, Karla Hackenmiller, Sage Perrott, Jeffrey Dell, Travis Janssen, Robert Howsare, Cayla-Skillin Brauchle, Caroline Walp, Melissa Haviland, Josh Dannin, Danielle Wyckoff and many others.
The exhibition also includes a selection of gigposters by Jay Ryan, a printmaker and illustrator from Chicago. The front windows feature a traveling community-based print project by the Reproducible Media Collective.
The exhibition will run through Saturday, Feb. 10. The gallery will also host a Valentine's Day card printing station on Saturday, Feb. 3 from 4-8 p.m.
The MIB Gallery is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 - 8 p.m. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.
The gallery, a community art space free and open to the public, is a collaboration of ART26201 and the City of Buckhannon.
The gallery in the Colonial Arts Center, located at 48 East Main Street, in downtown Buckhannon.
The center, which had been vacant for many years, has now been restored and will house two theaters, the Men in Black (MIB) art gallery as well as a creative space for students on the ground floor.
The building itself has been around since 1924. Garland West originally managed the building as the Colonial Theater, displaying films for all ages for over three decades (1930-1966). In the early 1970s, management transitioned to Gray Barker, a science fiction author who renamed the theatre Cinema V. Barker passed away in 1984, and the building was renovated into a bar shortly after.
The bar did not remain, and the building was closed. After nearly two decades, the City of Buckhannon knew that the loss of this historic building that it would be the loss of a key element to Buckhannon's Downtown Historic District. In March of 2017, a town hall meeting was held to seek community input, and a decision was made for the building to be renovated into a space that would benefit the community.
A grant proposal was submitted to the WV Department of Arts, Culture, and History in March of 2017 for the first phase of renovations to begin.
This grant cycle awarded the theatre project $102,000 for demolition and clean-up work, such as floor replacement, roof repair, and other necessary renovations. The project also received over $5,500 from local art organizations.