Coshocton Art Guild shares upcoming events
The Coshocton Art Guild will host its October open mic night on Monday, Oct. 21, in the community room at 637 Chestnut St. in Coshocton. Local singers, songwriters, musicians, poets, and comedians are invited to perform three songs or 15 minutes of material. Family friendly, everyone is welcome, free to attend and participate. Performers sign up begins at 4:45 p.m. Food is available by donation to support the Coshocton Art Guild.Monica Crawford of Adamsville, is the artist of the month for October. she creates acrylic paintings and collage mixed media paintings using found materials or self-printed collage papers. Her paintings span a broad spectrum of techniques that creates not only beautiful images but interesting textures and dimension.
Crawford had a 40-year career in information technology, primarily in project management for software implementations in higher education. “When I first started painting in art journals in 2020, I liked to say that I was left-brain by day, right-brain by night. I retired in February 2023 and am happy to have nearly as much painting time as I could want.”
Crawford’s earliest recollections of art media were crayons, colored pencils, pens, paper mâché, and clay. She took a few ceramics and metal-smithing classes in the 1980s, but she is a self-taught painter. Crawford is currently experimenting with different sizes of canvas, and challenging herself to tackle larger abstracted landscapes. “My artist motto is ‘just keep painting’ (sometimes in the voice of Dory from Finding Nemo). This reminds me to not be too attached to a particular outcome and that the more I paint the more my skills and personal aesthetic will develop,” Crawford said.
Crawford is an active member in the Coshocton Art Guild, the Tollhouse Gift Shop, and in The Zanesville Appalachian Art Project, because the groups support and strengthen connections among artists and helps to make the importance of creative work visible to the larger community. She says, “Being a member of local art communities creates a sense of fellowship and support that is helpful for what is essentially a solitary pursuit, as well as providing opportunities for showing and/or selling artwork.”
Crawford’s inventive, fresh, and colorful pieces can be found at The Tollhouse Art & Gifts, located at 408 N. Whitewoman St. in Coshocton, Thursday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
