West Virginia Wesleyan College’s Sleeth Gallery Opens New Exhibit; Artist Workshop Planned Tomorrow

November 3, 2022

Mountaineer News

WVWC News Release

BUCKHANNON - West Virginia Wesleyan College’s Sleeth Galley opens a new exhibit today, November 3rd in the temporary gallery space in the Wesley Chapel Narthex from 4:30pm to 6:30pm.

The Sanders Family ©Hannah and Blake Sanders

The “Underfoot” exhibit featuring the work of Blake and Hannah March Sanders will run through December 2nd. A gallery talk by Hannah March Sanders will take place at 6:30pm Thursday following the opening reception.

On Friday, Hannah Sanders will lead a workshop in Haymond Room 22 on how to free form crochet with upcycled materials. Both events are free and open to the public. Donations will be taken for the workshop.

Blake and Hannah March Sanders are artists and educators working collaboratively as Orange Barrel Industries, a creative and curatorial partnership that travels around the world presenting lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and demonstrations in printmaking, drawing and fiber art installation. This year they were awarded the Windgate Distinguished Fellowship in Craft for their residency at Hambidge Center. They frequently present community-based workshops and events at places such as Lawrence Print Week in Kansas and Frogman’s Print Workshop in Nebraska. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Blackburn College in Carlinville, lllinois; the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock, Texas; Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama; the St. Louis Artist’s Guild in Missouri; and University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. They currently teach foundations and printmaking at Southeast Missouri State University, where Hannah is an Associate Professor.

The Sanders’ work “juxtaposes the nuclear family and over-consumption of natural resources as complementary metaphors, rife with drama that can leave an impact far from home,” according to their artist statement. “ Collaborative pieces are slip knotted together in a delicate crocheted balance, a give and take that mimics the efforts of our domestic partnership to share duties at home, much the way we feel stewardship and accountability of this planet should function. Text elements share connotations in the domestic and ecological spheres. Executed using craft methods and repurposed remnants worn out from daily wear and tear, these works simultaneously exhibit the detritus of home life while thwarting our instincts toward quick consumption.”

Sleeth Gallery hours for Fall Semester are Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30pm to 3:30pm, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30am to 12:30pm and from 2:00pm to 4:30pm and Fridays from 10:30am to 2:30 pm. and 3:30pm - 5:30 p.m. Other hours are available by appointment.