With summer arriving, the Tri-State will be blessed with two high profile music events soon.
First, the annual Nelsonville Music Festival will be returning to Snow Fork Event Center in Nelsonville, Ohio, from June 20-22.
Launched in 2005, the festival has brought many a nationally and internationallyknown name to southeast Ohio and has grown into its premiere arts event, drawing both established legends as headliners and booking up and comers who have gone onto prominence.
The first round of acts for this year’s event have been announced, including Waxahatchee
And MJ Lenderman. More headliners will be announced in coming weeks, and a full lineup may be known by the time this magazine hits the stands.
MMF is organized by Stuart’s Opera House and more information can be found at www.nelsonvillefest.org.
Later in the year, a large, established festival will be moving to the Tri-State.
Healing Appalachia is a
production of nonprofit Hope in the Hills, which is dedicated to combatting the opioid crisis and promoting recovery in the region.
The concert has taken place for five years at the West Virginia State Fairgrounds, in Fairlea, West Virginia, for the past five years and has featured Tyler Childers each year, along with names such as My Morning Jacket, Sierra Ferrell, Gov’t. Mule and Trey Anastasio.
This year, the concert makes its move to the Boyd County fairgrounds, in Ashland, Kentucky. The lineup has yet to be announced, but it will no doubt feature many well-known names, as well as speakers and resources on recovery.
So, along with these events, and many more, 2025 looks to be a great year for the arts in the region.
HEATH HARRISON is the editor of The Ironton Tribune and Tri-State Living.
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arts & culture
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Charleston artist Anderson excels in music and paiting.
THRIVING MOTIVATED &
Charleston artist and musician stays inspired through multiple projects
Story Amanda Larch Hinchman
Photography Heath Harrison, Submitted
On Andrea Anderson’s easel sits a halffinished painting of the Bluestone River. She might not finish it right away, but she always comes back around to her projects. An artist, band member, musician, bartender and sound engineer, Anderson says everything in her life is interconnected, and art and music have been recurring themes throughout her whole life.
Growing up, Anderson was in choir, took dance lessons and was interested in performing. During her undergraduate years at Marshall University, she studied under Stan Sporny, who greatly influenced her and her fellow students.
“There’s a thread running through all of our painting styles that’s from Stan Sporny,” Anderson says. “For example, he wouldn’t let us use black paint, and I’ll see another person’s work and think to myself, It looks like they were one of Sporny’s students because they use every color but black.”
Anderson went on to get her master’s degree in sculpture at Ohio University. After returning to her hometown of Huntington, Anderson joined a band before moving to Charleston, where she’s been ever since.
Immersing herself in the music scene, Anderson didn’t pick up painting again until about six years ago, when a photo she took on a trip inspired her.
“I decided I wanted to do a painting of it, and that led to some commissioned artwork,” she says. “Once people started paying me, then I was like, ‘Well, I’ll keep doing this.’”
Anderson is a member of Gallery Eleven in Charleston, a co-op art gallery celebrating its 50th anniversary this
October. After becoming juried last September, Anderson had an opening reception featuring her artwork in October.
She specializes in the en plein air style of painting, in which she immerses herself in nature and paints what she sees — it can be a great way to connect with others, she says.
“People think of being an artist as kind of a loner or cloistered in your studio, but it’s not really like that,” Anderson says. “Sometimes, I’ll take gouache and watercolor paper and go out in the woods and sit and paint. People will see you drawing outside, and it’s a conversation starter.”
Keeping busy working by commission, Anderson completes about five or six of her own paintings a year.
“It’s interesting, because it’s an exercise, in a way,” she
says. “It’s not necessarily what I would pick out to paint, but I always learn something every time I paint, whether it’s a portrait or something I choose to paint.”
Dedicating hours to each of her paintings, the satisfaction of reproducing an image is what drives Anderson.
“I feel like that’s a skill that’s been lost to time,” she says. “We all have cell phones now, and you can take a picture. You don’t need to sit and paint a picture, but I feel like I need to. I’m compelled to do that. It’s just a human thing. Humans have been doing that since the Stone Age. It keeps me grounded and keeps me in touch with humanity to sit there and struggle to get this thing on the paper before the light changes. That’s the stuff life is made of.”
Most recently, she’s been focusing on landscapes,
arts
and some of her latest subjects to paint are hollow trees and box turtles. Aside from en plein air, she paints from nature photographs she’s taken, stemming from her love of hiking. On display at Gallery Eleven are her paintings of Blackwater Falls, Coonskin Park and Kanawha State Forest.
“A lot of the recent work I’ve been doing is just from photographs, and they typically are places in West Virginia,” she says.
Being part of a co-op gallery is helpful, because each of the members are kindred spirits, Anderson says.
“We all keep each other motivated,” she says. “I see other people’s work in the gallery, and it makes me want to go home and paint.”
Completely immersed in the Charleston music scene, it’s the same for her music.
“When I see live music and my friends performing in their bands, it makes me want to strive to do well,” Anderson says. “I think part of being in a music group, which I’m in several, you don’t feel like the burden is always on you to do everything. Anytime I feel overwhelmed or I’m struggling, there’s always somebody in my life there to come to the rescue.”
One of Anderson’s bands, Unmanned, which she describes as a bubblegum punk chick band, has put out two records, available on Spotify.
“It’s me and two other girls,” she says. “I play guitar, we all sing, and we do a lot of covers and original music.”
In addition to Shine, a cover band
On Display | arts & culture
that played at the Charleston Sternwheel Regatta last year, Anderson plays mandolin and banjo in the Charleston Rogues, which began as a Pogues tribute in 2016. Now, they are the go-to musical group for Celtic Calling, any St. Patrick’s Day-related shows and at the Wandering Wind Meadery on Charleston’s West Side.
“We were only going to do one show back in 2016, and, now, we’re the Irish band that everyone calls for St. Paddy’s Day shows,” she says. “We really dove into doing a lot of Irish and Scottish traditional music. We always usually do a couple of Christmas shows, and of course St. Paddy’s Day, we’re booked for practically the whole month.”
When she’s not painting or playing music, you can find Anderson working as a bartender, sound engineer and janitor at The Empty Glass in Charleston. Aside from consuming lots of coffee, one way Anderson balances all the projects in her life is by keeping healthy boundaries and trying not to overcommit herself.
“The main thing is, I try to follow — this sounds cheesy — what my heart wants,” Anderson says. “If I want to paint today, I’m going to paint, and when I get the motivation to do something, I do that thing. Sometimes it’s hard because I don’t have the motivation to paint, but I always do come back around to the things that I put down.”
It helps Anderson to have many projects going at once; that way, she says, she doesn’t feel guilty about “abandoning” one for another, she says.
“I feel driven to do something
different a lot. I get bored pretty easily, with a short attention span,” she says. “I’ve always got a lot of balls up in the air, and I feel like I thrive on that. I like things that are tedious. It’s making order out of chaos, and it feels really good.”
Anderson is also involved in the East End Ghouls, a monthly drag and burlesque variety show at The Empty Glass. Simply having help with everything helps Anderson thrive artistically.
“Any one of those things could be a total time suck,” she says. “If I devoted all my time to it, I’d still never have any time, but that’s another performance-related creative outlet. I work with a lot of people in that who are amazing, inspiring artists who keep me motivated.”
The Tri-State music scene is very close-knit, and Anderson’s bands can often be found playing from Huntington to Ashland, Ironton and Portsmouth. She stresses the importance of the live music scene and getting the younger generation involved.
“The important thing is to try to diversify where we play so we’re not playing to the same crowd all the time, and especially to get more young people interested in seeing live music,” Anderson says.
“Music isn’t something that you have to be a special sort of person to do,” she continued. “I feel like everybody has the possibility to make music. If you can sing or tap your fingers, you can make music. There’s no gate in front of that. Music is like a human endeavor. They say before you can walk, you can dance; it’s something that’s in our DNA.” a
CONNECTING THROUGH
reading
Silent book clubs promote love of reading
Story Amanda Larch Hinchman | Photography Submitted
Silent book clubs offer a judgement-free space for book lovers to read whatever they choose.
When friends Megan Lawrence and Alyssa Whittington first heard of this new type of book club increasing in popularity throughout the country, they were inspired to start their own.
“I’d never seen anything like this before, where people have a place to go and read that’s not just a library,” Lawrence says. “It’s not something that’s widely known.”
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They established Turning Pages Silent Book Club, where there’s no pressure or expectations to have read a certain book or number of chapters leading up to each meeting.
“That’s something I really wanted,” Lawrence says. “So many people read so many different genres. It gives everybody the opportunity to read what they want when they want and be a silent reader, and we don’t make anybody discuss what they’re reading, unless they want to.”
Turning Pages Silent Book Club meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month at Coffee With A Twist in Nitro, West Virginia. Previously, they’ve held meetings at Valley Cakes and Cafe in Poca, as well as Angela’s on the River in St. Albans.
“I really like to support local businesses whenever I can,” Lawrence says. “We’re venturing out into new businesses, seeing different spaces. When the weather warms up, we plan to do some outside locations like the park or lake, just to have a different space. Everybody needs some fresh air every now and then.”
Other future plans for the club include hosting bookish activity nights, like making bookmarks, and even hosting a bookthemed ball.
“There’s definitely plans to grow and expand Turning Pages’ brand, so everybody knows it’s for any kind of reader and for all kinds of different things,” Lawrence says.
Lawrence interacts with authors on social media to grow the club, and most recently, Turning Pages virtually hosted bestselling and West Virginia native Jennifer L. Armentrout at their latest meeting.
In addition to two 30-minute increments of silent reading, the club features time to mingle and check in, as well as a sticker exchange, a sign-in sheet to track reading and a bring a book, take a book free library.
“We try to offer different things,” Lawrence says. “Usually we mingle because at this point it’s a lot of the same people. We’ll talk about what we’re reading. It’s really fun to see if anybody has the same books, if anybody’s reading the same thing.”
Having a designated time set aside dedicated to reading is beneficial to members like Whittington, who is a busy mom.
“I feel like I can talk to anyone, but sometimes I just don’t want to talk,” Whittington says. “I want to go and just read. You can escape for an hour or two, which is really nice as parents, to be able to connect with other moms and friends who don’t have kids. We need that connection too.”
Having the opportunity to discuss books in person is another plus for members, and many read new and popular releases, often discussing their theories for different series.
“I feel like I could talk about books all day long,” Lawrence says. “You don’t know what is going to connect to you, which is so great about books. Reading has exploded so much, and it’s so exciting to see as a reader, because I feel like you can go anywhere and talk about books with someone.”
Stemming from its Facebook group, Turning Pages’ first official meeting was Aug. 6, 2024. Already, the Facebook group has grown to more than 200 members, with a goal of at least 500. Lawrence says she was nervous going into the first meeting, but was happy with the results.
“It’s new — you never know if people are going to show up, if people are going to take to it,” she says. “That first
meeting, we had 14 people, and I didn’t know anybody; it was all new faces, new names. It’s been so cool to connect to people who I wouldn’t have connected with. We have chats, we check in, we make posts, so it’s really nice to get that friendship.”
Members of Turning Pages are from all over the region, from Charleston to Huntington, and the club welcomes anyone willing to participate.
“If you’re willing to drive, then we’re open for anyone,” Lawrence says. “Don’t feel that if you read a certain type of book or a certain genre that you can’t come, or if you like a certain book, that you can’t come and meet people. Everyone is so friendly. It’s never been awkward. Everybody’s very welcoming, and we try to keep that environment the entire time.”
In part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reading has greatly increased in popularity in recent years, and silent book clubs are another great way to connect with readers, Whittington says.
“You might not realize who all reads around you,
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and it’s cool to see what other people’s interests are,” Whittington says. “You can connect on a more fun level with your reading and your interest there.”
With its welcoming and laid back environment, Turning Pages is beneficial for all its members.
“There aren’t cliques or anything,” Whittington says. “Everybody talks to everybody, which I know can be intimidating, like to start anything new. I don’t think anyone should be scared to come; everybody is really friendly.”
Oftentimes, books can bring people together in different ways than even television or movies, Lawrence says, and the club has led to friendships as well.
“I’ve definitely met some great people just even since starting the book club; one of my really good friends now, we just went on a reading retreat together,” Lawrence says. “There’s just so much more you can discuss with books, and it gives everybody a chance to just come and be with other people, not having the pressure to talk or socialize, and to do something they love.” a
Celebrating EVERY ASPECT
Portsmouth farm owner committed to all things floral
Hog Lot Flowers, located at Davis Farm in Portsmouth, Ohio, is certainly the unlikely choice for customers, based on the name alone, but looking deeper into their history, you can definitely see the underdog-like appeal.
Hog Lot is a 2.25-acre flower farm with 28 varieties of flowers and 88 different-looking flowers, built on an old, abandoned hog lot filled with marsh and grapevines.
The lot was cleared in a summer-long project in 2017. After the ground was bulldozed and cleared of rocks and limbs, an electric fence and an above-ground irrigation system were built in spring 2018. The lot was untouched for 50 years and was previously apple orchard.
Hog Lot Flowers is an extension of the George Davis Farm, and is owned by George Davis’ wife, Barbara Davis.
Mrs. Davis was excited to take part in the flower farm movement of 15 years ago that aimed to support local farmers, strengthen the community and preserve the environment by reducing pesticide production and the single-use plastic used on packaged flowers widely seen at large stores.
“There was a lot to learn, before I could even begin to farm,” Barbara Davis said.
She wants all her flowers looking their best, so she does not use toxic chemicals and, instead, uses
Story Alyssa King | Photography Submitted
natural fertilizer.
She explains that the environmental balance between predator and prey (birds, bugs and plants) are at a perfect balance, where her crops never suffer a significant amount of damage or malnourishment. She intends to “let nature take its course.”
Hog Lot Flowers offers farm events, where customers can come over to pick flowers, look at them and take family photos.
Mrs. Davis has expressed an enthusiasm for these events and plans to increase the bookings this summer.
The farm also has a subscription service, where the customer receives a bucket or bouquet every one or two weeks, and has participated in an informal farmers market every Saturday for the past 10 years.
Hog Lot Flowers covers events like weddings, birthdays, baby showers, funerals and any kind of
centerpieces. Mrs. Davis mentions even having photographers book sessions at the farm to use the flowers as a backdrop.
She explains her love of flowers as an admiration of their outward and inward beauty.
“There is a certain magic that happens when you put that seed into the dirt, I’ll always love that,” she says.
She enjoys the thrill of seeing the smile on a customer’s face when she hands them their bouquet. Her favorites that she grows are sweet peas, dahlias, snapdragons, delphiniums, zinnias, and Lisianthus flowers.
She explains that the Lisianthus, or prairie gentian, is similar in looks to a rose, but is easier to take care of. The delphinium flower ranges from blue to lavender colors and looks similar to a lilac in some ways and has a mild, but sweet fragrance.
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Davis goes for more of a “wild’ look when planning out her batches. She likes to give off “straight out of the garden” vibes. This summer, she plans to have a more romantic color pallet than she has had in previous batches.
She loves every aspect of a flower, including their scent, colors, the growing process and even their texture. Every flower that she plants is precious to her and she treats it as such.
Davis goes through a thorough and long process for each of her plants. She has around 4,000 plants growing under LED lights while they start to bloom, before moving them out into the field to fully grow. They increase light levels for the different stages of photosynthesis that it takes for a seed to germinate into a sprout.
Davis makes sure that each flower gets the best treatment and attention based on their individual needs, and she has a spreadsheet keeping track of all the needs each flower has.
Davis is not only the owner of Hog Lot Flowers, but she is also the planner and bookkeeper, tiller, planter, weeder, waterer, harvester, designer and marketer. She is a jack of all trades with the biggest passion for her job.
Hog Lot Flowers at Davis Farm is located at 6477 U.S. 23 in Portsmouth. For more information, visit their Facebook page. Their season starts in late April – early May, with spring flowers, transitioning to summer flowers. They remain open through October. a
ingredients.
p. 30
Hill Tree Roastery focuses on quality
A CUP, UNLIKE ANY OTHER Huntington café take coffee curation seriously
For Alek Dailey, co-founder of Hill Tree Roastery, coffee is more than a drink.
It’s a unique flavor experience — one that he and his business partner, Bryan Shaw, aim to elevate with their Huntington cafe.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of amazing responses we’ve received so far,” Dailey said. “People have told us that it’s the cleanest tasting, most delicious coffee that they’ve ever had. We’ve gotten comments on our roasting process, as well as the atmosphere, our professionalism and just how we do things here in the cafe. It’s been really incredible to have that much support from the local community.”
Using single-origin beans sourced directly from
family farms around the globe and roasted in house, hand-crafted syrups and fresh pastries made by local businesses Twelvepole Trading Post and Nomada Bakery — every detail of the bright and cozy shop, located on East Pea Ridge Road, emphasizes Dailey and Shaw’s passion and commitment to quality, craftsmanship and sustainability in their business.
“The big thing about having a single-origin coffee roasting company was that we wanted to reflect it in our cafe — making it as sustainable as possible by working with Twelvepole Trading Post and Nomada Bakery to make sure that everything that we do is local.”
Dailey explained.
The concept for Hill Tree Roastery came about around
Story Dawn Nolan | Photography Xena Bunton
10 years ago, when Dailey, a former Starbucks Training Manager, began home roasting after transitioning to a career in health care.
“I missed coffee and wanted to do something more with it,” he said. “Step by step, I learned about the thermodynamic process, roast development and flavor profiles and the farm-to-cup coffee supply chain.”
As his knowledge on the subject increased, Dailey wanted to further pursue his passion. A friend introduced him to Bryan Shaw, a business consultant and coach who specialized in advising entrepreneurs.
“We met up, and I explained my business plan to him,” Dailey recalled. “He liked it so much that, rather than just give me advice, he said that he wanted to start an LLC with me. He had always enjoyed the culture and wanted to have a coffee shop himself.”
Together, Dailey and Shaw founded Hill Tree Roastery LLC in 2017. As they started doing pop-ups around the area, interest in their product grew. However, meeting the
demand became difficult with the small, semi-commercial home roaster that Dailey had been using for the last few years.
“So we decided to try to get a business loan for a bigger machine and place to actually roast,” Dailey said.
Dailey and Shaw found a building on East Pea Ridge Road. They met with the property owners and were able to rent part of a commercial space, which they were later able to fully utilize.
“If it weren’t for the fact that we were able to expand into the space that we were already renting, we probably wouldn’t have opened a cafe at all,” Dailey said.
Describing the cafe as “more of a cocktail bar versus a sugar shop,” Dailey emphasized the use of seasonal ingredients and importance of keeping the integrity and flavor of the coffee at the forefront when creating the specialty drink menu.
“The resources of the syrups that we get are locally made, so, if something isn’t available to get, we’re not just
going to run to the store and buy it,” he explained. “One of the bigger things about having a café, that we wanted to do differently than anyone else, was that we wanted to see if we could work with the coffee instead of against the coffee. I wanted to have a well-crafted menu that allowed the coffee to show off more through the drinks and see how we could balance that relationship during flavor development.”
Hill Tree’s coffee menu is carefully curated — with espresso, drip and iced/cold brew — and specialty drinks inspired by global flavors.
“The drinks that we have now are internationallydesigned drinks — drinks that were kind of curated throughout history in the world and flavors that you would find from Turkey to the Middle East, Spain, Mexico, Brazil,” Dailey described. “We have brought those international flavors to our local area to display and show people that this is what the rest of the world has been drinking in their coffees for thousands of years.”
One example is the Turkish Delight.
“Turkish Delight was a staple for me growing up,” Dailey said. “I’m Turkish and Italian, so I had a lot of saffron, cinnamon and honey mixtures in my coffee. I wanted to bring those flavors together to show off some of my heritage and give people the experience of a spicier drink.”
Of course, tea drinkers aren’t left out. The cafe offers green, black and herbal varieties as well as matcha, chai and a few specialties like Cascara, made with dried skin of coffee cherries and the Huntington Fog, Hill Tree’s take on a traditional London Fog.
“Think of it as a rich caramel latte, steeped in Earl Grey tea,” Dailey described.
Since Hill Tree’s beginning, Dailey believed that it was important to work directly with the farms that were supplying the beans he was roasting. Over the last seven years in business, Hill Tree has worked with approximately 135 small family farms. They also work with two bigger farms directly, one in Papua New Guinea and one in Brazil. The Papua New Guinea roast is for
drip and brewed coffee. The Brazilian roast is used for espresso.
“Single origin coffee isn’t just about serving good coffee,” he explained. “It’s about supporting family farms and allowing those farms to be recognized for all of the hard work, showing off that product and roasting it well.”
For serious coffee connoisseurs, Hill Tree has an online subscription service called Roaster’s Passport, where customers can sign up to receive a 12-ounce freshly-roasted bag of whole bean or ground coffee from different farms on a recurring basis. In addition to the coffee itself, customers receive tasting notes, brewing instructions and origin information. The cost is $17.99 per delivery, with a weekly or monthly frequency option.
Hill Tree has also continued to grow its list of wholesale partners.
Locally, in addition to the cafe, Hill Tree products can be found at a number of other small businesses throughout Cabell, Wayne, Putnam, Kanawha, Logan and Mingo counties in West Virginia, including Drug Emporium (Barboursville, Charleston and Kanawha City), West Virginia Marketplace at Capitol Market and
Red Bird Cafe in Logan.
From training their baristas to become Specialty Coffee Association (SCA)-certified to hosting informational classes and tastings for the public, Dailey and Shaw’s goal for the future of Hill Tree is to further develop the area’s third-wave coffee culture.
“Third wave coffee culture is morally based on sustainability, economic growth and community development and quality control,” explains Dailey. “We do a lot of consumer education, and that was my biggest thing when deciding to have a coffee company, was to focus on educating the area, because we didn’t have a third wave coffee culture like the West Coast or Midwest. Now, we’re bringing that into West Virginia, bringing that culture to Huntington, and it will eventually allow us to develop a new kind of trade and career opportunities for people, which is very important to us.”
Hill Tree Roastery is located at 6326 E. Pea Ridge Road in Huntington. Hoursare Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Visit hilltreeroastery.com for more information. Like @hilltreeroastery on Facebook and follow @hilltreecoffee on Instagram and X. a
Skillet Lasagna
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 44 ounces marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1 1/2 cups frozen spinach
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• Bread, for serving
• Parmesan cheese, for topping (optional)
In large skillet or Dutch oven, brown ground beef with onion power, garlic powder and salt and pepper, to taste. Drain excess grease. Mix in marinara sauce, heavy whipping cream, ricotta and spinach.
Break up lasagna noodles and add to skillet. Cover and let set over medium heat 10 minutes. Stir and top with mozzarella cheese. Cover and let set 10 minutes.
Serve with bread and top with Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Growing the arts in West Virginia W
ith the glory of spring unfolding, the annual feast of color and growing light of day brings migrations of activity and economic development to this place we call Almost Heaven.
From red birds to orange traffic cones, our world is abuzz knowing work must get done while the sun shines. In the past couple years — since the passing of the West Virginia Film Industry Investment Act — we have been reeling in a growing number of film and TV productions.
We’ve helped more than 150 productions — two of which were Super Bowl commercials. One of my greatest joys has been helping heroes like Brad Paisley come home to make music videos, “Son of the Mountains,” and “The Medicine Will,” while also fostering young storytellers and budding videographers to tell their stories through film.
We championed for the new Marshall University BFA in Filmmaking program, teamed up with Teen Screen to show free films (with study guides) at West Virginia middle and high schools and sponsored film fests, film summer camps and film industry workshops.
Lucky for us, the regional filmmaking force is also strong and growing. Ohio and Kentucky have robust film tax credits and, thanks to technology and digital distribution, there’s a new flurry of film, TV and creative content work in our region.
We know the worth of our musical stories — being a stone’s throw off Kentucky’s Country Music Highway, where more than 150 million records have been sold from an endless well of native artists, from The Judds and Loretta Lynn to Bobby Bare, Chris Stapleton and Tyler Childers.
Storytelling is our super power — whether it manifests in a feature film, a novel, a podcast, a TikTok, a hip hop
Dave Lavender runs the West Virginia Film Office (www. wvfilm.com). Connect with him on Facebook at https:// www.facebook.com/dave.lavender.77), on Instagram @ dlavende and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ dave-lavender-1264511a1/
music video or a country song.
Ironton native Clint McElroy and his three sons (Justin, Travis and Griffin) just hit 100 million Spotify streams for The Adventure Zone.
West Virginia resident Curren Sheldon took home the American Society of Cinematographers‘ Outstanding Achievement Award for Best Documentary for King Coal, which featured 37 locations in West Virginia alone.
Renewed by spring’s energy and by the growing kaleidoscope of Mountain State and Tri-State artists, I believe we need to triple down on our native creatives. I implore you to join me in planting seeds to grow a sustainable ecosystem for film, TV and creative content in our region.
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