By: Eames Yates
Valdosta, GA – Fruits of the Garden Winery played host to Valdosta’s first ever African American Artists Showcase on Saturday evening in Downtown Valdosta.
One artist said “we didn’t have the best weather for this but we still had a very good turnout.”
The rain couldn’t scare off the crowds from coming to see eight artists from Lowndes County. Spoken word, paintings, and gospel were just a few of the artforms represented.
Beverley Richardson-Blake helped organize the event. She said
“one of the key things we wanted to do was to expose them. Get them exposed in the community and let the community know what great talents we have.”
Some of the art had unusual origins… Milton Rogers lost everything when his apartment caught fire. It turned out a snack led to creative inspiration. He said “I was sitting there and I was eating a pack of M&M’s. And I had this color from the M&M’s coming off in my finger. And I said a hah! Good idea, I can draw with the color of the M&M’s.”
Mrs. Richardson-Blake went on to say “I hope that this is just the first of many events that we will have and we can make it an annual thing. And we can make it grow and grow and grow.”
Donations collected at the event benefited the Southside Library.