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Upcoming show explores local art, history
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Paintings by local artists hang in the Richmond Hill Museum. - photo by Photo by Caitlyn Boza

Arts on the Coast will celebrate the art and history of Bryan County with its third annual Richmond Hill Historical Society Art Show at 6 p.m. on Sept. 6 at the Richmond Hill Museum.

Entitled “Flora, Fauna and Faces of Bryan County, Past and Present,” the show will exhibit paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures from local artists.

“The uniting thread is that all the pieces have to be indicative of Bryan County, and they need to depict the flora, fauna and people that make this area so unique,” said Sarah Volker, AOC vice president and president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society.

The show will feature artwork from 15-20 artists and will remain on display at the museum during regular operating hours until Oct. 15 — though Volker said many artists will likely allow their work to hang in the museum long after the exhibit’s conclusion.

“For the last two years, probably 50 percent of the artists have either permanently loaned or given us the artwork they’ve created for the show,” she said.

Currently the museum’s art gallery is located in the building’s kitchen, but Volker said the historical society is looking to expand the gallery and incorporate the artwork into the museum’s displays.

“The artwork really helps illustrate, in a different way, what was going on in the past, and it gives the museum a different feel. It’s not just a building filled with artifacts. It’s living and changing, and it shows how people in Bryan County today are trying to understand and explain, visually, what happened yesterday and bring it into our museum for people in the future.”

According to Volker, the museum receives a lot of positive comments from visitors about the artwork that’s displayed year-round.

“It just makes us a little bit more unique than other small museums, that we have this ever-changing impact from local artists. People like that, and I think they can relate to that.”

Admission to the show is free, and light refreshments will be provided. Participating artists will be on hand to discuss their work, and many of the paintings will be available for purchase.

All proceeds from artwork sales during the show will benefit the restoration of the Richmond Hill Museum, which is slated to begin in mid-October.

During the show, the Richmond Hill Historical Society will also sell tickets for its upcoming guided tour of the Ford Mansion, scheduled to take place Oct. 6. Tickets are $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers. Proceeds will benefit the museum’s restoration.

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