It was on a Mid-October morning that felt more like a September morning that members of the Kent County Art Community met at the home of Kent County Arts Council. The purpose that day, October 21, 2017, was two-fold. One was the launch of Chestertown RiverArts Annual Studio Tour. The other was to make a “Happy Anniversary” video from Kent County to the Maryland State Arts Council. The Maryland State Arts Council celebrates its 50th year.
It was the day that the first exhibition to be held in the newly purchased home for the Kent County Arts Council opened. Earlier in the year they had purchased the building at 101 Spring Avenue in Chestertown. For years the building had the name “Town Arts”, but had not been used for art in a long time. In fact the building had rarely been used for anything, for more than 10 years. At the end of 2017 upon the retirement ceremony for outgoing and long time director of the Arts Council, Leslie Raimond, the building was renamed the Vince and Leslie Raimond Arts Building.
Mary and Howard McCoy created a public art installation, OLD OYSTERS, NEW CORN in the side yard for the Studio Tour. It was around this piece that the county’s art community gathered to be a part of the video.
The Kent County Arts Council has finished the video and it is now available for viewing.
On their Facebook page the Kent County Arts Council posted the following:
All of us at the Kent County Arts Council wish the Maryland State Arts Council a Happy 50th Anniversary!
Happy Anniversary from us and all our members and friends including Chestertown River Arts, Garfield Center for the Arts, Mainstay Rock Hall, National Music Festival, Chester River Chorale, Eastern Shore Wind Ensemble, Sumner Hall, Kent County Community Marching Band, Chestertown Arts & Entertainment, County of Kent, Maryland Tourism, Kent County Public Library, and many many more!
(Special thanks to Shore Studios, Chesadel Crier, Jeff Weber, and Steve Payne for the great audio, images, video, and drone footage.)
