A! Magazine for the Arts Archive

Robert Pilk is hooked on comics

Robert Pilk, owner of Mountain Empire Comics, Bristol, Tenn., got hooked on comics as a very young child.

In This Issue

• Winner of Orthophonic Joy Music Contest Birthplace of Country Music surprised a student on the campus of Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
• RobCon fills Viking Hall with costumes, comics & fun All things comics come to Viking Hall Aug. 2 at RobCon 2014, the brainchild of Robert Pilk. This year's event is the 29th convention that Pilk and his assistants have held.
• Bridgeforths love to share their passion for art When you walk into Bridgeforth Design Studio on Sixth Street in Bristol, Tenn., the first thing you'll notice is the super hero artwork.
• Virginia Pillion was bitten by the acting bug at an early age Virginia Pillion's love of theatre began before she started school, and her first role was on the stage at Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia.
• Writers' Day coming up at Virginia Highlands Festival The Writers' Day of the Virginia Highlands Festival features a wide variety of workshops for writers in several genres.
• Quillen's poetry is rooted in Appalachian tradition Rita Quillen is a writer whose works – from poetry to non-fiction to fiction – are purposely rooted in the surrounding mountains of Southwest Virginia, reflecting a personal vision in her explorations of universal truths.
• Country Music Museum opens The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in downtown Bristol opens Aug. 1 with a weekend of special activities.
• AiPP to install new sculptures Sculptors from around the South visit downtown Bristol, Aug. 4, to install the winning sculptures in Art in Public Places' 2014-15 Outdoor Sculpture Competition.
• ETSU student joins The Boxcars East Tennessee State University junior Gary Hultman has become the newest member of acclaimed bluegrass band The Boxcars.
• Student photographers win awards Ten young photographers, representing schools all over Southwest Virginia, were recognized for their photos at an awards program at Heartwood: Southwest Virginia's Artisan Gateway, Abingdon, Va.

A! Extra

• Writer to sign books at Bristol on Aug. 23 BRISTOL Va. — Going to the rose garden once was not enough for Hazel Rash Fleming.
• ETSU Martin School announces fall arts season Cultures coalesce, visual arts blend activity, and history and music, dance, theater and storytelling comingle this fall for a tapestry of more than a dozen events from the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts at East Tennessee State University.
• Weiss to head ETSU Literature and Language Department East Tennessee State University has named Dr. Katherine Weiss as the new chairperson of the department of literature and language. Weiss joined the ETSU faculty in 2006.
• Tourism executives visit new Birthplace of Country Music Museum BRISTOL, Va. — Regional tourism leaders sang the praises Wednesday of the new Birthplace of Country Music Museum, which some predicted will become a major attraction for the region.
• Head of Northeast State's new entertainment tech program offers insights BRISTOL, Tenn. – Meet, greet and get to know Jeff Little. And learn of opportunities for music education afoot within the birthplace of country music.
• ETSU's Olson discovers bluegrass music's "missing link' Dr. Ted Olson, an East Tennessee State University faculty member in the department of Appalachian studies, has spent many hours searching the university's Archives of Appalachia for musical gems. After a year, he made quite a find.
• VHF: Winners of photography, fine arts competitions The 66th Virginia Highlands Festival congratulates the winners of its annual Juried Fine Arts and Photography competitions.
• Watts Up? New lights, controls once again brighten State Street Decades of first dates, Saturday matinees and thrills on the screen lit up the faces of downtown moviegoers at the Paramount. Its historic marquee now shines with new light after a ceremony Thursday night.
• Can't sit still around the Alabama Spirituals Make welcome the Alabama Spirituals. Set to appear during the Gospel Showcase on Aug. 16 at the Virginia High School auditorium in Bristol, Va., the longtime group brings a mighty word built upon strong songs and a spirit that don't hold back.
• Artists install winning sculptures at sites on both sides of state line BRISTOL, Tenn. — A marked contrast runs through this year's winners of the Art in Public Places sculpture contest from Dalia Delanuez's dainty "Hummingbird" to Kurt Dyrhaug's daunting "Tractor Fin."
• Youth tent encourages kids, adults to be creative at the Virginia Highlands Festival ABINGDON, Va. — Mason Harrington picked up the plastic, tentacled monster, dipped it in red paint, and dropped it unceremoniously onto his yellow paper.
• Country artists cap museum's opening weekend with show BRISTOL, Tenn. — Welcome to Bristol, sacred ground for all of that which brands as country and bluegrass music.
• Long-awaited Birthplace of Country Music Museum opens to public BRISTOL, Va. — A film in the Birthplace of Country Music Museum's Unbroken Circle Theater traces the international influence of Bristol Sessions performers and the lasting impact of songs recorded in the Twin City in 1927.
• Passion for music leads King's Matthew Larkin to New York for graduate music program in Instrumental Conducting Matthew Larkin has always had a passion for music.
• Oscar winner, TV star Shirley Jones to perform at Barter Theatre She's been a Rodgers and Hammerstein ingenue, an Oscar-winning actress, the coolest mom of the 1970s and the author of a juicy tell-all book.
• Call for entries for multinational exhibit of socially, politically engaged art Artists and designers are invited to submit entries for "THE 2014 FL3TCH3R EXHIBIT: Socially and Politically Engaged Art" at East Tennessee State University.
• Watauga Valley Art League announces winners of show The Watauga Valley Art League announces the winners of its Summer Member Show. Asheville artist and educator, Fleta Monaghan, was the judge. Attendees at the opening reception voted three "People's Choice" awards.
• 2009 Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights Winnners Announced Barter Theatre is proud to announce the winners of its Ninth Annual Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights (AFPP) that was held July 27-Aug. 9 during the 2009 Virginia Highlands Festival.