Rags to Cultural Riches: Now On Display in Gallery 610
Rags to Cultural Riches is now on display in Gallery 610, located upstairs at Village Antiques & Art from Oct. 12th - Nov. 30th! Rags to Cultural Riches is a West Virginia exhibition weaving history and creativity through reimagined textiles. The show includes eleven regional artists. Read on to learn about each artist and get a glimpse at the show. To visit, stop by Village Antiques & Art, open every day, and located at 610 W. 14th Street, Huntington, WV.
Meet the Artists
Kevin R. Toney is a fiber artist whose path from Peace Corps volunteer to alpaca rancher is as richly layered as the textiles he creates.
After retiring from the Virginia Army National Guard, Kevin began raising alpacas and taught himself to weave and dye fiber by hand. His work blends natural materials and lived experience, weaving history and creativity into every piece.
For Kate McComas, fiber art is a living tradition. From sleeping under her grandmother’s quilts to earning a master’s degree in weaving, Kate’s work celebrates the threads of family, craft, and place that tie generations together.
At 16 years of age, she bought a treadle sewing machine and began making her first quilt. In college, she completed her master’s degree in art with a studio specialization in weaving. A few years later, Kate taught weaving at Marshall University in Huntington WV for five years.
Throughout the years, Kate worked at many arts agencies in West Virginia including The WV Commission on the Arts, Mountain Made Foundation, The Clay Center, Huntington Museum of Art, and Heritage Farm & Museum. Teaching opportunities took her to the Cedar Lakes Crafts program (Ripley, WV), the Clay Center (Charleston, WV), and the Huntington Museum of Art (Huntington, WV).
Most recently, she taught hand spinning to several groups of students at the Governor’s Honor’s Academy at Marshall University, Huntington, WV. Currently, Kate sells her work at Tamarack, Beckley WV, in addition to now displaying and selling at Village Antiques & Art.
From Lavalette, WV, Frances “Ann” Grimes transforms wool, fiber, and found materials into imaginative felted portraits and sculptures. Her work honors the lessons in resourcefulness passed down through her family, bringing new life to recycled textiles and time-honored techniques.
Through every stitch and strand, Ann weaves her own history into whimsical works of art.
Elizabeth Liebig (Beth) was born in the 1960's in St Louis, Missouri. Her current style includes quilted clothing with trims, beads, and fibers. She also creates art and traditional quilts. She uses bright colors, but some pieces do take a darker turn. She loves to work in the Gothic genre and local folklore and legend as subjects. Her art shows a wide variety of talents.
Beth attended Clatsop Community College in Astoria, Oregon during the 2007/2008 school year with a focus on basic art, sculpture, figure drawing, and print making. She has continued her education with classes in a variety of subjects, including ceramics, photography, drawing, and others. She intends to keep learning after retiring as Art Director in an after-school program.
Beth believes her art should feel magical and tell a story in both construction and subject matter. She invites people to explore the texture of her pieces, feeling that is also part of the story.
Jessie McClanahan hails from Southern West Virginia, brought up in the forests and coalfields that surrounded her hometown. Her Interdisciplinary arts practice is inspired by her Appalachian upbringing and the interconnected relationships that mountain communities often have with the ecologies in which they live. This curiosity and love are made most evident in the collaborative practice she has cultivated with Fungi and plants, utilizing handwoven textiles and clay.
Jessie received her MFA from Syracuse University with a BA from West Virginia State University. She was a Tamarack Foundation Emerging Artists Fellow, with exhibitions at Governors Island in New York City, solo exhibitor in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and an invited Artist in Tilcara, Argentina. Her work has been featured in publications in Timeless Textiles by Peter’s Valley, and has been recognized as an Emerging Artist for the Clay Center of West Virginia. Currently, Jessie is excited to become an adjunct professor of ceramics at Marshall University.
Harriet Harless is a 7th-generation West Virginia resident and comes from a long line of quilters and expert seamstresses. She started sewing her own clothes and other household items at an early age, even making some clothing items for her two sisters, and later, for her two children and husband.
Her sewing projects have included re-upholstering furniture, making suits for her husband and son, fancy clothes for herself and her daughter, (including a wedding dress), toys, quilts, and purses.
Several of her other quilts have been displayed in the WV Cultural Center.
“Handmade embroidery is like painting with your needle, and it’s so much fun,” stated local artist, Euthimia “Efi” Gianna. She said she started learning how to stitch at the age of ten, thanks to her loving, talented grandma. Her grandma taught her how to cross-stitch and all the different types of stitches and techniques.
“As I was growing up, I combined my love for drawing with free-style embroidery,” she added. Her work includes hoops, framed pieces, denim clothing, and tote bags. You can find Efi’s work at Village Antiques & Art and Grounded Earth Collective in Huntington, WV, and Booktenders in Barboursville, WV. Follow her on Instagram @euthimiasembroideryart.
Leigh McDonald combines elements of printmaking, painting, collage, and fiber techniques. She works with paper and fiber, coloring them with ink, dye, and paints, then transforming the surface with texture using gel mediums, fiber pastes, or beading and embroidery. She is also the author of Adventures in Circles, Quilt Designs from Start to Finish, published in 2008.
Her art is in private collections in Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas, California, Michigan, Washington, DC, and West Virginia. She is currently serving on the Board of the Tri-State Arts Association and is active with the Innovative Fiber Artists Network. She is also a member of Ohio Designer Craftsmen.
For more information about the artist or her work, you can contact her by email: [email protected]. There is also information on her blog, and she actively posts on Instagram: @leighemcdonald
Ella Rose McComas has always loved finding beauty in forgotten things. Combining her eye for design with an appreciation for vintage style, she gives old garments new life through her hand-bleached lace designs. Each piece reflects her love of craftsmanship, texture, and storytelling - turning something once worn and weathered into something fresh, beautiful, and full of character once again.
Ella’s creative process begins with the careful selection of vintage garments, chosen for their character and potential. She then overlays sections of handmade lace, using them as intricate stencils through which a bleach solution is delicately applied.
This controlled bleaching reveals stunning, lace-like patterns as the design develops. Because each garment reacts uniquely to the process, timing and precision are essential; the piece must be rinsed at the exact moment to preserve its integrity and achieve the desired visual effect. The result is a wearable work of art, handcrafted and unique.
Robby Moore has been a mixed media artist, exhibiting, curating, and teaching since 1999. Moore also has over 20 years of experience in Arts administration, working in art galleries, theaters, and nonprofit organizations..
His current position with West Virginia State University’s Extension Service, in partnership with West Virginia Creative Network, makes Moore the first Art Extension professional in the state of West Virginia. His new role in the organization allows Moore to work statewide, strengthening community vitality and economic development in West Virginia's Arts industry.
“My work is layers of simple techniques and materials. I mix media to build patina,” Robby said. “Physically, the work is a tribute to Appalachian traditions like ingenuity, resourcefulness, saving, and nostalgia. I make crafty objects, presented as paintings, using theatrical language, coded icons, and childhood memories from southern West Virginia. Currently, my work is about isolation, obligation, time, and celebration.”
Ron Grimes is a West Virginia native who grew up on a family dairy farm in Tyler County where he and his wife, Ann, now have a second home. Ron earned a BS degree in agriculture education from West Virginia University and later an MA in Vocational Education from Marshall University.
After teaching agriculture in Tyler and Ritchie County for 5 years, Ron joined the West Virginia Department of Education in 1979 and retired in 2015. Ron and Ann met in Tyler County during their first teaching position. He was teaching agriculture, and she was teaching art. Her artistic background has had a positive influence on his appreciation and understanding of the art world.
After being involved in an auto accident and becoming immobilized for weeks, Ann started him on weaving simple potholders. After making seventy-five of those, Ann suggested he learn how to make I-Cord for her felt purse handles. He became an expert at I-Cord making, filling several large storage tubs. His oldest sister was assisting with teaching a class on twining at their church. She showed the family how to twine rugs during a family gathering. He adapted quickly to rug making.
