An evening of art and music

The Grayson Gallery & Art Center played host to an evening of art and music last Friday, September 25, for their monthly Final Friday event. The featured artist, Michelle Ward-Ciancio, was the 2024 winner of the APPY (Appalachian Arts & Entertainment) Award for Best Painter in the artist category of the awards. Dan and Mindy Click from the Grayson Art Gallery presented the award to Ciancio, and the presentation led to an unexpected treat for area art and music lovers.
Ciancio, who is originally from Olive Hill, exhibited nearly fifty original art pieces at the Grayson Gallery that were available for art lovers to purchase, as were prints of many of the originals on display. Ciancio’s work will be on display at the gallery through mid-October and a portion of the proceeds from art sales and donations will be passed on to a local endowment via the Carter County Community Fund, making future grants possible to nonprofit agencies in Carter County.
“I’m originally from Olive Hill, and my dad lives in Rush,” Ciancio said at the event, noting her ties to the region.
The artist said she has been seriously painting for about eleven years leading up to her current award. She works mostly in acrylic painting but has tried others, she said. Her favorite style of painting is portraiture, and she began that style around 2020 during the COVID Pandemic. That style is very much her “driver,” she said.
“I love painting people.”
Ciancio said that numerous times after Dan and Mindy Click presented her award, they invited her to come to Grayson. And being a Carter County native, she was eager to do just that, though the logistics had to be worked out now that she resides in northeast Ohio. When Dan Click invited her to be the kickoff of sorts for Final Fridays, she said she would come. But there was one condition.
The condition was simple, she said.
“We are going to raise money for the community that raised me,” Ciancio said. “He said, ‘You got it!’ So, that’s why we decided to donate the net proceeds of the show to the Carter County Community Fund.”
Ciancio said she was also pleased with the music performed at the event by the phenomenally talented Corduroy Brown, the musical alter ego of award-winning West Virginia native Allen Brown. Ciancio and Brown know each other through social media and other social connections, and she said she is also a really big fan.
“I have always loved his music, and when I reached out to him to tell him what we were doing, he said he would love to come play at the show. And he is donating a portion of his merchandise sales to the Carter County Community Fund as well.”
Ciancio said it makes her happy when her art can be used to help others.
“I think at the end of the day we all belong to each other,” she said. “Regardless of politics or world view, we are all human. And we should all look out for each other.”
Dan Click of the Grayson Art Gallery said that art moves people, and events such as the evening with Ciancio and Brown helps move people together. He encourages everyone in Carter County and beyond to come into the art gallery and enjoy the works of local artists from around the region.

Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com