Local Artist, Sassa Wilkes, hosts a co-creation workshop at WestEdge Factory in Huntington W. Va.

Business Leaders recreate "The Starry Night"

Working collaboratively to create something beautiful

"This is what they created together!" Sassa posted. "The majority of the people who contributed had no art experience...that is what is so awesome about working collaboratively. Together we can make something so much cooler than we can alone."

Grant awards allow spaces for public art activities

Coalfield Development, an organization in West Huntington, has a mission to inspire the courage to grow, activate the creativity to innovate, and cultivate communities of opportunity in central Appalachia. Last summer, Coalfield received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts that allows for the creation of public art and to activate the artist studio spaces at WestEdge Factory.

Some feedback from the business leaders

Sassa assigned business leaders a small square that had a number on it and they needed to replicate the design that corresponded with the number. Tyson Compton, President of the Huntington CVB posted to Facebook that the workshop was a really cool experience. 

"Sassa Wilkes, an incredible artist, held workshops where individuals from the community worked on different projects on large canvases," Compton posted. "...all of which will be cut up and reconfigured into a gigantic mosaic which will be housed at WestEdge permanently. My sincere thanks to Margaret Mary Layne, the arts adviser for this project, and to the amazing and gifted Sassa, who guided so many of us neophytes through this exercise."

Compton said he contributed to the third block down on the far right of the canvas. 

Rebecca Stevens said she never considered herself an artist...

Director of Events and Public Relations for Marshall University, Rebecca Stevens posted about her workshop experience. 

"This was SO much fun!" Stevens posted. "I've never considered myself to have any talent when it comes to visual art, but I was blown away at how my pieces of the puzzle came together with the finished work. It's beautiful."

The power of togetherness