Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410240016
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
A Bertone, an MG and a Volvo - like a life-size Matchbox assortment of sharp classic cars - are lined up in the parking lot outside the auto shop.
Inside, a knight engages in fierce combat with a bloodthirsty dragon, an eagle soars soundlessly over lofty mountains, a fishing boat floats on vast blue waters.
The scenes are splashes of color covering the stark white walls of the lobby.
Indeed, this is an unlikely place for an art gallery.
Marshall Overstreet, co-owner and manager of the Sports Car Clinic, is also the father of 15-year-old Chandra, an aspiring artist who for the past five years has studied with Christiansburg artist Barbara Capps.
Capps teaches about 40 students, most between the ages of 8 and 18. These young artists, she says, have a problem: no place to display their work.
"You can't put a painting in a juried show unless you're 18 or older or unless it's a youth show. Two of my students, Ken Mitzutani and Brock Yeagle, are wonderfully talented artists, but these boys recently had to send their work to Bristol in order to be judged in competition."
Capps, not one to sidestep a problem, decided to find a solution.
"We started talking about galleries for the kids," Capps noted, "and Marshall offered the Sports Car Clinic. He was very supportive."
Actually, Overstreet jumped at the opportunity.
Since he moved his business into the former Playhouse 460 building last November, he had been wondering how he should dress up his showroom.
"On four separate occasions, four people I didn't know came in, looked at all the empty space and told me I ought to put an art gallery in here," Overstreet said.
"The clincher was when my partner's father came to look at the building and said I should fill the space with art. When we started talking about it, he said kids need a place to show their art."
So Overstreet and Capps set up the youth art gallery.
One of the paintings at Overstreet's shop is his personal favorite, an impressionistic watercolor in fiery red and jet black. His daughter painted it.
"It's a Porsche 911," Chandra said. Her father offered to buy the painting but she has not finalized the deal.
"Barter with your dad," Capps told her.
"These kids work so hard and spend so much time and money on their work," Overstreet said. "If they could sell something, that would make them feel good about what they're doing."
Joel Nilsen, a seventh-grader at Blacksburg Middle School and one of Capps' art students, has had offers on a couple paintings but hasn't sold one yet.
"His mother doesn't want to let anything go," admitted his mother, Karen Nilsen.
Joel, who has been taking art lessons for the past 21/2 years, was a state-level winner in last year's Reflections Program sponsored by the PTA. His entry, "Pristine," was a charcoal and pastel work depicting an idealistic view of the wetlands.
The painting, which hung over Joel's bed, now is in Lewis Gale Hospital with a family friend who has leukemia. "He wanted it to bring happiness," Joel's mother said.
Capps said she encourages the young painters to enjoy what they do. "It's creativity and it has to come from within."
Some of her students come to her with absolutely no experience, Capps said.
"I encourage them to create," she noted. "The funny thing is sometimes I feel like I'm not getting anywhere and then almost overnight, it clicks. They'll suddenly produce a wonderful painting."
Jon Conner of Christiansburg was one such student.
"I started with Jon when he was 9 years old. I asked him what he liked to draw and he said 'horses.' He sat down and drew a square horse. I thought, 'I've got my work cut out for me.'"
"Now he's 18 and he can paint anything," she said.
Two of Conner's award-winning works are included in the exhibit, which features a variety of works from the fantastic to the realistic, by youths from Blacksburg, Christiansburg and the surrounding area.
"These kids are putting out professional stuff," Capps said. "I was in here when someone walked in and he couldn't believe it was children's art."
The next step, Capps believes, is a club for young artists to help them learn more about art and the business of art. She's already working with members of the New River Arts Council on this goal and plans to contact the schools, also.
"An art organization will help them plan exhibitions and juried shows. We will have regular meetings, fund-raisers and elect officers. ... It's the most exciting thing I've done yet," she said.
To get the ball rolling, the young artists will have a reception open to the public from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Car Clinic.
In addition to the art display, Overstreet plans to display a classic Jaguar in the showroom. "Why not?" Capps quipped. "A beautiful car is a work of art, too."
The Youth Art Gallery at the Sports Car Clinic is a permanent gallery open to the public weekdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. It's at 335 Franklin St. on U.S. 460 between Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Any artists or arts patrons interested in joining the club for young artists should call Barbara Capps at 382-2397, mornings before 9 a.m.
by CNB