The work of an artist who made his name in Richmond and the southern rock scene will soon be on display in the Valley, where he was born and raised. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[Gravity's Gone by Drive-By Truckers]
The evocative art on the record "A Blessing and a Curse," by the Drive-By Truckers, features an eerie black bird, gnarled branches and ornate lettering – hallmarks of Wes Freed, the Crimora-born artist and musician whose work has graced most of the band's albums since 2001. Rolling Stone called his style "ominous" and "gothic."
A new exhibit of Freed's work opens at the Art Hive Collective in Staunton on Friday, and will be up for the month of March. Freed passed away in 2022 at age 58, after a battle with cancer, and the proceeds from this show will benefit an endowed scholarship fund that's been set up in his name.
CASSANDRA GRATTON: In the spirit of our friend Wes Freed, who was just an enormous personality but very humble at the same time, really this idea originated through wanting to keep his spirit alive … keep his name alive, keep his love alive, and really pay it forward to the next generation of kids that might be in a similar situation as he.
Cassandra Gratton, one of the organizers behind the group "Friends of Wes Freed," explained that the fund will help other creative kids attend Freed's alma mater, VCUarts. It's currently about halfway to its goal of $50,000.
GRATTON: He would be really pleased to see that, you know, other kids are getting help. That they're getting the support.
She met Freed in college, when they were part of a cohort of young artists.
GRATTON: The whole VCU community at the time – we had The Village Cafe, and Grace Street was a different beast, and it really had a different soul to the city, and … it was a very large, extended family of just kind of nuts and weirdos and very creative juices around!
Freed was a 1982 graduate of Fort Defiance High School, in Augusta County, where his creative talents already shone.
ERIN BLEVINS: He loved – any time he had a chance, and he was just sitting, he would sketch whatever was around him. I mean, the look that he had with his stuff recently is exactly the look that he had back then. … That style started out like that and just got better and better through the years.
Erin Blevins, then Erin Umberger, met Freed at a party when she was a freshman and he was a junior in high school.
BLEVINS: We just started talking and he, at that time, had had a broken leg from being stepped on by a cow, I think. And at that time he was a typical cowboy. He wore a cowboy hat, cowboy boots. … Back then, he was in the FFA. He grew up on a farm. He was into art, and then later on he got more into music. He and some friends started a band called The Victims – a high school band. He did that and he kind of went from a cowboy to a leather pants-wearing man!
They dated for two years, parting ways after he went to college. Blevins remembers The Victims covering –
BLEVINS: The Ramones, Police, Sex Pistols, a lot of the punk rock era. … One of the favorite places to play was where we actually met, at our friend David Powers' house. His family would let them play on the front porch. They played at the high school. They played a couple local areas as well.
She still has a portrait Freed drew of her in the back of one of their high school yearbooks. Ever the "southern gentleman," Freed continued to visit her family after their breakup.
BLEVINS: He was the kind of guy that would give the shirt off his back. Friends were very important, family was very important. Didn't ask for much, didn't need much, but just wanted people to appreciate his artistry.
An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday at the Art Hive Collective. Prints and t-shirts will be available for purchase to benefit the scholarship fund.
