Art Exhibit Honors Fallen Coal Miners

By Submitted To, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

May 11–A special art installation to memorialize the 18 men who have lost their lives this year in West Virginia coal mines is on display at the Cultural Center in the State Capitol Complex through May 21.

The art installation was conceived by David Jeffrey of Lynco. An internationally recognized contemporary artist, Jeffrey is from a coal mining family and has worked in the mines himself.

The focal points of Jeffrey’s “Coal Curtain,” a large mixedmedia sculpture, are 18 blocks of coal, each sandblasted with the initials of one of the miners. The blocks of coal sit in front of a curtain of coal chips. The simple, stark sculpture suggests the underground environment of a coal mine.

Jeffrey did an accompanying piece of art entitled “Darkness to Light” in honor of Randal McCloy Jr., the only miner rescued from the Sago mine disaster in January. “Darkness to Light” is made of beeswax and coal on a Masonite panel, and symbolizes McCloy’s rescue and ongoing recovery.

The installation can be seen during regular Cultural Center hours from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday; from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday through Saturday and from noon-6 p.m. Sunday.

A similar installation, also by Jeffrey, will be on display from May 28 through September 5 at the West Virginia Division of Culture and History’s Museum in the Park at Chief Logan State Park in Logan.

Info: Richard Ressmeyer, director of arts, 558-0240 Ext. 721.

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