COVID, which disrupted all aspects of society in 2020, has only intensified as we head into another long winter. This pandemic has presented severe challenges for the artistic and creative communities, which count on events, audiences, and the opportunities live interaction provides. This panel brings together four artists, all with ties to the Winchester area, representing four distinct fields, to discuss how COVID has impacted their professional and personal lives, as well as ways they’ve adjusted and created during uncertain times. Sean Murphy, 1455’s Executive Director and widely-published writer, will moderate the discussion with Blayne Weaver, an actor/writer/director, Julie Miles, an artist and painter, and Morgan Morrison, an acclaimed musician and Program Director at The Barns of Rose Hill.
1455 remains dedicated toward making our programs free to the public, but we support our friends and partners at The Barns of Rose Hill, and ask you to consider making a donation to this venue, which brings so much wonderful art and culture to the Shenandoah Valley–and the world.
Morgan Morrison joined the Barns of Rose Hill in 2012 and became Programs Director in 2013. Morgan is a member and principal manager of the popular band, Furnace Mountain, and performs extensively in the United States and internationally. She teaches mandolin and guitar to local students. Morgan also coordinates more than 200 volunteers for the annual River & Roots Festival and Watermelon Park Festival in Clarke County.
As a native Virginian, Julie Miles is a gifted artist who brings her curatorial eye and talents to our exhibits. J Miles Studios, founded in 1991, is a full spectrum decorative painting atelier. Specialties are murals, wood graining, fine art painting and gold leafingHer work has been featured in several embassies, hotels, restaurants, private residences and numerous publications.
Blayne Weaver has starred in, written and directed the acclaimed romantic comedy 6 MONTH RULE Previous films he’s written and directed include WEATHER GIRL and OUTSIDE SALES, MANIC, CUT TO THE CHASE and most recently GETAWAY (which was featured in 1455’s recent collaborative event with the great Alamo Film Club). His television credits include ER, NCIS, and THE MIDDLEMAN. Blayne graduated from UCLA with a degree in English Literature, and currently runs the East Coast office of Secret Identity Pictures.
Founder and Executive Director of 1455, Sean Murphy has been publishing fiction, poetry, reviews (of music, movie, book, food), and essays on the technology industry for almost twenty years. He has appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and been quoted in USA Today, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, Forbes and AdAge. He writes regularly for PopMatters, and his work has also appeared in Salon, The Village Voice, The New York Post, The Good Men Project, All About Jazz, AlterNet, Web Del Sol, Elephant Journal, FIVE:2:ONE, 805 Lit + Art, Northern Virginia Magazine, and others. He was previously the writer-in-residence at Noepe Center for Literary Arts at Martha’s Vineyard. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize two times, once for short fiction and once for poetry.
