Celebrate the sunny season’s end with a stroll through ‘Late Summer Market,’ artist Noel Tenney’s latest exhibit

Katie Kuba
August 26, 2022

BUCKHANNON – It’s late August, and the time is ripe for picking juicy tomatoes, absorbing the last rays of summer sun and soaking in some local art.

Residents and visitors to Buckhannon and Upshur County can do the latter this Saturday, August 27 in the Old Orchard Gallery on the second floor of Fish Hawk Acres, where historian and local artist Noel W. Tenney is now showing a selection of new artwork in an exhibit titled “Late Summer Market.”

“Late Summer Market” opened Thursday, but you can still see some of Tenney’s newest works – several have been completed in the last year – from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Anyone who can’t make it to the exhibit, which showcases oil paintings and colorful cut-paper collages, is invited to contact Tenney by email at noelwtenney@yahoo.com to schedule an appointment.

Among the offerings in Tenney’s ‘Market’ is the largest cut-paper collage he’s ever completed, a 20-by-16 piece of art titled “Gather ye rosebuds,” named after a poem written by Robert Herrick that was featured in the 1989 “Dead Poets Society” film.

“That’s the biggest piece I’ve ever cut,” Tenney said Thursday. “The poem goes on about flowers that bloom today but are dead tomorrow, and my piece is a tree that takes you through the seasons. It’s really a study of the seasons, and I hadn’t thought of a tree like that before.”

Another cut-paper piece incorporates an actual photograph Tenney captured of an evening moon in Upshur County, and a third oil painting, “Grassy Run Falls” features one of the area’s most picturesque waterfalls, a hidden gem in the Sago area of Upshur County that used to be known as Hesper. It’s the only waterfall Tenney has ever painted, and he utilized an early 20th-century photograph of Grassy Run Falls for guidance.

“I’ve been there two or three times, and I painted once in plain air there,” he said. “It was a favorite spot because you know, Sago was always a popular swim hole.”

Tenney said he’s approaching 80 years old but never tires of painting or perusing other people’s artwork.

“I look at a lot of works of art, especially historical,” Tenney said, “and you can do that online a lot now, too. I get really excited when I go to a museum and I get to spend time and look at things. I get really excited about new ideas.”

“I just like to paint, but I’ve done every kind of art there is,” he added. “I’m almost 80 years old but I still make time to paint.”

You can read more about Tenney’s work and his artistic philosophy here.

Tenney’s exhibit features some all-new oil paintings and cut-paper artworks that he completed within the last year.

Clockwise from top right is Tenney’s “The Gooden Farm in Winter” (oil on canvas), “Gather ye rosebuds” (cut paper) and “Grassy Run Falls” (oil on canvas).