Arts, music event to advocate Pine Mountain

Nature has a tendency to inspire creativity and Lexington artists like Zoé Strecker are not immune to its effects, particularly the scenic splendor of southeastern Kentucky’s Pine Mountain.

“I personally believe that places like that, we recognize them as beautiful. All those things really trigger really deep biological reactions to us,” she says. “It sounds corny, doesn’t it? It’s true, though.”

Strecker believes the 125-mile forested ridgeline that triggers such a reaction is one worth preserving and protecting to be experienced by the public and future generations, and there are plenty in Lexington’s creative community that share her sentiment. This is what led to Strecker and others to come together to organize the first ever Wildlands Art and Music Festival, which takes place Friday night at The Grand Reserve in Lexington.

Strecker said her and fellow festival collaborators and co-hosts, visual artist Greg Abernathy and writer Erik Reece, used previous fundraising events put on by the Kentucky Natural Land Trust that combined art and music as a model for this event, along with writer’s retreats in Kentucky to raise awareness for the environmental effects of mountaintop removal.

In January 2015, Strecker said she began organizing three-day retreats for Kentucky artists to Pine Mountain to immerse them in the biodiversity and landscape of the region. Then, she and fellow artists formed the Pine Mountain Collective and conceived the Wildlands Art and Music Festival to get even more people involved.

“We keep calling it a curated invitation,” she says. “We just started thinking of people who would be interested in doing it but also people who we think would want to get to know each other.”

The festival features an art show with more than 20 well-known and up-and-coming visual artists from across the state and of all ages, along with readings by several Kentucky artists and poets. All of the readings and visual works for sale have been inspired by Pine Mountain. The event will also feature music by Kentucky artists Daniel Martin Moore, Western Movies, and Warren Byrom & Fabled Canelands. The venue will also have a cash bar serving specialty drinks.

Strecker said all of the artists and writers who have gone to Pine Mountain have come back with an enthusiasm for the area that is showcased in their art, and she hopes that helps people feel the need to experience the region for themselves and take steps to keep it flourishing.

“The arts are always compelling in a way other things aren’t,” Strecker says. “This is kind of an invitation to get to know more about it.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 10:52 PM with the headline "Arts, music event to advocate Pine Mountain."