Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Artists and art fans from Hampton Roads and beyond came out to Nansemond-Suffolk Academy to celebrate the region’s creative minds. The 38th Annual Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Art Show and Sale opened its doors on Saturday, Jan. 27 to begin their week of showcasing a variety of beautiful artworks. With over 150 artists, pieces from Suffolk, Windsor, Smithfield, Hampton, Richmond as well as North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania and more were presented for viewing and purchasing. 

This year’s featured artist was Carson Overstreet, who brought over 80 vibrant artworks for attendees to view and buy. During the show, Overstreet talked about how honored she felt having NSA choose her to headline the event.

“I feel honored to have been selected and it’s a great feeling,” Overstreet said. “Since the school approached me, I’ve started working immediately on this. So it’s months of work come to fruition and they did such a beautiful job displaying the art, because it’s hard. Different genres, different sizes and they just did an excellent job of presenting the art to the public.”

Overstreet also discussed her varieties in artstyle and the options that it provides for art fans.

“My artstyle, I would say, varies. Just sort of depending on what I feel like painting. I do paint a lot of really bright, vibrant colors. But then I also – like you see this one here – that’s more of like a muted, what someone might call a ‘soft, abstract’ landscape,” Ovestreet said, describing one of her pieces. “I think it’s good for buyers because I do a lot of different things and a lot of subject matters and a lot of different styles. And that keeps things interesting for me.”

NSA Assistant Director of Advancement Melissa Hlinovsky also had a chance to talk about the show, expressing deep gratitude to their many supporters. 

“We are thrilled with the support of our community – from our sponsors to our artists and our customers – we’re just so appreciative of the support we receive year after year, and especially this year with the 38th Annual Art Show and Sale,” Hlinovsky said.

Despite the air of jubilance from attendees and visiting artists, there was a somber tone for staff following the passing of Art Show and Sale Chair Camille Harrell, who passed away last year after Christmas. In tribute to Harrell’s life, the show is dedicated in her memory. Hlinovsky talked more about how many came together to honor Harrell.

“As a tribute to Camille, volunteers, past chairs [and] over 100 volunteers have come out to support this show and make it the best show ever, as Camille would want it to be,” Hlinovsky said. “In addition to our outpouring of love from our volunteers, we have also had more sponsors than ever. We average at around 170 sponsors, and this year we have 224.” 

Along with visitors purchasing art during daytime hours, Hlinovsky notes that fans will have a chance to buy their favorite pieces online at nsaartshow.com.

“We’ll be selling artwork in-person during the day and online at night, and we will be restocking artwork throughout the entire week of the show,” she said. “So as artwork sells, we call the artists and ask them to bring more artwork so we can make additional sales throughout the week so they can showcase their artwork.”

Finally, Hlinovsky encouraged everyone “young and old” to join NSA for the ongoing show.

“There’s a little something for everyone. We have a wide variety of price ranges from $25 over $3,000, so there’s a little something for everyone here at the show. And if everyone can just come out and support this art show supports the NSA Arts Program and we truly are appreciative of everyone’s support for the show.” 

The 2024 NSA Art Show and Sale will continue to run until Sunday, Feb. 4 with online shopping running until Feb. 3.For more information, go to nsacademy.org/arts/art-show-and-sale or nsaartshow.com.