Description

At Coffee and Connections, we celebrate Chamber members in a variety of ways! Several times out of the year, we select a Chamber member to speak about what their company does. We also have refreshments provided monthly! Lastly, we feature work from artists affiliated with the Washington County Arts Council for you to view at the mixer. Join us in the F&M Trust Training Room at the Chamber. 

Read about what this month's mixer will have in store for you!

The Featured Chamber Member is The Western Maryland Consortium! Misty Cubbage, Business Service Representative will be sharing about The Western MD Consortium during the event!

The Western MD Consortium is the workforce development agency serving Washington, Allegheny, and Garrett counties. Using federal and state grants, their goal is to assist businesses and individuals in building a better workforce. Misty Cubbage has been part of the WMC team since August of 2020 and the business service representative since March 2022. In this role she is working with local businesses to expand their workforce, upskill their current staff and connect to other valuable resources.

Jennie Avila will have her artwork displayed at the mixer this month. 

A note from the artist:

I love clouds, cats, and negative space. They never cease to amaze and surprise me. The “Sky Cats” collection began with reverse cloud gazing… seeing cats between the clouds. Ultimately, the paintings are cats, and cats will appear where they please. Have fun finding them in the paintings! “Fancy Plants” focuses on glorifying foliage of all sorts. Many images were inspired by scenes in Hagerstown City Park.

Jennie's Biography:

Jennie Avila teaches art at Hagerstown Community College, Howard’s Arts and Frames Store, and presents workshops at festivals and in public schools. She studied at; Moore College of Art, Hussian School of Art, Fleischer Art Memorial and The Thomas Eakins House in Philadelphia, PA; The Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts in Vienna, VA, as well as with Alex and Allison Grey at Omega Institute in NY. She is a featured artist in the book, “Creative Spirituality, The Way of The Artist”, by Princeton University Sociology Professor, Robert Wuthnow - University of California Press, 2001.

Avila received a National Endowment for Humanities Grant in 2010 to present “Picturing America”, teaching American history through art and music. A documentary about Jennie’s art and music was filmed in 1999 and featured on Art Beat. Jennie is a Smithsonian Folkways/Fast Folk Artist. While on the board of the Discovery Station in Hagerstown, MD, Avila co-designed the “Musical treasures of The Civil War” Exhibit, May 2013. She has composed/designed 10 albums of original music. The most recent is a CD of local, true Civil War stories in song, “Love & Lore of The Civil War”. Avila also paints commissioned art works for private clients.

Jennie Avila grew up in artistic Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After the flood in April of 2005, she floated from the Delaware River to the Potomac River (Hagerstown, MD) where she resides with her artist/musician partner, Stephen Wright.

The refreshments will be provided by fellow Chamber member, Pretzel and Pizza Creations!

Thank you to the 19405 Emerald Sq. Edward Jones for sponsoring this event!

Pricing:

Free for Chamber members     |     Just $10 for non-members!