On Thursday, Nov. 20, local artist Jonah Brown will debut a new project that merges two parts of his creative life: painting and songwriting.
Entitled “Make a Scene, Jane,” the show — part art exhibit, part concert — will take place at Sunrise Ridge, an Airbnb property and event space at 110 Ridgeview Lane in Fairfield. Doors open at 6 p.m., followed by a performance by singer-songwriter Jordy Gibbons. Brown and his collaborators will take the stage around 7. Donuts and drinks will be provided by Mama Crockett’s.
A project that brings two art forms together
I reached out to Brown for all the details about the show. During our phone conversation, he told me that the idea for the show has been growing for nearly a year.
“Seven or eight months ago, I was still living in Richmond and had a cool idea,” he said. “How sick would it be if you could combine paintings and music somehow?”
He said social media partly inspired the concept — the now-familiar experience of posting an image and adding a song. But instead of pairing his artwork with someone else’s music, he began wondering: what if both parts were his?
“I made up a story,” he said, “and I’ve been working on the paintings to tell a story and the songs to extend on it. They do all go together.”
The show features five paintings, each with its own song, all sharing the same title. “I’ve been telling people: the paintings illustrate the songs, and the songs expand on the paintings.”
Painting has been his primary medium for about a decade, while music is a more recent interest. Brown learned to play during his years at Southern Virginia University, where he started on a banjo his father gave him.
“I added one chord at a time until somebody was like, ‘You know you’re playing that like a guitar,’” Brown said. “So then I switched over to guitar.”
Returning to Rockbridge — repeatedly
Brown grew up in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and moved to Buena Vista to attend SVU, following a path already taken by his brother. After graduating in 2022, he lived for nine months in Mount Vernon, Washington — a period he jokingly refers to as an “art residency” — before returning to Virginia. A second year-long “residency” in Richmond followed, and he moved back to Rockbridge County this past May.
“It seems pretty clear that Rockbridge County is like the magnet that keeps pulling you back,” I told him during our interview.
“Absolutely,” Brown said. “And I hope it stays that way. I love it out here.”
He said he now plans to establish roots here and, more importantly, build the business side of his art career.
“I wasn’t the greatest student, and it didn’t click that having an art career meant running an art business,” he said. “My plan is to hunker down here, get the business going, and then see what happens after that.”
Collaboration at the center
The musical side of the show grew through collaboration with Gibbons, Nate Dransfield (this writer’s brother, for full disclosure), and local musician Frederick Willis.
“These songs are really simple because playing and writing music isn’t second nature to me,” Brown said. “But these guys added musical magic. They make the songs feel bigger and more legit every time they touch them.”
He said that spirit of collaboration has shaped the entire project.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I think people will be blown away. The songs are really, really pretty.”
The venue itself came through a local connection: Sunrise Ridge owner Helen Bissett, an interior designer who until recently owned and operated the downtown Lexington shop Curated Interiors. Bissett saw Brown’s work on Instagram and reached out because she wanted to help.
The first of many experiments
Brown and Bissett have talked about expanding the concept once they see how the debut goes.
“We haven’t talked about doing another show at her house yet, but that’s an awesome idea — especially if this goes well,” he said. “There are questions we don’t even know we need to answer yet because we haven’t done it.”
But the ideal plan would be to eventually to take the project to nearby cities like Lynchburg, Roanoke, Charlottesville, Richmond, and Waynesboro; and to host additional shows in Lexington and Buena Vista.
He’s eager for the trial run.
“I’m just excited to get it going,” he said. “The first show feels like the experiment. You need to see the results before you can know the definition of it.”
A local scene as anchor
Brown said what keeps drawing him back to Rockbridge County is the combination of beauty, quiet, and community support — elements that have shaped this project from the start.
“People know each other here,” he said. “They show up for local art.”
Next Thursday, he hopes they’ll show up again — this time to see a new kind of performance he plans to build on.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door, or via this link: https://shopcuratedinteriors.com/products/make-a-scene-jane-event-ticket.
