The Thomaston-Upson Arts Council will display the art of Thomaston Native Kasse Andrews-Weller in an exhibit beginning Sept. 6 entitled “The Goat Man of Georgia and Other Childhood Memories.”
Andrews-Weller, who grew up on Jackson Avenue in Thomaston, began working with clay as a child. Her artwork includes wooden materials, as well as some stitch work, taking influence from her father, who worked as a sawmiller, and her mother, who sewed.
Andrews-Weller, now living in Washington, D.C., was encouraged to pursue art from her R.E. Lee Institute Spanish teacher Mary Hogan. Obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sculpture, she also obtained a master’s degree in strategic studies.
Larger pieces to be on display in the exhibit include sculptures of buildings and scenes and people in and around Thomaston from her childhood, including Piggie Park, Mel-O-Krust Bakery, The Ritz Theatre, and The Goat Man of Georgia, who was often seen in the WSFT parking lot selling goats.
Her artworks are represented in the art bank of Washington, D.C.’s Commission on the Arts in Humanities, National Institutes of Health, USO at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and numerous national and international private collections.
She is a recipient of a D.C. Commission of the Art and Humanities’ Artist Fellowship Grant, a resident artist at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics, Certaldo, Italy, and was awarded first place out of 2,000 entries in the Veterans Administration, National Creative Arts Festival ceramics category.
Since the Ukraine and Russia conflict began, she has been selling clay pins and sunflower artwork and donating proceeds to World Central Kitchen and Jose Andres Kitchen, organizations that work to feed Ukrainians.
