WEEDSPORT - Area residents did not have to take a trip to the city to browse art and hear live music Sunday afternoon.

Burritt's Cafe brought it to them during their monthly meet and greet with local artists.

The coffeehouse, located on Seneca Street, showed drawings and wood carvings by area artists, and a local pianist provided the aural ambiance.

Burritt's usually holds a meet-and-greet every fourth Sunday, allowing the public to discuss the work that has been hanging in the cafe for the last month with the artists who produced it.

This month, Burritt's has been showing work by abstract artist Ray Foody and the woodwork of Arlie Howell and Pete Kilborne.

The pieces will be shown through Wednesday.

Foody, who has been painting and drawing for 30 years, draws kinetic, black-and-white pieces that incorporate balance and movement.

He said he is always interested in hearing feedback from the public, even if people don't know what to think of his abstract work.

“I just hope people find it interesting,” said Foody, who lives in Corning. “I am glad I have the courage to just throw (my work) out there.”

Howell has been throwing his work out there since the early 1980s, when he started woodcarving as a hobby.

He shows work by both himself and Kilborne every year at the Beaver Lake Golden Harvest Festival.

Howell lives in Weedsport, and Kilborne lives in Auburn.

Much of their work consists of deep-relief pieces depicting rural farmscapes or carvings from cottonwood bark found locally.

Often, Howell said, inspiration comes from the wood itself.

“The wood speaks to you,” he said. “You will look at one piece and say, this is going to be a wood spirit. You can look at another and see that it is going to be a gnome house.”

Burritt's co-owner Sherry Saben-Wolford said that she has displayed a variety of work by area artists since the coffee shop opened almost two years ago.

It can't all be photographs or landscapes, she said.

“It is our mission to build a community and expose people to experiences they might not otherwise have,” Saben-Wolford said.

Burritt's also hosts live music regularly, she added.

Nick Hrynyk supplied the live music Sunday afternoon, playing classical works on piano throughout the meet-and-greet.

Hrynyk, 16, said he wished there were more events like Sunday's in Auburn, where he lives.

“This place has that arts-y atmosphere,” Hrynyk said. “Usually I have to travel to go somewhere like this.”

Burritt's Cafe's next meet-and-greet will be held Jan. 6.

Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net.

For more information

Call 834-6870 or visit burritts.com.