Welcome to the Hillbilly Renaissance
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Artist and musician Blane Sage is spearheading a Hillbilly Renaissance. Born and raised in a small town in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, Appalachian culture is paramount for the young oil painter and singer/songwriter. The arts as a whole have been a part of his life since birth as he’s been making music, making art and participating in theatre for the past 21 years and counting.
As a visual artist, Sage has focused on producing oil paintings that emphasize the human figure, explaining that he has always been drawn to faces, in part because they are one of the hardest aspects of a person to capture on canvas. However, he says, when it is recreated faithfully, true magic happens. “When everything is just so, the painting comes to life,” he says. “I strive to tap into that magic whenever I embark on a new project.” Sage says his greatest inspiration derives from Baroque artists such as Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi. In later years, Sage has been working steadily and working big. He’s produced modern-day takes on stories as old as time, including the crucifixion of Christ, Samson, Jael and Sisera and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He also regularly produces smaller works and portrait studies. Currently, Sage has expanded into a series titled Faces of Appalachia. The first installment of the series, called Warriors, feature four Appalachian veterans. He’s now working on the second installment, this one focusing on four Appalachian farmers. |
Most of his work is available as prints, some in limited edition. Sage is also available for commission work. Before working in oil paint, Sage worked in oil pastels, partnering with Wythe Hospice of Southwest Virginia, creating and donating portraits of people’s loved ones to their families. That project, called The Mourning Glory Project, was undertaken in high school and stems from a desire to help the organization that provided care for his Papaw during his final days in 2012. He has also dabbled in sculpture, producing a welded sculpture of the angel Gabriel titled Arc Angel. Sage has had his work shown at the Bath County Arts Show, Wayne Art Center, Aplomb Contemporary Portrait Gallery, the William King Museum of Art and at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
Largely self-taught as a scenic artist, Sage has perfected theatre painting techniques through trial and error, starting in high school with the production of the play “Anatomy of Gray.” During college, Sage was lead scenic painter for productions of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” He also served as scenic painter for “Silenced on Barbour Street.” During the summer of 2024, Sage served as a scenic painter for four shows at Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Bigfork, Montana.
As a musician, Sage has worked both as a performer and a teacher. In addition to serving as a guitar instructor for Junior Appalachian Musicians, Sage worked for a summer at North Carolina’s Eagle’s Nest Camp, teaching woodworking, guitar and songwriting to children 5 to 17 years old. Along with working as an instructor, Sage has played professionally as a singer/songwriter and as a member of a band he formed with his brother at just 14. He was also a partner in the Crowe Hollerers Medicine Show, producing two one-day festivals that featured 12 hours of live music, storytelling, plays, arts, crafts and food in Marion, Virginia, and Wise, Virginia.
Largely self-taught as a scenic artist, Sage has perfected theatre painting techniques through trial and error, starting in high school with the production of the play “Anatomy of Gray.” During college, Sage was lead scenic painter for productions of “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” He also served as scenic painter for “Silenced on Barbour Street.” During the summer of 2024, Sage served as a scenic painter for four shows at Bigfork Summer Playhouse in Bigfork, Montana.
As a musician, Sage has worked both as a performer and a teacher. In addition to serving as a guitar instructor for Junior Appalachian Musicians, Sage worked for a summer at North Carolina’s Eagle’s Nest Camp, teaching woodworking, guitar and songwriting to children 5 to 17 years old. Along with working as an instructor, Sage has played professionally as a singer/songwriter and as a member of a band he formed with his brother at just 14. He was also a partner in the Crowe Hollerers Medicine Show, producing two one-day festivals that featured 12 hours of live music, storytelling, plays, arts, crafts and food in Marion, Virginia, and Wise, Virginia.
