Nov 10, 2022
SHEPHERDSTOWN ROTARY HONORS KATHRYN BURNS
The Shepherdstown Rotary Club has presented its 2022 Vocational Service Award to Kathryn Burns, the owner and operator of Shepherdstown's Bridge Art Gallery.
The presentation was made at the Club's November 8 weekly breakfast meeting at Shepherdstown's Bavarian Inn. The accompanying photo from the breakfast shows Burns, left, with Club President Sean Murtagh.
The Rotary Club gives this award each year to an outstanding community member who embodies values and principles that exemplify Rotary ideals, especially service above self and a commitment to high professional and ethical standards.
Burns has run the Bridge Gallery since 2008.
Murtagh said the Club wanted to recognize her ongoing efforts to raise funds for the Jefferson County Animal Welfare Society and the Potomac Valley Audubon Society.
Each summer, she has turned her gallery into an "art bazaar" held for one or two weeks to raise funds for one of these two organizations. People in the community donate the items for sale, and all the proceeds go to the organization that is benefitting that year. These bazaars continued even during the years when Covid was a big concern, with displays set up outside.
Over the years, the bazaars have raised many thousands of dollars for the Animal Welfare Society and the Audubon Society.
"We're giving Kathryn this award because we admire her commitment to helping worthy nonprofit organizations in the community," Murtagh said. "It's great to see a local business pitching in to assist in this way. We hope other businesses that are not already doing so will be inspired by her example."
Burns stressed that the bazaars could not be done without the generous donations of items by community members and the hard work of the volunteers of the two organizations.
In particular, she cited community member Laura Johnson, who has always been there to assist with these events and Rich Clawson, of the Animal Welfare Society, who has been front and center in working to make it a success for the past two years.
Burns has been employed in the art sales, design, and consulting field since graduating from the University of Maryland.
Originally from Western New York state, she was introduced to the Shepherdstown area by her husband Michael S. Hauver, a graduate of Shepherd University and the University of Maryland and creator of Hauver Guitars. They have resided in the area for over 30 years.
After 12 years of self-employment managing a wholesale business in art sales and services, Burns opened Antietam Arts as a retail gallery in Boonsboro, Maryland, and then moved the business to Shepherdstown as The Bridge Gallery in 2008, taking over the space formerly occupied by the AIIA Gallery.
The Bridge Gallery is located at 8566 Shepherdstown Pike, just southwest of town. It exhibits many local artists and also offers design and framing services.