Penny P’s Backyard

Penny P’s Backyard is new fictional family television show which is about a girl (Penny P) and her three friends who make videos and animations about the world around them.  And in doing so discover the intersections between Nature, Science, and Appalachian Art/Culture.  Set in Blacksburg and to be filmed throughout the New River Valley and greater Sw. Virginia.

The example of an interconnection would be when a geologist is talking about how the Appalachian Mountains were formed, terms like heat and pressure and the bending and folding of the earth would be used to explain the forces and end result of plate tectonics.  A folk artist who would use near-identical terms would be a blacksmith or potter who uses heat and pressure to bend and fold earth and metal into their artistic creations.  There are dozens of such connections.

PPBY is slated for a PBS broadcast on WBRA Roanoke and syndicated nationally. Also, thanks to a partnership with Solar Connexion in Blacksburg, VA the production aims to be the first TV show in television history to be produced using 100% renewable energy. All lights, sound, camera, camera rigging, communications, drone, etc will be powered by the Sun.

Science/Education advisors for the show at this point:

Michael Rosenzweig: Senior Instructor Biology Virginia Tech/K-12 outreach via SEEDS program in Blacksburg.  Director. seedskids.org

Robin Scully Boucher: Art Program Director, Virginia Tech Student Engagement and Campus Life.  SEEDS Board Member

Annita Puckett: Director VT Appalachian Studies Department Virginia Tech/President of the Appalachian Studies Association/Crooked Road Program Contributor.

Emily Satterwhite:  Associate Professor of Humanities in the Department of Religion and Culture at VT

Cully Hession:  Bio-systems Engineering/Director STREAMLab/Center for Watershed Studies at VT

Peter Sfworza: Director Center for Geospatial Information Technology

Jake Socha: Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics

Dr. Shuhai Xiao: Professor of Geobiology; Department of Geosciences

Robin Scully Boucher: Art Program Director, Virginia Tech Student Engagement and Campus Life.  SEEDS Board Member

Jordan Laney: Post Doctorial Fellow Dept or Religion and Culture.

Sterling Nesbit: Assistant Professor of Geobiology.  Paleontology. 

William Hopkins: Professor Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Director of the Global Change center.  Expert Eastern Hellbender Salamander.

Jordan Metzger: Curator/ Massey Herbarium, Virginia Tech.

Artistic and Cultural Advisors for the show at this point:

Paula Golden: Quilter, 2001 Teacher of the Year (Professional Quilter Magazine), past-president of the Board of Directors, Virginia Quilt Museum and co-author of the book, “Quilts of Virginia: Birth of America through the Eye of a Needle.

Charlie Brouwer: Sculptor, Professor of Art Radford University (retired), 239 sculpture exhibitions to date.

Larry Bechtel: Sculptor, Current President of the Tri State Sculptors Alliance.  Noted Sculpture:  Addison Caldwell, Upper Quad, Virginia Tech.

Michael Gillman: Coordinator of Heritage Sites and Programs (Wytheville Dept of Museums),  Pre Revolutionary War Living History Reenactment Group, Materials culture advisor. 

Jim Bordwine: 7 generation Salt Maker/Salt History in the area.  Saltville, VA. 

Susan Fields: Glass Bead artist.  Round The Mountain/Crooked Road Artisan Trail.

Parker Stafford: Award winning Glass blower, owner Stafford Art Glass (Newport,VA), Round the Mountain Artisan Trail.

Ron Short: Former Artistic Director of Roadside Theater (Appalshop), helped found Cowan Creek Music School, Director Mountain Music School Mountain Empire Community College.  Members of the board for Tri State Singing Convention and The Gathering in the Gap Festival.

Tyler Hughes: B.A Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Studies from ETSU in 2015. Old Time String band musician, solo performer, flat foot dancer.

Karen Wright: Blue Ridge Potters Guild

Chris Via: Fiddle/Banjo player Rich Creek, VA.  Luthier/Banjo maker.

Dale Morse: Co Founder of the Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing and proprietor of the Clay Hill Forge in Charlottesville, Va.

Mac Traynham: Fiddle/Banjo player Floyd, VA.  Luthier/Guitar/Banjo maker.

David Pearce: Wood turner, wood sculpture, potter.  Blacksburg, VA