P. Buckley Moss e-newsletter

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Dear Friends:

My daughter Patty and I had such a good time in Frederick, Maryland, this past weekend with my new authorized dealer for the area, McGuire Fine Arts. It was a great show, and I loved the gallery. We also enjoyed meeting wonderful, new people. Frederick is a gem!

L. to R.: David McGuire, owner of McGuire Fine Arts; me; and Lauren Beacham, Art Gallery Director. We're standing beside my original watercolor, Springtime Spires at Carroll Creek, which is also available as a limited edition giclée on paper.

It was such fun meeting Earl and Mitra Rocca, pictured with me above, and getting to know them a bit. Earl and Mitra purchased the original watercolor hanging on the wall behind us. It is a depiction of Frederick's famed Clustered Spires.

Earl is one of "Frederick's finest."

On Monday I was honored to attend a luncheon for Dr. Charles Schiffert at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Dr. Schiffert is the retired head of Student Health. He served in that capacity for over thirty years, and Tech's new Student Health Center is named after him. I was there with my daughter Mary, her husband Dr. Kerry Donnelly (a Virginia Tech graduate), and my granddaughter Sarah (a freshman at Tech). Others attending the luncheon were Dr. Ed Spencer, Vice President for Student Affairs; Dr. Rick Ferraro, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs; Ms. Ruth Waalkes, Executive Director, Center for the Arts; Ms. Cherie Durbin; and Ms. Penny White.

L. to R.: My son-in-law, Dr. Kerry Donnelly, a proud Hokie; me; Dr. Charles Schiffert, retired head of Student Health at Virginia Tech; and my granddaughter Sarah Donnelly, a Virginia Tech freshman.

We also went on a tour to see the new Student Health Center and the new Center for the Arts, and guess who we ran into? Hokie head coach Frank Beamer!

It was such fun to run into Frank Beamer, the head coach of the Virginia Tech football team-Go Hokies!-during our tour. L. to R.: Dr. Charles Schiffert, me, Coach Frank Beamer, my son-in-law Kerry, and Dr. Ed Spencer.

It's great to be back in the Valley and see everything in bloom. Driving through the Valley couldn't have been more beautiful. I saw such unbelievable color and beauty coming down I-81. The dogwood, redbud, and tulips are glorious. What a great time of year! Museum Director Corrado Gabellieri takes such good care of our Museum and also my Barn Studio and the cottage beside it. Everything is going to look fabulous for this weekend's Museum Open House and Barn Show. I can hardly wait!

Appalachian Spring will be released during my April 23-25 Museum Open House and Barn Show. Come celebrate spring with me! For more information, please contact the Museum at 540-949-6473 or 1-800-343-8643.

I am very pleased to announce that the annual exhibit of the Shenandoah Valley Governor's School Visual Arts Department is being held at the Moss Museum for the first time this year, and we hope to make it an annual event for us. The exhibit is called 26 Points of View and will run from April 22 through the middle of May. The opening reception will be held Thursday, April 22, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The event is open to the public, but please RSVP to the Museum as soon as possible because light hors d'oeuvres will be served; 1-540-949-6473 or 1-800-343-8643.

I will jury the show and award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. I love to look at young people's artwork, and it is a joy to see the quality of the work in this exhibit. I hope a lot of people will come out and see it.

As you know, I travel a lot; but, sooner or later, my mail eventually catches up with me. It was with sadness that I realized that the husband of one of my dear friends had passed away nearly a year ago! Miriam Housman and I became connected through our mutual association with relief work in Africa with the Mennonites. She periodically sends me updates on her family and newspaper clippings of articles she thinks I may be interested in. Her husband was J. Harold Housman, a medical doctor, ophthalmologist, and pilot who served for nineteen yeas with Eastern Mennonite Missions in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Nigeria. He passed away on April 25 of last year after a fourteen-year struggle with Parkinson Disease. In addition to practicing and teaching medicine in numerous hospitals and clinics throughout the region, Dr. Housman was also instrumental in developing landing strips to serve many of the remote clinics. I wanted to share this with you, because I want you to know how dedicated and selfless some people are and that angels really do walk among us.

I must sign off now. My daughter Ginny and I are going to plant more flowers around The Barn and The Cottage. See you there this weekend!

Love,
Pat

Call to Assist Worthy Organizations with Fundraising Opportunities

I have just learned of two very worthy organizations that are competing in two separate online contests to raise funds. Please take a moment to read the information below and vote for them if you'd like.

Greenebucs (Greene County, Ohio, Chapter of National AMBUCS™, Inc.). When I was in Waynesville, Ohio, last fall for my show with Canada Goose Gallery, I attended a fundraising dinner for Greenebucs, which supplies therapeutic trykes for children and adults with mobility issues. I have just learned that Greenebucs is competing in a program sponsored by PepsiCo, called Refresh Everything. They are currently in the running for a $50,000 prize that would enable them to buy 100 trykes to distribute.

Please click on the following link, http://www.refresheverything.com/index, then click on "Current Leaders" at the top, scroll down in the $50,000 category to "Give Children with Disabilities a Therapeutic Tryke" and click on their box, click to vote for them, and wait for the Pepsi to pour. You can go back and vote every day through the end of April. You will be directed to provide your e-mail address and establish a password during the voting process.

For more information on the wonderful work performed by Greenebucs members, please see my November 4, 2009, newsletter.

Literacy Council of Kingsport, Tennessee. Please take a moment to cast an online vote for the Literacy Council of Kingsport, Tennessee. The organization is one of 33 semi-finalists selected from over 2,800 applicants from the United States and Canada that are competing for a chance to win $20,000 in grant dollars from riceworks® - Snack Alliance, Inc., via their Show Us Your Goodness program. The Literacy Council is currently in third place for the "People's Choice Award." Please click on the following link to vote for the Literacy Council of Kingsport: http://www.showusyourgoodness.com/charityinfo_lcok.php?charity=lcok.

For four years the Literacy Council of Kingsport has been the recipient of a donated print from the P. Buckley Moss Society for its Savvy SCRABBLE Social Fundraiser silent auction. Framing has been donated each year by authorized Moss dealer Up Against the Wall in Kingsport, Tennessee. The Council was incorporated in 1987 as a non-profit organization dedicated to serving citizens in Kingsport and Sullivan County. The Council offers free, one-on-one tutoring for adults and qualified children who want to learn to read or to improve their reading skills. A trained volunteer tutor is assigned to work with each student at a location and time that meets the needs and schedules of the student and tutor.

One-on-one instruction allows each student to progress at his or her own pace. Tutors also work with students on achieving individual goals, such as learning to read the Bible, getting a driver's license, getting a job, or learning how to manage a checking account. Upon completion of the program, students have a firm base of literacy skills with which to pursue further educational goals, such as earning a GED.

The Council also offers an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program to teach adult speakers of other languages to read, write, speak, and understand English

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