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Hello Friends,
The red buds and the dogwoods added a celebration of color to our first Barn At Home of the year. Spring in the Valley also provides a background of many shades of green as the leaves begin to form. I love this time when the leaves are not yet fully developed and you can still see through the trees to landscape beyond.
The dogwood tree by the barn side entrance with visitors beyond.On Thursday I drove up the Valley to Harrisonburg to do a recorded interview with Richard Parker for his WVPT program, Consider This. Thirty years have passed since my first interview with Richard and to be on the set talking to him in front of the cameras is like talking to an old friend over the kitchen table. The program will air on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The following week on Consider This, Richard will be speaking with Dell Phillpot, the Foundation's coordinator.
Richard Parker first interviewed me thirty years ago.Thank you all who came to visit me at the Barn on the weekend. As I have said before, meeting with you is what keeps my energies fired and makes up for the long hours spent alone in the studio. Your enthusiasm for my work is the encouragement that every artist needs. This was the first showing of Sharing Work and Fellowship, my barn raising painting which those of you who have been reading my weekly letter watched progress from its early stages to its final form. I was happy the painting and the prints produced from it were so well received.
There were many three generation families among the weekend visitors.Visitors to the Museum this weekend found a new display on the main floor that includes forty images not previously displayed. Visitors have a choice of taking the guided tour given by a museum docent or viewing the paintings on their own with the help of a printed catalog that contains an explanation of each work and its iconography. The catalog was much appreciated and several asked if they could purchase a copy. It was not our intention to sell the catalog but now that we see it can serve as a reminder of the exhibit, we will reproduce it in quantity.
I have mentioned before Roanoke College's interest in offering student teachers of Spanish the chance to teach English in the elementary schools of Panama. The student teachers would live in the communities experiencing Latino culture and speaking Spanish except when teaching. If the plan can be made to work successfully, it will benefit both the teachers and their young Panamanian students.
The idea is progressing and among this week's visitors were Aimee Yost and her parents. Aimee is in the class of 2005. Also with her was Lynn Talbot, of the college's department of foreign languages and Greg Wells, Coordinator of Tutoring and Special Services, who first came up with the idea. Aimee and Lynn are planning to visit Bocas del Toro in June to get a first hand look at the schools and the accommodations for the student teachers. If we can make this program a success, I can see it spreading to other colleges and universities and becoming a teaching equivalent of the Peace Corps. The young of our country would be showing the world that America does truly care.
Pat with visitors from Roanoke College. Back row: Greg Wells and Lynn Talbot. Front row: Pat, Aimee Yost and her parents, Laurie and Dave Yost.Another example of generosity towards the third world is the gift this weekend the Foundation received from Best Buy. Through the initiatives of Society member Boo Elkins and her husband George, who is a Best Buy representative, 266 children's computer programs will be sent to Panama. Boo had read in The Sentinel about the thirty-two computers donated to the Foundation for Panama by Texas Hover-craft and the idea of the programs sprang to her mind.
Boo and George Elkins delivering the children's computer programs.I have one painting to show you this week. I have named it The Chosen Path. The arch above the two geese is typical of the arches spanning the alleyways that interlace Cortona, the Tuscan town where my daughter Becky lives with her family and where the Society tour will visit in October. Speaking of the tour, there were far more wanting to sign up for this trip than there was space for. I am going to recommend to the Society that they consider another similar trip in October 2005.
The Chosen Path is being released as a print edition.This week I am taking time to attend to my garden here in Mathews, visit the dentist and go to Washington D.C. for my annual physical. I also hope to get in some painting time before next Wednesday when I set off for Kingsport, Tennessee for the convention. There will be a strong contingent of Virginians at the convention with over two hundred coming from one gallery alone, Abingdon Mercantile. There is still time to join us there. You can turn up at any time between Friday 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. and between Saturday 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to buy your ticket at the door. Remember you can bring two previously purchased prints, framed or unframed, for me to sign. I will also be signing Doe River Bridge and Pigeon Forge Mill. Doe River Bridge will only be available to those attending the convention and won't be available after Saturday, May 8th. Come and sample Tennessee hospitality and join us Saturday night at our 50's party.
Until next week.
Love,
Pat
The Moss
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©P. Buckley Moss 2004