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Dear Friends:
My staff and volunteers set up the most beautiful show that we’ve ever had, I thought, for our Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Collectors’ Convention this past weekend. The effort that went into displaying the work was tremendous. I was so honored by the way everything looked. I had no idea I had done so much work!
Pat with Tami Buchwalter, whose husband Scott takes the most wonderful pictures of Moss events.Harrisonburg, Virginia’s, public television station WVPT sent a film crew to the Convention to get footage for a documentary they are making on my work, the P. Buckley Moss Museum, the P. Buckley Moss Society, and the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education. Each year I create a special fundraising print for WVPT, and those prints have reportedly raised $1 million, which the station spends on wonderful, educational programming.
It was a weekend of flowers. I was delighted to have the opportunity to visit Perfect Perennials in York, Pennsylvania, on my way to the Convention. Owners Stuart and Diane Kendig are the developers of the P. Buckley Moss Daylily. My tour was coordinated by faithful collectors Chip and Amy Gerhart. Chip and Amy personally delivered my very own namesake daylily during one of my Barn Shows last year. Stuart and Diane graciously donated several daylilies, including one of my namesakes, for the Society’s fundraising auction at the dinner Saturday night.
Pat was excited to visit Perfect Perennials in York, PA, where her namesake daylily was developed. L. to R.: Patty Moss, Diane Kendig, Pat, and Amy and Chip Gerhart.While we were practically fighting (good-naturedly) over the daylilies at the Convention, the Andre Viette farm in Augusta County, Virginia, was holding its annual Daylily & Wine Festival. They have vendors, workshops, lectures, etc., and the Museum had some of my art there for sale.
Four of my six children and their families came to the Convention, and we had the best time dancing together in our cowboy clothes during Saturday night’s Dinner Dance/Society 20th Anniversary Birthday Party. The food was outstanding, and our DJ/entertainer for the evening was one of the best. Chris Poje of It’s Showtime DJ Entertainment was such fun. He sang and danced in addition to playing our favorite dance tunes. It was great to be with family and friends old and new as we celebrated the Society’s 20th Anniversary.
Pat and two-thirds of her family enjoyed dressing up cowboy-style.
Moss collectors enjoy dancing at the convention.The silent and live auctions at the birthday party raised more funds for the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education and the P. Buckley Moss Endowed Scholarship. The party in Lancaster was the last of our three birthday parties in celebration of the Society’s 20th Anniversary, and I want to thank everyone for their wonderful support and enthusiasm. I want to especially thank the members of the Society’s Board of Directors for sponsoring and organizing the events and the fabulous collectors and Society members who came out and supported them. I also want to give a special thank-you to Reverend Harold Henning, who raised up a fifty-dollar bill and asked people to match it. Hurray for Harold! So many people got into the spirit and took up the challenge, including my family. Here’s to the next wonderful twenty years!
Pat was delighted to see her old friend Nathan Coulter again, who has been coming to Moss Conventions for many years. Top: Nathan with Pat in 1999 and Bottom: Nathan with Pat this past weekend.I drove home to Mathews, Virginia, Sunday and met the kids at Potomac Mills in Northern Virginia on the way. For those of you who know what Potomac Mills is, enough said!
This Wednesday I was at Mathews’ very own art gallery, MAG-The Gallery. MAG stands for Mathews Art Group. I had the most interesting conversation with a collector, who happens to be dyslexic just like me. Justin Powell told me that he likes to say that he is “lyxdesic.” We had such a good laugh at that one! In addition to being a lawyer, Justin also has a Ph.D.—more proof that people with learning differences are intelligent and can be highly successful.
Pat and Justin Powell share a laugh over being “lyxdesic.”I was invited to participate in the Charlottesville & University Symphony Orchestra’s painted violin project. The Symphony is providing violins to area artists for them to paint, and the painted violins will be auctioned at a gala at the University of Virginia’s Darden School on June 7, 2008. The proceeds will support the Symphony in such areas as education, principal chairs, music scholarships, and guest artists. For more information, please contact the Symphony office at 434-924-3139.
Pat was excited to work on this very unique canvas.
Well, I’m off to Columbus, Ohio, for an exciting weekend of fundraising and showing with my friends at Gallery Art Center. Friday night I’ll attend a fundraising barbecue for the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation’s Hat for Heroes Program, dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer, and Saturday I’ll be in the gallery to meet friends old and new and sign my work. Gallery Art Center is donating 10% of the sales of two special prints to the Hats for Heroes Program.
True Heroes-Together We Fight will be released at Gallery Art Center’s show July 27-28. This print honors the Columbus Blue Jackets Foundation’s Hats for Heroes Program, dedicated to fighting pediatric cancer. For more information, contact the gallery at (614) 442-1109.
Fun Time on the Farm will also be released at Gallery Art Center’s show.Love,
Pat
During the Convention I was very sad to find out that my good friend and polka partner from many Conventions, Jim Ponzurick, had recently passed away. His wife Barbara came to the Convention in Lancaster, and we all support her in her loss. His passing is a loss to all of us who love dancing, music, and fun as he did.
Jim and Barbara Ponzurick enjoying a past Moss convention.Monday I learned that another dear friend, who was also a Moss dealer, passed away that morning from brain cancer. Sue Rupp was the business partner of Marlene Huber, and together they ran the Corner Gallery in Archbold, Ohio. Sue was also a member of the Trees of Life Chapter of the Society. I’m so thankful that I got to spend some time with Sue when I was in Archbold last summer for a show at The Corner Gallery. Sue will be missed very much.
Marlene Huber, Pat, and Sue Rupp at their show last August.Support groups and organizations are so vital to people who are battling diseases. I was deeply honored when the Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center in Richmond, Virginia, asked if they could use my image of The Hummingbird as their logo. I first met the wonderful Cullather family during my 2003 Collectors’ Convention in Richmond, Virginia. I learned that the family had already lost a son to a brain tumor and that the mother, who loved hummingbirds, was also battling the disease. I went to visit the family, who lived nearby, and I was so inspired by the way the whole family supported and loved one another. I created the painting and print edition featuring a hummingbird in their honor.
This year I created another print edition featuring a hummingbird and titled it Indomitable Spirit and donated a quantity to the Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center for fundraising. I learned that hummingbirds are surprisingly strong-willed, and I thought how appropriate that the Cullathers chose the hummingbird as the symbol for their Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center. It not only honors their loved ones who have passed on but also symbolizes the fighting spirit of cancer patients.
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2005