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Dear Friends:
Last week my friend Arlene Yaconelli from California came over to Virginia to visit her son, and we were able to spend some time together. Arlene and I originally met in Bocas del Toro, Panama, and we’re always talking about going back for a visit one day and staying with our friends David and Margo Carey.
Arlene and her granddaughter Emily met me in Newport News, and then we drove over to Waynesboro together. My daughter Ginny joined us Wednesday, and we all went to see Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s home in Charlottesville. I hadn’t been there in years—it used to be an annual event to go on school field trips with my six children. My, how it has changed! They’ve made a lot of improvements, and it’s a wonderful place.
Monticello, home of Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, in Charlottesville, Va. Thomas Jefferson designed this home himself, along with many other buildings in Virginia, including the State Capitol.
In addition to being an architect, lawyer, patriot, and statesman, Thomas Jefferson was quite a horticulturist and designed the beautiful and unique gardens at Monticello himself.
Upstairs in the rotunda, L. to R.: Arlene’s granddaughter Emily, my friend Arlene, and me. We were very privileged to be allowed to go up into the rotunda, which is a restricted area. I can understand why, as the stairs are very narrow and winding. It would be very difficult for groups to go up and down them.
Monticello has the most gracious, wonderful hosts and hostesses and a fantastic, new visitors’ center. I loved the film they showed, and the gift shop was also a treat. I have to say, though, that my favorite part was the tour, which was refreshing and new. We had a marvelous tour guide.
L. to R.: Monticello’s Building Superintendent Steve Ganoe, me, and our tour guide Bill Des Rochers.
L. to R.: Steve Ganoe, my daughter Ginny Moss (Gabellieri), me, and Monticello’s Curator Elizabeth Chew. Thomas Jefferson would be very happy to know that his beloved home is in very good and respectful hands.
On Friday I flew to Columbus, Ohio, for my show with Gallery Art Center. Shortly after landing, I was whisked away to the Vinyl Hair Salon to have my hair and makeup done by Brian and John. Those boys are great and such fun! Poor Peter, my escort, had to sit for three hours while they tried to make me look glamorous.
My personal hair and makeup artists for the weekend, L. to R.: Brian, me, and John at the Vinyl Hair Salon.
Then, we were off to the Pinnacle Golf Club in Grove City for a fundraising event to benefit the Mount Carmel College of Nursing. The event was in the style of a tailgate picnic party in honor of Ohio State’s first game of the season. I was given a #2 OSU jersey to wear to the fundraiser, and I received lots of “Go Bucks!” greetings--#2 is the team’s quarterback Terrell Pryor, I found out.
We released a new Ohio State University print during the show, titled Buckeye Tradition. Showing off the print at Friday night’s fundraiser are, L. to. R.: Ann Schiele, President & Dean of Mount Carmel College of Nursing; me; Suzi Campbell, owner of Gallery Art Center; and Kathy Walters, nurse and alumna of the college. Behind me, wearing the red visor, is Delores Bills, a professor at the college.
Alumnae of Mount Carmel College of Nursing getting into the spirit of the evening.
Suzi arranged for us to have one of the best MC’s I’ve ever experienced. Roger Dearwester is wearing the sparkly, silver jacket. Standing beside him in the grey shorts is Suzi’s husband Steve Campbell.
Our own attempt at performing Script “O-H-I-O” didn’t turn out quite as well as the Buckeye’s Marching Band, but we had fun doing it!
Saturday’s show was a special day for me, too, and it was a joy to see so many friends. Thank you, Suzi, Steve, Mary, Peter, and all, for a great weekend!
Signing for collectors at Gallery Art Center on Saturday. The man in the blue shirt and white collar is Peter Vatsures, my escort for the weekend and beloved member of the Gallery Art Center family.
We had a full house on Saturday!
In my July 29, 2009, newsletter I announced that I would periodically do a focus on one of the P. Buckley Moss Society’s wonderful chapters. The chapters are to be chosen randomly for inclusion in the newsletter, and it just so happens that another Virginia chapter was pulled from the hat this time.
The Moss in the Valley Chapter hales from the beautiful Roanoke Valley of Virginia in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The City of Roanoke is very historic, with much to see and do, including the new Taubman Museum of Art, which my daughter Patty and I toured with chapter members earlier this year when we were in town for my show with Graphics, Etc. Our tour with the chapter was part of their 20th Anniversary celebration, having been organized in January, 1989. They are currently 41-members-strong. Congratulations, Moss in the Valley, on twenty years of helping others!
View of the City of Roanoke, taken from the overlook at the 100-foot Roanoke Star.
During the chapter’s monthly meetings, they hold an in-house raffle to raise money to provide scholarships for local teachers to attend the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education’s Annual Creative Mind Conference. This year the chapter will provide scholarships for two teachers to attend the conference, which brings the total to fourteen such scholarships provided through the years. The teachers who receive the scholarships are asked to present a program to the chapter on what they have learned and how they will use this information in the classroom.
When Patty and I toured the Taubman Museum of Art with the chapter, member Donald Bunce offered to make a quilted wall-hanging around one of my painted fabric centerpieces for the Foundation to raffle or auction at a future fundraising event. Don has a reputation as a wonderful quilter, and I can’t wait to see what he does with the horse centerpiece I sent him. Thank you, Don, for your time, talent, and generosity!
Moss in the Valley also supports monthly the local Ronald McDonald House, providing funds and supplies for their daily operational needs as well as one dinner for the guest of the house during the year. Other small projects undertaken by the chapter this year include the provision of thirty bags of personal items to the Salvation Army’s Turning Point for Battered Women and Their Children and the provision of stuffed teddy bears for local police to use with children in trauma situations.
Each year the chapter conducts a major fundraiser with the raffle of one of my prints to benefit a charity in the community. Some of the organizations that have benefited from past raffles are RAM (Roanoke Area Ministries), St. Francis of Assisi, Ronald McDonald House, Turning Point Shelter, Camp Easter Seal, Achievement Center, Roanoke Therapeutic Riding Program, and the Christmas Store. This year’s beneficiary is Apple Ridge Farms, which provides outdoor and educational experiences for at-risk youth.
The chapter visited Apple Ridge Farms in August to learn more about the work of the charity that the chapter is working to benefit this year. I have a standing invitation to visit Apple Ridge myself, and I’m going to stop by one day when I’m in the area. I admire the energy and caring they put into helping children.
Moss in the Valley meets monthly with interesting and informative programs. In September the chapter will have a joint meeting with the Moss in the Country Chapter, and the guest speaker will be Bonnie Stump, curator of my Museum in Waynesboro, Virginia.
I’m so proud of our chapters!
Love,
Pat
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2009