P. Buckley Moss e-newsletter

Dear Friends:

The Valley was magnificent this past weekend! What a delight being in the beautiful mountains of Virginia! The leaves were beautiful but not at their peak yet, and it will be calm and gorgeous for the next few weeks.

New friends, old friends, old neighbors, children of friends and neighbors—it was a joy seeing so many people and remembering faces. Waynesboro’s annual Fall Foliage Festival and my October Museum and Barn Open House are two events that people from all over plan their visits around, not to mention homecomings, other local fairs, and antique auctions. My daughter Patty had a great weekend, too, manning our exhibit downtown at the Festival and seeing so many of her childhood friends and classmates.

People were in such a good mood. It seemed that everyone was smiling, especially the “Hokies.” Virginia Tech won its Homecoming game, which made everyone very happy, especially my family. My H-O-K-I-E snowmen were a hit, and it’s such fun for me to see people respond to my work in a positive way.

Everyone loved the Barn Show print Autumn at Silver Lake Mill. The framing was gorgeous on the prints, and lots of people who bought the print went over to visit the mill, too.

John and Kathy Bott came all the way from the Atlanta, GA, area and are the new owners of the original painting of Autumn at Silver Lake Mill. They have been collecting my work since the 1980’s.

I was delighted to see members of three chapters of the P. Buckley Moss Society over the weekend, selling raffle tickets for their charity fundraisers: Moss on the James Chapter, from the Richmond area; Moss in the Valley, from Roanoke; and Moss in the Forest from Forest.

My weekend started on Thursday, with a talk at Summit Square Retirement Community in Waynesboro. Summit Square is part of Sunnyside Retirement Communities, which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary this year. I created a special print edition to help Sunnyside raise funds to offset some of the costs for its residents with limited finances. From Humble Beginnings to a Century of Caring celebrates Sunnyside Retirement Community’s 100th Anniversary and features the home of Mrs. Alice Burton of Danville, who bequeathed her Victorian home to Sunnyside in the late 1920’s. “Alice Burton Hall” became the second Sunnyside Home and served as Sunnyside until the move to Harrisonburg in 1955. Today, Sunnyside has three retirement communities: Sunnyside in Harrisonburg, King’s Grant in Martinsville, and Summit Square in Waynesboro.

I very much enjoyed my visit to Summit Square and seeing so many friends.

The atmosphere there is like a great, big family. So many of the residents grew up together and appreciate having friends around them, and they are quick to extend their warmth and friendship to newcomers as well. It was a joy to visit and give a talk at the retirement community where my mother happily spent the latter part of her life and had so many laughs and so much fun.

It was a wonderful, busy weekend, and our dedicated workers at the Museum and The Barn were, like myself, exhilarated but exhausted. It’s a great way to be!

This weekend I’m off to Waynesville, Ohio, for my show with all my friends at the Canada Goose Gallery. In addition to our show, I’ll attend a fundraising dinner for Greenebucs and my Foundation for Children’s Education. Greenebucs is the Greene County Chapter of national AMBUCS™, Inc., which is a non-profit service organization dedicated to creating mobility and independence for children and adults with disabilities. I’ll also participate in a walk to raise funds for the PALS for Life Breast Cancer Support Group, the Dale Bowman Scholarship Fund, and Greenebucs. Participants may choose how they would like to divide their registration money among the recipient organizations.

Old Faithful at the Lock-Up features Waynesville’s first firehouse, built in the early 1800’s, with “Old Faithful”, the first pumper engine purchased for the town. It will be released during my show with Canada Goose Gallery, October 19-20. For more information, please contact the gallery at 513-897-4348.

October at the Stetson House depicts the home of the sister of John Stetson, who designed the Stetson hats. John lived for a time with his sister in Waynesville, and she financed his first hat production with a loan of $60. This print will also be released during my show with Canada Goose Gallery, October 19-20. For more information, please contact the gallery at 513-897-4348.

Happy fall!

Love,
Pat

I want to share with you how Neptune Beach Elementary School of Neptune Beach, Florida, has used its $1,000 grant from the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education, awarded for school year 2010-2011. This is a school-wide project, and the students are making hand-made pottery tiles for room numbers for the entire school. This is one of the many projects they are working extremely hard on with a sense of accomplishment. The students are learning measurement, fractions, counting, sorting, right angles, and—of course—patience.

They have purchased a clay press table, clay, glaze, brushes, and other materials. Special Education teacher Kelly Crayne said, “The incorporation of the arts into our curriculum has made a difference in our students. They are motivated to learn and are proud of their achievements. We appreciate your assistance with the funding to make this dream a reality.”

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