Send this e-mail letter to a friend:
Dear Friends:
I received word this past weekend that my Aunt Mary Cassidy passed away. Aunt Mary was my father’s sister and the last of her generation in my family. Now, my generation is the oldest. Aunt Mary and her brother, my Uncle Danny, traveled with the P. Buckley Moss Society’s group Mediterranean Cruise in 1996. We saw Greece and Turkey that year, and Aunt Mary and Uncle Danny climbed the many, many steps of the Acropolis with me. They enjoyed watching the whirling dervishes perform, and I can still see their smiling faces.
Aunt Mary was my godmother and has been a constant figure in my life, and it’s a very strange feeling to know that she is no longer with us. Maybe it’s that, as long as someone from my parents’ generation was alive, I could still feel somewhat like a child. My brother, sister, cousins, and I are now the matriarchs and patriarchs of the family. The passage of time brings many changes and many seasons to one’s life.
I was in historic Frederick, Maryland, this past weekend for a show with my friend Jon Thames, owner of Thames Fine Arts & Framing. I also gave a talk at Hood College to college faculty and faculty from the Frederick County Public School System. Dr. Roberta Strosnider and Dr. Kathleen Bands (of Hood College) have developed a program called Project Boost, which targets children K-elementary or middle school who have been identified as needing additional help with school. I talked about my experience growing up as a learning different child and how important it is for all teachers to learn more about learning differences and how to help children with them. I also talked about the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children’s Education and its goal to promote the integration of the arts into all educational programs, with a special focus on children who learn in different ways.
Here I am (holding a beautiful vase of black-eyed susans) with founders and supporters of Project Boost at Hood College in Frederick, MD. L. to R.: Ellen Sewell, Rev. Stacey Brady, Val Sharpe, Jim Strosnider, Dr. Roberta Strosnider, me, Marianne Koss, Carol Powell, Sandy Sayko, and Dr. Kathleen Bands. Roberta and Kathleen are co-founders of Project Boost as well as faculty of Hood College and members of the Green Walled Garden Club.
Among the supporters of Project Boost are members of the Green Walled Garden Club. They gave me a plaque at Thames’ show granting me honorary membership. The Green Walled Garden Club girls are a cheerful, lovely group of women who care about others, and they have created a wonderful cookbook to sell to help raise funds for their various projects, including Project Boost. The fun thing about the cookbook is that it includes pictures of the Garden Club members that are loosely based on the movie Calendar Girls. I admire their sense of fun and daring!
The Green Walled Garden Club and “Cookbook Girls”!
Jon’s show featured two new giclée editions, the giclée on paper titled Black Eyed Susans and the giclée on canvas titled Floral Elegance. Both depict black-eyed susans, which have been the official flower of Maryland since 1918. The show also featured many of my prints that depict historic landmarks in Frederick.
Jon Thames (far right), owner of Thames Fine Arts & Framing, presents the winners of a framed remarque of Floral Elegance with their prize. The giclée was raffled to benefit the Green Walled Garden Club and Project Boost. The darling little girls are Sophie and Brinkley Strosnider, who pulled the winning raffle ticket. They are the granddaughters of Dr. Roberta Strosnider, co-founder of Project Boost and a member of the Garden Club.
Frederick has recently completed a beautification project known as The Carroll Creek Project. Here, I am admiring a metalwork tree on a bridge that crosses Carroll Creek.
This weekend I’m flying to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the Three Rivers Moss Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society and I will be the special guests at a reception hosted by The Association for Children and Adults with Learning Disabilities (ACLD) of Greater Pittsburgh. The ACLD of Greater Pittsburgh has been the benefactor of the Three Rivers Moss Chapter’s annual print raffle for the past twenty years. The Chapter has raised over $60,000 for ACLD! I’m most honored to be invited to the reception, which will be held at The Phipps Conservatory. Veronica Nulph, a member of the Three Rivers Moss Chapter and the owner of The Perfect Picture in Butler, Pennsylvania, will be there to display and sell my work during the event. For more information, please contact Veronica at 724-282-4993.
I’ll also be showing this weekend with Jim and Donna Uhrig of Fast Frame in McMurray, Pennsylvania. We’ll release my new print depicting Phipps Conservatory during the show Friday and Saturday, but the print will also be available during the ACLD reception at Phipps Thursday evening.
Phipps Conservatory will be released this weekend during the ACLD reception at Phipps Conservatory Thursday evening as well as during my show with Fast Frame in McMurray. For more information about Fast Frame’s show, please contact the gallery at 724-941-2729.
This trip to Pittsburgh will give me another chance to spend some time with my brother Dan and his wife Carol. They live in the area, and I’ll be staying with them while I’m there.
The weekend of November 21-23 I’ll be in St. Petersburg, Florida, for a show with the Finn Gallery. Owner Tim Finn is having a Christmas show and will feature this year’s Christmas print The Lord is My Shepherd and the giclée on canvas Follow Him, as well as a wide selection of my other prints, giclées, and gift items.
Veterans’ Day was this Tuesday, and I hope that everyone will keep our veterans and our active duty military in their thoughts and prayers. They sacrifice so much for our safety and freedom, and we should honor and respect them and help them in any way we can.
Well, I’m off to Pittsburgh!
Love,
Pat
The Moss
Portfolio
74 Poplar Grove Lane
Mathews, VA 23109
(800) 430-1320
©P. Buckley Moss 2008