Firnew at Montpelier: Plein Air Art, Summer 2020

This gallery contains 19 photos.

Collaboration between Montpelier President and CEO Roy F. Young II, and Firnew Founder and Director Trish Crowe, has opened the door to Plein Air Art at James Madison’s Montpelier on the beautiful grounds outside. We meet, ‘socially-distanced,’ on the Montpelier grounds on Thursday’s during the summer. An Artists’ Reception is planned, more  details to follow. […]

Exhibits by Firnew Artists

Annie Gould Gallery
Paintings by Cecilia Schultz and Annie Waldrop. Jewelry by Chuxin Zhang
January 18 – March 8, 2020.
109 South Main Street, Gordonsville, VA

Laughing Dog Studios – “20 x 20 for 2020” Small Works Show
Paintings by Barb Wallace and other artists
Ends March 31
Laughing Dog Studios, 82 Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA

Revalation Vineyards
Paintings by Mack Rowe, Drama in Nature
Reception February 14,, 4 – 6 pm. Exhibit closes March 31.
2710 Hebron Valley Rd, Madison, VA

Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community hosts Rockingham Fine Arts Association’s 6th Annual 2020 6x6x30! Exhibit at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community
Chee Kludt Ricketts is one of 30 artists juried into the show. Each artist will create 30 6″ x 6″ square works of art. The works of each artist will be grouped and displayed on separate large panels.
Opening reception March 6, from 5 – 8 pm. Exhibit closes March 31.
Park Gables Gallery, 1491 Virginia Ave., Harrisonburg, VA

Daily Grind C-Ville
Paintings by Richard Young
End March 31
3450 Seminole Trail, Charlottesville, VA

 

Museum of Culpeper History: Permanent Art Installation

Trish Crowe and John Berry created a permanent art installation for the Museum of Culpeper History. The following article by Emily Jennings, Culpeper Star-Exponent, was picked up by the Associated Press and was published in The Washington Post, the Richmond Times  Dispatch, the U.S. News and World Report, and newspapers in Georgia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Idaho and Montana.

For museum, artist dramatizes scenes from Culpeper’s past

By Emily Jennings | AP
Dec. 27, 2019 at 9:08 a.m. EST

Museum of Culpeper History Director Morgan Pierce stands near the new permanent public art installation in the museum’s entry hall

CULPEPER, Va. — Gazing upon the watercolor collages just installed in the entry of the Museum of Culpeper History, you’re enveloped in a vibrant record of the region.

A viewer can get happily lost within a rainbow of images—historic East Davis Street, Salubira, Clara Barton, George Washington, lovely ladies in front of the Carver School, or a caboose carrying Lyndon B. Johnson—and much more.

The permanent art installation was unveiled just before the museum’s holiday party on Sunday, Dec. 15, in the front hall that leads from the Culpeper County Visitors Center up a ramp to the museum’s entrance. Free for all to see while the Visitors Center is open, the art graces the interior of the historic train depot at one end of East Davis Street.

“I loved being able to tuck in elements that children of all ages would have fun looking for,” said Trish Crowe, a Culpeper County artist who created the triptych of collages. “It’s a great introduction to the museum, to look for items or pictures featured in the museum in the paintings, or vice versa.”

The museum commissioned the artwork nearly two years ago after Director Morgan Pierce proposed the idea to its board of directors.

“I wanted something similar to artwork I had seen in the Culpeper hospital lobby, which had been painted by Trish,” Pierce said. “I really liked that style, and the idea was born out of that.”

Each painting includes more than 10 scenes or historic figures specific to Culpeper, as well as familiar features of nature native to the region. Progressing from one painting to the next is the Virginia state bird—a cardinal’s egg in a nest, followed by a baby bird and finally a magnificent, mature cardinal winging toward the museum’s doorway.

The finished trio of paintings—each 41 inches tall and 30 inches wide—is mounted on a wall covered by a series of 14 stitched-together aerial images shot from a drone by local photographer John Berry.

Berry said he and museum officials wanted to recreate the perspective one sees looking west from East Davis Street toward the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“We eventually settled on the view of the mountains from the Slate Mills area,” Berry said. “The view took in not only the mountains, but the beautiful surrounding farmland, and provided the perfect backdrop for Trish’s paintings.”

Berry and Crowe are both members of the Firnew Farm Artist’s Circle. Betty Thurston Jolliffe, the mother of another artist in the group, Jan Settle, wrote a song about Culpeper for the county’s bicentennial celebration in 1959. A phrase from Jolliffe’s song, “Culpeper holds tomorrow by the hand,” was selected as the title for the new exhibit.

“The song in its entirety is a beautiful ode to Culpeper,” Pierce said. “We thought that phrase was a perfect way to describe how this artwork can introduce future generations to our rich history here.”

Pierce thanked Express Copy and Graphics for its help with the project, as well as Village Frameworks and Gallery, and the town of Culpeper’s Public Works Department.

“I’m thrilled with how it’s all turned out,” Pierce said. “We’re looking forward to having everyone come down and see how wonderful it is.”

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

“REFLECTIONS” People’s Choice Award Winners

Congratulations to the People’s Choice Award winners from our fall show “REFLECTIONS”.

Richard Young of Madison, Virginia was selected as the winner for his oil painting “Middle River Reflecting”. Barbara Wallace of Barboursville, Virginia was awarded 2nd place for her oil painting “[Re] collections of a Midden” and Leslie Barham of Stanardsville, Virginia was awarded 3rd place for her colored pencil drawing “Elements”.

Richard Young, “Middle River Reflecting”

Barbara Wallace, “[Re] collection of a Midden”

Leslie Barham, “Elements”

Photographs courtesy of the artists.

 

“REFLECTIONS” Fall Show Reception and Photographs

The “REFLECTIONS” reception on September 7, 2019, was a great success with over 400 art lovers and artists at Woodberry Forest’s Baker Gallery.  Thanks to everyone who joined us for a special evening.

“REFLECTIONS” photo gallery:

 
A collaborative effort with the Virginia Master Naturalists, led by Alfred Goossens, was also on display. The Socrates Project: Poisonous Plants in Virginia, features educational information and Firnew artwork inspired by the project.

“REFLECTIONS” Annual Fall Show & Reception

REFLECTIONS is the 7th Annual Group Art & Photography Show at Woodberry Forest School’s Baker Gallery, September 2 – October 27, with a reception on Saturday, September 7 from 5 – 8 pm.

It is the Firnew Farm Artists’ Circle seventeenth year together. What started as a small group of local artists coming together to paint has become an established and thoughtful group of creative artists crossing all kinds of artistic boundaries. We now represent not only oil, watercolor, acrylic and drip artists, photographers, but a ceramicist and jeweler.

The Firnew artists took the theme REFLECTIONS both literally and figuratively. Reflections can be a watercolor image in a car’s bumper, by Sue Linthicum, an oil painting reflection in Middle River by Richard Young or Gail Trimmer-Unterman’s watercolor of her daughter in her boyfriend’s sunglasses. It can also be a memory. Barb Wallace’s painting of a woodland is sheer memory. I think this group show will both delight and surprise you. It will lift your spirit and make you smile when you look in a mirror or the pond.

From Firnew director, Trish Crowe, “Jon Perry is this year’s featured artist. He was inspired by Antonio Gaudi, also known as God’s Architect and designer of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain. Jon’s paintings of stained-glass windows from La Sagrada Familia represent the four seasons and seemed perfect for this year’s Reflections Exhibition.”

Jon’s paintings:

A collaborative effort with the Virginia Master Naturalists will also be on display. The Socrates Project: Poisonous Plants in Virginia, will feature educational information and Firnew artwork inspired by the project.

For more information about Firnew Farm Artists’ Circle, see firnewfarmartistscircle.wordpress.com/

Artists:
Mary Allen
Barbie Babcock
Leslie Barham
John Berry
Maria Carter
Trish Crowe
Anne Dean
Bonnie Dixon
Kitty Dodd
James Erickson
Anthony Ford
Frances Lacy
Sue Linthicum
Kelly Lonergan
Stephanie Mendlow
Larry Patterson
Jon Perry
Carole Pivarnik
Caroline Banks Planting
Terrence Pratt
Cheryl Ragland
Chee Ricketts
Janice Rosenberg
Mack Rowe
Sara Lee Schneidman
Bertha Scholten
Cecilia Schultz
Jan Settle
Ida Simmons
Susan Stover
Patricia Temples
Gail Trimmer-Unterman
Tina Wade
Barb Wallace
Nan Mahone Wellborn
Beppy White
Patricia Williams
Claudia Wisdom-Good
Richard Wyvill
Richard Young

For more information about Firnew Farm Artists’ Circle, see firnewfarmartistscircle.wordpress.com/

Firnew Artists

REFLECTIONS, Annual Fall Show at Woodberry Forest’s Baker Gallery

Artist Reception:  Saturday, September 7, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Exhibit dates: September 2 – October 27, 2019

Join us at the reception on September 7th, and meet our artists. This photograph was taken at Firnew Farm, near the studio where our artists meet weekly to paint, draw, and make jewelry. The Firnew studio is a special place where artists come together weekly to create and inspire one another.

Photograph by Firnew artist, John Berry

Firnew Artists

Mary Allen
Barbie Babcock
Leslie Barham
John Berry
Maria Carter
Trish Crowe
Anne Dean
Bonnie Dixon
Kitty Dodd
Anthony Ford
Frances Lacy
Sue Linthicum
Stephanie Mendlow
Larry Patterson
Jon Perry
Carole Pivarnik
Caroline Banks Planting
Terrence Pratt
Cheryl Ragland
Chee Ricketts
Janice Rosenberg
Mack Rowe
Sara Lee Schneidman
Bertha Scholten
Cecilia Schultz
Jan Settle
Ida Simmons
Susan Stover
Patricia Temples
Gail Trimmer-Unterman
Tina Wade
Barb Wallace
Nan Mahone Wellborn
Beppy White
Patricia Williams
Claudia Wisdom-Good
Richard Wyvill
Richard Young

 

Fall Show at Woodberry Forest School

REFLECTIONS
7th Annual Group Art & Photography Show
Baker Gallery, Woodberry Forest School
Monday, September 2 – Sunday, October 27
Reception Saturday, September 7, 5:00 – 8:00 PM

Jon Perry, featured artist, will exhibit 5 paintings of the interior of the La Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, Spain. Four of the paintings are La Sagrada Familia Stained Glass in Autumn, Summer, Winter, and Spring. The 5th painting is the La Sagrada Familia nave, Exaltation One. See Jon’s painting, Sagrada Familia Stained Glass Spring.  

The Socrates Project – Poisonous Plants in Virginia, will also be in the show. Educational information and renderings of 25 poisonous plants by Firnew artists will be on display.

The works of more than 40 artists will be represented at our 7th Annual Show at the Baker Gallery.

Jon Perry’s La Sagrada Familia, Stained Glass Spring

 

Beyond the Gilded Frame: Video by John Berry and Photos by Larry Patterson & Frank James

Celebrating our 2019 Spring Show

Firnew member and photographer Larry Patterson: “A short video from a friend, photographer, and fellow member of the Firnew Farm Artists’ Circle, John Berry, of our 16th annual spring show. The video highlights the additional 3-D art and The Socrates Project (a display that is the beginning of a long overdue list of native plants of Virginia that are poisonous to humans) displays, and not the wonderful paintings, drawings, photographs, etc. that we are known for. The aerial images give you an idea of the beautiful, protected lands the art group meets at weekly.”

Firnew member and photographer John Berry:  “A little video I put together as a recap to Firnew Farm Artists’ Circle Spring Show. And as with last year, HUGE THANKS to Toni Clare for the use of her beautiful song for the background music for this, and or course for playing at our show!”

 

Photographs of our spring show by Firnew member and photographer Larry Patterson.

We are grateful to Firnew friend and photographer Frank James for the following photographs taken at our spring show.