Towns & Villages Column by Billie VanPay

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Wednesday, Jun. 12, 2013

Artists group together for more exposure

Loudoun County artists have always been a valuable local resource, and the organizations are becoming more active in the area in order to help connect artists with those who are interested in finding the appropriate art works.

Some of Loudoun County’s artists have grouped in an effort to become more accessible. Regional art collectors and enthusiasts have a new online resource available to them when looking for original fine art.

Fine Art Professionals of Northern Virginia’s new website (www.fineartvirginia.com) is an exciting and new resource that brings together some of Virginia’s top professional artists in an easy-to-use website directory.

Jill Poyerd, NWS, a Loudoun County artist and founding member of the group said, "Most online databases have an overwhelmingly large number of members. We wanted to offer art enthusiasts a concise list of regional fine art painters who not only do fabulous artwork, but also present themselves and their work in a business-like manner."

According to the founding members of Fine Art Professionals of Northern Virginia, all of the artists featured on this site have met a series of criteria in order to establish themselves as working professionals in their fields and have, collectively, exhibited throughout the nation, served as jurors for fine art exhibitions, published in national magazines, written books and taught classes or workshops around the world.

All of the artists are painters, but there is a broad representation of mediums and styles included, giving the website a wide range of appeals.

Mary Champion, a Loudoun County resident and fellow founding member said, "Although we don’t have immediate plans to expand the website, we're not going to limit ourselves regarding the future ideas that may benefit the online art browser."

The group is currently finalizing details for their first exhibition to be held in October 2013. As the website directory shows, a number of Western Loudoun artists are included and will exhibit at that time. The website (www.fineartvirginia.com) is an excellent resource.

Another organization of artists in the area will hold their 8th Annual Western Loudoun Artists Studio Tour on Saturday and Sunday, June 22 and 23, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The tour is open to the public and will be presented in joint partnership with Franklin Park Arts Center, Friends of Franklin Arts Center, Round Hill Arts Center, Loudoun Academy of Arts Foundation and Art Square.

The artists will offer a weekend of art browsing, shopping and recreation to everyone interested in seeing what the local artists do, how well that do it and where they work.

A drive through the scenic countryside in the western part of Loudoun can include stops along the way to meet the artists in their studios and art centers where over sixty artists will exhibit on the tour.

The website (www.wlast.org) gives information for the tour, including a list of the artists and a map with directions to the exhibits.

These artists are well known for their outstanding work.

For example, one of the artists is Donna Clark whose studio at the Old Aldie Rectory, 39207 Mosby Highway, is Stop Number 16 on the tour. She is widely acclaimed for her masterful use of color and an inherent ability to create light infused images.

Her oil paintings have a dreamy quality to them, very impressionistic and abstract. The color choices are dramatic and evoke references to the landscapes around Virginia and to the landscapes of places where she traveled in the American Southwest and Europe.

Wednesday, Jun. 5, 2013

Mosby Ranger descendant reunion June 7, 8

The Virginia Point-to-Point Awards party was on June 2 at Great Meadow. Participants and fans braved the weather to see the VPPA recognize the winners of this season's races.

Previously, on May 26, the Virginia Foxhound Club's 66th Annual Foxhound Show was held at Morven Park in Leesburg, and it drew entries from around the country and from the area's hunt clubs.

This year's show was chaired by Mrs. Richard K. Jones, ex-MFHHH and Lt. Col. Robert Ferrer Jr., USMC-Ret., MFH.

In "Horse Country," the show was timely as it precedes the famous Upperville Colt and Horse Show, which began June 3 and will continue through June 9 at the horse show grounds on Mosby Highway.

For more information regarding the Upperville Colt and Horse Show, visit uppervillecoltandhorseshow.com.

On Friday and Saturday, June 7 and 8, the Mosby Heritage Area Association will be hosting the bi-annual Mosby Ranger Descendant Reunion in Middleburg. All events are open to the public, and attendants need not be descendants of rangers to participate.

The event will begin at 7 p.m. Friday at the Middleburg Baptist Church, 209 E. Federal St., with author and historian Robert O'Neill speaking on Mosby and Stuart and the local battles during the Civil War. Tickets are $30.
On Saturday, June 8, at 10 a.m., the reunion gathering will be held at the Middleburg Community Center at 300 W. Washington St.

On Saturday evening, June 8, at 7:30 p.m., the MHAA's Gray Ghost Interpretive Group (GGIG) will offer the next installment in its Cavaliers, Courage, and Coffee series, titled "Mosby's Rangers."

Now in its ninth season, the popular program offers stories about Mosby during the time of the Civil War; the stories will be presented in first person by lantern throughout the village of Atoka, beginning at the Rector House at 1461 Atoka Road, just off U.S. 50 West (Mosby Highway).

Concluding the weekend is the Mosby Safe House Tour on Sunday, June 9, from 1 to 5 p.m. Several of the homes known to have been safe houses for the Mosby Rangers will be open for tours: Seven Springs, the Hathaway House, Oakham, Brookside and Belle Grove. Tickets are $40.

First-person interpretations and maps will be provided. Participants can visit the homes in any order that day. For information, call MHAA at (540) 687-6681.

The first session of "Freud's Last Session," a presentation at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Saturday, June 1, was a great success, and the second session will be 7:30 p.m. June 15 in the Parrish House at 105 E. Washington St., Middleburg.

The program is a benefit for the church and a benefit to help make the Middleburg Library addition a reality.
The arts programs sponsored by Emmanuel Episcopal have been a great benefit to the community, and this program is especially outstanding.

It is described as centering "…on legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud who invites the young, rising Oxford Don, C.S. Lewis, to his home in London. On the day England enters World War II, the two meet and clash about love, sex, the existence of God and the meaning of life; their meeting was just weeks before Freud took his own life."

The presentation is a debate between two of the greatest minds in recent history. The reading will be followed by discussion, wine and hors d'oeuvres. Visit www.EpiscopalChurch.org/EmmanuelEpiscopalChurchMiddleburg for more information or call the church at (540) 687-6297.

Wednesday, May. 29, 2013

Celebrations of history are on the docket

For the past two years, the planning committee of the Mosby Heritage Area Association's sesquicentennial Civil War commemoration has been meeting in preparation for the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Civil War and the battles that were fought along the U.S. 50 corridor known as Mosby Highway.

The battles in and around Aldie, Middleburg and Upperville that were fought in June 1863 are known historically as part of the prelude to Gettysburg, and the committee, chaired by Henry Plaster of Bluemont, who is also president of the Snickersville Turnpike Association, has planned a three-day event of living history, starting Friday evening, June 14, in the historic Aldie Village.

The event continues in the village Saturday morning, June 15, with a reenactment and ceremony at the Furr Farm on Snickersville Turnpike Saturday afternoon, then continues in Middleburg on Sunday morning, June 16. It ends in Upperville on Sunday afternoon.

The planning committee and sponsors are now completing the arrangements for the event, and on Tuesday, May 21, they were entertained by Chet and Laura Lea Moore with a luncheon at Aurora in Aldie.

The Moores own the Furr Farm on Snickersville Turnpike at Oatlands Road; the farm will be the scene of a reenactiment, "The Battle of Aldie," featured in the "Prelude to Gettysburg Event."

Robert F. O'Neill, historian and author of "The Historic Cavalry Battles of Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville," along with John Geddie, editor-in-chief of the Loudoun Times-Mirror, were special guests at the Moores' luncheon.

For more information regarding the event, go to civilwarinloudouncounty.com or call (540) 687-6681.

On Saturday, June 1, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., the Loudoun Museum will host a "Secret Garden Party" at Little Oatlands.

Little Oatlands is a private residence approximately six miles south of Leesburg on U.S. 15.

This historic property has a distinguished history as the home, and the guest house dates back to 1762 and was originally part of Oatlands Plantation.

Little Oatlands was home to George Carter and family when the mansion at Oatlands was being built in 1804.
This special event will feature wine tastings from Dry Mill Winery and Fabbioli Cellars. The tea tastings will be with Lisa Scruggs of Artisan Teas.

There will be raffles and a silent auction, too, and guests will enjoy live music in a historic setting surrounded by glorious gardens. The main prize drawing is for a Friday and Saturday night stay in the cottage at Little Oatlands.

The tickets are $35. For more information regarding the event, go to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call Alana Blumenthal at (703) 777-7427.