Art Notes

Rappahannock artists offer a tour

  of studios, mosaics, illustrations

The fourth annual Artists of Rappahannock Studio and Gallery Tour, sponsored by the Rappahannock Association for the Arts and the Community, will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine.

Tour headquarters will be located at Fire Hall in the town of Washington.

The tour takes participants through the historic villages and along scenic byways of Rappahannock County.

Heidi Morf will present another side of her creativity with her colorful mosaic tile and stained glass works of art.

Art and the environment come together under Kate Brown-Wing’s studio in Sperryville. Brown-Wing studied at the Art Institute of Boston and began her work as a natural history illustrator at the Harvard Museum of Natural History 20 years ago. Her illustrations have been published in respected science journals, children’s books and textbooks.

Other new participating artists include Linda Tarry, who creates surreal, colorful three-dimensional mosaic sculptures using discarded and broken ceramics, glass shards and metal; Susan Dienelt, who invites visitors to her pottery studio perched atop Jobber’s Mountain with a Blue Ridge backdrop to see her stoneware and porcelain clay creations; and Patricia Underwood, trained in drawing and as a printmaker, who presents her series “Bimbos and Goddesses,” in which she juxtaposes today’s woman with ancient depictions and symbols of women through her art.

Returning for this year’s tour are Jeanne Drevas, Nol Putnam, Kevin Adams, Cory Caulfield, Benita Gowen and many others.

The Artists of Rappahannock Studio and Gallery Tour offers the opportunity to visit both privately owned artist studios and public galleries during a perfect weekend getaway. Local restaurants welcome guests and community organizations will sponsor food tents in the tour headquarters in the town of Washington and in the village of Sperryville. Local country inns, including the famed Inn at Little Washington, offer accommodations for overnight visitors.

Admission is $10 per person, which will be used to support RAAC’s community arts-related programs.

For more information, visit http://www.raac.org or call (540) 675-3193.

Alexandria mends fences through Monday

“Mending Fences,” Michele Hoben’s solo exhibit of mixed-media works, can be seen through Monday at the Art League Gallery.

Hoben’s mixed-media series, “Mending Fences,” creates a subtle commentary on our current political and economic environment. Hoben’s great-great-grandfather, J. Wallace Page, invented a woven-wire fence in 1883.

In addition to working as a practicing artist, Hoben is a curator, an architect, a faculty member of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and a Torpedo Factory associate artist.

“Revealed Histories,” the October all-media show, encourages Art League artists to visually explore histories, both personal and shared. It is on view through Monday.

This show is juried by Daniel Finch, associate professor of visual art at Messiah College. This show will feature works of all media by Art League gallery members.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday. It’s open every Thursday evening until 9 p.m. Exhibitions and events are free and open to the public.

The Art League Gallery is in the Torpedo Factory Art Center at 105 N. Union St. in Alexandria. For details, call (703) 683-1780 or visit http://www.theartleague.org.

Get a look at Orange through artists’ eyes

The Arts Center in Orange is presenting “Virginia’s Piedmont: Through the Artist’s Eye,’’ which runs through Nov. 29.

More than 50 area artists, musicians, authors and filmmakers have teamed up with four contemporary galleries to show the range and depth of talents available in the area.

The Baker Gallery at Woodberry Forest School will feature photography by Richard Robinson, Bill Moretz and Lon Black, along with paintings by Pam Black and Megan Marlatt and sculptures by Sean Samoheyl. New works by Woodberry Forest’s art director, Kelly Longergan, are featured.

The Upper Gallery of the Walker Galleries at Woodberry Forest offers “A is for Art,’’ an exhibit and book release on the works of the late Orange artist Laura Lambe Burrell.  Joe Simms’ paintings will be in the lower gallery.

Ed Jaffee Gallery will offer sculptures in stone, bronze, wire and clay by Jaffe, Thomas Marsh, Aimee Hunt and Aggie Zed.

The Corner House Gallery will focus on Linda Boudreaux Montgomery’s interpretations of Virginia’s historic sites and landscapes.

Frederick Nichols Studio and the Nichols Gallery Annex in Barboursville will present the exhibit “Scenes of the Piedmont: From Real to Sublime.’’ Artists represented include Nancy Bass, Ron Boehmer, Richard Crozier, Gray Dodson, Durwood Dommisse, Frank Hobbs, Frederick Nichols, Lindsay Nolting, Ton Tartaglino, Priscilla Whitlock and Steven Wolf.

Learn more at http://www.vapiedmontarts.com, http://www.artscenter orange.org or (540) 672-7311.

Mirror event sheds light on solar baking

The University of Virginia McIntire Department of Art’s Sculpture Department presents a performance event, “Baking Bread Burning Bush,’’ at noon today in the Andre Rublev Courtyard of Ruffin Hall, on the north slope of Carr’s Hill near Beta Bridge.

The event is organized by Solar Sculptors and Scientists United Now, located in the Sculpture Department.

“Baking Bread Burning Bush” is a performance event in which mirrors held by more than 100 participants will direct the energy of the sun in an attempt to bake bread and create fire.

Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. The solar oven will be ignited at noon, and bread will be baked. At 12:30 p.m., more than 100 mirrors will light a fire. Bread will be eaten in celebration at 1 p.m.

The event is free. Bring a mirror. Full sun is required; cloud cover will postpone the event to the next sunny weekday. For information, send e-mail to .

There’s no place like home at Ruffin Gallery

UVa photography professor Pamela Pecchio exhibits at Ruffin Gallery today through Nov. 28.

The focus of Pecchio’s photographs in the exhibit is an exploration of humans and the places they inhabit. The exhibition, “Habitation,” will kick off with a Final Friday reception from 5:30 to 7:30 this evening.

For information, call 924-6123.

From staff reports