2015 MEMBERS AND FRIENDS PRESS RELEASE

Members and Friends Team up at Middle St. Gallery

by Gary Anthes

This month and next, the Middle Street Gallery in Sperryville will put on its annual Artists and Friends exhibition, in which members of the artists' cooperative show their works alongside those of selected guest artists. The show will run from January 9 through Feb. 8. There will be an artists’ reception on Sat. January 10 from 3pm to 5pm, with guest artists introduced at 3:15pm.

The public is invited to come and see a broad array of subjects, styles and media from some 25 artists from Rappahannock County and nearby areas.

Bob Bouquet will offer three sculptures about life on earth – from one day to two million years old – including a wooden, humanoid skull. His friend, former gallery member Kevin Adams, will show two paintings inspired by a recent trip to Iceland. Ann Currie will offer colored pencil and graphite images of fruit, vegetables and inanimate objects on watercolor infused surfaces, while her guest, Mary Anne Matteson of Warrenton, will show bright, bold still lives in oil.

Photographer Carl Zitzmann  will show  a winter snowscape from Amissville, while his German artist friend Lis Piatt will exhibit two pastels. Fellow photographer Jo Levine's photos capture the dreamlike atmosphere created by fog and mist, and her friend, Margaret Rogers -- who is also known for her coffees at Central Coffee Roasters -- will show two of her intricately detailed prints.

Gallery President Kathleen Willingham has paired with Gary Colson, with Willingam showing paintings of natural forms in earthy colors and Colson offering sculptures of stone and recycled encyclopedias. Thomas Spande will offer two meticulously drawn views of the Hazel River accompanied by linocut mixed media on wood veneer from former gallery member Patricia Underwood.

Phyllis Northup offers two cool-toned watercolors, one of a remote island and shoreline in Lake Superior. Her friend, watercolorist Nadia Louderback, follows with still lifes of  autumn apples and  crocus in warmer tones. Photographer Gary Anthes will exhibit two views of local landscapes in the somber tones of winter, accompanied by the colorful pastels of artist JoEllen Murphy. Murphy specializes in views of Rapahannock painted in the plein air tradition.

Nancy Brittle and guest watercolorist Mary Allen of Culpeper “share a love of color, design, and narrative,” Brittle says, and their paintings “offer us a personal connection to our worlds.”  Leslie Hilton will exhibit two new portraits in oil and introduce artist Mary Frazer, an emerging artist from Warrenton who paints still lifes and local landscapes.  

Wayne Paige has chosen two artist friends, former gallery member Matthew Plumb and Maureen Paige, a painter and retired art teacher from from Occoquan, Va. Plumb's paintings “are inspired by cultural sources both high and low, such as comic books, landscape painting, animation, fabric and wallpaper patterns, and Pop Art,” Plumb says.

Finally, Helen Berliner has teamed with artist Margaret Hamilton, whose small delicate watercolors of vast vistas endeavor to capture “the subtleties that can’t be put into words,” according to Hamilton.

The gallery is located next to River District Arts, 3 River Lane, in Sperryville, Va. Hours are Fri.-Sun. 11am to 5pm. Please call 540/987-9330 or visit www.middlestreetgallery.org for more information.