Artist Charlotte Chan, water colorist and BRAA vice-president, and David Minic-Rosenthal help work on the garden at the Montgomery Museum Thursday afternoon.
Montgomery Museum invites the community for lemonade, cake and to view art in the garden from 4:30–6 p.m. Tuesday.
This week, 20 New River Valley artists began arranging their pieces throughout the gardens and grounds of Montgomery Museum on Pepper Street in the water- and sun-themed installation called “Windows to the New River Valley,” hammering, drilling and painting among the poppies and elderberries preparing for Tuesday’s unveiling and reception.
The “windows” theme came about when artist-organizer Diane Relf and builder-artist husband, David, found themselves with stacks of window frames, French doors and elegant mullioned sashes sourced from historic New River Valley houses, barns and theaters.
Thinking immediately of art, Relf invited Blacksburg Regional Art Association photographers, water colorists and mixed-media artists to choose a window, charging them to consider the theme “Windows to the New River Valley.”
“We have the opportunity to paint lots more windows and experiment with outdoor art,” she wrote to them. “We were just given about 30 windows left from the remodeling of the [Alexander] Black House and the Tyler House [in Radford]…..”
And the artists chose a favorite window, then set off to express their own New River Valley using paint, cloth, tassels, beads and copper and wire adorning the glass windows to gleam, pool and reflect ideas of the New in a sun-filled garden.
The 4:30 p.m. reception and its afternoon light bring together artists who challenge themselves in new media. Charlotte Chan, vice-president of BRAA is a water colorist, but has waded into paint and metal. Standing waste-deep in purple poppies she talks about that challenge of working on old, wooden architectural elements.
Virginia Tech studio art student, Sara Fortier (with paintbrush) and Lisa Saling, a VT creative technologies student, put finishing touches on the frame for ‘Mass of Color’ by local artist Joanne Sunshine.
“I used acrylic and aluminum. It’s green. When I got the panel, there was termite damage, so I had to trim it, which made my idea all different,” Chan said.
Standing in the bustle of artists hammering and drilling tall frames to hang their sparkling art, Montgomery Museum Director Sue Farrar and Diane Relf talked about art and community.
“We are thrilled to have these artists on our grounds,” Farrar said. “It’s one of the most exciting things to happen at the museum. So much of what we do is perceived as being inside the museum, we are honored they chose us to host this event.”
Diane Relf agreed.
“Yes this is fun, community art outreach. The windows will be arranged in Beth’s Garden and around the house to provide the greatest visibility and encourage people to use the full grounds of the Museum. The plan is for the show to be in place from June 15 to Aug. 15.”
“Windows on the New River Valley” is just one of three recent windows-themed outdoor art romps for local artists. The first show was “My Window on Blacksburg” at the Alexander Black House last year and “Simply Elemental” at the Hahn in early August. Next year the show will be “My Window on the Hahn Garden.”
