ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 19, 1995 TAG: 9512190040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-5 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
An exhibit on a year of art-making will continue through December at the Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley, where plans are nearly complete for exhibits during the months of 1996.
Barbara Norman-Lashley is the featured artist this month, having created a different work for each day of the year. Each day is represented on a 5-by-6 1/2-inch Masonite panel containing a painting, drawing, collage or low relief piece, all arranged on 12 wooden panels like a calendar.
The artist said the pieces "reflect things that happened throughout the year, somewhat like a diary. I went to Paris in February, Russia in May, and New Mexico in July and August, so some works are like travel journals."
She seldom planned any of the pieces in advance, she said. "It was very intuitive. Some days the work came easily, other days I labored."
The emphasis for exhibits planned in the coming year is to show how the arts are an experience to be shared by all kinds of people, not just those who can afford the prices of works by well-known artists. Likewise, producers of art can be found right in a person's home area.
The exhibits and programs for August and November 1996 are still to be announced. The others are as follows:
January: Fringe Benefits, a group of quilt-makers from Southwest Virginia, which functions as a design focus group with each member furthering her own artistic development. Members include Elaine Boyd, Carol Britt, Susan Brittingham, Betty Bryant, LInda Fiedler, Marilyn Hower, Ann Reardon, Sylvia Richardson, Chime Saltz and Ginny Watson.
February: As part of National Black History Month, the center will host an exhibit of African art provided by Robert Miller of Miller Off Main Galleries in Blacksburg. Pieces will be from his and others' private collections and include items offered for sale through his gallery.
March: The center traditionally features student works as part of Youth Art Month. Entries from elementary school pupils this year will center around the theme, "The Artist's Banquet."
April: A celebration of Easter, featuring a collection of pieces owned by Randy and Donia Eley. It consists of a series of watercolors by husband-wife team Paul and Evelyn Hardy, many done for a book titled "Friends of Jesus." This will be the first time the entire collection has been exhibited as a whole, and will also include artifacts Eley collected on a trip to the Holy Land such as oil lamps, Roman coins and olive wood carvings.
May: Martha Ireson Preston, who taught art in the Pulaski County school system and sewing at Sew Biz in Radford, will exhibit many of her fabric talents which combine art with craft.
June: This exhibit will tie in with Pulaski's third annual Depot Day celebration, scheduled for June 20-23 and featuring Artrain, a museum on a train with works from the Smithsonian Associates Collection.
July: This month traditionally features an exhibit titled "Menagerie," displaying the talents of anybody in the area who enters one or two works. This exhibit also underscores the center's concentration this year on local talent.
September: Hand-made furniture will take center stage, with crafts people still to be chosen.
October: Dean Hufford, a Pulaski native, will show some of the counted cross-stitch needlework he has created over the past 12 years.
December: An exhibition of dolls is planned.
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