It was a cold and rainy Friday night at the Jacksonville Center, but that didn’t stop 75 artists and art supporters from gathering to admire an imaginatively conceived display of works related to the canopy of trees which cover much of this planet.
Art lovers came from as far away as Roanoke and Manassas to celebrate the final 2006 exhibition in the Hayloft Gallery at the Center.
Young or old, they all found renewal in the creative outpourings of artists working in a wide range of media. The theme was trees and the media ranged from acrylic, to pastels, to mahogany and beyond.
I overheard several discussions between highly regarded artists and newer artists and I was impressed by the supportive attitudes expressed by the experienced professionals.
Recognition of any kind means a lot to an artists starting out and when the comments are encouraging and right on the mark, it strengthens the resolve of the new artist to continue striving toward their artistic goals.
Most of the artists I know in this community of Floyd are still struggling to achieve financial success but their level of cooperative activity is truly heartwarming.
Instead of viewing artistic and financial success as a zero-sum game, they have wisely taken the position that sharing resources and advice is the way to achieving mutual satisfaction.
We brought some distant friends to the event and they got right in the spirit of things and signed up to became members of the Jacksonville Center. One of them, Dickie Conn is a high tech executive who is following the path Gretchen and I took when we made the transition from industry to the arts. She makes extraordinary quilts of a non-traditional design and I now have one hanging in my office.
My Sony DSC-F828 camera chose this particular event to get finicky about focusing and I lost many excellent shots. If anyone knows of a good Sony Repair center, please drop me a line. I need to get this camera back in action ASAP.