R.H. BALLARD ANNUAL SUMMER SALE

 

JULY 23 - 30 

20% - 60% OFF

French Tablecloths, Art, Rugs, Lamps, Purses, Scarves, Jewelry, Dinnerware, Glassware, Soaps, Lotions, Perfume, and MORE!

 ________________________

Sale In-Store Only

Phone Orders Accepted

540-675-1411

Castleton Festival & Le Jacquard Francais

I was recently honored to be chosen to design and decorate the Cafe for The Castleton Festival, a spectacular musical event which takes place here in Rappahannock County, Virginia, for four fabulous weeks every summer. Their first choice for the cafe tablecloths? Le Jacquard Francais "Provence" in lemon-green, which is sold through our shop, R.H. Ballard.

Now in it's third year, the Castleton Festival  brings together "top virtuoso's from the world over," and Maestro Lorin Maazel has created an extraordinary experience for both performers and audience. Situated in idyllic surroundings of Rappahannock County, Virginia, the Castleton Festival showcases young and upcoming operatic and classically trained musical talents from all parts of the globe. Stunning guest performers are also included in the mix, such as opera superstar Mezzo-Soprano Denyce Graves.

Stay tuned for more photos and festival news!

Maestro Lorin Maazel

Castleton Performance Schedule

Castleton Festival Founders: Lorin Maazel & Dietlinde Turban Maazel

WETA Pre-Performance Conversations

Patton Wilson Artwork @ R.H. Ballard

 We have just received a beautiful egg tempera painting in our gallery entitled "Nesting" by one of our favorite artists, Patton Wilson.

Patton is an American Realist painter and has lived and painted in our neck of the woods for most of his life. He has exhibited widely, won numerous awards for his paintings, and is in many private and corporate art collections.

To learn more about Patton, please read his bio below and contact Robert Ballard at R.H. Ballard Gallery in Little Washington, VA, for more information on this and other works by this artist.  Robert can be reached here: robert@rhballard.com, www.rhballard.com, 540-675-1411.

PATTON WILSON

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS

The St. George Art Museum, St. George, Utah
The Butler Institute of American Art, Midyear Juried Exhibition, 2002, 2003
Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL 2003
The Butler Institute of American Art, Allied Members Exhibition, OH: 2001
Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah, WI 2004
Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History, Danville , VA 2004
Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 2004

PUBLICATIONS

Watercolor Magazine, Summer 2006
American Artist Magazine, Sept. 2004 (Cover), Nov. 2003, 1992
New American Paintings,Vol. 33
International Artist, 2001
Watercolor Magazine 2000
San Francisco Examiner 2000
Pueblo Chieftain 2000
The Virginia Pilot 1984

CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Dominion Power, Richmond, VA
FORBES, Inc.
Forbes Family Collection
The Wilmington Trust Company
Johnson and Higgins, Inc., New York
The Bank of Delaware
Dauphin Deposit Bank
Maryland Bank of North America. 


GRANTS & AWARDS (SELECTED)

Pollock/Krasner Foundation: Grant Recipient 2009-2010

Allied Artists of America: Len B. Everett Memorial Award - 2009, Honig Memorial Award for a Traditional Painting - 2007, American Artist Professional League for Realism, Charles J. Romans Memorial Award, Winsor Newton Award for Watercolor, Gloria Benson Stacks Award for a Southern Artist

National Society of Casein & Acrylic Painting: Glenn Bradshaw Award - 2009, Mandel &Graham Memorial Award - 2007, Winsor Newton Award - 2006, John J. Newman Award - 2004

NSCAP & American Artist: First Place - 2003
American Artists Professional League: Audubon Artists Award - 2007, Medal of Honor, Claude Parsons Memorial Award

Salmagundi Club Open Exhibition: Charlotte Kughler Award for Pure Aquarelle
Art Renewal Center International Competition: Finalist 2007
Baltimore Watercolor Society Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor:American Frame Corporation Award - 2002

The Parkersburg Art Center: Bronze Award
Knickerbocker Open Exhibition: The Grumbacher Gold Medal

JURIED EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)

Fort Wayne Museum of Art - 2008 Contemporary American Realism Juried Biennial, Fort Wayne, IN Butler Institute of American Art Mid-Year Exhibition, 2002, 2003, 2007
Mid-Atlantic New Painting Juried Biennial, University of Mary Washington, VA 2007
Peninsula Fine Arts Center Biennial 2006, Newport News, VA
The National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic Juried Exhibition, National Arts Club, Glen Bradshaw Award - 2009, Winsor Newton Award - 2006 The John J. Newman Medal - 2004
The National Casein Painting Competition, Sponsored by American Artist, Jack Richeson Co., and The Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic, First Place, 2003
3rd Annual Natural World Observed Exhibition 2007, Texas Art Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Allied Artists of America, National Arts Club, New York, NY: 2002-2004, 2006 Awards: American Artist Professional League Award for Realism, Charles J. Romans Memorial Award, Winsor and Newton Award for Watercolor, Gloria Benson Stacks Award for a Southern Artist
American Artists Professional League, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY: 1998: Medal of Honor, 1987: Claude Parsons Memorial Award-Landscape
National Arts for the Parks: Top 100 & Mini 100, Eastern Division, Jackson Hole, WY, 2005
Baltimore Watercolor Society's Mid-Atlantic Regional Watercolor Exhibition, Bethesda, Maryland: 2003, 1999: American Frame Corporation Award
American Watercolor Society International Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York: 1989
Salmagundi Club Open Exhibition, New York, NY: 1987, 1986: Charlotte Kughler Award for Pure Aquarelle
Audubon Artists Annual Exhibition, National Arts Club, New York, NY: 1987, 1986
Knickerbocker 36th Annual Open Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY: 1986: The Grumbacher Gold Medal
The Parkersburg Art Center, Realism 1994, Parkersburg, WVA: Third Place Show Award
Springfield 67th National Juried Show, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum and Springfield Museum of Fine Art, Springfield, MA: 1986

ONE MAN EXHIBITIONS

Somerville/Manning Gallery, 101 Stone Block Row, Greenville, DE: 2003, 1999, 1996
David Lusk Gallery, 4540 Poplar, Memphis, TN 2002
The Gallery at Centerville, Kennett Pike,Wilmington, DE: 1988, 1986, 1985

RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBITION

Mary Washington University, Ridderhof Martin Gallery, Fredericksburg, VA: March 2004

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Studio Paintings of the Washington Society of Landscape Painters, Maryland Center for Creative Arts, Annapolis, Md. February 2006
US Artists Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA: 2005 - 1998
Washington Society of Landscape Painters, Packing Shed Gallery, Washington, VA: 2004
Capricorn Galleries,"Contemporary Realists", Bethesda, MD:1992-1995
Carson Gallery,"Contemporary Realism", Denver, CO: 1999

INVITATIONAL EXHIBITIONS

Peninsula Center for the Creative Arts, Reality Show, VA. Fall 2005
Arcadia Gallery, Winter Invitational, NY, NY, 12/2003
Egg Tempera: An Enduring Tradition, St. Luke's Gallery, Anna Maria College, Boston, Massachusetts, 2001
Jenkins Johnson Gallery,Third Annual Realism Invitational, C A: 2001
Forbes Galleries,"Awash in Color", NY, C A: 2000
Kimberton Gallery,"Contemporary Realism", Kimberton, PA: 1987, 1989
J. Wayne Stark Gallery,Texas A&M University,TX 2005
Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI 2005

ARTIST MEMBERSHIPS

Allied Artists of America
American Artist Professional League
Baltimore Watercolor Society
National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic
Society of Tempera Painters
National Academy of Professional Plein Air Painters

Childhood Memory Through Photographs

I awoke this morning to find this montage of old black and white photographs. Here I am at 5 years old in St.Louis, MO, looking very fashion forward in my cute Sunday-best ensemble and hanging with my BFFs. It was a sweet surprise from my sister.

For the past couple of years my sister Maureen has been diligently and lovingly digging through a multitude of boxes filled with photos, journals, letters, birth announcements, obituaries, playbills and ticket stubs. She is compiling a record of our family history. To say that her job has been daunting is an understatement.  My mother has been helping her with names, dates and locations of photos, filling in all the important family data that none of us would have known.

My mother took all of the photos above and actually most of the photos of our childhood, and according to Maureen there are thousands of images to sift through.

Love and memories come through old B&W photos and also the sweetness of the past, an innocent era. Take some time, find those old photos and share them with family and friends. They will surely open your heart.

New York Times Scented Candle Tobias Wong & Various Projects

"The Times of New York" candle

Is this for real? A candle that smells like newsprint from The New York Times? Apparently so, although not produced by the famed newspaper, rather inspired by it.

Like many people, I too have a thing about the smell of newly printed paper and newly printed books. I am inclined to love that "printed" odor over the smell of my laptop burning in the night.

I can't wait to get my hands (or nose) on this candle, The Times of New York.  According to the Project No. 8 website, "the scent of the candle is newsy, with hints of guaiacwood, cedar, musk, spice, with a powdery note and velvet nuance, meant to mimic the aroma of black ink on newsprint."  This candle came to be from now-deceased designer/artist Tobias Wong, and was produced by Various Projects and Josée Lepage of Bondtoo.  I hear it is being sold for $65. at Project No. 8, in a limited production of 1000.  This shop is located in a favorite place of mine that I've written about, The Ace Hotel NYC. 

If you are missing that "newsy" scent you can now light a candle while reading your online daily paper.

Other links of interest:

Project No. 8
REFINERY29
ArtSlope

2011 Independent Handbag Designer Award Winners

Bag made from over 1,000 recycled pop tabs.  Image: Time Inc. Digital Studio

I have a thing about unique and beautiful purses, totes and handbags....and I know I am not alone.  I love following trends in handbag design and awards are given out every year to notable and new bag designers.

The Fifth Annual 2011 Independent Handbag Designer Awards were just announced and there were some stunning designs that took top honors.  These awards are sponsored by InStyle Magazine and Handbag Designer 101 and take place in New York City each year. According to Accessories Magazine, there were 40 featured finalists and handbags which were ultimately narrowed down to 1200. Designers from all over the world took part in this competition, and there were a total of nine categories.

The "Audience Fan Favorite Award" was voted on by InStyle Readers, and after over 334,500 votes were tallied this award went to Neide Ambrosio Martins de Souza (her amazing bag seen above), a 69 year old designer from Brazil.  Her bag featured over 1,000 recycled pop tabs, and it was also given "The Most Socially Responsible Award".

Here are a few of the other winners:

image: Time Inc. Digital Studio

The "Best Handbag in Overall Style and Design" went to the Fabriola Pedrazzini of Milan, with this tan lambskin leather bag priced at $700.

image: Time Inc. Digital Studio

"Red Carpet Evening Bag Award": Clara Kasavina and Misha Berger for Clara Kasavina.

image: Time Inc. Digital Studio

"Best Student Hand Made Handbag Inspired by the Colors of VitaminWater": by Kaitlyn Doherty

"Best Handmade Handbag":  by Diego Rocha

"Best Green Handbag" by Belinda Pasqua for Sway

"Best Use of Swarovski Elements" by Lorna  Nixon (photo courtesy of the designer)

To see more images of the winners follow the links below:

Accessories Magazine
InStyle Magazine
Handbag Designer 101