CURRENTS Karen McElyea - Home Page Editor karensart1127@verizon.net Annual Report President Jeff Warren has completed the 2007 RAL Annual Report which you can view by clicking HERE.  Selected highlights include: record Studio Gallery and Labor Day Show Sales, more workshops and more students, expanded Children's Summer Program and the First Annual Patron's Gala.  Take a few minutes to read the complete report and congratulations on, as Jeff says, a "golden" year.  This web site was updated on 04/30/2008 Virginia Museum Lecture Coming to Kilmarnock: Dr. Rosemary Smith Discuss the Influence of Asian Art on Impressionist Painters   Art Historian Dr. Rosemary Smith will be speaking on “The Impressionist’s Understanding of Japan, A Marvelous Misinterpretation” on Monday, May 19 in Kilmarnock, VA.  Sponsored locally by the Rappahannock Art League (RAL), the lecture will be at the RAL Studio Gallery at 19 N. Main Street at 1 PM.               One of the most-loved art movements in the West is Impressionism, yet the enormous impact of the art of Japan on the ideas of the Impressionists is seldom discussed.  This lecture explains that one of the main reasons that Western painters were so deeply influenced by the art of Japan was because they completely misinterpreted it.                Dr. Rosemary Smith is an art historian who specializes in the art of Asia.  She served as Assistant to the Director of the State Art Museum in Warnambool, Australia, and was an instructor of Art History at the Warnambool Institute of Advanced Education before returning to the United States to complete her PhD at the University of Virginia.               Dr. Smith was a professor of Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University for several years where she lectured on the art of India, China, Japan, and the interactions between the East and the West.  She has written many articles—most recently one on Japanese influence at Maymont House in Richmond, and chapters on China, Korea, and Japan in a survey on non-Western art soon to be published by McGraw-Hill.  She has served as curator for three exhibitions, and often offers VMFA lecture courses.                This program has been organized by the VMFA Office of Statewide Partnerships and is supported by the Paul Mellon Endowment. The program is open to the public.               For additional information, phone Elise Ritter at 804-758-8076. .  There will be a lunch   in advance of the program for those who want to meet Dr. Smith.  The cost is $5 per person.  Please contact Elise to make reservations.

THE RAPPAHANNOCK ART LEAGUE Fine Arts & Crafts in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Region The Rappahannock Art League was originally organized in 1949 in the Irvington Community Center by a few men and women desiring to improve their art skills. Now the league has grown to an organization of more than 400 members. The purpose of the Rappahannock Art League is to organize, sponsor and encourage educational and cultural activities in the visual arts and crafts. The League’s activities are focused in the lower Northern Neck and lower Middle Peninsula of Virginia.  The League is incorporated as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. RAL is a proud affiliate of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is partially supported by grants from the Virginia Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rappahanock Foundation for the Arts  and the River Counties Community Foundation. THE RAL STUDIO GALLERY Fine Arts & Crafts in Virginia's Chesapeake Bay Region The Art League has operated the RAL Studio Gallery at 19 N. Main Street in Kilmarnock since August 1999. The gallery, a showplace for the works of over 70 local artists, offers the largest collection of original art work and fine crafts for sale in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula of Virginia. The exhibiting artists’ work is juried before they are allotted exhibit space. Many of the artists have won regional and national prizes.  The gallery managed as a cooperative and is directed and staffed by volunteers, many of them exhibiting artists. There were 8,600 visitors to the Gallery in 2005. The Exhibit Room in the Studio Gallery offers changing exhibits designed to generate interest among the artists as well as the community-at-large. Many open shows encourage member artists not juried into the gallery to show their work as well. The Studio Gallery has collaborated with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Federation of Garden Clubs, the Lancaster Historical Society, the Virginia Pen Women, the Lancaster and Northumberland Public Schools, and Chesapeake Academy for monthly exhibits.  19 N. Main Street      Kilmarnock, Virginia 22482      804-436-9309 The Schedule for the Studio Gallery of the Rappahannock Art League - The Gallery hours are 10 am – 4 pm Tuesday through Saturday   Japonisme Van Gogh--la courtisane RAL Spring 2008 Workshop Schedule Announced  The new workshop schedule for the Spring is now posted with a brief course description, class dates, instructor and cost.  We offer a wide variety including classes in painting using Charcoal, Oils, Acrylics, Water media, Oriental ink and Pastel along with a class on Jewelry making and Clay.  We have several out of town instructors to compliment our talented pool of local artist.  Two workshops will be in Plein Air (weather permitting) and an evening class is offered again.  Please check the schedule from time to time for additions to our schedule.  A full description of the workshop will appear in the February edition of Artline.  Call the gallery for more information.