Celebrating artists’ connections to Rappahannock
Rappahannock County’s pastoral beauty and heart-lifting Blue Ridge vistas have long attracted artists who draw their inspiration from nature and find their muse in the mountains. For 15 years, the first weekend in November has celebrated that connection with the annual tour of Rappahannock studios and galleries showcasing the talents of painters, sculptors, jewelers, photographers, wood workers, fabric artists, stained glass artists, metal workers and more. And in a grand harmonic convergence, the visual arts inside vie with another annual production beyond the walls — autumn’s colorful plein air extravaganza of the trees. Everywhere, it’s a feast for the eyes.
This year’s Fall Art Tour adds four new studio stops and on new gallery, bringing the 2019 roster to 27 studios and 12 galleries.
The textures and rich colors of glass and the power of glass to transmit and reflect light captivated Heidi Morf when she segued from artistry in the kitchen to artistry in the studio. As chef at Four and Twenty Blackbirds, the award-winning Flint Hill restaurant she owned and managed with her husband, Vinnie DeLuise, Heidi had little time for any other kind of art besides culinary. That gradually changed, first with the restaurant’s transition to lunch-bakery-Sundaybrunch-and-eclectic-gift-shop and then with its sale in 2016. Her comfy new studio on Fodderstack Road, on the tour for the first time, is a perfect setting for Heidi’s sparkling and whimsical stained glass, bead jewelry, fused glass and mosaics.
Then there is Ron Paras, who grew up with photography and the acrid aromas of a basement darkroom. Camera in hand, trailing along behind a dad who was a TV writer and a news anchor for NBC, Ron debuted as a fashion photographer for Vogue,
Glamour and other slicks, then moved on to build his own multimedia and video production company, Paras Productions in D.C. In the early 2000s, Ron’s passion for photography reignited and he resumed wandering the roads of life with a camera. Inspired equally by the magic of Mother Nature and the absurdities of human nature, he shifts perspectives from portraits to landscapes, capturing the indefinable essence and spirit of both. His visually striking studio at Ben Venue Road is the perfect frame for his extraordinary photography.
In space whose previous incarnations included café, butcher shop, Blue Ridge Artisans and a carpentry shop, Gallery3 in Sperryville opened in May 2019. There, visitors can view creation in progress and finished works at the new studios of Mary Allen and Marilyn Armor and returning artist, Kate Anderson.
Mary Allen moved from painting with oil to the bright, fresh hues of watercolors to complement her cheerful images of flowers and the lived-in spaces of home. She finds inspiration in everyday life— from the chaos of her kitchen sink to the cacophony of color from her gardens.
Colors and shapes shift, meld, flow and blend in Marilyn Armor’s abstract watercolors. Her creativity is sparked by nature – the sunrises and sunsets of a second home in Cape Cod and the farms, fields and Blue Ridge Mountains of a first home in Virginia. Some are interpretations of photos she’s taken, others are inspired by pictures she’s seen, but most “just come out of my head.”
You won’t want to miss the new studios and artworks of these four talented artists along with your favorite artists returning with dynamic new works. Opportunities abound to Explore, Discover, and Experience visual treasures both inside and out at the 15th Annual Art Tour.