Tanya M. Richey

Tanya M. Richey’s creative soul moved on to her next great adventure June 2, 2018. Her heart and independence carried her through 70 years of family, friends, and travel but recurrent carcinoma sarcoma overtook her breathe. She succumbed surrounded by love and was received by God and her late husband Barney V. Richey Jr. survived by her daughter April Bair, her son-inlaw Michael Bair, her granddaughters Amber and Michelle Bair in Stafford, Virginia and her brothers Robin Scott and George Montgomery in Arizona. Tanya, a professional artist, traveled the world and crisscrossed the United States using paint brushes and pens to capture the world as she saw it. Thousands of paintings by Tanya Richey hang in public and private collections around the globe. After living and exhibiting in Europe during the 1980’s she returned to Rappahannock County where she served as director of Middle Street Gallery in Washington, VA and opened the first single artist gallery in Rappahannock County. In Fredericksburg, VA her studio gallery on Caroline Street was an energetic meeting place until the opportunity for a two-year sabbatical to Japan closed those doors in 2014 and she began her last great collection of work capturing the Spirit of Japan through paintings and haiku poetry she called “MyKu”. Known for her gentle spirit and knack for entertaining she summed herself up simply by saying, “Art is my passion. Food is my vice. Inquiry is my quest. Family and friends are my life.