Down On Main Street Berryville
Gallery Launches ‘Little Shows’ with Perry Exhibit
“I love the smell,” says artist Patricia Perry of oil paint. “The buttery texture … and the richness you get with it.” Perry paints a little bit of everything—but right now she’s focusing on landscapes. It’s an apt subject given her lifelong love of travel to places ranging from Turkey to Costa Rica to New Zealand. The latter inspired a beautiful painting “On the River: Christ Church, Zealand,” which you can see through September 30 in the Fire House Gallery’s “Little Shows” series.
Born in the U.S., Perry moved to Europe when she was 19. She lived in Bad Homburg, Germany and studied at the Goethe Institut in Kochel am See, before moving to Paris for a year and enrolling at the American College in Paris.
Inspired by the works of Goya, Rembrandt, Turner, and Blake which she saw in museums, she enrolled as an art student at UCLA after returning to the U.S. There she studied under noted abstract artist Richard Diebenkorn, who came to define the California school of Abstract Expressionism of the early 1950s.
After graduating with a B.A. in fine art from UCLA, she worked at the UCLA Art Galleries and the U.C. Berkeley Art Museum.
She says that her landscapes are an attempt to represent her personal connection with the natural world and her deep regard for its beauty and mystery.
Perry lives with her husband in Jefferson County, W.Va. Her paintings are found in private collections in Philadelphia; Annapolis; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Pasadena, Calif.; and Shepherdstown, W.Va. She teaches oil painting at her studio near Shepherdstown.
“Little Shows” is a new monthly offering at the gallery which highlights the work of one of its 70 local and regional artists. This endeavor is funded in part by a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Meet Perry and learn more about her work while enjoying light refreshments at the gallery on Thursday, September 5.
Downtown Yard Sales
Save the date for the Downtown Berryville Yard Sales, Saturday September 14, 8am—3pm. Visit berryvillemainstreet.org and download the registration form or email info@bvmerchants.com or call 540-313-7467. Registrations due September 10.
Thanks to Rapphannock Electric
Crews from Rapphannock Electric hung the new banners in downtown Berryville free of charge. The banners were purchased through a grant secured by Berryville Main Street.