Museum Director

Visitors to the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts' "Animals in Art" exhibit can connect with their inner animal, from ferocious mountain lions to cuddly cats. The exhibit will feature works of art from the past 150 years where animals of all types are the subject. Jennifer Smith, curator of the exhibit, said the animal theme was chosen because the museum has many works in its collection with animal subjects. "People really take to seeing animals in art," Smith said. "It's another part of the natural world we've been drawn to. " The exhibit will feature 20 pieces, including three pieces on loan from a private collector.

It's easy, in an age when machines can crank out complicated embroidery for hats, shirts and jackets, to forget that history viewed needlecrafts differently. Elizabeth Graff, member of the Hagerstown chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America, points to a 1797 German sampler. "Textiles were among the most valuable things in the (late 18th-century European) household," Graff says. "They were handed down as heirlooms. In (19th-century) China, embroidery was ranked above painting.

As the North Hagerstown High School string quartet filled the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Friday with the dulcet melodies of the Welsh lullaby, "Sou Gan," patrons mingled among numerous artful displays. But the displays were not new exhibits. Rather, each were detailed groupings of items that will be sold Saturday to raise money for the museum. The Singer Society of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts welcomed people to the museum Friday to preview the items available at its 12th annual Treasure Sale.

Traveling exhibit "Visions of the Universe: Four Centuries of Discovery," a NASA-funded exhibit celebrating achievements of astronomy over the centuries. The exhibit concludes Friday, March 4. Smithsburg Library, 66 W. Water St., Smithsburg. Call 301-824-7722. Printmakers show Etchings, monotypes, collagraphs and other hand-pulled prints by Penn's Woods Printmakers. Show concludes Friday, March 4. Council for the Arts Gallery, 159 S. Main St., Chambersburg, Pa. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.

HAGERSTOWN -- A $2.5 million project to upgrade the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts got under way Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony that was attended by approximately 60 people. Museum Director Rebecca Massie Lane said the project will include building a glass enclosure over the museum's courtyard. When the work is finished in about eight months, the climate-controlled addition will allow the museum to hold events in the courtyard throughout the year. "This space will be flexible and dynamic," she said.

Kristen Cox, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, took a whirlwind tour of Washington County on Wednesday, covering everything from the arts to the sciences. "Believe it or not, even though I'm blind, I do love art," Cox said as she arrived at the refurbished Washington County Museum of Fine Arts at City Park in Hagerstown. Cox met with the museum's board in a closed meeting to discuss a capital project. Cox said it was great to see community support of the museum.

Three trustees of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts have tendered their resignations, but said Friday their decisions weren't related to the departure of museum Director Joseph Ruzicka. The board of trustees declined last month to renew Ruzicka's contract. His last day at the museum was April 18. Trustees Lois Easton, Leslie Hendrickson and M. Kenneth Long have resigned from the board since then. Long, a Circuit Court judge, said he resigned because of scheduling conflicts.

By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer Every day for the past 81 years, Evelyn Borchard Metzger could be found with a paintbrush in her hand. The prolific artist started painting when she was 7 years old and has never stopped. She has produced more than 1,000 works - landscapes, portraits and still lifes - using a variety of techniques. "I'm always thinking of things I would like to try and accomplish," Metzger said.

scottb@herald-mail.com The City of Hagerstown is trying a new way to promote its downtown: Inserting information about downtown attractions in the monthly bills of the Hagerstown Light Department's 14,000 residential customers. The bills being sent out this week include brochures listing March events and attractions in downtown Hagerstown. The brochures are the start of a city experiment that involves inserting information promoting downtown into electricity bills, city spokeswoman Karen Giffin said Wednesday.

Exhibit celebrates homegrown talent By KERRY LYNN FRALEY Staff Writer One of Betty Ritter Tilley's most vivid memories of her artist uncle, Alonzo W. Ritter, was the day she and her brother tagged along when her father took him out to sketch. It was an unusual day for the normally prolific landscape painter, a lifelong Hagerstown resident, said Tilley, 72. "He didn't sketch long," she said, with a laugh. "The kids were too disruptive. " Tilley remembers seeing her uncle's work exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., when she was a child.