Museum Of Fine Arts

Members of Washington County Museum of Fine Arts's Membership Committee recognized volunteers during their annual meeting on March 15. Last year, volunteers provided more than 10,000 hours of service to the museum. During the annual meeting, four volunteers were recognized for their dedication, hours of service and hard work on specialized museum projects. Thomas Newcomer was named "Volunteer of the Year. " Those also recognized were Janai Heise, Saturday Morning Youth Program assistant; Mary Anne Kamas, Singer Society president, and Dennis Rocco, Courtyard Project manger.

Before Sunday’s ribbon cutting for the new Anne G. and Howard S. Kaylor Atrium at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Howard Kaylor said he told the museum’s director that she forgot to schedule a rain date for the ceremony. “Forgetting, for an instant, that it doesn’t matter anymore,” said Kaylor, pointing to the atrium’s skylight ceiling. So when the rains did come, midway through the ceremony, no one had to go running for cover. It was such weather that led to the major renovation of the Cushwa Courtyard, which sits in the center of the museum in City Park.

Proving the “validity of photography as an art form,” more than 250 people attended an awards ceremony for the 80th annual Cumberland Valley Photographic Salon at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts Sunday afternoon. Landscapes, people, objects and abstract designs were among the images captured in the photographs in the contest, which attracted more than 400 entries this year. Kristin Camitta Zimet of Winchester, Va., one of the photographers who received awards, said the contest helps prove the “validity of photography as an art form.” Rebecca Massie Lane, director of the museum, said the contest's long-running record points to its rich legacy.

HAGERSTOWN - After nearly three weeks spent brightening the walls and polishing clean the evidence of some 300,000 feet, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is back in business. The museum, which closed for renovations Aug. 7, reopened Saturday with buffed floors and repainted galleries. "Anything that can be painted was repainted," museum director Joe Ruzicka said during an informal tour of the facility. During the shutdown, contractors tore carpeting out of three galleries, restoring the original 1931 wood flooring in two rooms, while laying down a nut brown-and-black cork surface in the other, Ruzicka said.

Rural American artist Trish Suder’s exhibit “Disappearing America” features paintings and photographs of cows, barns, flowers and landscapes. Concludes today. Mansion House, City Park, Hagerstown. Call 301-797-6813. Portrait miniatures Portraits by artists Raphaelle Peale, Anna Claypoole Peale and Angelica Kauffmann. Continues through Sunday, April 17. Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, 401 Museum Drive, City Park, Hagerstown. Call 301-739-5727, email info@wcmfa.org or go to www.wcmfa.org . Bruce Etchison Memorial Art created by or acquisitions secured by Bruce Etchison.

In association with the exhibition, the museum presents an illustrated lecture, "‘An Agreeable Present': Portrait Miniatures in America" by Anne Verplanck at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 16,  in the Bowman Gallery, Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.   Portrait miniatures were intimate objects that were often given or exchanged at the time of marriage. This presentation will focus on portrait miniatures in the mid-Atlantic in the late 1700s and 1800s, highlighting some of the artists featured in the exhibition and discussing the choices patrons made when commissioning a portrait.

Sunday jazz brunch BRUNSWICK, Md. - Violinist Susan Jones will perform with guitarist Brian Litz. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Beans in the Belfry, 122 W. Potomac St. Call 301-834-7178. Appalachian Wind Quintet SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The Train Station concert series will present Appalachian Wind Quintet. 4 p.m. Train Station, East German Street, two blocks east of Yellow Brick Bank. $15. Call 304-876-9900. 'Loving Art' An exhibition highlighting the large art holdings of William and Anna Singer.

1862 Bath-Romney Campaign anniversary BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. -Events include a multimedia presentation, living history encampments, and preservation marches over original routes followed by Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's troops. Berkeley Springs. For information, go to www.geocities.com/bathromneycampaign. Model making for museum displays In an illustrated lecture by sculptors Carolyn Thome and Paul Rhymer, "Manatees, Mountains, Mines and Monuments: Model Making for Museum Displays," the artists will illustrate the different processes and materials used for making reproductions of actual artifacts and animals with molding and casting.

More than 500 people wandered past the artworks of hundreds of Washington County middle and high school students during a reception Sunday at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, taking in works such as “Golden Eyes” and “This is Not the Death Star.” Those were two of the three first-place winners in the exhibit, which featured more than 1,100 works by county secondary students. A clay and acrylic bust, “Golden Eyes” was submitted by Nahja Collins and the orb-like clay “Death Star” by Jenna Baker, both students at the Barbara Ingram School for the Arts.

The Craver family won a $5,000 shopping spree at R. Bruce Carson Jewelers in the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts' annual raffle on March 21.

Eight-year-old Blake Shupp posed next to her artwork of an elephant made of geometric shapes while her father used a camera to capture the moment. “We had to make a picture out of those shapes,” the Clear Spring Elementary School second-grader explained. The elephant had a circle for a head, while its legs, trunk and torso were made out of rectangles. The mountains Blake drew in the background were triangular, her father, Sid, pointed out. Sid Shupp said his daughter was so excited about the elementary art exhibit, she has been telling everyone in the family about it. “I think it's awesome,” he said of the exhibit at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts.

Special to The Herald-Mail " Once I drew like Raphael, but it has taken me a whole lifetime to learn to draw like children. " - Pablo Picasso For more than 60 years, in April and May, the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts has hosted an exhibition featuring works by students in grades kindergarten through 12.  Receptions sponsored by the museum's volunteers in collaboration with art teachers, are held for the students and...

The annual Art in Bloom fundraiser at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts is blossoming into a huge success. Maureen Sasse, president of the Hagerstown Garden Club, said the purpose of the event is to not only raise money for the museum, but also to bring in people who otherwise might not be exposed to all the gallery has to offer. “It's such a good cause,” Sasse said. “This museum is a wonderful gem.” Sasse said the event features floral arrangements that were created by a few dozen garden clubs in the Tri-State region.

Art in Bloom Area garden clubs display floral arrangements interpreting pieces of art. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, City Park, Hagerstown. Free. Go to www.wcmfa.org . Home Show 2013 Home Builders Association of Washington County will present its annual home show. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Hagerstown Community College's Athletic, Recreation and Community Center, off Robinwood Drive, east of Hagerstown.

The Top Five 'Done to Death' The story alternates between imagination and reality as five mystery writers wrestle with the problem of writing a television mystery/murder series. Then real murders occur. Presented by Boonsboro High School Drama. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 21, and Friday, March 22. Boonsboro High School, 10 Campus Ave., Boonsboro. Call 301-766-8022 and ask for Michael J. Bair. Storms on the sun HMTV6 meteorologist Brittany Beggs will speak about the anticipated maximum in the 11-year sunspot cycle and how it affects weather on Earth.

The Top Five Zydeco Louisiana comes to Chambersburg, Pa., when Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas perform zydeco music Friday at Wilson College. 7:30 p.m. Wilson College's Laird Hall, 1015 Philadelphia Ave., Chambersburg, Pa. $15. For tickets, call 717-262-2003 or go to www.wilson.edu/event . Fairy tale detective story Potomac Playmakers present "Nick Tickle, Fairy Tale Detective," a story about missing fairy tale props. The show opens Friday at Women's Club in Hagerstown.  Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Feb. 15 and 22, and Saturday, Feb. 16 and 23; and 3 p.m. Sundays, Feb. 17 and 24. Women's Club, 31 S. Prospect Street, Hagerstown.