In the News
|
Memory Makers: Classic Virginia Weddings
Virginia Living
Great Lectures
on Great Lives
Free Lance-Star
January 14
Stephanie Plunkett (below in white), Norman Rockwell Museum Curator, speaks to Belmont guests prior to her Great Lives lecture on Rockwell.
|
| Belmont Reaccredited |
Gari Melchers Home and Studio has again achieved accreditation by the American Association of Museums, the highest national recognition afforded to nation's museums. The museum was initially accredited in 1985 and re-accredited in 1998. Of the nation's estimated 17,500 museums, 775 are currently accredited. Gari Melchers Home and Studio is one of only nine art museums accredited in Virginia.
|
At Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont, see the richly furnished country house and working studio of American Impressionist painter Gari Melchers (1860-1932) as they appeared in the 1920s. Explore the colorful formal gardens and wooded
hiking trails of the artist's 27-acre retreat. Enjoy special
exhibitions of the art of Melchers and his contemporaries. |
|
|
February Operating Schedule
After the very successful Norman Rockwell show, paintings needed to be packed, the Studio Gallery needed to be freshly painted, and Melchers paintings needed to be hung. To accomplish that, and to reduce operating costs during the slowest visitor month of the year, the museum will be closed to the public for the month of February.
The Stafford County Visitor Center and Museum Shop will be open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. to provide general information and to serve interested shoppers.
Museum Offices will be open normal hours Monday through Friday.
The entire museum will re-open to the public on Monday, March 1. |
Museum Shop
|
|
Huge Sale
We are clearing out the Museum Shop for spring! Take advantage of spectacular savings on framed prints and much more.
Get a sneak peek at some of the deals we're offering.
|
Upcoming Exhibitions
|
|
Spotlight Exhibition
 On March 1, Melchers' Madonna of the Rappahannock,
loaned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, will be the feature of
a "spotlight" exhibition in the studio.
Annual spotlight exhibitions from outside collections have become a tradition at Gari Melchers Home and Studio, giving local patrons a rare opportunity to view significant examples from Melchers' body of work. Madonna of the Rappahannock, painted in 1923, was chosen because of its ties to the Fredericksburg area. The models are Eva Fritter and her infant ward, neighbors of the artist, who pose before the banks of the Rappahannock River. The painting will be on display through Memorial Day.
Dutch Utopia
 If you are planning to travel North anytime during the next few months, arrange to visit "Dutch Utopia: American Artists in Holland, 1880-1914" which will be on display at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, from February 5 through May 2.
The lavishly illustrated exhibition catalog (pictured at right) is available in the Museum Gift Shop.
|
On the Road
|
|
Melchers Painting Loaned
 On May 1, after several years of
construction, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will reopen and include
Melchers' Mother and Child with Orange, loaned by Gari Melchers Home and
Studio. The painting will be featured in the "Expatriate Artists" section of
the new American installation where it will be displayed for approximately one
year.
The theme of motherhood
was a lifelong preoccupation of Melchers. While headquartered in Holland in the
first half of his career, he favored Dutch peasants as models for their
wholesome old world charm. Mother and Child with Orange, dating
to around 1897, is one of the finest examples.
Our Museum Gift Shop offers this beloved painting as a postcard, print, and pin.
|
| Art Classes |
|
Upcoming Art Classes  Drawing and the Art of SeeingSunday, February 21, 1-4 p.m.
Rachel Sawan White, Art and Design Faculty, Orchard House School
Audience: middle school through adultLearn how to draw things as they are and not how you think they ought to be. Participants work through a series of exercises in contours, negative space, composition, sighting, perspective, and texture while learning how to more closely align hand and eye. Different drawing materials, techniques, and methods will be investigated. This workshop works well for beginners while offering technical enrichment for the more experienced draftsman.  This program has been organized by the VMFA Office of Statewide Partnerships and is funded, in part, by the Jean Stafford Camp Memorial Fund. Cost: $20 members; $25 non-members. To register, please call Education Coordinator Michelle Dolby at 540/654-1851. Spring Break Classes and Camps
 Preschool Sculpture Studio
Monday, April 5, 10-11:30 a.m.
Audience: 4, 5, and 6 year olds
Instructor: Susan Butler-Walters
It is no surprise that Gari Melchers
became an artist. His father, Julius Melchers, was a renowned sculptor.
Bring out the sculptor in your
child. Preschoolers will learn many aspects of sculpture by viewing
examples from Belmont's collection. They will visit the grounds and studio
while discovering the artist Julius Melchers. Students will create three-dimensional works of art and explore many sculpting techniques using clay and Styrofoam.
This hands-on class will offer your preschooler insight into the world of
sculpture.
Cost: $20 members; $25 non-members. To register, call Education Coordinator
Michelle Dolby at 540/654-1851.
 Creative Collage
Monday, April 5, 1-3 p.m.
Audience: 2nd through 8th graders
Instructor: Susan Butler-Walters
Inspired by Earth Day on April 22, the
art of collage is the ultimate recycling project. Students will study many
aspects of collage by exploring examples from artists like Picasso and Matisse.
They will learn about geometric and organic shapes,
positive and negative space, and other elements of art. They will compose collages using recycled paper and
unique materials from many creative sources. This hands-on class will inspire
students to see creative possibilities in everyday materials.
Cost: $20 members; $25 non-members. To register, call Education Coordinator
Michelle Dolby at 540/654-1851.
Spring Break Art Camp Tuesday, April 6 - Thursday, April 8, 9:30 a.m. - 12 noon
Audience: 3rd through 12th
graders
Instructor: M.J. Bradley
Our popular
Spring Break Art Camp this year will focus on two major projects: one students will take home and a second they
will share with the community.
 The first
project is a mixed-media creation based on George Hitchcock's luminous Dutch
work White Plough Horse in a Field of Hyacinths - newly conserved and on
display for the first time.
 A group grid
enlargement mural project will challenge students to work as a team as they
re-create Gari Melchers' colorful The Race, County Fair. The finished large-scale mural will be showcased
in the Pavilion during the free Spring Open House on Sunday, April 11.
Cost: $80 members; $95 non-members. To register, call Education Coordinator
Michelle Dolby at 540/654-1851.
| |
|
|
|
A member of the 