October 15, 2019 —Kendal’s public spaces are filled with
artwork. Some items have been donated to
Kendal, while others are on indefinite loan
from residents. In addition, we have two
venues dedicated to temporary exhibitions —
one for work by Kendal residents, another
for work by professional artists — and both
galleries have scheduled new shows that
will hang from August until November.
The residents’ art gallery, located in the
corridor south of the dining area, is managed
by residents Victoria Shelar and Trix
Rumford, with help from Gene Shelar,
Nancy Epley, and Jack Geikler. The current
exhibition includes paintings and drawings
in various media, photographs, jewelry,
needlework, and other fabric arts.
A special section honors the memory of the late Joe
Wilson, a Kendal resident from the autumn
of 2012 until his death this past May. Joe’s
beautiful landscapes are done in oil or
watercolor, with two etchings among the ten
works on display. Some of his subjects are
familiar Rockbridge County scenes, while
others record travels. Joe’s last painting, an
oil entitled “Shenandoah from Parkway,” is
included.
The art gallery inside The Restaurant,
also located south of the dining area, is
managed by residents Nancy Epley and
Sally Holland. The two get in touch with
artists whose work they like and ask if they
would be willing to lend paintings for display
on the restaurant walls. A price list, with information
for contacting the artists, can be
found on the glass shelf to the left as one
enters. Sales transactions are arranged
between the prospective buyer and the
artist, without involving Kendal.
Paintings by Robert Stuart, a Staunton
artist who has exhibited extensively during
the past thirty years, will be on view in the
restaurant gallery from August until November.
These works differ from the landscape
and still life paintings usually shown in this
venue, in that they are much more abstract
— “a distillation of light, color, and surface,”
as Stuart says on his web page. Stuart’s
venture into abstraction followed a trip to
Japan in 1996, when he saw a famous Zen
temple in Kyoto with a raked gravel rock
garden. Soon afterward, he writes, “I had a
rare, clear dream (in color) of a large abstract
painting. It was so vivid and convincing
that I immediately set out to do the
work.” Stuart holds an MFA from James
Madison University and a BFA from Boston
University.
Originally published in the August 2015 Residents’ Newsletter
Thumbnail Art By Joe Wilson- Warm Springs Mountain Looking East, 2009, Oil