Sande Secret Society Mask, Kissi people, Liberia.

Currently on view: African Art – The Grahl Collection

Kay and Larry Grahl, of King and Queen County, collected these artifacts while serving in the Peace Corps in Liberia in the early 1960s and on later tours with the U.S. Department of State in Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso and Senegal, leaving West Africa for the last time in 1978. You will not want to miss it.

Coming up in FEBRUARY: MEMORYSCAPES BY MARUTA RACENIS

“…echo in the memory…,” by award-winning artist Maruta Racenis, will open on February 12. Please help us welcome Maruta Racenis, who will share her recent collection of watercolor and oil paintings of Virginia’s serene landscapes, from the Middle Peninsula and Chesapeake Bay Country to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

"Holly Point Sky", 2009, oil.

Maruta paints from memory. And gazing at her artwork you can’t help but wonder if her dream-like style and soft color palette reflects a very calming mind, as weekend jaunts to Mathews or Deltaville will do. While Maruta takes forays into the human form and still life, she says, “I always to return to the exploration of landscape. These are actual places but are translated into visual form from memory. My quest in this investigation of landscape through the painted surface is to communicate a sense of place without losing the intimacy of the experience.”

Maruta was born in Riga, Latvia, but currently resides in Richmond. Over the years her artwork has been shown across the East Coast all the way to Kansas, earning her awards such as the 2006 Watercolor USA Patron’s Purchase Award and Best in Show at the 2004 Celebration of the Arts National Juried Show. Maruta earned her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and has held numerous teaching positions from VCU and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to public schools in Virginia and New York.

The opening reception for “…echo in the memory…” will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in PAAL’s downstairs gallery and Maruta’s work will remain on display until March 6, 2010.

This event is free and open to the public.