P. Buckley Moss e-newsletter

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Dear Friends:

I'm very sad to say that we lost a good friend this past weekend. Diane Chiles was one of our Barn Show volunteers and helped out at every show for years. We lost her way too early, and she will be missed very much. I won't be able to attend her funeral, but Moss Museum Director Corrado Gabellieri will go for us. My thoughts and prayers are with Diane's family.

My show with the Finn Gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida, was great. Gallery owner Tim Finn and I did a fundraising weekend for Casey's Place Animal Sanctuary, Inc., the horse and animal rescue farm in Brooksville, Florida. It was wonderful to see so many caring and compassionate people come out and support Casey's Place. Finn Gallery's neighboring restaurants also supported the weekend fundraiser by supplying the show with wonderful hors d'oeuvres. Richard Schaal, a famous actor and writer, even attended our show! He is a remarkable, intelligent man, with great memories and stories and so interesting to be with.

What a wonderful turn-out we had for Finn Gallery's show and the fundraiser for Casey's Place Animal Sanctuary! L. to R.: Rick Chaboudy, Executive Director of the Suncoast Animal League; Debra McPherson, Executive Director of Casey's Place Animal Sanctuary, Inc.; actor and writer Richard Schaal; me; Elaine Donnelley; and Tim Finn, owner of the Finn Gallery.

Tim has rearranged the gallery beautifully and added a television and a couch to make it even more lovely and welcoming. If you're in the area, please drop by.

After the show Sunday evening, I hosted a meeting of the Moss Pelicans Chapter of the P. Buckley Moss Society. We celebrated St. Patrick's Day a little early and had a corned beef and cabbage dinner. It was so good! I have to indulge my father's Irish half of me and have corned beef and cabbage this time of year. Afterall, my name was supposed to have been "Patrick." I would have been named after my grandmother's cousin Patrick O'Mally, who was a past owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

During our meeting, we decided to raise money to send another Pinellas County teacher to the P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children's Education's Annual Creative Mind Conference for teachers later this year.

Members of the Moss Pelicans Chapter, special guests, and I celebrated St. Patrick's Day a little early with a corned beef and cabbage dinner Sunday evening. What a wonderful surprise it was when Hannes and Marj Meyers dropped by! Hannes is a former member of the Society's Board of Directors.

It has been awhile since I featured one of the Society's chapters, and this week I'm delighted to tell you about Pat's Happy Hoosiers, which is based in Columbia City, Indiana, and covers all of northeast Indiana. The chapter was formed in the summer of 1989 by a group of my collectors to learn more about my art and to be active as a group in charitable endeavors. It is currently the only active chapter in Indiana.

Patís Happy Hoosiers-this picture was taken a couple years ago when I was in Columbia City for a show with Columbia House Galleries. I'm in the back row, center.

Pat's Happy Hoosiers is dedicated to area charities in conjunction with the Society's philanthropic endeavors. Some of the charities that have benefited from the Chapter's fundraising efforts include the Whitley County Humane Shelter, Crossroads Children's Home, the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, The Boys and Girls Club, Luckey Hospital Medical Museum, Whitley County YMCA, Red Cedar Camp, and The American Cancer Society. The Chapter has raised over $16,000 to benefit these and other local charity groups, mostly by organizing raffles of my prints that have been donated by the Society from its Charity Print Collection. The Chapter is quick to give thanks for donations of framing for the prints to Columbia House Galleries, their local authorized Moss dealer. Pat's Happy Hoosiers is currently holding a raffle to benefit the Columbia City Band Boosters. For more information on the raffle, please contact Kathi Roman at 260-244-7305 or bigmeow@mchsi.com.

Pat's Happy Hoosiers is inviting anyone from the area who is interested to join their chapter. They meet at the Peabody Library in Columbia City on the first Wednesday of even-numbered months at 6:30 p.m. Their year culminates with a delicious potluck dinner meeting in December. If you are interested in learning more about Pat's Happy Hoosiers or in joining them, please contact Wanda Wickensheimer at 260-745-3995 or blacksnake54@hotmail.com.

I'm very much looking forward to my show this weekend with The Framery in Marietta, Georgia. I have so many friends in the Atlanta area, many of whom are members of the Mossaphile Chapter of the Society, and it will be fun to spend some time with them again. Gallery owners Barry and Pam Watson and I will debut my newest scene of The Wren's Nest, which is the house in Atlanta where Joel Chandler Harris created the character of Uncle Remus as a narrator for his version of "Br'er Rabbit" stories. Harris lived in the Queen Anne Victorian from 1881 to 1908 and penned many of the "Br'er Rabbit" tales on the front porch.

Wren's Nest Visitor will be released as both a giclée on paper and a giclée on canvas during my show with The Framery March 20-21. For more information, please contact the gallery at 770-977-8667.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Love,
Pat

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