Spring Art Show

Saturday June 6th 1-8 pm and Sunday June 7th 1-7 pm

Pleasant Valley Doesn’t Disappoint…

We were not alone in wondering where spring had gone and when it would return. The day is once again chilly and it’s almost May. But the forsythia, daffodils, flowering cherries, crabapples, dogwoods and purple plums are now speaking the truth about life’s cycle. First there was a rosy hue around the boughs of the trees on the mountains and in the forests, then a green froth, then an explosion of tendrils. The weeping willow out back of the house redefines the color green and the birds are suddenly spreading the word everywhere, all at once; Pleasant Valley doesn’t disappoint. The Pleasant Valley artists have gotten the word and they will not fail to present their best work yet at their Pleasant Valley Studios Spring Art Show on Saturday and Sunday 6 and 7 June 2009.

Jonna is now test-driving a custom made replacement to her left hip. Her right hip was customized eighteen months ago and immediately her left hip was envious. It was just a matter of time. Early last year she road tested the right hip on a photo trip toAngkorWat in Cambodia and on a trip to France. In June she plans to road test the new left hip in the rugged terrain of theAmerican Southwest. She will of course have her camera in tow. She will utilize her built-in bipod as a photo platform; no need lugging a bulky tripod up the canyon rims. For the past six months, Jonna and the other Pleasant Valley artists have been test driving a new gallery space on Market Street in Frederick, MD. They will return to Pleasant Valley Studios on 6 and 7 June for their Spring Art Show for our constituents.

Toby is deluged with the planning and executing of monumental projects and organizing a string of gallery shows. The Lafayette Galley in Frederick, MD evolved from an idea to a very active venue for our artists as well as other worthy area talent that Toby has engaged for several robust group shows. His own gallery work has been receiving broad exposure and reaping accolades, as usual, and his public art opportunities have also blossomed. He has two monumental works in progress and has received an order for another Gandhi memorial, this time in a foreign location yet to be announced. In progress are four heroic sized baseball figures for a major league baseball park andATribute to Danny Thomas; a heroic sized group for St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, TN. All this and the Pleasant Valley Studios Spring Art Show on Saturday and Sunday 6 and 7 June 2009.

Tony has been busy expanding his artistic venues as have the other Pleasant Valley artists. He has a robust collection of his work at The Gifts Inn Boonsboro as well as Nora Roberts’ Inn Boonsboro. He has participated in the various three person and eight person group shows at the Lafayette Gallery in Frederick. There are plans to expand on this activity as the opportunities arise. Jonna and Tony continue to speak and lecture about their past work in the world of espionage and they have two book/movie options in the works. “Once a spy but always an artist” Tony is looking forward to returning to our flagship event here at the Pleasant Valley Studios .

Directions, Map and Phone Number

JONNA MENDEZ - Photographer

Jonna can see in her mind’s eye many of the myriad images she has captured over the years. When planning her next exhibit, she can review her holdings in this virtual manner. She has recently been scrolling through her archive with the aim toward building the display for this year’s spring show at our Pleasant Valley Studios. Last year there was no Fall Show here but Jonna was able to spend some time in Europe in the summer and has only recently begun to tap that rich body of work. Her travels took her to Paris, Vienna and the Black Forest. That collection has only had cursory exposure as has her take from the trip to the Far East where she and her guys toured Angkor Wat, the Siam Gulf and old and new haunts in Bangkok. Her French collection encompasses many years and is now in available in a bound volume “Postcard From France.” Besides her image acquisition activity in Europe and Asia, Jonna took part in a series of three man and group shows at the new Lafayette Gallery in Frederick, MD. After the Spring Show she is off to the U.S. Southwest with Tony, Jesse and her camera in tow.

To view a selection of her series click on the photo or follow this link to her online Gallery

"French Kiss"

ANTONIO TOBIAS MENDEZ - Sculptor

Toby is spreading his talents even wider than before. Among other things, he and his assistant are balancing a number of heroic-scale, commissioned projects requiring that they create, construct and deliver a total of nine larger than life figures in less than a year, on time and on budget. Four of the figures will be installed in a major league ball park and four will be part of a tribute to Danny Thomas and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis. One will be another Gandhi Memorial, this one to be installed in a foreign location, yet to be announced. Besides the creative skills, all of this requires exquisitely tight scheduling and the ability to negotiate with the dark gods, who are all a part of their oversight committees. In addition Toby has been the prime mover in the emergence of an exciting new gallery space in Frederick, MD; the Lafayette Gallery. He has organized and managed a series of seven group shows in the space and held nearly a dozen receptions; almost all of them very well attended and punctuated by sales. Not too bad given the current shape of the economy.

For a complete list of honors, public and corporate commissions, follow this link to Toby Mendez Studios.

ANTONIO JOSEPH MENDEZ - Painter

Tony will keep on painting until he can no longer lift his brushes. Lately he has been getting back into watercolors and has painted a few of his faithful clouds and flowers in a variety of media. His paintings these days are usually very small or fairly large. But as before what counts is not the size but the fact that they are windows and doors to the magic and energy of nature and the world. Many are scenes from abroad but some are the things that move us all, everyday, and we usually find them right outside our doors. When asked “which is your favorite painting?” Tony answers, “The next one!” The Pleasant Valley Studios and the Mendez family residence is loaded with the magic of their artwork and is open to our constituents and family and friends when they come to their Pleasant Valley Shows. We have been showing here for nearly twenty-five years and we look forward to many more. It is the best party around and some of the best artwork.

"Forsythia II", Oil 2009

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