June 2021, pg. 26
Bowling Green Scene: The Classic Cottage Art and Antiques
May 2021, pg. 27
Bowling Green Scene: Alan Hite Photographer
April 2021, pg. 26
Bowling Green Scene: Mix House Coffee
March 2021, pg. 26
Bowling Green Scene: The Painted Horse Art Gallery
February 2021, pg.
Fredericksburg is for Lovers
Editorial, pg. 4, February 2021
School Days
Editorial, pg. 4, August 2019
Art for Park
March 2018, pg. 27
Memories of Home
Editorial - Front Porch Fredericksburg
pg. 4
I read a lot of student essays as an English teacher, especially around this time of year. One of the prompts that is a favorite for many of my students is one that asks them to write about a place they would like to travel, to describe it, and to tell why they want to visit. Students like it because it’s an accessible prompt; almost everyone has some place they’ve thought about visiting. This year, I was struck by the number of students who vividly, almost longingly, wrote about places they consider to be home rather than the usual places not yet seen.
This year, students described places like Pennsylvania, where hills and hunting mean time with grandfathers and uncles over weekends. Places like Florida, where aunties wait with cookouts and hot tubs, Cocoa Puffs and trips to the shore. Places like Louisiana where fishing is done off of piers and Granmè’s spicy turtle stew fills bellies. Places like Los Angeles, where older sisters wait with promises of studio tours and star sightings. Places like Nicaragua, where horses and fireworks take center stage; and El Salvador where mariscadas and pupusas are packed into baskets for the beach. All these places, all these people, mean home in some way to my students.
Their longing for home calls to mind my own memories rooted in pre-adolescence. When I was a child, I lived in eleven different houses before the age of twelve. My parents enjoyed buying older homes around Northern Virginia and fixing them up to flip and build equity. While I remember things that I liked about most of the houses, one in particular remains my image of home - a large farmhouse on Leesburg Pike outside of Vienna, just around the corner from Beulah Road.
The house is isolated, a former residence for Potomac Vegetable Farm next door that remains a working business to this day. The old farmhouse sits on a hill at the top of a double driveway on an acre and a half of land. When we lived there, a cement slab porch ran the length of the front facade, with four massive pillars supporting the porch’s roof. Inside was a winding staircase, a set of French doors leading into the dining room, and a sun porch. Outside was a swimming pool, a weeping willow tree, and sloping lawns, front and back.
It’s hard to explain why this house is home in my memory, since other houses we occupied were certainly closer to friends, school, and entertainment. There was a comfort there, a familiarity with and connection to the land around the house, and there was my parents reconciliation after a long separation, all of which contributed to my fondness toward it. There were holiday parties with friends still living, first kisses and first sleepovers, and there were many long summer days with nothing to do but lie on my tummy with a good book, swinging my crossed feet behind me in the afternoon warmth. Despite its isolation, that place was home.
And now, as my adult-child prepares to head off to grad school next year, it occurs to me that Fredericksburg will represent the memory of home. Memories of reading and a love of books are housed in the downtown branch of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library and upstairs among the stacks at Riverby Books. Memories of cocoa and coffee are sitting on oversized wooden chairs in Hyperion Espresso. Memories of music, mentorship, and a fond friendship remain with Brittany Frompovich and Picker’s Supply. School memories, fellowship memories, the familiar and friendly and belonging memories will be here. Fredericksburg, too, is home.
Wherever your heart, there lies home. My students’ hearts remain with their families in far-flung places, and a bit of my heart lives in the past with my young self, exploring the boundaries of a world before adulthood. For my own child Fredericksburg will be the memory of home, a fortunate memory, even as life propels us forward, ever changing.
Pamdora: A Solid Foundation
By A.E. Bayne
January 2018, pg 4
We build life piece by piece, sometimes alone and other times in congress with friends and family. We do all the right things, make all the right connections, and secure all the right pathways to success, but inevitably we will face challenges at times that destroy our well-constructed lives in one fell swoop. If we’re lucky, we find that our foundation is strong, that long buried dreams can be rekindled, and our roots are never as far away as we believe. Coming home can feel a little bit like salvation.
Perspective is Everything: Artism by Joey
By A.E. Bayne
December 2017
The sign hanging behind Joey Frye’s display at a recent local arts festival reads “ARTism” with the slogan, “Ideas Transformed into Magical Art for You and Other Awesome People.” When chatting with Frye, that same sense of wonderment glosses his words, wonder at the reception his illustrations have received over the past two years, wonder at the condition he views as a gift, and wonder at the impact his work has had on his patrons.
Human Library: Don't Judge a Book by its Cover
By A.E. Bayne
November 2017
We all know the expression saying we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Two branches of Central Rappahannock Regional Library have taken this to heart by hosting Human Library: Every Life is a Story. This past September 30th at England Run Library, and again on Saturday, November 11th at Salem Church Library, patrons may “check out” these human books, local citizens who have volunteered to share their personal experiences in an attempt to build community and to open dialogs about challenges they’ve faced and stories they’ve lived.
Fred Book Fest is Back, Bigger, and Better!
By A.E. Bayne
September 2017
Mark your calendars for Saturday, September 23, 2017 when the 2nd Annual Fredericksburg Book Festival will turn Riverfront Park on Sophia Street into a book lover’s paradise. This year’s festival has grown exponentially and features over 120 writers, book artists, publishers, and book related vendors. Partners James Noll, Chris Jones, and Amy Bayne have been working with area sponsors all year and have lined up some of the most exciting up-and-comers in the business to make this year’s festival a blast.
Organizing partner Chris Jones says he’s most looking forward to seeing people in the community engage with exhibiting authors and vendors. “Last year was an exploratory year for us. It was about vetting the idea and allowing the writing community and the general public to validate it. This year we’ve grown by just over 200% which speaks volumes to the concept of an annual book festival in Fredericksburg. I enjoyed seeing some of our authors sell out last year and hope that our festival becomes synonymous with business growth for them.”
Tasha Fuller promotes and sells her independently published books at the 1st Annual Fredericksburg Independent Book Festival in 2016.
Own a Piece of Fredericksburg History
By A.E. Bayne
September 2017
Since its inception, FoodE has been a restaurant with strong ties to local Fredericksburg. In 2016, partners Joy Crump, Beth Black and Jeremy Harrison moved FoodE into the historic National Bank Building with an eye toward preserving local history and further building community connections. When the opportunity arose to share a bit of Fredericksburg history with neighboring St. George’s Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg, FoodE’s partners were on it. (Front Porch page 14)
Downtown Designs: Casey Shaw
By A.E. Bayne
September 2017
Casey Shaw was always the kid at the back of the room drawing caricatures of his teacher. Cartooning was his passion, and he put that passion to purpose during his four years at the University of North Texas. Drawing the syndicated Benji cartoons during those years helped put him through school, and while other students were only dreaming about what they wanted to do when they graduated, Shaw was sharing his talent internationally through his work on the Benji project. (Front Porch page 5)
Rappahannock Evening, Casey Shaw
Kristen LePine's Historic Heroines
By A.E. Bayne
August 2017, pg. 11
Playwright and novelist Kristen LePine says that big projects never seem to follow a straight line. The University of Mary Washington instructor discovered this for herself as she began writing her first novel, Daughter of Sparta. She began it several years ago as a “choose your own adventure” book for a new educational publisher, but then the book took a new direction, and LePine decided to publish it herself. Read More
Anthony Silver: It's All in the Eyes
By A.E. Bayne
July 2017, pg. 7
Local artist Anthony Silver says it's all in the eyes. (Read more...)
Self portrait, by Anthony Silver
Sarah Lapp: At the Crossroads of Color and Creativity
By A.E. Bayne
April 2017, pg. 26
Local artist Sarah Lapp has been painting seriously for about seven years, making a living by creating and selling large-scale abstract works from her studio at LibertyTown Arts Workshop.
Lapp is known for her expansive works, withstandard size measuring 48” x 48”. She says, “It’s the size that works best for what I do. I find that when I work smaller I try to fit so much in that it obscures it. I also work strictly with a palette knife which doesn’t lend itself to small scale work.” (Read more...)
Sarah Lapp 2017
Helen Ramsey: Art from the Heart
By A.E. Bayne
April 2017, pg. 22
Helen Ramsey describes her show at UUFF Gallery in Chatham "as a miracle come true." Though she has been painting since the early 1990s, Ramsey says she has shown her work sparingly around town, primarily through the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts. Art from the Heart is Ramsey's first solo show and serves as a retrospective of the septuagenarian's work, highlighting her development as an artist over nearly thirty years of practice. (Read more)
April Cover Artist: Pete Morelewicz
By A.E. Bayne
April 2017, pg. 8
Pete Morelewicz is a new face on the Fredericksburg arts scene. After twenty years of working as a graphic designer in Washington, D.C., Morelewicz and his wife, Christine Henry, recently moved to Fredericksburg so that Henry could be closer to her job at UMW and so Morelewicz might pursue something he felt he couldn't in D.C., a career as an artist. His cover image represents that new direction. (Read more)