Smith House Galleries features Patricia Hobbs in February

Arts Council of the Valley announces its February exhibition, Impressions: Monotypes by Patricia Hobbs, Feb 1-22 at Smith House Galleries, 311 South Main Street, Harrisonburg.

The opening reception is scheduled during First Fridays Downtown, Feb 1 from 5-8 pm. Reception sponsors are Louise & Alden Hostetter. ACV’s Lead Sponsors are Union Bank & Trust (for First Fridays Downtown) and Kathy Moran Wealth Group (for Smith House Galleries Art Series).

In addition, Hobbs will discuss her work during ACV’s Feb 14 Cupid Crawl kickoff cocktail reception at the Smith House. Tickets ($50 per person/$90 per couple) for this 5-9 pm Valentine’s Day walking downtown art tour are available at valleyarts.org or 540/801.8779.

“The monotype process straddles an evocative region between painting and printmaking,” Hobbs explained, “connecting the two while incorporating an unpredictable quality that is intrinsic to the completed print.”

“Interpreting images as monotypes forces me to relinquish control and embrace chance,” she added. “An image is painted on a plate, but in the action of running plate and dampened paper through a press, it is reversed and subject to the vagaries of ink, water, paper and pressure. Each monotype is unique, even in a series that is based on the same source and built on the same composition.”

Hobbs is a painter/printmaker who is also Associate Director of the University Collections of Art & History at Washington and Lee University. She has exhibited regionally in both solo and group exhibitions and has received multiple awards, including several first and second place awards at the Annual Bath County Art Show.

Her work was selected for exhibition in the US State Department’s ART in Embassies Program at the US Embassy in Hamilton, Bermuda, and can be found in both public and private collections, including the Augusta Medical Cancer Center in Fishersville, VA, and Carillion/Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington.

Hobbs earned a B.A. in Art at Mary Baldwin College and M.A. in Art History at the University of Virginia. A founding board member of the Beverley Street Studio School in Staunton, she has also studied at the Studio School with Rick Weaver, Bill White, Ron Boehmer, Dymph de Wild and others. As a museum professional, she has curated numerous exhibitions at both museums and art galleries, and has taught classes at both Mary Baldwin College and Washington and Lee University.

Smith House Galleries are open Monday-Friday, 9 am to 5 pm, and Saturdays (Feb 2, 9, 16) from 10 am to 2 pm.