The Count Down Has Begun!!!! TEN! (Soon to be followed by NINE!)

No, not that count down! The 40/40 count down and what we’ve all been waiting for: The Explosion!!! What? Not sure what we’re talking about? Why the opening of the new Taubman Museum of Art and the City of Roanoke’s Second Annual Arts Festival Nov 8 - 9!

Say - Did you get the Roanoke Times today and special guide to the new Taubman Museum of Art? Better hurry!!!)

In the mean time, check out Larry Day, Ironic Realist (pictured above) at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum - Hollins University through Nov. 8th. www.hollins.edu

GET OUT OF TOWN 40/40 followers!!!

Take a drive (yeah - gas prices are way down!), take in the fall colors and take a friend to a great 40/40 happening.

The Little Gallery at Smith Mountain Lake (Fall colors reflecting in the Lake?! Just imagine!) is featuring painters Connie Winters, Robin Rowe & Lois Virginia Babb www.thelittlegallerysml.com (Robin Rowe featured above)

From The Little Gallery at Smith Mountain Lake - head over to The Bower Center for the Arts www.bedfordartacademy.org, view the work of Bedford artists and tour the Wharton Gardens. Stroll along brick pathways, test your skill in the boxwood maze or simply take a seat in the grant gazebo and enjoy the splendor of fall in Bedford!

Don’t stop there! Great 40/40 activites in Bedford include a visit to Art on Depot (walkable from the Bower Center for the Arts!) where you can view Shelley Koopmann’s “Awake on the Lake” Art Exhibition and grab a snack in their cozy coffee house and cafe.

Start the car, rev your engines and head out for a 40/40 weekend!

White Liquor - Blue Ridge Style - is part of 40/40! Join the History Museum of Western Virginia (located in Center in the Square) as they present an exhibit showcasing the real nature of illegal distilling in the southern Virginia mountains.

White Liquor is an ongoing exhibit - Oct. 24 through Nov. 9. 10-5:00

Adults: $3, Seniors and Children: $2

Call 342-5770 or visit www.history-museum.org for more information.

40 Faces in 40 Minutes! You bet! Katherine Devine - our amazingly talented local artist - helped with one of our kick-off events and painted 40 young faces in 40 minutes. (Some in less than a minute!)

Thanks Katherine and thanks to our participants. You were part of history in the making!

Face painting will never be the same again!

Fashion, Folklife Festival, Frightening Halloween Haunts and Fine Interior Designs this week! As part of 40 Days + 40 Nights!

Ebony Fashion Show - Oct 23 Jefferson Center
Blue Ridge Folklife Festival - Oct 25 - Ferrem College
Zoo Boo - Oct 25 - Mill Mountain Zoo
Salem Museum Ghost Walk - Oct 25
Halloween Kidsfest - Oct 26 - Jacksonville Center - Floyd
Celebrating Art in Interior Design - Oct 22 - Stedman House Interior Designers

ROANOKE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Opening Night
Monday, October, 13, 2008 - 8:00 p.m.
Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre
DAVID WILEY Music Director & Conductor

Zuill Bailey cello
Beethoven - Symphony No. 3, E-flat Major, “Heroic”
Dvorak - Cello Concerto, B minor, Op. 104

http://www.rso.com/

Check out the latest event added to the 40+40 Festival Calendar!

MILL MOUNTAIN THEATRE
BENEFIT HIP HOP CONCERT STARRING EL PREZIDINO
NOVEMBER 7
8:00 opening act
8:45 El Prezidino
Tickets: $5

DC Hip Hop Superman brings his high energy program to the Mill Mountain Main Stage for 4040fest. He has been referred to as the best unsigned Hip Hop artist in America and has performed with Toby Mac and has been named as one of the artists to watch by Urb magazine.

The former college and professional football player is a groundbreaking artist in the hip hop genre. His complex rhymes are overwhelmingly positive, and contain no profanity or violent lyrics. Many of his lyrics feature spiritual themes you can bounce to. Several local guest artists will also be featured and Prezidino promises a big event for a little bit of money to benefit Mill Mountain. A live video will be filmed at the performance.

Dino’s message is overwhelmingly positive and appropriate for all ages, however, beer and wine will be available at intermission . No drinks or food in the theatre. Great show, great venue, great price… and after the show, head over to No Shame Theatre!

www.prezidino.com

Larry Day: Ironic Realist
Main Gallery
October 7, 2008 – January 10, 2009
Opening reception: Tuesday, October 7, 2008, 6:00 p.m.
Eleanor D. Wilson Museum - Hollins University

One of the pioneers in the postmodern genres in his blending of classical and new realism in painting, Larry Day (1921-1998) was a professor of painting, drawing, and theory at the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts) in Pennsylvania. He was also senior critic at University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Fine Arts. His work has been the focus of numerous exhibitions nationally and abroad and his works are in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., among others. In 2004, a selection of Day’s drawings and paintings were added to the Wilson Museum’s permanent collection through the generosity of his widow Ruth Fine. This exhibition, showcasing the entire gift, is curated by Hollins University Professor of Art Bill White, in consultation with Meredith Ward Fine Art, New York.

Roanoke Area Artists Featured on Brand New Web Site!

Go here for more information: http://roanokeartists.com

This new web site features local artists, contact information and images of their work.

Local artists include: Ross Arkel, Judy Bates, Pat Carr, Katherine Devine, Jennifer Fowler, Gail Geer, Marie Levine, Megan Stump, Jamie Nervo, Anne Pfeiffer, John Wierchioch, Janet Wimmer and others.

It’s still growing so please visit! Questions? Contact: Anne Pfeiffer
annepfeiffer@verizon.net