Attending: Sharon A, Mary B, Byron C, Grace C, Betsy & Bill D, Joyce D, Elaine F, Tom G, Marion H, Brenda K, Eric M, Susan S, John ? - WOW ... 14 people! Anyone I missed?

I will say up front that if you are a fan of the White Mountain School, this exhibit it a MUST SEE. It far exceeded my expectations and Roger, our personal guide (and one of those responsible for this exhibit - and other White Mountain Art exhibits), made the exhibit truly come to life with stories about the locations, the artists, and elements in the paintings that even we artists would likely have missed ("insider" keyword: butterfly net). Roger explained that in putting together the exhibit they tried hard to locate and acquire paintings by some of the most competent but lesser known artists of the time ... there are a few Champneys and Hills, but no Bierstadts or Coles - and wonderful, wonderful paintings by NY Academy artists whose name are not (but should be) household words. The exhibit is arranged so that you travel the White Mountains in sequence - coming in from Maine and up past Chocorua through the Conways, north to Gorham and Shelbourne, then down through Franconia Notch on the west side and back to North Conway. There's even an antique "artist's portable studio" (aka pochade box) in a display case (see photos here). A book of the exhibit is available for sale in the museum store, but the paperback edition is complimentary in your membership packet if you become a museum member (several of us became members today!). If you were thinking about visiting this exhibit but couldn't join our group today - yes, you want to go! You may also want to view the virtual exhibit at http://www.nhhistory.org/cv/ and also visit http://www.whitemountainart.com , another well organized project on which, I believe, Roger was a collaborator.

After our guided tour of the exhibit, we had another guided tour of a different type - Byron took us on a walking tour on Main Street to show us some of the historical restorations that he and his co-workers have been doing in the downtown area. It seemed that 1/2 the people we passed on the street actually knew Byron by name! We had a bit of a close call and an adventure - we had barely gotten out of the elevator on the 3rd floor at the old Phenix Theater when we heard banging and a female (or child's) voice calling "Someone please help me!". The power had gone out - but not just in the building ... it seemed it was the entire city of Concord! We had to make our way down the stairs at the back of the building - thank goodness Elaine and I had small flashlights to help light the way!

After Byron's architectural restoration tour we headed back to our cars - and had to wait to get out of the museum parking lot (no power to the gate arm!) and several of us headed over to Kimball Jenkins Institute for the exhibit there which features paintings by Byron and Peter Granucci, and a few others.

For more information about the workshop and registration instructions, contact Sharon