March 29, 2025

EagleEye

A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff

Melchers Home & Studio: Free Admission Sundays in Jan.

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Be our guest! Step back in time to experience life at Belmont when American artist Gari Melchers and his wife Corinne lived here.

Free Admission Sundays in January:
Sunday, Jan. 12 10am – 4pm
Sunday, Jan. 19 10am – 4pm
Sunday, Jan. 26 10am – 4pm

Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont
224 Washington Street, Falmouth, VA 22405

Belmont is the home of late American artist Gari Melchers and his wife, Corinne. This 27-acre estate features the historic home, art studio and galleries, tours, gardens, historic buildings and several miles of walking trails.

Harris Gives Updates on University Museums on ‘Town Talk’

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University of Mary Washington Museums Executive Director Scott Harris

University of Mary Washington Museums Executive Director Scott Harris

Executive Director of University Museums Scott Harris shared updates on UMW’s Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont in Stafford and James Monroe Museum in Fredericksburg on WFVA Radio’s ‘Town Talk.’ Listen to the segment.

Picturing New Connections: Belmont Event Targets Alzheimer’s

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Let’s Go to the Fair!
Thursday, September 8, 10:30am
Gari Melchers Home & Studio

Gari Melchers Home & Studio is partnering with the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Richmond Chapter, to offer Picturing New Connections—a small, welcoming program for people with early stage memory loss, their families or care partners. These interactive tours include guided discussions in the studio and gallery space, followed by a hands-on art experience. Emphasis is placed on engaging participants through music, touch and smell. Each hour-long program features a unique theme, paintings and art project.

PLEASE REGISTER PRIOR TO THE EVENT. SEATING IS LIMITED TO 12.

Gari Melchers Home & Studio charges a $5 fee per person for participating.

Questions? Please contact GMHS Education and Communication Manager Michelle Crow-Dolby.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio Receives Restoration Award

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L-R: Steve Stokes, owner, Stokes of England Blacksmithing Company; Scott Harris, Executive Director, UMW Museums; Tim Winther, owner, Dominion Traditional Building Group (with daughter Lillian); Hunter Shackleford (UMW ’20), Lawrence King (UMW ’20), and Sam Biggers (UMW ’16), all of Dominion Traditional Building Group.

L-R: Steve Stokes, owner, Stokes of England Blacksmithing Company; Scott Harris, Executive Director, UMW Museums; Tim Winther, owner, Dominion Traditional Building Group (with daughter Lillian); Hunter Shackleford (UMW ’20), Lawrence King (UMW ’20), and Sam Biggers (UMW ’16), all of Dominion Traditional Building Group.

At its annual meeting on March 27, 2022, the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. presented the E. Boyd Graves Preservation Award to Gari Melchers Home and Studio for restoration of the ca. 1850 Horseshoe Staircase at Belmont. The museum shared the award with project Dominion Traditional Building Group of Marshall, Virginia and Stokes of England Blacksmithing Company of Keswick, Virginia. The award publicly recognizes notable preservation achievements made by groups or individuals during the previous year that contributed to the protection, understanding, appreciation, and revitalization of the Fredericksburg region’s history and historic resources. Originally known as the Preservation Achievement Award, the name was changed in 1988 to honor the late E. Boyd Graves, a founding member of HFFI, for his many years of service to local preservation and the instrumental role he played in the protection, restoration, and adaptive reuse of some of Fredericksburg’s most recognizable historic landmarks.

The Horseshoe Staircase at Gari Melchers Home and Studio.

The Horseshoe Staircase at Gari Melchers Home and Studio.

The Horseshoe Staircase is believed to date to ca. 1850, when Belmont’s owner, Joseph B. Ficklen, expanded the house. While the iron railing was likely fabricated in Philadelphia or another Pennsylvania community, initial construction of the stone steps almost certainly involved the Ficklens’ enslaved workforce. The staircase was included in the inaugural list of Virginia’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts in 2011. Nearly 30 individual and organizational donors funded the $100,000 restoration project. Stokes of England completed conservation of the iron railing in March 2021, and Dominion Traditional Building Group undertook disassembly, repair, and reinstallation of the stone staircase from August to October 2021. Completion of the stonework, delayed by the onset of winter, is anticipated in April 2022, with a public unveiling to be announced.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio to Host Spring Symposium, April 2

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The grounds at Gari Melchers Home & Studio, which are overseen by Garden Manager Jody Wilken.

The grounds at Gari Melchers Home & Studio, which are overseen by Garden Manager Jody Wilken.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio will host its Spring Symposium event, “Made for the Shade,” on April 2.

Bryce Lane will give two talks, “Heads Up: The Importance of Light in Plant Growth” and “Shade Tolerant Plants That Add Color and Texture.” The public is invited to learn how to measure light outside and how to choose plants suited to different intensities. Lane, who lives in North Carolina, hosted an award-winning TV show “In the Garden with Bryce Lane” for 11 years.

Jenny Rose Carey, senior director at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s Meadowbrook Farm, will give a talk on “Designing Glorious Shade Gardens.” Carey will share time-tested techniques to turn shady yards into cool, inviting retreats. She will sell copies of her book “Glorious Shade.”

Geoff Rinehart’s presentation, “Shade Tolerant Lawn Options,” will share the best techniques and management practices for a shady lawn, current information on lawn seed choices for shade, and “lawn-like” plants that are good choices for a shady lawn.

Doors open at 8:30 a.m., talks begin at 9 a.m., and conclude at 3:30 p.m. Tickets are $65–$75. The price includes parking, light breakfast, morning break coffee, buffet lunch and an afternoon snack.

To register and pay, go to mgacra.org/2022-symposium. The schedule and speaker information are on the registration form. Contact Laura Westermeier at Laura.Westermeier@gmail.com for more information.

Wilken Receives Southern Garden History Society Young Professional Grant

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The gardens at Gari Melchers Home & Studio, which are overseen by Garden Manager Jody Wilken.

The gardens at Gari Melchers Home & Studio, which are overseen by Garden Manager Jody Wilken.

Gari Melchers Home and Studio Garden Manager Jody Wilken is the recipient of the Southern Garden History Society Young Professional Grant and will be attending the annual meeting at Mount Vernon. The event spans 3 days and is from April 22-24. All her expenses including hotel and meals will be covered by a very generous stipend from SGHS.

Belmont to Host Home for the Holidays

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Belmont, the historic home of artist Gari Melchers and his wife, Corinne, will celebrate the season, with decorations on view through Jan. 2, 2022. In the 1920s, the Melchers took great delight in festively decorating their elegant country house during the holidays.

Although Gari Melchers divided his time between his commercial headquarters in New York City and his Virginia retreat, neighbors could always count on finding him at home during the yuletide season. He was sure to have dragged friends and family from the city to an old-fashioned Christmas feast, with fresh turkey raised at Belmont and Maryland crab soup specified by his Baltimore-born wife.

The interior decorations were arranged by Belmont Assistant Director and Curator Joanna Catron using Mrs. Melchers’ journal entries and archival materials to inspire the look and warmth of the welcoming home. This year’s exterior decorations are provided by the Sunlight Garden Club.
“Home for the Holidays” is included with museum admission. GariMelchers.org

Melchers Paintings on Loan for Florida Exhibition

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A selection of 18 paintings from the collection of Gari Melchers Home & Studio are on loan to the Lowe Art Museum in Coral Gables, Florida. The paintings are featured in the Lowe’s exhibition An American Master at Home and Abroad: Gari Melchers (1860-1932) on view from November 18, 2021- February 13, 2022. 

Jointly curated with the Lowe Museum of Art, this exhibition surveys more than a half-century of Melchers’ career with key examples of the painting styles he favored, including landscape, genre scenes and portraiture. 

Gari Melchers was exceptionally versatile in his subject matter, being associated with Dutch peasant life, portraiture, the mother and child theme, landscapes, the nude and still life, as well as mural painting. His stylistic approach was equally eclectic, assimilating many of the progressive tendencies circulating around 1900, from academic realism to naturalism, symbolism and impressionism, but always in the service of old-fashioned, time-honored themes. In this way, Melchers amalgamated the old and the new into something uniquely his own. 

www.GariMelchers.org