What would a community be without art? Without the painters, photographers, sculptors, clothing designers and others who speak about the world around them through colors, shapes, patterns and textures? Flatter, duller and more constrained, likely. More disconnected, less inspired—and certainly less beautiful.
Multiple studies have demonstrated the physical and mental health benefits of engaging in or viewing art, whether at home, in a class setting or at an exhibit. People often feel a sense of calm, comfort or even surprise if they encounter a new perspective on a scene or object that they may have seen many times with their eyes alone.
Art can be freeing, too. Kathryn Murray, one of four talented local female artists profiled here, often witnesses her students transform over the course of a painting class. Rather than feel overwhelmed at the sight of a blank piece of paper, they begin to embrace exploration. Murray calls it “having no fear of flailing.”
Murray, along with Lara Kelley, Andrea Pintér and Leslie Rennolds, are passionate about bringing individual artistic styles and visions—as well as arts education—into the lives of children and adults. And the people, landscapes and seascapes of the Northern Neck are always a source of inspiration for them.
As the 19th-century French novelist George Sand put it in a famous quote: “The artist vocation is to send light into the human heart.”
Lara Kelley holding her painting, "Tree of Life".
Lara Kelley
As a proud Northern Neck resident, Lara Kelley inevitably paints her fair share of boats, birds, crabs and water vistas. Although she loves all of those subjects, Kelley isn’t afraid to experiment—to push beyond the stereotypical expectations of a “local artist” living in a rural town by the Chesapeake Bay.
“I have eclectic taste in art, and I like to work out new ideas and techniques all the time,” she says. “I enjoy mixing unexpected textures, brush stroke styles, design elements and colors into realistic pieces to give myself and the viewer tiny surprises when viewed close up, while looking realistic from a distance.”
Kelley, 54, signs her art with her maiden name, Lara Brady, and sells original and commissioned pieces through her Lara Brady Art pages on Facebook, Instagram and Etsy. She also gets frequent word-of-mouth referrals.
An accomplished acrylic and oil painter and digital and mixed media artist, Kelley has co-owned Rappahannock Hang-Ups Frame Shop and Gallery in Kilmarnock since January 2024. She displays her work at the Hang-Ups Gallery and regularly enters Rappahannock Art League (RAL) shows; in July, her “Plumeria Near a Stucco Wall” won the Small Works show.
“Plumeria Near a Stucco Wall” by Lara Kelley.
Kelley also took first place in the 2024 Bay Transit Art in Transit contest with “Job Satisfaction,” an image of a joyful dog frolicking in water that now appears on the side of a Bay Transit bus.
While Kelley paints mainly on canvas or paper, she has placed her designs on tote bags, tumblers, denim jackets and quilts. She also creates mandala coloring pages for adults, with intricate, symmetrical designs that can help users relieve stress and increase focus.
The Irvington resident goes well beyond typical Bay subjects in her brightly colored paintings. Two fun recent examples: a closeup of Capt. Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and a rendering of Boba Fett, a character from the Star Wars franchise.
Living in a small community has helped Kelley connect naturally with repeat and potential new customers. “It’s so easy to know a lot of people, as opposed to living near a lot of people but not knowing any of them,” she explains. “Social media and the internet help make the world smaller when it’s necessary, but they don’t beat real interactions.”
“Job Satisfaction” by Lara Kelley.
Growing up in Northumberland County, Kelley gravitated toward art as a preschooler.
When her parents read books to her, she was more interested in the illustrations than the stories. Her mother also let her paint the walls in her room.
“Most children would get in trouble for that,” Kelley notes. “My closet walls were a beautiful mural of fairies and flowers.”
Kelley later embraced coloring books, paint-by-number projects and tracing artwork from books; crafting was her favorite activity at Girl Scout camps and Bible School. By age 7, she was taking oil painting classes with the late Miriam Haynie, a well-known Reedville artist.
“Sea Turtles Kissing” by Lara Kelley.
In high school, Kelley opted out of most other electives so she could double her number of art classes. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in communication arts, with an emphasis in graphic design, at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Art hasn’t always taken center stage in Kelley’s life, however. She worked for about 12 years at Commonwealth Senior Living in Kilmarnock, first as sales and marketing director and then for four years as executive director. “I loved the seniors but didn’t have time to paint,” she relates.
"Bokeh Bouquet" by Lara Kelley.
And painting is what brings Kelley the most joy, aside from time with her three adult children and five grandchildren who live nearby: “I have so much gratitude for the experience that it brings me to tears sometimes. That sounds corny, but it’s true.”
Working at her Kilmarnock gallery, surrounded by artwork and creatively inclined shoppers, is Kelley’s favorite job yet. As her own painting has picked up during the past two years, she also has been able to enter more juried shows.
Highlights include a March best-in-show blue ribbon for “Bokeh Bouquet” in a RAL exhibition and a 2022 Memorial Award for Most Creative Use of Color at RAL’s Labor Day Art Show for “Bright Day at the Beach,” a multihued painting of a sunbather. “The unapologetic unnatural primary colors were justified by the contrast of the naturalistic skin tones,” judges commented.
"Bright Day at the Beach" by Lara Kelley.
Kelley is excited about her future as a painter: “I feel so blessed to be able to express myself without words and to know that my art—and other people’s art—can move the viewer.”
Lara Kelley | linktr.ee/larabradyart
Kathryn Murray.
Kathryn Murray
Kathryn Murray has come to understand that she needs photography in her life, while she simply loves and wants to paint. Snapping pictures of flower arrangements and the often-misty landscapes and seascapes of the Northern Neck is a way to slow her naturally racing mind. And watching colors spontaneously run and settle on her tissue paper paintings, which frequently provide the background for her floral photos, offers a delightful release of energy.
“It almost feels like I’m dancing with color,” she explains. “With my pictures, it’s as if I can touch the fog with my fingertips. I’m a type-A New Yorker, but I also have this urge to just stop and breathe and express the softness of the world.”
Murray, 69, has been an avid photographer for more than 25 years, when she traded rolls and rolls (and rolls) of film for a digital camera. She has been an abstract painter for about nine years, mostly self-taught, and favors tissue paper that she applies to canvas or board.
Both pursuits have brought Murray happiness in good times and bad, including recent years of painful end-of-life caregiving for her second husband and her parents.
Murray's tissue paper paintings often provide the backgrounds for her floral photos.
A Warsaw resident, Murray currently has works on display on her website and at the Colonial Beach Artists Alliance (CBAA) and Sophia Street Studios in Fredericksburg. She also teaches painting at Sophia Street Studios and CBAA, where she was featured artist in September.
Originally from Long Island, New York, Murray and her sister Bonnie, a professional artist in St. Louis, both loved art as children. An academically driven student, Kathryn majored in history of art at Bryn Mawr College and spent 10 years in advertising and other design pursuits in New York.
In Manhattan, Murray worked at an advertising firm with upscale accounts such as Tiffany & Co., Napier Jewelry and The New Yorker, followed by a job at Knoll International, a high-end furniture design and sales company. She also frequented art galleries throughout the city, which exposed her to a wide range of styles.
In 1989 Murray moved to the Northern Neck with her now-late first husband, a sculptor searching for a new studio location. She built a successful career in real estate that she continues on a friends-only basis at Tiffany Properties.
“Peeler Pot to Infinity” by Kathryn Murray.
Quickly captivated by the rich beauty and history of her new home, Murray spent “ridiculous amounts of money” on film processing until her second husband gave her a digital camera. “Suddenly, I could take dozens of shots of the same tree or sunset, just from a slightly different angle or with tiny light changes,” she recalls. “I was in heaven.”
Murray discovered abstract painting after taking a collage class from Rose Nygaard, a well-known Gloucester artist. Drawn to tissue paper as a medium, Murray initially was afraid to utilize freeform and painted numerous six-inch squares to provide structure.
Gradually, Murray realized that her art turned out best when she didn’t think. Sometimes, she crumples and uncrumples her paper before starting, so paint flow is less predictable. Only later might she add planned patches of tissue paper color to tie everything together.
"Life Above the Waves" by Kathryn Murray.
“It’s really been a fun evolution for me,” she relates. “When I teach, my classes are all about painting outside the box and not feeling any fear.”
Tissue paper painting also appeals to Murray as the child of frugal parents: she only needs plastic bags, packs of white tissue paper from the dollar store and acrylic paints. The paper hardens to a plastic-like material as the paint dries, making it easy to apply to a final surface.
Creating has long been therapeutic for Murray. She has 800-plus paintings from a three-year period when her second husband was fighting COPD; he died in 2019. In 2020, she kept painting through the loss of her father in January and her mother in December.
Drawn to tissue paper as a medium, Murray sometimes crumples and uncrumples the paper before starting, so that paint flow is less predictable.
“My only goal was to forget everything for a little while,” she recalls.
Last year, Murray remodeled half of her garage into an expanded studio at her home, which she shares with her rescue corgi, Willow. “Art is my joy,” she notes. “It’s a discussion with myself and, I hope, something that brings other people moments of peace.”
Kathryn Murray | kathrynmurrayarts.com
Andrea Pintér.
Andrea Pintér
One of Andrea Pintér’s first art projects was a complete makeover for her inexpensive Russian version of an American Barbie doll, which came with one fairly drab outfit and joints that didn’t bend.
In her family’s tiny apartment in Budapest, Hungary, a 6-year-old Pintér spent hours sewing bright-colored dresses and crocheting stylish sweaters and skirts for the doll. She also took empty matchboxes that her parents used to light their kitchen stove and transformed them into painted beds, tables, dressers and other accessories for a “Barbie House.”
“I’ve always loved making things as beautiful as possible,” says Pintér, now a designer of high-quality leather handbags. “My mother was very artistic and taught me how to do good, careful, precise handcrafting at a young age. I was stitching hems by age 4.”
Pintér, an Urbanna resident for 20 years, left a budding career in the
European fashion industry when she emigrated to the United States in 2000. She followed her future husband, a chef, drummer and handyman in search of more career opportunities, first to North Carolina and then to Virginia.
Pinter makes it clear, “Quality is what I care about most.”
A graduate of the University of Art and Design in Hungary, Pintér had apprenticed under master artisans of leather and fashion in several countries. She is currently building an online retail presence for her handcrafted bags, which she has made for 25-plus years, as well as planning design and dressmaking classes for the community.
Pintér describes her bags as “strong, feminine, timeless, sophisticated and comfortable to carry.” She sews them on an antique, heavy-duty Singer machine, incorporating stitched, braided, woven or painted elements for each.
Changing her collection seasonally, Pintér always uses real leather—she tried vegan leather once but thought it was less durable and attractive—and high-end metal buckles and hooks in her shoulder bags, convertible crossbody and belt bags, handbags, sling bags and coin purses.
Each bag takes two to four days to make, depending on its size; if she is designing a new pattern, that adds another three to four days.
“If something is well-made, you can have it for many years—for forever, really,” she notes. “Quality is what I care about most.” As she states on her website: “Fashion, for me, is a wearable, practical, stylish sculpture in various colors.”
Each bag takes Pintér two to four days to make, depending on its size; if she is designing a new pattern, that adds another three or four days.
Pintér has placed bags in stores such as Pearl Boutique in Kilmarnock, GlassBoat in Richmond and French Twist Boutique in Williamsburg and Virginia Beach. She also has led classes on creating textile and sewing patterns and making clothing, usually renting space in Richmond.
Another top priority for Pintér is to plan workshops that teach technical and design skills to struggling individuals such as refugees and women in domestic violence shelters. One day, she’d like to provide them with job opportunities, too.
To promote that effort and grow her own sales, Pintér is taking online business classes and networking with area business owners and nonprofits. “My biggest passion is helping others, especially people who have overcome a lot,” she says.
Pintér describes her bags as “strong, feminine, timeless, sophisticated and comfortable to carry.”
Art has been a saving grace for Pintér, who endured a lengthy period of depression as she adjusted to life in the U.S. Naturally a city person, she found herself in mostly rural communities, where forming connections with people in the fashion industry was difficult.
And while Pintér had taken classes in British English in school, she didn’t understand the many differing expressions and slang words of American English. She deeply missed her friends and family in Hungary—especially her father, who passed away last year, her mother and her older brother, who lives with his two children in a suburban home built by their dad.
“I’ve always loved making things as beautiful as possible,” says Pintér.
For years, Pintér largely focused on raising her two sons, now 15 and 22. Once her younger boy started at Saluda High School, however, she realized that she had to think more optimistically about her own future.
“I had been so sad and so homesick for a long time, because I had given up so much,” she relates. “I needed to find myself again.”
Now that she has done so, Pintér is eager to expand her product line, customer base and community service efforts in a place she has grown to love: “I am happy. I am very excited about what may come in my life here.”
Pintér is currently building an online retail presence for her handcrafted bags, which she has made for 25-plus years, as well as planning design and dressmaking classes for the community.
Andrea Pintér | andreapinter.com
Leslie Rennolds.
Leslie Rennolds
Leslie Rennolds is an artist who takes great delight in never sticking to one type of piece.
Among her colorful, whimsical creations are stained-glass oyster and conch shells, needle-felted wreaths, animal paintings, adult coloring books, patterned headbands and small felt Christmas trees with vintage thread bobbins as trunks.
“I always have to do something new,” Rennolds says. “I like to experiment with mixed media and develop unique, eclectic, sometimes-a-little-crazy looks. If I can create what I want and people buy it because they love it, that’s what makes me happy.”
Rennolds, 63, owns Rockland Fine Crafts, named after the 18th-century home that has been in her husband Ben Rennolds’ family since its construction. She mainly showcases her art online and at the Tappahannock Art Gallery (TAG), with occasional art shows and shop placements.
Rennolds never sticks to one type of piece. “Art should be fun,” she says. “To me, quirky is a very good thing.” | Corey Miller Photo
Hand-crafted hair clips featuring stained glass, illustrations, beads and oyster shells and “Bloom”, a glass and bead mosaic on an oyster shell by Leslie Rennolds. | Corey Miller Photo
“I tried Etsy for a bit, but I didn’t really like it,” she notes. “I like dealing with people directly and telling them my stories. People form connections to art through personal stories and experiences.”
A Tappahannock resident since 1993, Rennolds began drawing in pencil and water- color as a young child in Warrenton, Virginia. She saved her earliest sketchbooks, which are filled with her first favorite subject: horses.
As a teenager, Rennolds began to appreciate beautiful decorative art in houses and the museums that her parents liked to visit, especially pottery and tile designs. While she majored in English at the College of William & Mary, she earned one of her two A’s in a fine arts class (the other was in French).
After working in development at the nonprofit Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, now known as Preservation Virginia, Rennolds spent most of her career in advertising; she taught herself graphic design and computer software skills.
Art, however, was what Rennolds truly wanted to pursue. Once she had raised her daughter and two stepsons, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a perfect final push: not only did Rennolds lose her job due to company downsizing, but she was stuck at home with loads of free time.
“I took myself off hold, and I really kicked my art into high gear,” she relates. “I’m an introvert, so I didn’t mind working alone. I just went for it.”
Among Rennolds’ first pieces were vibrant felted wreaths adorned with animals, birds, fruits and flowers. “It’s kind of like sculpting with wool,” she explains. “My biggest passion is color, and I also like multidimensional pieces.”
In her foray into shell art, Rennolds has decorated surfaces with mosaics of stained-glass shapes that perfectly capture sunlight on windowsills. Her oyster shells, sometimes as large as her hand, might have a freshwater pearl and beads in the mix.
Creating art leaves Rennolds relaxed and content, an experience she hopes to share with buyers of her intricate coloring books. She also takes a lighthearted approach to her work, as evidenced by her recent pink-spotted “swag leopard” and distorted “zonky zebra” paintings.
“Art should be fun,” she says. “To me, quirky is a very good thing.”
Painting actually is a newer activity for Rennolds, who admits to feeling intimidated by the pursuit for years. She has taken online classes through Domestika, an international community of creatives, to learn techniques and styles from different instructors.
Felted Flamingo on wood base decorated with felt, beads, shells and watercolor ink followed by a framed felted-mouse by Leslie Rennolds. “It’s kind of like sculpting with wool,” she explains. | Corey Miller Photo
In addition, Rennolds has recently embraced plein-air painting, or painting outdoors, a growing national movement and a favorite among TAG regulars. “I’ve sold two paintings, which was shocking because I have a LONG way to go as a painter,” she laughs.
An animal lover, Rennolds also draws a lot of dogs and cats, as well as watercolor portraits of her six “stinkin’ cute” grandkids. Her fabric designs are for sale on Spoonflower, an online print-on-demand company in North Carolina, and she has a new collection of patterned tiles and murals at the Tiles Projects, a Kilmarnock store, which she hopes to expand.
Still, staying fairly small-scale, local and flexible is a priority for Rennolds.
“I like giving my art as gifts,” she says. “I’ll consider commissions, but they’re more challenging than you’d think. And I don’t love hauling stuff to shows. I like having a following and having my repeat customers who I can get to know. That’s what’s most rewarding to me.”
Satin headbands hand-painted with fluid acrylic paint by Leslie Rennolds. | Corey Miller Photo
Leslie Rennolds | rocklandfinecrafts.com