Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993 TAG: 9311220256
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV15 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
She will personalize works that customers buy at the store or that people already have.
Janet Stephens had been trying for years to secure the Moss dealership in the New River Valley area.
Stephens, who runs both Main Street Galleries in Pulaski and C&S Galleries in Dublin, was operating a crafts store the first time and was turned down because it was not an operation associated with art.
The second turndown came at C&S Galleries. The Moss people were simply not looking for another outlet at that time.
But Stephens did not give up. Instead she took them the plans for the C&S building ``and showed them what we wanted to do,'' she said.
The third time proved to be the charm.
``That just shows how selective she is as to where she puts her galleries,'' Stephens said.
Moss has visited C&S Galleries twice. She drew an estimated 1,000 people on the last day she was in Pulaski County, tying up Dublin's main street for hours.
People running the new antique and other shops that have opened in downtown Pulaski during the past year, as well as those who have been here right along, will not mind a bit if that number comes to Pulaski for the Moss visit. There is bound to be considerable spillover business for them.
Stephens said she had planned to limit the Moss dealership originally to the C&S operation in Dublin. But Moss asked to be included in the Pulaski store as well because she has friends in the town, Stephens said.
In her spare time, Moss likes to help the disabled. She grew up with dyslexia, which was not diagnosed for much of her life, and that was partly why she lost herself in her art.
Much of her painting shows scenes of the Amish people ``because she appreciates their values of love and family,'' Stephens said, as it contrasts with much of the materialism of modern life.
by CNB