ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512180004
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEMBROKE
SOURCE: ELISSA MILENKY STAFF WRITER
A white wooden house is enveloped in a blanket of undisturbed snow, surrounded by a shed and two trees that have been stripped bare for the winter.
When Joy Huffman saw this image on a canvas painted by Giles County artist Robert Tuckwiller, words formed in her head. "The gift of Christmas is a birth announcement sealed in the silent beauty of winter," she wrote on a small piece of paper, which she taped inside a blank card with the picture's reproduction on the front.
Huffman then gathered her courage and gave the card to Tuckwiller, who had become her friend through the years.
"He looked at his painting, and he looked at the verse," recalled Huffman, who lives in Pembroke. "He sat there a long, long time."
What Tuckwiller saw in those long, agonizing minutes was a match, and for the last year he and Huffman have been creating Christmas cards together. The cards, available in 12-card packs for $15, are being sold at Tuckwiller's seasonal gallery in University Mall, Copy Corner, Williams Insurance in Pembroke and the Newport Emporium Village.
Until Huffman approached him, Tuckwiller had only been selling blank cards with reproductions of his prints on the outside. He never seemed to like the well-worn phrases he would find in other people's cards. But his opinion changed when he saw Huffman's first verse for his stark winter scene, "Silent Night."
"She actually was inspired by the picture," said Tuckwiller, who has been a full-time artist for 14 years. "Her writing seemed to fit it very well.
Huffman, a retired nurse, met Tuckwiller several years ago when she brought guests from the Mountain Lake resort to see the artist's gallery in his home near Newport. The Pembroke resident had discovered a gift for writing about 25 years ago, in mid-life, and began writing poetry.
Her work has been published in The Roanoke Times and other local publications, but she never tried to sell her words until her collaboration with Tuckwiller. Now, Huffman has become the consummate businesswoman, carrying a pile of the Christmas cards wherever she goes.
In the year she has been working with Tuckwiller, the two have produced three cards. The newest addition to the collection is a print called "Mr. Snowman," which depicts a red-scarfed snow man in front of a house surrounded by mountains. Inside Huffman wrote, "A wintery world is the snowman's watch. And a nice Christmas for each of us."
Tuckwiller and Huffman sold approximately 600 cards last year, printed by Southern Press in Blacksburg. They hope to increase that number this year, especially after adding the snowman. When Huffman was asked about the future of this venture, she anxiously replied that she was "willing to take this as far as it will go."
"After we get the hang of this, it might be more," she said.
Tuckwiller said the Christmas cards have helped pick up business this time of year. He will even frame the cards at his seasonal shop at University Mall.
"They've just opened up a new market for me," Tuckwiller said.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Artist Robert Tuckwiller and writerby CNBJoy Huffman have created Christmas cards, available in 12-card packs
for $15. They are available at Tuckwiller's seasonal gallery in
University Mall, Copy Corner, Williams Insurance in Pembroke and the
Newport Emporium Village. color.