THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, July 19, 1995               TAG: 9507190416
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   57 lines

GREAT PARTIES ARE WORKS OF ART, AS THIS ONE SURELY WILL BE

Maybe it's because women hold most of the key offices that the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts has a flair, a verve all its own.

You feel it when you enter the huge European-style atrium filled with sunlight and trees under the broad sky-roof.

There's a bustling, free-wheeling air as women hurry about. You expect to hear Helen Reddy belting: ``I am woman! I can do anything!''

You see it in smiling receptionist Jan Jennings, and you catch it in the dynamic leadership of President Helen Snow and curator Jan Riley.

And it is in offbeat exhibitions, like the one that explored art in tattooing. You sense it, too, in the resourceful, supportive board (made up mostly of men).

And enjoy it in 18 fun-filled parties of summer put on by a host of hosts and sponsored by firms and restaurants of Hampton Roads.

(They even draw fun-hungry Richmonders from the Holy City.)

The zest was in the smile of Michelene Gary when she arrived Tuesday at The Pilot bearing facts and wearing a flower-bedecked straw hat, looking as if she had emerged from a field of white daisies on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

(Her near-grin faded and panic touched the blue eyes when she was urged to be photographed, hat and all, for art's sake.)

Gary coordinated three years ago the first season of parties with ``A Taste for Art,'' public relations director Josey Mooney said Tuesday.

These budget-cutting times are tough for nonprofit groups, Mooney said, so the center resorted to the parties to raise an annual total of $60,000.

Friday night's party No. 10 at the Fort Story Officers Club has the theme of ``Summer of '45,'' celebrating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Many in the 52-member host committee will be dressed in USO canteen chic and ``summer whites.'' Guests may dress in costume or for comfort. On display will be military and civilian artifacts arranged by Fielding Tyler, director of the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia Beach.

Friday's ``victory mess'' features at $40 per person summer salads, chicken dishes, mixed vegetables, and pies and cakes.

For dancing on the patio from 8 p.m. to midnight there will be rhythm and blues from the big band R&B All-Stars, co-directed by Mike Goldberg and vocalist Debbie Nardy. Sandy Veal also sings.

Kim Wadsworth is project coordinator this season. For information, call 425-0000.

``There's autonomy for the parties,'' Gary said. ``Each is created by its hosts, but they all draw together the arts and the community.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

PAUL AIKEN/Staff

Michelene Gary

by CNB