THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 8, 1996 TAG: 9607080046
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 71 lines
The heat rose from the wide, red brick sidewalks of downtown Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon as dozens of art fanciers roamed from one gallery to the next. Longtime citizens mingled with visitors from other towns who came to check out the latest offerings in Portsmouth's developing art district.
Some came to mingle and browse. Others came to buy.
Ruth Splichal perused a new show at The Potrafka Gallery, one of three art venues staging receptions this day.
The monthly arts event is called ``First Sunday in Portsmouth.''
``Portsmouth's really coming along. It is,'' said Splichal, who moved to the city in 1950. ``I have seen some wonderful changes. And now we have these terrific galleries.''
After leaving Potrafka, Splichal and her friend Filie Nordan were headed to Olde Towne Gallery on High Street, where a show of pastel drawings by Suffolk artist Debbie Hobbs was being unveiled. ``And then, if we're not too late, we're going down to Atrium, too.''
That's Art Atrium, also on High Street, which specializes in African-American art. A painter who goes by the name Dollner was exhibiting her paintings of large families.
``One show feeds the other,'' said Splichal, whose late husband, Spike Splichal, was a popular area sculptor. ``I love coming out and seeing the new things. And it's a chance to get out and see people.''
At the other end of the gallery, the Rev. Ken Bryant, pastor of West Side Christian Church of Portsmouth, stood chatting with his wife, Judy, and Earlene Lampman of Chesapeake.
The Bryants are regulars at Potrafka Gallery. ``But we're also big supporters of downtown. There is not a week that goes by that we don't take a walk downtown,'' said Ken Bryant.
The couple dines, shops, buys art, attends waterfront festivals and patronizes the Commodore movie house - all in downtown Portsmouth, he said.
``Mayor Holley was here,'' said Lampman, referring to the newly elected Portsmouth mayor, James W. Holley. ``Actually, he was the first one here today.''
Another local luminary, Portsmouth City Councilman Cameron Pitts, sat nearby on a gallery sofa, chatting with other guests.
The first ``First Sunday'' took place in the fall, before Wayne Potrafka moved his gallery from its former location in Portsmouth's Tower Mall.
Potrafka and Nate Mewhinney, co-owner of Olde Towne Gallery, simply started scheduling their art openings at the same time.
``We have found that by doing things together, it really seems to help both of us,'' Mewhinney said. ``I think that's probably true in all businesses. If they would just really get together and help each other, instead of fighting over things, communities in general would be better.''
When they bought the gallery seven years ago, ``downtown was still going down,'' he said.
But with the opening in recent years of Tidewater Community College's Olde Towne campus and the Children's Museum of Virginia, all in the same block, foot traffic has greatly increased, he said. As a result, ``I have at least doubled the volume of business,'' he said.
A few blocks away, the artist Dollner stood by her paintings in the front gallery at Art Atrium. She grew up in Portsmouth's Cavalier Manor neighborhood, and says her hometown looks better every time she comes for a visit.
``You know what? I'm loving it more and more. It has more class,'' she said.
``It's up, and rising!'' ILLUSTRATION: ``FIRST SUNDAY'' SUCCESS
CANDICE C. CUSIC
The Virginian-Pilot
The artist Dollner, here with one of her works at the Art Atrium,
grew up in Portsmouth's Cavalier Manor. She says her hometown looks
better every time she comes for a visit. by CNB