Central Virginia Arts invites the community to an opening reception featuring artists JoAnn Jones, Mary Frances Peca and Margaret Stombock on Friday, 6 to 8 p.m., at Riverside Café, 522 N. Main St., Farmville. Refreshments will be served.

Jones has had an interest in art all her life, exploring pottery, batik, drawing and oil painting as a young adult.

Her work took her in another direction, but upon retiring from Buckingham County Public Schools in 2011, she began taking watercolor lessons from Martha Louis. Jones takes inspiration for drawing and painting from nature.

“I love the symmetry found in butterfly wing patterns, the colors found in summer meadows and the movement in flowing waters,” she said.

In addition to art, Jones enjoys birding, nature, reading, friends, family and her three granddaughters.

Peca moved from Illinois to Farmville a little over three years ago. Her medium of choice is oil, but she has been known to dabble in acrylics.

Peca has studied at the Palette and Chisel Academy, one of the oldest working studios in the country, the School of Representational Art in Chicago and at Moraine Valley Community College. 

She has studied with Charles Vickery, a marine and landscape artist, John Stribrny, landscape artist and Beth Leahy from Illinois. Peca loves to work in oil for its rich colors and creamy texture.

Her subjects include figures, landscapes, portraits and pets. She strives to capture the mood of the person, place or animal she is painting.

Stombock, a native of Farmville, is a graduate of Longwood College. As a student teacher in 1967 she established the art department at Cumberland High School, where she taught for 32 years, retiring in 1999.

As a young child, Stombock loved to paint.

Her favorite subjects are landscapes in oil or acrylics; she loves the textures and play of light and shadow in nature. Stombock also enjoys photography.

Her flower gardens and travels through the Blue Ridge Mountains often become subjects of her paintings.

She is a member and deacon of Farmville Baptist Church, where she sings in the choir and is known as the “church artist.” 

This exhibit may be viewed Mondays through Saturdays from 6:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. through May 28.

It is made possible with the cooperation of Jean and Parker Wheeler, Riverside Café owners. Central Virginia Arts, a partner of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, is a non-profit organization offering lectures, workshops, exhibits, tours and socials throughout the year.

For more information, call Tom Dennison, president, (434) 392-6804.​