Tech Museum Named for P. Buckley Moss

P. Buckley Moss Museum in Blacksburg.

I'm not sure what naming the $100 million arts building at Virginia Tech has to do with what will be featrued inside, but naming it after P. Buckley Moss is an interesting move by VP-ONE. Even if she has promised $10 million to the project.

Moss, who is enormously popular and a major Tech supporter, is not often considered to be a great artist. Moss is a New York native who suffered dyslexia as a kid, but excelled in art. She sold out her first show and in 1989 opened her popular museum in Waynesboro, featuring her Shenandoah Valley art.

P. Buckley Moss

Her art is often thought of as "folk art," but she says, in an interview with Charlottesville's The Hook, "It's not folk art. It is a realistic form of stylized impressions. It starts with an abstract concept, and I make it more understandable."

Whatever it is, it sells extremely well, whether original or print and you can find it in kitchens and dining rooms all over the Southeast.

Here's the Tech press release:

Virginia Tech has named its $100 million arts center building in tribute to artist and philanthropist Patricia Buckley Moss, whose recent donation in support of the center is one of the largest gifts the university ever has received.

“The Moss Arts Center is a spectacular testament to how important the arts are to any university that values comprehensive excellence,” Virginia Tech President Charles W. Steger said Oct. 23, nine days before the center was to host its first performance.

"Speaking in the center’s third-floor lobby, Steger said the university Board of Visitors’ recent decision to name the center in Moss’ honor was particularly fitting, due not only to her generosity toward the project, but to her prominence in the arts and her longtime advocacy for incorporating the arts into education.

"Moss, who signs her paintings P. Buckley Moss, has works represented in more than 200 galleries, has won numerous awards, and is the namesake of a foundation that works with teachers to promote using the arts in teaching.

“'The arts can change people’s hearts, change their minds, and change their lives,' Moss said. 'I was lucky enough to find them at a young age, and they opened up so many learning avenues and professional opportunities for me. That is why I am so excited about the impact this wonderful facility will make on thousands of people, young and old, across this entire region of our state.'

"Moss committed $10 million toward construction of the arts center at Virginia Tech. That gift and others have been critical to funding the project.

"Designed by the award-winning architectural firm Snøhetta, the 147,000-square-foot center is located near the corner of the Alumni Mall and North Main Street."