Dear Friends,

When my family and I moved to North Carolina nearly four years ago, we took some time to explore the Piedmont Triad outside the city limits of Winston-Salem while becoming acquainted with our new home. We meandered down winding back roads to picturesque towns, taking in the scenery along the way. Seeing the images made by our spring artist William Christenberry and the stories he tells through his photographs reminds me of those first visits to the rural parts of my new state. So vividly and poignantly does Christenberry record the passage of time in a Southern setting that it is easy to see reflections of our own rural surroundings in his work. I understand why renowned North Carolina novelist Reynolds Price has described Christenberry as eloquent and truthful and brilliantly witty.

The history of the places Christenberry documents and his abiding respect for the human presence there are at the very heart of his project. I trust that you, too, will discover personal or emotional connections to the work in this exhibition and in the exceptional series of programs planned around it. We welcome you to the Museum this spring to hear from William Christenberry at an artist's lecture; to see the premiere of a staged reading of a play based on James Agee's book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men; and to hear a performance of original music composed by Kenneth Frazelle, sung by Laurelyn Dossett, which will debut here at Reynolda before reaching the national stage at the Kennedy Center in May 2010.

It is a season filled with new opportunities to find meaning in Reynolda, and there has never been a better time to strengthen your connection to the Museum. I look forward to sharing these experiences with you this spring.

Sincerely,