Today wasn't especially sunny at lunch. But I still managed to hustle out and sketch something nearby before it rained. My subject: a newly-opened downtown art studio and gallery, Main Lee Art.

Main Lee Art now occupies a great bungalow-style house beside Cabo Fish Taco on Main Street in downtown Blacksburg. If you're local, you may recognize it as a one-time bird-focused specialty petshop, a t-shirt/merchandise reseller, or any number of other well-intentioned enterprises.

Unlike a handful of the galleries in our community (and most of the former tenants of this building), Main Lee Art is a non-profit and has a multi-dimensional mission. The group's charter is to showcase the art of member artists, co-mingle artists in a studio setting, and teach art. What's especially exciting for me is the idea that a nonprofit arts organization can thrive in the New River Valley and collectively bring artists together in a single community-style facility. Too awesome!

So here's a tip of the sketch hat to Main Lee. Give their website a visit and certainly pop in for a visit next time you're downtown. See it on Google Maps Street View, too.

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