hope for understanding between East and West,” says the

hope for understanding between East and West,” says the artist, who taught Maria in the Rappahannock County school system’s gifted and talented program.

• “A Couple Goes Abroad,” a ceramic “travel temple” created by Drevas in preparation for her upcoming move to Geneva, Switzerland. With this whimsical mix of media and images of the Parthenon, the Alps and maps of Europe, Drevas affirms that art can be fun and still be art.

• Nina Moore’s mysterious paper sculpture of a head and torso combining elements of human and avian forms.

• Deborah Singleton’s abstract collages that mix strips of paper and photographs to produce a strong sense of depth and light.

• a new miniature by Rex Slack. He finds beauty and worth in the ordinary and then captures both in tiny recreations of scenes such as Birdie’s Bar & Grill or the modest living room of a coal town house next door to the railroad tracks.

• Dan Lewis’s scenes of Rappahannock, watercolor paintings of favorite county views inspired by the light at a certain time of day or the colors of a certain season.

• Joel Hoyer’s painted photographs, part of his continuing experiment in recycling and reinterpreting art which began with last year’s fine art and performing arts collaboration, First Fruits.

• a cement sculpture by Claudia McCue, who has temporarily forgone the blacksmith’s forge for this new medium.

• Lynette Nicholas’s delicate watercolor paintings of country landscapes in fall dress, the full harvest moon and a sunburst silhouette.

• fiber sculpture and sculptured baskets of honeysuckle and birchbark by Janet Kerig.

This group anniversary show is the first since Washington, D.C., curator and art reviewer David Tannous critiqued the work of Middle Street Gallery’s members this summer. His inspection was part of an effort to improve the quality of the work exhibited at the cooperative, according to Ms. Marshall. She noted that the November show — and the results of Mr. Tannous’s comments — will also be viewed by other experts on the art scene, as the directors of the Renwick Gallery, the Virginia Fine Arts Museum in Richmond, and three Washington, D.C., galleries participate in a panel discussion, “How the Art World Works," on Nov. 11 at Middle Street.

But these experts will see more than the artwork on display; they will also see the impossible little country gallery that has beaten the odds with its seven-year dedication of space for fine arts.