Eyes all aglow: James Yates curates holiday magic at PVCC
Arts | Elizabeth	Derby	| COMMENTS
James Yates is on a quest to bring magic back during the holidays. "When I was a kid, we used to drive around the town looking at Christmas lights. I remember how awesome that was: me being in the back of the station wagon, drinking hot chocolate, looking out the windows," the artist says. "Several […]
Art on demand: Rally 'round at Second Street Gallery
Arts | Sarah	Lawson	| COMMENTS
"It's a fascinating place. It's in my neighborhood, within walking distance from my house, but I had no idea it was there," says filmmaker Jason Robinson, describing Moore's Creek Wastewater Treatment plant. This type of facility probably doesn't top most people's list of neighborhood places to explore, but the allure was quick to present itself […]
December First Fridays Guide
Arts | Piedmont Council	for the Arts	| COMMENTS
Sculptor and painter Aggie Zed sees all of the beauty and strangeness in her imaginative ceramic and copper works as alive. Her complex elephant creations often feature elements of low-tech industry like wheeled carts that intricately express the physicality of the pachyderms. Zed names wings, particularly "clumsy, comic, metal wings," as a part of her […]
Glad tidings: The annual Gift Forest pop-up finds a new home
By Sarah	Lawson	| COMMENTS
When Sarah Carr started the annual Gift Forest pop-up holiday shop in 2010, it took place at The Bridge PAI. "I called the shop Great Gifts through 2012 and changed the name to Gift Forest in 2013," says Carr. "I had a much stronger vision for things in 2013. That's when I started to feel […]
The light fantastic: Clay Witt layers a world of myth and metaphor
By Elizabeth	Derby	| COMMENTS
Gilded beams of light break through dark clouds as an octopus wraps its tentacles around the curved tusks of two woolly mammoths. A flaming mandrill pushes his finger into the black earth and ignites a pool of gold. A small herd of ancient bulls gathers in darkness around a burning bush. An [...]
November First Fridays Guide
By Piedmont Council	for the Arts	| COMMENTS
In her non-traditional photography, local artist Cary Oliva manipulates instant film (namely Polaroid) formats to create phantom-like images with textural imperfections and light flares, reminiscent of watercolors. Oliva enjoys working with early art forms and returns to the motif of age often: [...]
Utmost caliber: Jack Graves III reflects on the art world with 'Icons'
For Jack Graves III, art is a family affair. "My dad started an art gallery in 1978 in Jacksonville, Florida, with a $600 loan from his dad. By the time we moved up [to Gordonsville] in 1992, he had the largest art gallery in northern Florida," Graves says. "Before I was old enough to go […]
Staying open: Second Street Gallery finds new direction in Warren Craghead
When Warren Craghead fills his car at the gas station, he might pause to pull out a pad of Post-its, sketch a quick figure and leave the small square of art affixed to the pump. For the Charlottesville-based visual artist, inspiration and guerrilla exhibitions aren't the only purpose of such an [...]
October First Fridays Guide
Local visual artist Allie Kelly has a keen eye for capturing beauty in the world around her. She appreciates observing natural splendor and producing its likeness with equal vigor, expressing a joy in "watching light as it changes" and seeing "lines that curve and carve." Experience the [...]
On (not over) the hill: The McGuffey Art Center looks back at 40
With its stalwart presence atop the hill at the northwest end of downtown, there's no doubt that the McGuffey Art Center is a defining part of the local arts community. Its sturdy brick exterior commands respect while its large sash windows hint at the building's original use as a school. Built [...]
Connecting the pieces: Haitian handicrafts meet high fashion at Mi Ossa
"There's plenty of artisanal food in Charlottesville, so we were just trying to find out what was missing," jokes Shannon Worrell. Together with Nora Brookfield, Worrell is co-founder of Mi Ossa, a design lab and fashion line that's located in Charlottesville's Tenth Street Warehouse. Their [...]
September First Fridays Guide
En plein air, a French expression meaning open air, is used to describe the act of painting outdoors. Artist Meg West prefers the form, the environmental immersion and challenge that comes with it. Living in Virginia, she says she benefits from being able to "breathe, see and experience the [...]
A new leaf: UVA law library takes a bookish approach to art
As the school year gets underway, a group of artists from the McGuffey Art Center is hitting the books. Or rather, they're cutting, sewing, painting and otherwise transforming books as part of a new exhibition at UVA's Arthur J. Morris Law Library. Titled "Discarded," the show draws its name [...]
Return on beauty: Hamid Karimi's artistic stamina pays off
Hospitals aren't exactly known as hubs of creative engagement. Yet the trend of visual art in hospitals is on the rise thanks to studies that show scientific links between patients, art and lowered stress levels. While Charlottesville may have yet to see the type of full-fledged contemporary [...]
Art on parade: New City Arts makes a move and opens a second gallery
Last weekend marked the annual ritual of the UVA undergraduates move-in, when students and parents haul semester survival gear from SUVs to dorm rooms. This year, the weekend also celebrated a move of a different kind—one with less heavy lifting but far more gusto. On Saturday, New City Arts [...]
Between two worlds: Amazonian painter Victor Captain's vibrant translation of folklore
It took Victor Captain more than 12 months, a brand new birth certificate and his first flight on an airplane to bring his artwork to Charlottesville. "When I got to New York, my nose was like stuff, stuff, stuff. There was no clean air to breathe," says Captain. He says it with a smile and [...]
Movable type: Virginia Arts of the Book Center makes a shift
If you only know one thing about the Virginia Arts of the Book Center, it's probably that its tagline is "Beneath The Art Box." This hints at the rich history of underground presses but also provides a literal reminder to help geolocate the community printmaking studio in its off-the-radar [...]
August First Fridays Guide
Much of Charlottesville resident Stephen Kern's new exhibition at SCS gallery, titled "Where Light Comes From," is derived from the young artist's submission portfolio that gained him entry to VCU Arts for the upcoming fall semester. The works are imaginative scenarios illustrative of curious [...]
Art unattended: Chroma explores mediums in 'A Language Must Be Found'
I'm one of those people who cleans compulsively. I snap into straighten up mode when I feel overwhelmed by the number of notebooks on the sideboard, of unattended flip-flops by the door, of projects on my inexhaustible to-do list. In my world, order reigns as a reflex—a knee-jerk to save me [...]
Guest work: McGuffey's celebrates its emerging artists program
What if there was a farm league for artists? This is one of the central questions raised by a new program for emerging artists at the McGuffey Art Center. In the past, the only way for an artist to join the art cooperative was to participate in a juried application process for associate or [...]
Shifting the difference: Aboriginal artist Tony Albert breaks through silence in 'Brothers'
Ever notice how many artists call attention to negative space? The white of the canvas unobscured by paint. The breath on all sides of a published poem, each word a drop in the frame of the page. What goes unsaid. What goes unseen. The elevation of objects flying under the radar to the [...]
Natural resources: Casting Shenandoah National Park in a starring role
As the newest artist-in-residence at Shenandoah National Park, documentary filmmaker Stace Carter sums up his outdoorsy side in one word: "Meh." A former Boy Scout, Eagle Scout and decades-long Albemarle resident, Carter says he has "a great appreciation for comfort," and his interest in this [...]
ARTS Pick: LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph
Between the friendly insects peering over the Downtown Mall, photography exhibits throughout town and talks with celebrated, prolific photographers, there are plenty of opportunities to make the most of the annual LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph. But one of the festival's most unique [...]