For UVA Jefferson Fellow, literature Ph.D. candidate and classics scholar Stephanie Bernhard, the path to her true calling began in a garden. “I did a lot environmental writing when I was in college [at Brown],” Bernhard says, “and before starting my first job I took a summer to [work with] WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on […]
Ah, the new year. That time when thoughts turn to starry-eyed dreams, impossibly slim waistlines and the vague notion that if we could just pull away our bad habits like Clark Kent’s suit jacket, we’d find Super(wo)man underneath. After two years interviewing local artists (and 31 years living as one), I can officially say that […]
A few years ago, Nia Kitchin went to an art exhibit at Charlottesville High School. She couldn’t help but notice the quality of work by a few non-CHS students, artists who were under the tutelage of her soccer coach, Marcelle VanYahres. “The work that I saw for the first time, I think, was a really large […]
Though he comes from a long line of ranchers, Matt Kleberg was always that doodle-y kid who wanted to be an artist. That’s right: His genetic fate cast him as an honest-to-God cowboy, and he took up painting instead. “My family is all from south, south Texas, like a cattle ranch in south Texas,” Kleberg […]
From the minute the show starts, the story is on. At the back of the theater, a live band shimmers the percussive score. Up front, near the rafters, a doo-wop group sings in perfect 1940s harmony, sounds and silhouettes spotlighted on their perch. The room feels like a vintage nightclub, an oldies radio station come […]
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 […]
When Victory Hall Opera, Charlottesville’s newest opera company, raises the curtain on its first show, it will also unveil a world premiere inside the industry itself. “We are developing a process that doesn’t exist yet—anywhere,” says Miriam Gordon- Stewart, artistic director, soprano and one of the company’s three co-founders. “We’re interested to hear what the […]
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 aura of myth […]
When you woke up this morning, you probably pressed, fluffed, tucked or splashed water on a work of art—one you wear every day, whether you know it or not. “I became a hairstylist in 1991 because I wanted to be an artist, but not a starving artist. Color became my painting, and cutting became my […]
Charlottesville is like the Bermuda Triangle for writers: You come here, get sucked in and never leave. You can’t help it, really; the literary community is huge. The arts are vibrant. The opportunities for engagement immense. But in a town so bookish that you can’t throw a rock without hitting a writer, it’s still a […]