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 […]
Mae West, the Depression-era starlet and sex symbol, once said, “I never loved anybody as much as I loved myself.” For most of us, the only time we’re told to put ourselves first is on airplanes, in the event that our oxygen masks deploy. The cultured world condemns those who live for themselves boldly, who […]
Confession: Without “The X-Files,” I wouldn’t be a professional writer. Way back in middle school, I thought I hated writing. At least, I hated writing dry, research-based essays for class. But every Sunday night I found inspiration in the form of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, characters whose investigations into paranormal phenomenon inspired me so […]
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 act. “For me, art […]
New Orleans blues-and-funk bandleader Adrian Duke is known around town for groove-worthy vocals and soulful love songs. Adrian’s wife, Holly Duke, grew up singing soul music, too. But for her, a Baptist-raised Alabama native, that soul came in the form of gospel—and it brought with it a faith that nearly prevented their marriage. “I met […]
For Lily Erb, art mirrors life—but only to a certain extent. The Charlottesville-born and -based artist creates large steel sculptures, most lately composed of numerous steel rods bent into gentle, repetitive curves, then spray-painted in bright, jovial colors. She calls her style “abstract organic” because the pieces don’t resemble actual organic objects. Instead she starts […]
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 installations as Indiana University School of Medicine […]
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 […]
Conflict is awesome. At least when you’re trying to tell a story. Or find one, as the case may be. “I like places where there is a lot of social tension. Where there’s conflict, there’s a story,” says Falls Church-based mixed media artist and writer Christine Stoddard. “I mean, I don’t want anyone to suffer. […]
I dream a lot. I have vivid, semi-hallucinatory dreams, the kind that feel logical and totally substantial until I’m breathing underwater or watching a tulip tree melt onto the sidewalk. I sense sun on my skin and words in my mouth, and my captivation is so complete that my conscious mind can only ping like dim […]