Culture

Reach for the sky

Skyscrapers, in our modern imagination, are glitzy glass needles. It wasn’t always that way. The nation’s first towers were ornate and detailed. Intrinsically American, the designs embodied the qualities we like to associate with our national image: We’re can-do, bold, strong, technologically advanced, and audacious. The Fralin Museum’s new show, “Skyscraper Gothic,” explores the history […]

Sarah Sargent | September 29, 2021

Culture

Fresh eyes

When Haitian American art collector and curator Jeanremi Verella first encountered the Sen Soley art collective during a residency in Port-Au-Prince, he knew he had to bring the artists to America. But he quickly learned that strict visa quotas made this nearly impossible. So he brought their artwork instead. Sen Soley is a Haitian art […]

Sarah Sargent | August 18, 2021

Culture

Following curiosity

Feeling stressed? Suffering from pandemic anxiety? Need a staycation?  “Breathe with Me” offers a special respite. Inspired by dadirri, the Aboriginal practice of deep listening, “Breathe With Me,” an installation at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, invites visitors to slow down, attune to nature, and connect with the salubrious qualities […]

Sarah Sargent | July 28, 2021

Arts Culture

The deep end

“You can’t paint swimming pools without thinking about class and thinking about race,” says Sharon Shapiro. Pools figure largely in “Social Fabric,” Shapiro’s show at Second Street Gallery. Originally drawn to swimming pools for aesthetic reasons and because “they’re fun to paint,” Shapiro began to dig deeper into their history. “We didn’t really talk about […]

Sarah Sargent | June 23, 2021

Culture

Seeing Charlottesville

Most days, Charlottesville artist Edward Thomas could be found with his folding easel, set up on a sidewalk, by the river, or at a construction site, engaged in capturing “what the world looks like from where I stand,” he’d say. Thomas died May 8, 2021, at the age of 49. “Edward had an extremely good […]

Sarah Sargent | May 26, 2021

Arts Culture

The resilience will not be televised: Three artists dig into the psyche for Chroma’s winter solstice show

Chroma Projects Director Deborah McLeod has been keeping a unique holiday tradition for the past several years. “Every year at Christmastime, I showcase Aggie Zed’s oddly enchanting work,” says McLeod. “I think of it as a modern version of the sort of folkloric forms and superstitious practices surrounding not just Christmas, but Krampus, Samhain, and […]

Sarah Sargent | December 9, 2020

Arts Culture

Kites bring attention to locally detained migrant children’s plight

In Latin America, kites are serious business, flown, depending on region, on Easter and the Day of the Dead. They’re also widely used for sport. With his “Papalotes en Resistencia” (Kites in Resistance), Federico Cuatlacuatl, an assistant professor of new media in UVA’s art department, uses the culture, heritage, and traditions of that region as […]

Sarah Sargent | November 4, 2020

Arts Culture

Act locally: Area photographers’ exhibit focuses on systemic racism

This spring, just as people were grappling with the new normal of living in a pandemic, George Floyd’s homicide threw a Molotov cocktail of anger, frustration, and heartbreak onto an already stressful situation. After Rodney and Eric, Trayvon and Sandra, Breonna and Elijah, and countless other African American lives were taken by aggressive policing, Floyd’s killing […]

Sarah Sargent | November 4, 2020