A round-up of 2016’s C’ville scribes

There’s something about Charlottesville. Recently included in “The Ultimate 50-State Road Trip for Book Lovers,” this small city’s appeal to writers and bibliophiles can be attributed to the annual Festival of the Book, Edgar Allan Poe’s enshrined West Range room at UVA, Thomas Jefferson’s library at Monticello, the Rare Book School, the Virginia Art of […]

The power of photography in Matt Eich’s Carry Me Ohio

Ten years before they were blamed and credited with helping to elect Donald Trump the 45th president of the United States, the white working class in post-industrial southeastern Ohio was documented by Matt Eich. A 19-year-old student of photojournalism at Ohio University at the time, Eich, now a Charlottesville resident, had grown tired of what […]

Where to buy local gifts for art-lovers

Because of its resonance, giving the gift of art may be one of the most personal gestures you can make. Perhaps a painting or photograph reminds you of someone, aligning with their style, spirit or personality. Or perhaps it is a functional piece of ceramic that they can use in their daily life. We scoped […]

Artists gather their animals for Chroma exhibition

There is something about the scene of animals gathered in a manger to greet a newborn that offers a bit of relief to the anxieties of our human world. “Animals are so pure of heart,” says Chroma Projects director Deborah McLeod. “They have no political agenda. And in the manger scenes, the clusters of animals […]

Self-published and small-press authors connect for book signing event

For many artists, the act of promoting their own work can feel counterintuitive, a business that necessitates turning outward to the public after so much time spent turned inward in order to create. For this reason, local author Carolyn O’Neal says with some surprise, “I’ve become, oddly, a marketing guru.” Her firsthand experience with marketing […]

Challenge Into Change writing contest allows for healing

Just two weeks after the most divisive presidential election in American history, many people are concerned that their interests and welfare will be ignored, or worse, targeted, by the incoming administration. The Women’s Initiative, which has provided mental health services to underserved populations for almost 10 years, wants people to know that they are here […]

Big Blue Door’s Joel Jones is making it up as he goes

  Less than two weeks before their final showcase, members of Joel Jones’ Improv III class warms up by standing in a circle, eyes closed, counting to 20 as a group. Only one voice can speak at a time and if someone interrupts another, they have to start again. It’s a practice in awareness, a […]

The Bridge PAI celebrates 10 years with a retrospective show

In the beginning there were two artists, Zack Worrell and Greg Antrim Kelly. They were moved by street art, graffiti, hip-hop, punk, philanthropy and community organizing as art. Then Worrell bought a building. “It was pretty raw,” Kelly says, remembering those first days in the space now known as The Bridge. It had unpainted concrete […]

Artist Rosamond Casey explores how technology has touched our lives

The impetus for Rosamond Casey’s latest exhibition, “Tablet and Cloud: Pilgrims in Cyberspace,” was a sight that has become so familiar to us that we often overlook it: the tangle of wires beneath our desks. “The way I usually start is I get fixated on a thing, a material or a form so pervasive in […]