Fuzz

art Fuzzy art, it turns out, is something of a relief. This show’s title, says curator Patrick Costello, refers vaguely (fuzzily?) to the soft texture of the fabric that’s one of the collection’s favorite materials, and to its “warm and fuzzy” emotional slant. Though the Bridge, like most gallery spaces, tends toward the architecturally hard […]

Graduation

cd The album cover of the new Kanye West record, Graduation, is a purple, animated monstrosity. On the front, a letter jacket-clad bear is catapulted into the stratosphere from among a sea of cartoon animals tossing graduation caps. Bear necessity: Kanye West streamlines his sound on his third record, the cohesive Graduation, and proves that […]

Kluge’s estate project gets 4-star press

Forget the $6 million man. Try the $6 million “cottage.” Vintner-socialite Patricia Kluge completed one such 6,000-square-foot structure on her Blenheim Road property last month and the luxury subdivision it heralds, Vineyard Estates, promises bionic proportions of its own. Start with the marketing (which, right now, is the bulk of what’s under consideration, given that […]

Umbau breaks mold to fight sprawl

On the front page of the website for Umbau, a 2-year-old architecture school in Staunton, “we fight sprawl” is the most concrete statement of a shared goal, though certainly not the most high-minded. “At Umbau you will set the paradigms,” the site proclaims. “Total departure. Radical…What the world needs.” And: “Build Puccini.” The manifesto-worthy rhetoric […]

Third Street Blues

Something getting in the way lately as you scramble from the Downtown Mall to get to Market Street Wineshop before it closes? No, not the UVA students—we’re talking about the block-of-a-fence that Third Street NE has become. You may be wondering what’s going on there, since, to the untrained eye, it doesn’t look like much […]

Seven projects alter face of Crozet

When the county parks director busts out an obscure reference to an old country saying about the “dog in the sunshine,” you can bet it’s not your average public meeting. More than 100 people from the sometimes-ornery Crozet community came out to Western Albemarle High School on September 20 to review seven different projects that […]

They see you, but can you see them?

As Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo stood in front of City Council once again to make his case for installing surveillance cameras on and around the Downtown Mall, Councilor Julian Taliaferro said, “Chief Longo, I only have one question. Do you think this will make a difference?” Longo looked up at the former fire department […]

Calls prompt reduction in park hours

One block north of the Downtown Mall, directly adjacent to Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, lies Lee Park. It’s the block of public green space surrounding a bronze sculpture of the Confederate general, and for years, the people have been permitted to mosey around the equestrian war statue until 11pm. Now, after a slew of disturbance calls […]

Police won’t classify MHS incident a shooting

On Friday, September 14, just hours before classes at Monticello High School let out for the week, Albemarle County Police responded to a call from a resident of Stone Creek Apartments, which abuts MHS, about a possible shooting. An object had broken a first-floor apartment window, nearly missing a man who was in the apartment […]

Former teacher pleads guilty to sex offences

A former social studies teacher at Western Albemarle High School has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of coercion and enticement of a minor. The teacher, Richard Neal Willetts, was arrested in March for charges stemming from a series of graphic sexual e-mails written to a male student who was only 15 at the time. […]