On the cover of Mala Leche’s inaugural issue, the name of the zine is tiny, hardly visible. The focus is much more on the “bad milk” itself—a cut-out image of a baby bottle, emblazoned with a black skull and crossbones and resting in an equally inky puddle. It’s an eye-catching design, one intended to draw […]
On the cover of Mala Leche’s inaugural issue, the name of the zine is tiny, hardly visible. The focus is much more on the “bad milk” itself—a cut-out image of a baby bottle, emblazoned with a black skull and crossbones and resting in an equally inky puddle. It’s an eye-catching design, one intended to draw […]
Perfect plans: Ebony Walden describes her skills as a mix between creative catalyst and community builder. The urban planner, consultant, and facilitator, who has been transforming communities for over a decade, will speak on the theme of transit at the next Creative Mornings gathering. Expect Walden to challenge your brain’s muscle memory with her infectious, […]
On a Saturday morning, artist Nick Cave and his partner Bob Faust sit with a group of 25 University of Virginia students. “Who came straight from a club?” Cave jokingly asks as he surveys the group. Many are puffy-eyed and swigging coffee in an effort to wake up. “This is Charlottesville. There aren’t any clubs […]
Unless you’ve been living off the grid (or in denial) you know the story: In spring 2016, Zyahna Bryant wrote an open letter to City Council, calling for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue and the renaming of the downtown public park bearing Lee’s name. “When I think of Robert E. Lee, I […]
This week, something extraordinary will happen in Charlottesville: Four exhibitions of contemporary Aboriginal Australian art will open in four different venues across town, bringing the total number of such exhibitions currently on view to six. And a seventh will open in mid-February. Having this many concurrent shows of contemporary Indigenous Australian art in one locale […]
Escapism or activism? Should a work provide respite from pertinent problems, or is it art’s duty to provide commentary on these political and social issues? More and more, this seems to be the debate among artists and patrons. While it’s limiting to think that the two approaches are mutually exclusive, the conversation surrounding them seems […]
A little boy stares into a river while ghostly shadows move through the current. The long, lithe bodies could be lost souls or river spirits, past lives or unspoken dreams, but whatever life force they represent, they’re rushing onward away from the boy—and away from you, the passive observer. The headline reads, “What we do […]
If you’ve seen a parade of 8-foot-tall ants climbing the side of a building, a life-sized foam replica of Stonehenge, or a T-Rex lunging through the trees with a Union soldier in its mouth, then you know the work of Mark Cline. Dubbed “Virginia’s Roadside Attraction King” by Atlas Obscura, Cline has spent decades building […]
Kent Morris stands in the lobby of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection with a big grin on his face. He’s just in from a birding excursion through Charlottesville-area marshes, and swiping through photos on his phone: here’s a few of a bald eagle, and a few of its nest. Here’s one of a native bird […]
Vanessa German grew up in Los Angeles in a creative household, wearing clothes her artist mother made, writing stories, and crafting creations from the scrap materials her mom laid out on the dining room table for her and her siblings. “We were makers as a way of life,” says German, the 2018 recipient of the […]