Sarah has lived in Charlottesville since 2002 - long enough to consider herself a local. In addition to graduating from UVa and co-founding The Bridge Film Series, she has worn a variety of hats including book designer, documentary film curator, animal caretaker, and popcorn maker. The opinions here are completely her own and unassociated with her work at Piedmont Council for the Arts (PCA). Sarah's interests include public art, experimental films, travel, and design.
Light House Studio Executive Director Deanna Gould leads the filmmaking organization as it prepares to grow into a new home at Vinegar Hill Theatre. Photo: Amy Jackson
The popcorn machine remains silent and the box office window is still tightly closed, but signs of life are returning to Vinegar Hill Theatre this summer. After the arthouse cinema and adjacent restaurant closed in 2013, the building remained vacant for almost two years. In that time, someone stole the chalkboard by the front door; the kitchen garden behind the former restaurant went to seed. Then, local nonprofit Light House Studio announced in May that it was buying the space in order to expand its youth filmmaking classes.
Since then, the building has sprung back to life, with filmmaking mentors, students and parents bringing new energy and activity. This summer is a test run for the new space, with approximately seven classes meeting there as the nonprofit prepares to begin construction this autumn. “Our first priority is teaching filmmaking, and within that of course we’re using the theatre for teaching and film critique classes,” said Light House Studio Executive Director Deanna Gould. And so the theatre itself has remained intact, but the restaurant has become an open teaching area where students can circle around a mentor or break off into small groups for brainstorming. Dining tables have stayed in place for now, but serve as editing stations in the studio’s new incarnation.
Over the next year, the building will undergo a transformation worthy of any movie makeover montage. The renovations will dramatically increase the amount of room dedicated to teaching studios, student workspace, editing stations, administrative offices, and common areas for students. Gould hopes that the new location will also allow Light House to expand the ways the organization engages with the public. This includes the possibility of increased rough cut screenings for local filmmakers as well as partnerships with other local organizations that are relevant to our community.
“We genuinely need more space, but being able to serve the community at the same time and do something positive is such a bonus,” says Gould. “Vinegar Hill has been so unique for people over the years.”
Light House Studio mentor Reid Hildebrand got involved with the organization in 2008—not as a mentor, but a student. He has remained a dedicated presence in the organization since then, learning the ins and outs of filmmaking and production, eventually becoming a mentor. “Vinegar Hill Theatre is a very special place,” he says. “It was always about bringing film to the people, films that otherwise would be difficult to see. I believe that Light House carries on that mission in a different light, through education and an introduction to the medium for kids.”
Much like Hildebrand’s transformational experience, Keaton Monger began interning with the nonprofit in 2008 as a second-year student at UVA. He recalls, “Despite my endless drive to produce content, I lacked the confidence to commit to filmmaking before beginning my work at Light House. It really was mentoring these sessions that gave me the confidence to pursue [collaborative filmmaking] as a career.” He now works as a professional film editor in New York but continues to return to Charlottesville nearly every summer as a Light House mentor.
The roster of past Light House Studio students is full of stories like Hildebrand’s and Monger’s. Each workshop trains students in skills of self-expression and exposes them to collaborative teamwork. While filming, students forge friendships between takes and work with mentors to nudge each other outside of their creative comfort zones. The electrifying effect of this on students—almost 300 of them this summer alone—is impossible to ignore as they buzz around the new teaching and screening spaces at Vinegar Hill Theatre.
And what kinds of reactions have the students had to the new space so far? “As far as I can tell, they love it,” says Hildebrand. “There’s still so much work to be done in the theatre, but there is just such a realness to watching your work on a big screen. If they didn’t believe in [their work] before, they certainly believe in it after—especially when you have a full house laughing and clapping along. Really, it enhances everything that Light House does, and I think the kids are really responding to that.”
And don’t worry, the box office and popcorn machine won’t be going anywhere. “There are certain things you just can’t do away with, you know,” says Gould.
Public screenings of Light House Studio student work will be held on select Fridays at Vinegar Hill Theatre through August. Go to lighthousestudio.org for dates and times of these screenings.
Tell us about a mentor in the local arts community in the comments.
Wilco’s former keyboard tech, Travis Thatcher, got off the road to work for UVA’s Virginia Center for Computer Music. Frequencies, his new electronic dance night, kicks off at Main Street Annex on Thursday. Photo: Martyn Kyle
Travis Thatcher wants you to dance. Not to Top 40, dubstep, salsa or hip-hop. Not to bluegrass or trance or even swing. He wants you to dance to electronic music. And as an electronic musician performing as the Voice of Saturn for the past 10 years, Thatcher has the chops—and the synthesizers—to get you moving.
While studying computer science at Georgia Tech, Thatcher got involved with the university’s then-new computer music program for his master’s degree. After finishing school, he recalls, “I did some teaching, built hardwood floors, had programming jobs, was a keyboard tech for Wilco and lived in New York and Chicago before moving here last July.” Prior to making the move, Thatcher’s only visit to Charlottesville came while on tour with Wilco when the band played the nTelos Wireless Pavilion in 2012. However, upon accepting a dream job as the technical director of UVA’s music department’s Virginia Center for Computer Music, Thatcher quickly immersed himself in the local music scene.
At VCCM, Thatcher assists researchers and classes with equipment and projects while also planning UVA music department events like the TechnoSonics festival. But he’s first and foremost a musician and enjoys experimenting first-hand with a variety of instruments.
“As a kid, my dad managed a music shop in addition to his making a living as a gigging musician,” Thatcher says. “I grew up around musical instruments and got to hang out at the shop in Northern Philadelphia and play. I was always drawn to synthesizers and drum machines but also grew up playing guitar and saxophone.” These diverse interests led him to pursue collaborations with fellow local musicians, including a new side project playing rock music, in addition to his solo electronic music.
Thatcher also builds and repairs synthesizers, maintaining his tinkerer’s instincts from adolescence amidst a sea of oscilloscopes, pedals and other musical gear in his home studio. “I got into building synthesizers initially by building some guitar pedals when I was around 16 or so,” he says. “Like many folks, I always loved taking apart electronic things and trying to put them back together, so it was just sort of a natural progression.”
He brings repair skills to his work at UVA as well, where he’s currently working to restore a rare ARP2500 monophonic analog modular synthesizer. Created to compete with the more popular Moog synthesizers of the time, the ARP2500 was produced in the 1970s and is an idiosyncratic technological marvel to behold. “It’s an amazing piece of history that sounds unlike anything else and I’m excited for more folks to be able to explore it,” says Thatcher.
Though finding a fulfilling professional and creative fit came easily for Thatcher, it wasn’t enough. “Since I’ve moved to Charlottesville, I’ve been interested in a night dedicated to live electronic music, as it seemed to be something that was missing,” he says. “My goal is to have a place where people can come to dance and to hear interesting electronic music from local acts as well as out-of-towners.”
After attending a goth dance party at Main Street Annex, he knew the venue was a match. “I thought the place was really well-suited for an electronic music show,” he says. “A few months later, I started talking to Jeyon [Falsini] about my idea [and] he was really receptive.”
Beginning on June 18, Thatcher will host a monthly electronic music night known as Frequencies at Main Street Annex. The inaugural event will feature a performance by Thatcher as well as local musicians Siamese Floater and Johnny Cretaceous. By combining local and touring talent, Thatcher says, “I think Charlottesville’s music scene can support something like this.”
Thatcher’s own electronic compositions and performances create a sound that is angular without being dissonant, utilizing drum machine beats and analog hums and squeals. His music has shape to it, the sounds creating and bending a dimensional space in the room as you listen. He admits that, “The Voice of Saturn tends to be different every time I play,” and indeed his live performances prove to be improvisational and experimental. Siamese Floater’s Alexander Tanson says “Making electronic music and being able to layer so many sounds is a really cool process and I find it a lot more expressive than just playing an instrument.” Frequencies will provide a regular venue for this type of experimentation and expression.
As a venue with a reputation for niche musical subgenres and smooth floors for dancing, Main Street Annex is a perfect fit for Frequencies. The Annex might be hosting frequent hip-hop shows, death metal bands or industrial dance parties, but for at least one night each month, electronic music will fill the room and get you on the dance floor.
The Voice of Saturn, Siamese Floater and Johnny Cretaceous will perform at Main Street Annex on June 18 and the second Frequencies event is already on the calendar for July 15, featuring local acts as well as musicians from Atlanta and Philadelphia.
What musical subculture would you like to see highlighted by a monthly event? Tell us in the comments.
From Monica Haller's Veterans Book Project (pictured) to Zanele Muholi's images of the South African LGBT community, the photographers featured at this year's LOOK3 Festival are turning their lenses into a force for activism. Photo courtesy of LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph
One of the telltale signs of summer in Charlottesville is already visible high above the bricks of the Downtown Mall. Strung between trunks and limbs of the willow oaks, larger-than-life animals and insects gaze down at diners and pedestrians as part of the 2015 LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph.
Images like these appear each June, only to disappear by mid-summer. Work by different nature photographers is selected each year for the TREES exhibition and for a short time, surprising species roam our urban canopy. While, this is perhaps what many locals know best about the festival, it is only a hint at the full schedule of programming that runs June 10-13.
After taking last year off to host LOOKbetween programming for early career photographers, the full festival returns with a slate of artists who highlight its mission to facilitate awareness of critical issues.
“One thing I value about LOOK3 is the organization’s ability to attract the leading voices in photography, and the commitment to give these legendary artists an authentic forum through which to speak at length about their work and philosophy and to exhibit their work without interference from commercial pressures,” says LOOK3 Executive Director Victoria Hindley.
Indeed, LOOK3 attracts photographers and fans from around the world, but secures extensive underwriting in order to offer the vast majority of its programming free of charge. The non-profit organization brings its offerings to the local community, which might not otherwise have a chance to see such extraordinary artistic talent and varied international perspectives. Hindley estimates that LOOK3’s free programs reach around 25,000 people.
The festival’s programs range from traditional gallery exhibitions and artist talks to distinctive events such as the outdoor WORKS photo projections at the Charlottesville nTelos Pavilion and the high-caliber workshops offered to area students and emerging artists. Since its inception, LOOK3 has hosted more than 120 exhibitions and artists’ talks as well as approximately 250 projection events.
This year’s festival co-curators are Kathy Ryan, director of photography at The New York Times Magazine, and Scott Thode, an independent curator and photo editor. Together, they have selected an assortment of artists for the LOOK3 that is as quirky as it is thought provoking. Each photographer brings a nuanced view of the world to his or her work and each has achieved recognition for contributions to the field. This year’s lineup includes Larry Fink, visual activist Zanele Muholi, sports photographer Walter Iooss, Alec Soth, animal photographer Vincent J. Musi, David Alan Harvey, Monica Haller and her Veterans Book Project, nature photographer Piotr Naskrecki, as well as a presentation by Charlottesville’s own Andrea Douglas, director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
Despite the diverse selection, a common theme runs throughout. “At LOOK3, we have strong roots in photojournalism; there’s always been an active voice speaking to human rights and social activist concerns,” says Hindley. Indeed, two photographers, Monica Haller and Zanele Muholi, stand apart in this regard, each using their photographic practice to explore and question social and political issues in the world.
Monica Haller’s Veterans Book Project is a series of 50 books of photos, recollections and reflections from Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Photo courtesy of LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph
Veterans Book Project
Though Monica Haller is a photographer, the images she’s presenting at LOOK3 are not her own. Haller’s artistic practice lies in methodology and engagement, as evidenced by her Veterans Book Project which will be on display at The Garage, a small art space across from Lee Park. The project is a series of 50 books of photographs, recollections and reflections from veterans of the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Haller acts as an advocate and organizer of these compilations, leading bookmaking workshops that engage vets and their families in the creative exercise of self-reflection. She estimates that she’s worked with almost 100 soldiers over the course of the project.
Haller’s earlier work, Riley and his story, laid the groundwork for this larger project.
“One of the reasons I started this project was that I felt I needed to know more about what we were doing in Iraq—to Iraqis and to American soldiers. I felt my U.S. citizenship strongly, felt accountable as the country deployed its military… these reasons have changed over the last 10 years since starting this work,” she recalls. Like the larger project it inspired, Riley and his story provided a potent mix of representation and reflection for a veteran named Riley, a way to bring visibility and understanding to his experiences of war. The project also evolved over time.
Originally planning to use her own photographs mixed in with Riley’s, Haller eventually removed her work from the final book in order to allow Riley’s to stand on its own. Her role grew into that of writer, editor and organizer. “I’m trained as a photographer. But instead of photographing myself, I was more curious about the images already made. Thousands of pictures being brought back to U.S. soil—the place where the wars are launched,” she says. “The wars are ‘over there.’ But we have this important material right here. I wanted to dig into that.”
On the cover of the compiled work from Riley and his story, Haller writes, “Art can be a series of acts and challenges… The artist can mobilize information by provoking, listening, imagining, organizing and reorganizing. Right now, I am the artist. I want you to see what this war did to Riley.” She asks us, the audience, to be “tactical readers,” and likewise books are defined as “objects for deployment,” prompts for discussion.
Monica Haller. Photo courtesy of LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph
The books in the Veterans Book Project similarly provide visibility for previously underrepresented subjects as well as a mode for discussing those subjects’ experiences and reflecting on how they relate to our own. Images range from photos of medic tents in combat zones to scans of doodles made by soldiers during their deployment. Under Haller’s curatorial guidance, these images combine with written memories from the soldiers to create an immersive experience. By working collaboratively, “I think the mutualism that goes on in community-generated projects like this can be quite strong. We reach somewhere we could not alone—creatively, in discourse, and other ways,” says Haller.
For her collaborations to succeed, Haller demands a marked level of vulnerability from herself and the veterans she works alongside. Each must be willing to engage openly and reflect on his own personal experiences.
“These dozens and dozens of books are curated compilations by her of amateur photographers who are vets. And to put that in their voice, I think, is a really important statement,” remarked LOOK3’s Hindley.
In part because the veterans featured in the project have varied experiences and unique perspectives, Haller’s project doesn’t attempt to prescribe an outcome or advocate for a specific sea change. Rather, the Veterans Book Project seeks to simply make visible the experiences of individuals and the issues they faced related to war. It creates space for making meaning where there was little or none before. It places the power of self-representation in the hands of the individuals while also sharing their personal perspectives with the rest of us. The creation of these books is a way of speaking back to the dominant narratives of war and empowering individuals to be active in representing their own experiences.
Publishing her images of black lesbian weddings is one way photographer/activist Zanele Muholi creates a visual history for South Africa’s LGBTI community. Photo courtesy of LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph
Identity politics in South Africa
Zanele Muholi is another LOOK3 artist focused on empowering individuals through representation and awareness of human rights issues. In her work, Muholi explores the identity politics and personal lives of the LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex) community in South Africa. Though her first major show in the U.S. is currently on display at the Brooklyn Museum, LOOK3 brings Muholi’s photographs to be exhibited outside as public art, across from the Free Speech Wall.
Growing up in South Africa, Muholi has been an activist for most of her life. After training at the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, she began integrating photography into her activism, and vice versa. Indeed, she defines herself as a visual activist rather than a photographer.
Though South Africa legalized same-sex marriages in 2006, discrimination against the country’s LGBTI community has grown—and with it, the frequency of violent hate crimes, ranging from assaults to corrective rapes. Living in South Africa, Muholi is on the front line of these issues. Obviously, her work stands in opposition to this violence, asking the world as well as her own neighbors to see the resilience and nuance—indeed, the shared humanity—of the LGBTI community.
Zanele Muholi. Photo courtesy of LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph
Like Haller’s work with the Veterans Book Project, Muholi’s photographs act as a tool for empowerment. They bring visibility to these issues in order to help community members understand themselves as part of the world and in relation to others. And they do so by balancing a celebration of queer identities with an awareness of their violent oppression. With her subjects gazing directly into the camera—and in turn at us—Muholi’s portraits establish a visual vocabulary for marginalized and queer identities in South Africa. Likewise, her more candid photos of black lesbian weddings create a visual history for a community where that hasn’t existed in the past.
Even before she became a photographer, Muholi was invested in activism and co-founded the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, an organization representing LGBTI rights. More recently, she formed Inkanyiso, a resource encouraging black lesbians in South Africa to represent their lives through media and archival advocacy. And though Muholi asks a lot of her subjects, who risk their own safety by being represented in her work, their images ultimately help challenge accepted ways of living and bring attention to the breadth of the human experience. By sharing these perspectives, Muholi’s photographs create an alternative history where the underrepresented and marginalized are no longer so.
Photography as activism
Muholi and Haller are arguably two of LOOK3’s most overtly activist photographers. However, their political and social activism show primarily in the form of representation. The festival’s other featured artists deal with less political subject matter but are equally provocative in their efforts to bring visibility to social issues and to challenge viewers to question dominant narratives. “I think it is a kind of activism to show us what the mainstream is not. Activism is a way of suggesting alternatives,” says Hindley.
Fulfilling its goal to empower this sort of awareness and reflection, LOOK3 also offers free mentorship and educational opportunities for students and early-career photographers, encouraging critical use of photography to champion social and political change. In the two nights of WORKS photo projections, these themes continue. Even those creatures hanging above the Downtown Mall are carefully orchestrated works of art that seek to bring attention to parts of our world that often fly or crawl past, unseen. Photographed by Piotr Naskrecki—an entomologist at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology—each of these species is at risk or living in endangered ecosystems. Each of these photographs represents a social cause in addition to an engaging image.
When viewed together, festival artists’ work raises awareness of a variety of social causes, but also showcases the potent strength of photography as a medium. Reflecting further on her work on the Veterans Book Project, Haller says, “I heard a writer/activist talk about his experiences in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya. He talked about representations and identities of poverty, handed out and built up through media and history. And in that context he said, ‘When people are not in charge of their own image, that’s quite problematic… That’s why making images is a political act.’ I believe this statement.”
This is where LOOK3 is truly remarkable: in its ability to empower individuals through photography, to raise awareness of the activism inherent in simply showing our many corners of the world as they actually exist. The Festival does this through the TREES exhibition, but also through its extensive other high-caliber photographs and programs that require nothing of us beyond curiosity and a desire to question the way we see the world.
All LOOK3 exhibitions are now open and will remain on display through the end of June. Artist talks will take place at The Paramount Theater. For a complete schedule and list of venues, or to purchase tickets, please visit look3.org.
Brendan Wolfe looks into the nuance of historical facts through his work as the managing editor of Encyclopedia Virginia. He will contribute a story about war in Virginia to the June issue of Obscure Histories, a quarterly online magazine. Photo: Martyn Kyle
“The thing about working for the encyclopedia is that you’re just surrounded by stories all the time. I never get tired of all the interesting stuff that you come into contact with.” As the managing editor of Encyclopedia Virginia, it’s no surprise that Brendan Wolfe feels this way. Where many would envision dull days of copy editing text worthy of a dusty World Book, he sees endless opportunities for exploration. This month, Wolfe will build on this curiosity as a contributor to the latest issue of Obscure Histories—an online magazine—while also re-launching the Encyclopedia Virginia blog.
A project of the Virginia Foundation of the Humanities and the Library of Virginia, EV launched in 2008 and Wolfe has been there since the beginning. Though it’s no surprise that EV focuses broadly on Virginia history, its content is created in subject-specific sections, such as colonial history or the African-American experience during Reconstruction. “Generally, we get scholars to write entries. Part of our mission is to be an authoritative resource that’s vetted by scholars, but accessible to the general reader,” said Wolfe.
Wolfe is something of an encyclopedia as well, at times even interrupting himself to dive headlong into a story about his current focus. “One of the stories that’s most captured my attention is the story of this Indian, Don Luís de Velasco,” he said. As he launches into a retelling of this Virginia Indian’s voyages between the Chesapeake Bay and Spain, Wolfe’s excitement is palpable.
It turns out the man’s real name was Paquiquineo, a fact that was discovered in a Spanish archive from the 16th century. “We have a photocopy of a copy of that page on the Encyclopedia,” said Wolfe. While other details remain unknown, the confirmed facts and accepted interpretations of what happened to Paquiquineo unfold on EV in a gripping tale of subterfuge.
Indeed, this and many other EV entries make for an engaging read. But Wolfe also hopes that the encyclopedia encourages readers to question historical interpretations and embrace the idea that history is constantly evolving as researchers make new discoveries. “All these different things that we bring to it affects the way we read history and the way that history is told. And to me that’s what makes it interesting,” he said. Any historical account can be influenced by a scholar’s personal life, politics and stereotypes of the time when the account is constructed. “I think that what’s important is to emphasize the idea that we don’t really know what happened,” said Wolfe. “History is our best guess.”
Wolfe’s article in the June issue of Obscure Histories will focus on this very theme, presenting a case for rethinking and redefining a commonly taught piece of colonial history in Virginia. As a previous contributor to the online publication, Wolfe was asked to write a piece for the upcoming issue on the theme of military science. “The first Anglo-Powhatan War is what some scholars have used to describe the conflict between the Powhatan Indians in Tidewater, Virginia, and the English settlers in Jamestown. It’s a war that we have a habit of not calling a war,” he said.
The relatively new scholarly opinion to refer to it as a war first came about in the early 1990s but, historically, the definition of what constitutes a war has never been easy to outline. “In schools, curricula tend to want to emphasize the cooperation between the Indians and the English as a way of getting away from hurtful stereotypes of Indians—which is a good thing, to get away from those stereotypes. But what it tends to do is it ends up erasing the actual violence.”
As it happens, it also makes the narrative of colonization relatively incoherent, switching between peace and conflict without much context or explanation. “I think that sometimes we don’t trust fourth graders with the actual truth of things that happened and, as a result, we give them stories that don’t make sense. And then we wonder why no one understands or cares about history. It’s annoying,” he concluded.
To make history more accessible and interesting, the encyclopedia also features a blog, which Wolfe manages. “For me, it’s just trying to find a way to pull out what I think are interesting little bits of things that I deal with every day, he said. “Or finding a way to plug what we’re doing into conversations that are going on in the world at that moment.” The blog recently went through a redesign and content update under Wolfe’s leadership.
Outside of his historical work, Wolfe has also published literary essays and reviews, and teaches classes in creative nonfiction at WriterHouse. Even as a child he was a history buff but, for obvious reasons, he never focused on Virginia history while growing up in Iowa. He’s been an editor for most of his career though, and these skills made him the perfect fit for Encyclopedia Virginia. “The history [knowledge] came with time,” he said. “I felt like I just went through a master’s degree worth of reading for the first several years [at EV]. But history is more than just reading; it’s a discipline, a way of thinking about stuff. And I had to learn that, too.” Through his work with Encyclopedia Virginia and Obscure Histories, Wolfe hopes that readers around the world will take an interest in learning that discipline as well.
To read Wolfe’s upcoming article in Obscure Histories, visit www.obscurehistories.com.
Share your thoughts about Virginia history in the comments.
Local artist Russ Warren’s exhibit at Les Yeux du Monde pays homage to Spanish masters with paintings like “El Perro de la Infanta." Photo: Eric Kelley Photography
“The landscape around my Charlottesville home is remarkably like that of Oaxaca, Mexico,” muses Charlottesville-based artist Russ Warren. It has “a spirituality emanating from the atmosphere and the mountainous landscape that seems magical.”
To be honest, despite having spent much of my life in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this is not a comparison I’ve heard before. However, Warren employs this juxtaposition as a way to explore the styles of Mexican folk artists and Spanish Masters alike. This month, an exhibit at Les Yeux du Monde—the gallery run by his wife, Lyn Bolen Warren—showcases a selection of these recent works.
Two of Warren’s large paintings—“La Infanta I” and “La Infanta II”—form a thematic core for the show. Each was inspired by 17th century Spanish painter Diego Velázquez’s portraits of La Infanta Margarita Teresa. Though, it’s more accurate to say that Warren’s “La Infanta” series was influenced by Picasso’s reinterpretations of Velázquez’s paintings—inspiration once removed.
“Picasso, no doubt, has been my biggest influence and he, in turn, was influenced by Velázquez, so I see my own versions of their themes as an extension of that lineage,” Warren says. “I make the works my own by emphasizing what interests me.” This is perhaps most clearly evident in the recurring backlit figure in a doorway, referenced in both the Velázquez and Picasso versions of “Las Meninas” as well as many of Warren’s paintings since the 1980s.
In curating the exhibit, Lyn Bolen Warren says she decided to focus on the Spain theme with Zaragoza and Warren’s other two paintings based on Velázquez’s and Picasso’s “Las Meninas” as the main attractions.
The titular work in the exhibit, “Zaragoza,” is a large triptych that greets one immediately upon entering the gallery. The piece is named after the city near Francisco Goya’s birthplace in Spain, but Warren explains that it was inspired by “images of Zapotecan magotes [indigenous burial mounds in Oaxaca] and layering, to deal with hidden images and memories.” The layering provides a frenetic energy in the piece and it’s easy to imagine the wild movements of Warren’s hand as it dashed across the canvas. Graffiti-like tags and Mexican Día de los Muertos-style skulls sketched with livestock markers coalesce across the lower two-thirds of the scene, filling in below the horizon line, where solid sky-like stretches fill above. Visually, the work complements much of the style and colors in the “La Infanta” paintings in a way that suggests a cohesive story between the three. However, Warren insists there is no narrative. “I prefer ambiguity,” he says. “I like leaving things open-ended so the viewer can insert their own meanings and scenarios.”
Given the large scale of these three paintings, they would be equally at home as a public mural as they are in the white box of the gallery. “I’ve always worked large,” he explains. “Lately I’m making these multi-panel paintings because they allow me to work big in a small studio.”
For now, though, the closest his work comes to public art is a large painting that hangs in the dining room of Martha Jefferson Hospital. “I’m told that [it] evokes a lot of responses, and this is exactly what I am after,” he says. “I enjoy the psychological relationship between the viewer and a large painting in a public space.” That being said, the rest of the Les Yeux du Monde exhibit is comprised of smaller works, but ones that are no less visually interesting or layered.
Indeed, texture is a noteworthy part of Warren’s work in this exhibit—and much of his catalog—whether it’s glass bead gel in Anything Helps, collaged newspaper in “El Perro de la Infanta,” or the jump-rope in “La Infanta I” that’s a real cord of rope glued to the canvas, dangling down. Unusual mediums also find their way into various works.
“The livestock markers are new for me,” Warren says. “I love their phosphorescent colors and the loose oil vehicle in them makes them more painterly in a gestural immediate way.” These provide the distinctive tag-like quality to many of the paintings, evoking the marker pens used by graffiti artists. It’s a look and feel that Warren likes. A lot. In fact, by his count, he completed over 100 livestock marker paintings in 2014 in addition to three large, multi-panel paintings. “It was quite a year. I don’t see myself slowing down,” he says, describing his latest project, a large triptych entitled “Medina” after a lake in Texas. “I turned to subterranean themes after I finished my ‘La Infanta’ series,” he says.
When he’s not painting, Warren still finds time to lead artist critique classes, write poetry and play music. One of the next things on his agenda is playing alongside his brother and sister-in-law at the Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, Virginia this August.
“Zaragoza” will remain on display at Les Yeux du Monde through June 7, with a closing reception from 3-5pm that day. A lunch with the artist will be held at noon on May 20 (reservations are required; $15). For more details, visit lesyeuxdumonde.com.
Finding an interesting gift for mom (or from mom), like this judgmental giraffe by Troy Argenbright, will be easy at one of the many area festivals this weekend. Photo courtesy of the Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival
We all have moms and some of you out there are even mothers yourself. So, it makes sense that we celebrate moms, if for no other reason than their sheer abundance. Add to that their well-meaning advice and ill-advised fashion recommendations, and you’re looking at a Hallmark holiday that’s hard to ignore: Mother’s Day. While celebrating, why not swap out brunch for curry in the park? Or trade in that flower arrangement for a hand-crafted bronze bracelet? This week, two annual festivals offer creative ways to celebrate with your mom—or the kids who call you mom.
Charlottesville Festival of Cultures
The Charlottesville Festival of Cultures takes place on May 9, transforming Lee Park into a bustling global commons. The annual event features handicrafts, cultural exhibits, cooking demonstrations and live music and dance performances.
In all, the festival will highlight approximately a dozen craft vendors and 15 cultural exhibits, ranging from Bhutan to Argentina. A variety of food trucks are slated to sate your appetite and this year’s cooking demonstrations provide a chance to learn how to make your own Algerian cookies and chickpea curry. On top of it all, more than 10 groups will perform throughout the day, representing everything from Mexi-lachian music and the Tibetan Children’s Choir to Cumbia, Native American and Morris dancing.
“When we look in our own community and around the world, we can see so many problems,” said festival coordinator Zakira Beasley. “The festival is an opportunity to celebrate how, when we get to know each other, we can move beyond fear to the possibility of understanding.”
Beasley was drawn to the festival through her work at the Adult Learning Center, a program of Charlottesville City Schools and the main sponsor of the Festival of Cultures. “The festival became a way to celebrate the people who work so hard to learn the language and culture of Charlottesville,” she said. “I wanted my friends to meet these people and appreciate all they have to offer from their cultures and life experiences.” In order to help facilitate this exchange, attendees can earn stamps in their Festival of Cultures passport by visiting exhibits to learn cultural facts or a different language.
A large part of the festival also focuses on resource-sharing. “There will be information about educational opportunities, signing up for a library card, learning about rights as a resident, receiving counseling and more,” said Beasley. “This is also an opportunity for longtime residents to find a place to volunteer.”
The Festival of Cultures itself is one of these opportunities, inviting residents and recent immigrants alike to volunteer or serve on the planning committee. “New immigrants are arriving in Charlottesville every year, and we always make an extra effort to invite new arrivals to participate,” Beasley added. “Some of our exhibitors are very new to our country and I think it’s brave of them to share at the festival.”
Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival
The Crozet Arts & Crafts Festival takes place on May 9 and 10. Now in its 35th year, the festival will cover almost two acres of Claudius Crozet Park with fine art, crafts, artisanal foods and more. And whether you’re new to the festival or have experienced its wonders before, 2015 promises something fresh thanks to its festival director Amanda Polson.
Though new to town, Polson is an old hand when it comes to festivals, working with similar events for more than eight years. “A real challenge is to find the focus of this event and just make it the best it can be,” she said. “We have more exhibitors than there have been recently, which will be exciting to local patrons who have come to expect only familiar faces.”
The festival is a wonderful chance to wander the park while admiring hand-crafted hammocks from Twin Oaks, pottery by Nancy Ross or Carla Pillsbury, and unique wooden sculptures by Scott Deming, among many, many other artists and craftspeople. Polson estimates that she received 150 applications to exhibit this spring, with about 120 of those selected for the event. The festival also offers craft demonstrations, including silk marbling and pottery as well as the intriguing offering of a friction fire demonstration.
A new culinary arts section will feature regional food and drink vendors as well as artisanal food items and the Claudius Crozet Park cafe will serve up coffee, along with details about the park and its ongoing operations, which are funded in large part by the bi-annual festival.
Live performances will include the Brooklyn-based band Roosevelt Dime as well as local favorites Red and the Romantics and the Western Albemarle High School Jazz Band, among others. Kid-friendly performers, Kim and Jimbo Cary, will also make an appearance, accompanying the face painting and hands-on art activities that will provide plenty of entertainment for mommy’s little monsters, ahem, darlings.
American Craft Beer Week at Local Breweries
After a weekend of family bonding, it’s thoroughly understandable if you need a break from motherly advice or simply want to relive the days before you had kids of your own. You’re in luck: American Craft Beer Week runs May 11-17. Plenty of breweries in Charlottesville, as well as in nearby Nelson County, will be celebrating with all sorts of events, including live music at Three Notch’d Brewing Company, brewery tours at Wild Wolf Brewing Company, special beer pairings at Devils Backbone Brewing Company and more. Check individual breweries for details.
Have an alternative celebration for Mother’s Day? Tell us about it in the comments.
Since leaving town in the ’70s, Charlottesville native Gram Slaton has fostered a solid track record heading up arts organizations around the country. He returned in January to lead the Piedmont Council for the Arts. Photo: Martin Kyle
“Itake broken things and fix them,” explained Gram Slaton. This conjures images of fixer-upper houses or rusted-out bikes, but he’s not a repairman in the traditional sense. In fact, one of the main things that Slaton fixes are non-profit organizations. And as the new executive director of Piedmont Council for the Arts (PCA), he is eager to reimagine and repair the local arts council.
Repairing things comes naturally to Slaton, who grew up in Charlottesville. Like PCA, he recently found himself in need of reinvention. After nine years as the executive director of the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen, Colorado, his gut told him it was time to move on, and he listened. Moving back home in late 2014, Slaton took the helm at PCA in January. Now, when he’s not redefining the future of PCA, you’ll probably find him renovating the kitchen in his childhood home, where he now lives.
He fondly remembers late-night concerts on the Corner at venues such as The Mineshaft and The West Virginian, a music club in the basement of what is still The Virginian. But, he can’t forget Charlottesville’s problems in the 1970s, including rampant racism and drugs. After the latter claimed his brother, Slaton decided to break from his past and move to Ohio to attend Denison University. “In 1977, I changed my name and moved far, far from home,” said Slaton, who adopted his first name from musician Gram Parsons.
Two years after Slaton’s departure, PCA was founded in 1979 by a group of community members and evolved over the ensuing decades. Far away, Slaton grew his expertise as an arts administrator, honing his skills at a variety of non-profits and launching a handful of arts festivals along the way. Understanding the city’s past and returning to Virginia, he was stunned by the transformation of Charlottesville since his youth. “I saw a tidal change,” he said.
Slaton considers the arts to be one of three growth industries here, alongside UVA and entrepreneurship. He’s also discovered that, “there’s been a hunger for PCA to do something.” Topping his to-do list is the task of strengthening the relationship between PCA and local government. He’s keen to fix public funding procedures for arts non-profits, saying that it’s currently, “not serving the arts community well, or the city.” Reworking this funding system would help improve the entire community. “The arts community spends its money where it lives, where it works,” said Slaton.
PCA’s Arts & Economic Prosperity study demonstrated that the local arts sector generates more than $114 million in annual economic activity, accounting for $31.2 million in household income. That’s not too shabby for a city of Charlottesville’s size, and with careful reinvestment the local arts sector can be grown further—but it’s largely up to PCA to take the lead in this effort.
Indeed, this growth was the impetus for PCA’s 2013 Create Charlottesville/Albemarle cultural planning process, but the creation of the plan itself exceeded the tiny non-profit’s capacity and implementation of the plan’s strategies still remains mostly out of reach for the same reason. Slaton sees a surplus of local arts resources. “Everything could fold together so nicely, but we’re not doing it,” he said.
The cultural plan also raised a question that Slaton grapples with: Does Charlottesville need an attention-grabbing arts council, a behind-the-scenes arts council, or, really, any arts council at all? In response, Slaton gives himself two years to prove the worth—and mettle—of PCA. “The clock is ticking,” he joked. For now, he’s focused on the need for the organization’s internal growth, if only to avoid “constantly losing all institutional knowledge” through staff turnover. Indeed, between 2010 and 2014, the organization had 10 individuals cycle through its three part-time, paid staff positions.
The issue of retaining creative talent isn’t limited to PCA, however. In fact, Slaton launched a new PCA initiative, the 2030 Board, to address it. The idea is simple enough: gather 20 to 30 people in their 20s and 30s and mentor them to be ideal board members by the year 2030. Slaton hopes this will help retain young talent in the region. The Charlottesville area already provides young creatives with a comfortable launching spot, but launch they must if they hope to find abundant professional opportunities and affordable housing. With the 2030 Board’s input, he hopes PCA can be more responsive in providing appropriate support and advocacy to this demographic. “I don’t want to see 20- and 30somethings discouraged to the point of giving up,” said Slaton.
To this last point, he speaks from experience. Slaton is also a playwright, who was awarded fellowships and residencies for his playwriting. However, it’s a calling that he largely abandoned in the 1990s, when he realized the difficulty involved in making a living as an artist. He opted to reimagine himself as an arts administrator instead. Now, Charlottesville must wait to see if this same penchant for reinvention can change the future for PCA.
New residents and artists-in-residency, Lowland Hum performs at a record release show on Saturday at The Haven. The performance will also feature an art installation and hand-bound lyric books designed by band member Lauren Goans (right). Publicity photo
The word home means different things to different people: A physical place you share with family and friends. A feeling of love and security. A group of people who share encouragement and acceptance. At different points in life, we all struggle to find home. For touring musicians, this can be an even trickier task. However, the musicians of Lowland Hum have found a home in Charlottesville, thanks in part to a unique program hosted by New City Arts and The Haven.
Lauren and Daniel Goans, the foundation of the band, are from North Carolina and have spent the better part of the last two years touring to support their debut album, Native Air. The album garnered positive reviews and landed the band a spot on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, as well as gigs in venues ranging from bars to barns. The tour made a stop in C’ville last year, and the Goans fell in love with the area, resolving to relocate here. Autumn came and the married couple made the move, settling into a small apartment in Belmont.
The Goans were fortunate to also have an entry point in the form of the New City Arts artist-in-residency (AIR), a competitive program offering free downtown studio space plus the opportunity to collaborate with other local artists as well as guests at The Haven’s day shelter over a 10-month period.
As a result, Lowland Hum recently released its second full-length album, filled with songs that were written and rehearsed during the residency. The new work demonstrates how the band’s music has grown from poetically sparse guitar and vocals to a fuller sound, complete with drum and bass guitar. In celebration of the album release, Lauren and Daniel will perform on April 25, backed by local musicians Sam Bush and Guion Pratt, at, where else, The Haven.
Since the AIR program launched in 2012, the collaboration between New City Arts and The Haven has provided a creative home to artists by offering studio space and collaborative opportunities. Thus far, nine artists have participated, ranging from printmakers to musicians. Each year, they’re selected by a panel based on excellence of craft but also “thoughtfulness towards arts-based programming within The Haven community,” according to New City Arts Executive Director, Maureen Brondyke. “For the first few months, we require artists to volunteer so they get to know Haven guests. This allows the artists to facilitate a creative program specific to the needs of The Haven, rather than based exclusively on their own practice.”
As a current participant in the residency program, multimedia artist Amanda Wagstaff said, “Volunteering there, becoming friends with some of the guests and working on an art project there has been personally rewarding as well as an inspiration for my own art practice.”
A past participant in the program, Mara Sprafkin experienced another benefit of her residency. “Even though I have moved my studio back to my home, I am much more active and connected to the creative community in Charlottesville than I was before,” she said.
Indeed, the residency strikes a unique balance between engaging artists and community members in creative projects and supporting the professional needs of emerging artists. Increasingly, artists have to act as small businesses, marketing their work, balancing the books and making sales. Programs like this help them do that, providing space, support and encouragement—essentially, a home.
AIR writer and illustrator Sean Rubin sees it as a doorway to collaboration. “Two of the biggest challenges I face involve finding studio space, and then usually working by myself, which is not my preference,” he said. “The AIR fills both these needs in a fantastic way.”
Currently, Rubin and his fellow AIR members are creating a quilt with guests at The Haven. “The quilt was originally a collaboration between Sean and myself,” said Wagstaff. “We created a ‘blank’ quilt. We, along with staff, volunteers and Haven guests, create individual pieces that get pinned onto the quilt until it’s covered with images, patterns and messages. It’s a Haven self-portrait of sorts.”
Lowland Hum contributes to the collaboration by asking guests to fill out a song request form, detailing memories of a specific tune. While Wagstaff and Rubin host weekly quilting sessions with Haven guests, the duo plays songs. “We are always delighted when a favorite song happens to play over the speakers at a grocery store,” said Lauren. “We wanted to introduce the possibility of that kind of surprise at The Haven.”
The familiar songs serve to open up the guests, and connect their past to the present. “Sounds simple enough, but a beautiful thing has resulted from it. The stories connected with the songs are really amazing.” Many of these stories will be included in the quilt, which will give a sense of comfort and home to many when it’s completed and hanging on the wall at The Haven.
For artists interested in applying to the artist-in-residency program, the new application will be posted in May at www.newcity arts.org.
Where do you feel at home in Charlottesville? Tell us in the comments.
It’s not a flashback, it’s mural artist Mickael Broth’s CAT bus. The psychedelic art on wheels hits the streets as part of the Tom Tom’s City As Canvas initiative. Photo Briona Nomi
The creative process requires commitment to an idea, openness to feedback, repeated attempts (a failure or two) and adaptation. When approached thoughtfully, it offers space for new ways of understanding the world, engaging in a community and expressing the emotions that otherwise go unsaid. Just ask Paul Beyer, founder and director of Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Founders Festival. Ramping up for its third year, the festival’s infancy has been a case study in the creative process.
Launched in 2012, Tom Tom came into being as an attempt to develop a creative catalyst for Charlottesville. Since then, the festival has rigorously sought community input and worked to engage new partner organizations and businesses in co-programmed events. The outcome thus far is a nimble and adaptive organization that strives to strike a balance between celebrating the arts and innovation that thrive locally and injecting fresh perspectives brought by regional and national talent. Arguably, the most interesting evolution within the festival lies in a new series of events this year, dubbed City As Canvas. Sure, this series consists of traditional arts programming like talks and a student art showcase, but it also focuses in large part on public art and creative placemaking.
Creative what? The National Endowment for the Arts defines creative placemaking as initiatives that “strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, city or region around arts and cultural activities.” In Charlottesville, this has long remained an area of planning that is, at best, disorganized if not overlooked entirely. However, a coordinated effort to re-imagine Charlottesville as a creative destination would generate an increased sense of community pride and improved grassroots neighborhood planning involvement, among other benefits.
Including public art of all kinds (from murals to sound installations or pop-up performances) spread throughout the city, engagement activities that welcome people to interact with art freely, and creative designs that are woven into everything from public parks to manhole covers and bike racks, this sort of effort would bring Charlottesville’s creative spirit into broader view.
Tom Tom’s City As Canvas programming is beginning to meet that need. “The entire City As Canvas project is meant to inspire people to see the city as a stage on which they can create,” said Beyer. “The project’s ‘impact’ ultimately comes down to visibility and participation. Do people feel empowered to reimagine and use public spaces, to become creators of their city? With Tom Tom, I hope the answer is ‘yes.’”
Helping lead the charge for City As Canvas is Richmond-based artist, Mickael Broth, who is one of the festival’s artists-in-residence. A muralist, Broth is also the organizer of Welcoming Walls, a Richmond initiative that seeks to beautify the city’s entry corridors with murals.
Broth does not overlook civic responsibility in leading these efforts. “I worry that much of the mural work I see created in Richmond (and worldwide) is nothing more than decorative, meaningless imagery that doesn’t offer any challenges to the viewers.”
He combats his concern through a unique partnership with the city’s Valentine Museum. All Welcoming Walls artists are given access to the museum’s archives for inspiration and contextualization, enabling historic and local relevance within each mural design. When the opportunity to work with Tom Tom presented itself, Broth signed on to bring his community-oriented creative process to Charlottesville. “The goal of building community and showing the world what your city has to offer seemed to be an obvious overlap in what we’re all working on,” he said.
Near the end of March, Broth and a team of volunteers dove into his first project for the festival: a three-dimensional, bus-sized mural. In fact, the mural actually covers the outside of a 35′ Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) bus. Colorfully decorated with imagery inspired by Broth’s experiences in Charlottesville, the newly painted bus is a jolt to the eyes, a rush of creative inspiration in the left turn lane. “Public art democratizes the creative process and makes it approachable,” said Broth.
It’s hard to think of a piece of art that’s more approachable than a bus that will quite likely drive by you at least once in the coming weeks. And Tom Tom is betting that this changes the way you live in Charlottesville.
“A giant psychedelic art bus rolling down Main Street will change people’s ideas of what is possible to create here,” said Beyer. Certainly, there is a greater need than can be met by this effort alone, but the collaborative approach to creative placemaking and public art exhibited by City As Canvas is a thoughtful and strategic step forward in the ongoing process to define our city.
Broth will paint another mural on the wall at the corner of Sixth Street and Garrett Street in mid-April, coinciding with the official start of the 2015 Tom Tom Founders Festival. Additional City As Canvas programs include a Graffiti Art Battle under Belmont Bridge, Pop Up Parks that re-imagine parking spaces as public arenas for creativity, and Poetry on the Trolley, which will be held on the CAT bus covered in Broth’s artwork.
What types of public art would you like to see more of in Charlottesville? Tell us in the comments.
John McCutcheon returns to Charlottesville on Saturday for a concert based on the life and work of labor activist Joe Hill. Publicity photo
John McCutcheon is equal parts musician and storyteller, skilled with a variety of instruments but also engaging when telling tales between tunes. He is a Wisconsin native who called Charlottesville home for years before moving to Smoke Rise, Georgia. He is also an avid community organizer and political figure in folk music.
Given this multifaceted career and his interest in grassroots efforts, it’s no surprise that McCutcheon has also dabbled in theater, portraying activist musician Joe Hill onstage in a one-man play titled Joe Hill’s Last Will. This year, McCutcheon will release an album under the same name, paying homage to Hill’s songs and life. And on March 28, he returns to Charlottesville for a concert at Piedmont Virginia Community College.
Far from a household name for many, Joe Hill was a labor activist in the early 1900s. A Swedish immigrant to the U.S., he struggled to find steady employment and became an itinerant worker, eventually joining the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It was as a union member that Hill made a name for himself, writing protest songs and drawing cartoons to bring greater public awareness to the plight of the worker. Seeking relevance rather than fame, many of Hill’s songs actually reuse or adapt sections of other songs from the time, creating new meaning through his cause-related lyrics. These songs helped popularize the union message to workers, urging them to organize in order to demand better conditions and pay from their capitalist factory owners.
In one of Hill’s better-known songs, his lyrics express this message poetically: “Workingmen of all countries, unite/Side by side we for freedom will fight. When the world and its wealth we have gained/To the grafters we’ll sing this refrain. You will eat, bye and bye/When you’ve learned how to cook and how to fry/Chop some wood, ’twill do you good/Then you’ll eat in the sweet bye and bye.”
“Joe Hill was the ultimate utilitarian artist,” said McCutcheon. “He wasn’t writing songs to gain notoriety. He was writing songs to do a job, a very specific job.”
Understandably, Hill became something of a folk hero among industrial laborers. And like most heroes, he died young but stays alive in myth. At the age of 36, he was executed for murder, though his guilt, last words, and even the locations of his cremated ashes remain contested as we approach the 100th anniversary of his death later this year. Some believe Hill was a martyr to the IWW cause; others think he was victim of political subterfuge by those wishing to silence his organizing efforts. Regardless, Hill’s music has persisted, inspiring numerous musicians in folk traditions, including Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and now John McCutcheon.
“My introduction to folk music was watching the March on Washington with my mother, when I was 11 years old,” he said. “The music felt old and deep, yet it was wedded to something utterly urgent and contemporary.” On Joe Hill’s Last Will, McCutcheon attempts to apply his unique sound to this type of traditional folk song, updating Hill’s lyrics in places to make songs easier to understand and playing with instrumentation to highlight his own talents with the hammer dulcimer and jaw harp, among others. Ideally, these songs will prompt his fans to dig deeper into the original work by Hill and his contemporaries.
For those interested in more diverse interpretations of Hill’s songs, Smithsonian Folkways has two albums of his work: Don’t Mourn—Organize! Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, released in 1990, as well as an album of Hill’s songs performed by Joe Glazer that was originally released in 1954. Indeed, many of Hill’s songs are timeless in content and rhythm, making them ripe for covers and re-interpretations. “Many of the issues he wrote about a century ago—immigration, worker’s rights, war, religion, women’s leadership—are still things we’re struggling with today,” McCutcheon said.
As an artist, McCutcheon has spent decades supporting these very issues through his own community organizing and grassroots efforts. “The community organizing work began when I was living in Knoxville in the very early 1970s, working in an urban ministry that focused on neighborhood issues in the immediate community,” he said. “I was also working in rural, mountain communities collecting folk music and, inevitably, was informed about and involved in the issues of those communities.”
During his time in Charlottesville, McCutcheon was active in supporting Live Arts, the Jefferson Area Board for Aging and Virginia Organizing, among others. McCutcheon was also involved in the formation of Local 1000, the traveling musicians union within the American Federation of Musicians. In addition to helping financially support member musicians when they perform at free public service events, the union also has a Joe Hill Scholarship Fund to support members who want to learn about union history and community organizing through music.
John McCutcheon will perform at PVCC’s Main Stage Theatre of the V. Earl Dickinson Building on Saturday.
For those interested in learning more about grassroots community organizing, the next meeting of the Charlottesville/Albemarle chapter of Virginia Organizing is on April 6 at the Legal Aid offices on Preston Avenue.
Which local community organizer would you like to hear a song about? Tell us in the comments.
