PCA Arts Blog
July 30, 2010 · Community Arts Events, Workshops & Seminars
Monday, August 2nd
6-8pm
The Charlottesville Chapter of the Virginia Production Alliance welcomes Brian Wright to discuss topics including a brief history of sound recorders, an overview of microphones, wireless systems, protocol and ethics, and sound files. In addition, he will answer audience questions – so whether a seasoned audio professional or amateur, you’re sure to learn a lot!
CVPA Office
201 Elliott Avenue (in the IX Complex)
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Please RSVP by emailing OperationsCVPA@filmva.com or by calling 434.933.CVPA (2872).
Only $5 for CVPA members; $30 for non-members.
CVPA’s mission is to unite film, video, audio and new media enthusiasts, amateurs, and professionals in Central and Southwest Virginia.
July 29, 2010 · Workshops & Seminars, PCA Special Events
Wednesday, September 1, 6-8pm
The Life Cycle of Artists: Law, The Arts, And You
ESTATE PLANNING ISSUES AND YOU
A seminar for Visual, Performing, and Literary Artists
Presented by the Virginia Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division
Ever wondered …if you need a will? …how to protect your artwork for posterity?
…if there are tax issues that you should know about?
Enjoy wine, beer, and pizza as attorney Steve Murphy discusses these topics and more!
FREE for PCA Members, $5 for non-members. Registration required.
McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second St. NW, Charlottesville
TO REGISTER, EMAIL info@charlottesvillearts.org or call 434.971.2787. Registration required.
July 27, 2010 · Community Arts Events,
Opening August 7 at the University of Virginia Art Museum, more than 50 of Man Ray’s photographs from the 1920s and 1930s are featured in this exhibition, alongside works by his avant-garde contemporaries. For the first time, a number of these photographs are presented alongside the original African objects they feature. Books, avant-garde journals and popular magazines also on display illustrate the pivotal role of photography in changing the perception of African objects from artifacts to fine art.
Curated by photo historian and author Wendy Grossman and organized into four sections, the exhibition frames the objects and images within diverse contexts:
African Art, American-Style presents an overview of the embrace of African art in the United States in the first decades of the 20th century, shedding light on issues of identity, gender and colonialism influenced by the country’s history of slavery, segregation and disenfranchisement. African Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction demonstrates how advances in print technologies and the burgeoning of mass media played a critical role in transmitting the vogue for African art. Surrealism and Beyond explores how African and other non-Western objects functioned within the Surrealist world view. Fashioning a Popular Reception features the intersection of vanguard taste, fashion and interest in African art through works like the now-iconic photograph “Noire et blanche” (pictured here).
This exhibition will be on display through October 10, and will include a variety of related film screenings, lectures, and tours. All events are FREE and open to the public.
Funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
July 26, 2010 · Arts Advocacy, National Arts News
The U.S. House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $2.5 million increase for the National Endowment for the Arts in its 2011 spending bill. Chairman Jim Moran (D-VA), a longtime champion of arts and culture, proposed an increase for the agency despite a spending freeze on federal discretionary funds and a lower budget request by the administration. This increase would bring the NEA’s budget to $170 million. In his statement, Chairman Moran acknowledged that, “the increase recognizes the value we place, as a nation, on our artistic and cultural heritage.”
The NEA is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the NEA is the nation’s largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.
On Arts Advocacy Day 2010, a panel of witnesses spoke before the Appropriations Subcommittee calling for a significant increase in funding for the NEA. Video from the hearing is available here. Thanks to grassroots advocacy like this, we’re seeing great changes being made for the arts.
The 2011 Interior Appropriations bill will go to full committee and then to the full House of Representatives for consideration and we need to continue to put pressure on the Senate to match this funding level. Please send a message to your members of Congress telling them to support this funding increase.
Additionally, you can participate in Virginians for the Arts’ initiative to engage all 140 members of the state legislature in face-to-face dialog on the importance of public arts funding by visiting them online or setting up an appointment with an advocacy organizer.
July 22, 2010 · Arts Advocacy, Community Arts Events
Now’s your chance to apply for the 2010-2011 Works on Paper Artist Fellowships through the Virginia Commission for Arts!
Applications are due October 1, 2010.
These $5,000 fellowships are awarded to recognize creative excellence and to support the pursuit of artistic excellence in the discipline of works on paper. Legal residents of Virginia who are planning to stay in the state for the coming year can apply. If you’re an artist working in a different medium, don’t despair: VCA Fellowships are offered for a rotating list of disciplines, so check back next year!
The VCA is the state agency that supports the arts through funding from the Virginia General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. The Commission distributes grant awards to artists, arts and other not‑for‑profit organizations, educational institutions, educators and local governments, and provides technical assistance in arts management.
July 20, 2010 · PCA Special Events, Community Arts Events
The StoryLine Project culminates today at the Community Chalkboard on the Downtown Mall with the creation of a mural between 9am-12pm and a live storytelling event from 5-7pm. The images used in the mural and the narratives of the stories have all been collected from the project’s campers over the past two weeks of delving into the histories and people of Charlottesville’s Vinegar Hill neighborhood.
Please stop by if you’re interested in helping create the mural or telling a tale, but also feel free to just come watch the young artists and storytellers at work!
And while you’re downtown, be sure to head to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library to put your signature on the Right to Literacy Scroll. The goal is to get 1,000,000 signatures on the scroll as it travels across the country supporting the belief that all people have the right to literacy.
July 19, 2010 · Community Arts Events,
As part of this year’s Wintergreen Summer Music Festival, composer, painter and guitarist Wolfgang Seierl will be exhibiting paintings at Les Yeux du Monde, opening Tuesday, July 20 with a reception from 4:30-6:30pm and artist comments at 5:30pm.
Seierl will also perform some of his acoustic and electronic music compositions at a gallery concert on Saturday, July 24 at 3:00pm.
And while you’re at Les Yeux du Monde, be sure to take a peek at Sam Abell’s Amazonia exhibition if you haven’t already – it’s only up through the end of July!
July 15, 2010 · PCA Updates,
PCA is looking for arts-enthusiasts who are interested in volunteering to help maintain our comprehensive arts calendar for the Charlottesville area. Commitment entails managing calendar events for an average of an hour a week. Work can be done from home or in the PCA office in the McGuffey Art Center.
This is a great opportunity to gain volunteer experience and keep up with arts events in our area. As an added bonus, calendar volunteers earn a complimentary PCA Membership after six months of work!
If you’re interested, please contact PCA’s Communications Manager Sarah Lawson.
July 14, 2010 · Community Arts Events, PCA Special Events
StoryLine 2010 is currently underway!
The collaborative project involving mural design, creative storytelling, and a unique walking expedition for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation campers started this week.
Today, campers and volunteers were led on a walking tour of the Vinegar Hill neighborhood by local historians. Stops along the walk included The Jefferson School and The Paramount Theater, where campers were regaled with tales from the neighborhood’s past. As one of the historians, Scot French, noted: “We can tell the story of Vinegar Hill by looking at the buildings that still exist… the former doctor’s and dentist’s offices, the churches, the schools…”
The project, a collaboration between PCA, The Bridge PAI, The Thomas Jefferson Center For the Protection of Free Expression, and CCDC, will culminate on July 21st with the creation of a mural on the Community Chalkboard between 9am-12pm and a live outdoor storytelling event, from 5pm-7pm, with youth and adult storytellers. Community members are encouraged to stop by both of these events!
An exhibition of the project will open at CCDC on August 6th, continuing through the month.
Email us for more information and be sure to check Flickr for photo updates!
[photograph by Peggy Harrison]
July 13, 2010 · Community Arts Events,
Building Preservation and Heritage Conservation in Africa’s Largest City
Friday, July 16, 12:00pm
AIA Central Virginia and CCDC will host an exciting brown-bag lunch lecture from Brian Carter Broadus, an American architectural historian and architect whose long career is devoted to the conservation of historic architecture, the rehabilitation of older buildings, teaching, public advocacy, sustainable design, and preservation law.
Broadus will be presenting his studies of city form and development, as well as the contributions to this work from the citizens of many countries, first among them those of Egypt itself, who share his devotion to the lesser-known cultural resources constituting Egyptian city history. He will pay special attention to Islamic-era Egyptian environmental design. Since the monuments in Cairo are urban ones, he attempts to bring global attention – and in turn, economic and social benefits – to the poorer quarters in which the monuments sit.
For more info or to RSVP, please contact Elizabeth Rhodes.
