2007 Visual Arts Center Annual Report (pdf)
Press
Letter from Jo
I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world — Stanley Kunitz
Usually, people think of art as a product – a painting, a photograph, a poem. After all, the word art is a noun. At the Visual Arts Center, however, we focus more on the experiential process of art. Since our earliest years on Church Hill, our driving energy has been the creative process – the active imagination in conceptualizing art, the hands-on participation in making art and the thoughtful, analytical process of responding to art.
It’s hard not to sense the buzz of the creative process when you enter our newly transformed building. From the magnificent new entrance gates, designed by metal sculptor Maurice Beane, to the spacious new studio workshops and True F. Luck Gallery, the facility, more than ever, exudes the energy of a center for creativity. Step through just about any doorway to a workshop and you’ll see that energy in high gear – students, from nine to ninety, shaping, turning, pounding, carving, drawing, painting and imagining.
But this creative vibrancy goes beyond the gates of the Visual Arts Center. While we were planning and implementing our renovation, we witnessed a continued and growing renaissance of our own neighborhood as new art galleries, restaurants, residences and retail shops began populating uptown Richmond on Main Street. The creative community, a term author Richard Florida popularized several years ago, has never been more visible or vibrant than in our very own neighborhood.
As you review this newsletter, you’ll see the early results of the enhanced capacity created by our renovation. We’re expanding existing programs, creating new ones, and, most importantly, reaching a wider audience. And as you read, I hope you’ll pay special attention to “Art got me thinking . . . ,”an interview with Richmond student Wilmer Wilson by his art teacher and VACR Board member Aimee Joyaux. Wilmer, one of five gold winners in the 2008 National Scholastic Art and Writing program, will go to Carnegie Hall in June to receive his award and $10,000 college scholarship. Wilmer’s accomplishments and his words are an inspiration to us all. He reminds us so compellingly that creativity expands our thinking and our vision, allowing us to see the world in all its complexity and all its beauty. Thank you, Wilmer.
And thanks to all of you for your sustained support and belief in the Visual Arts Center and its mission to open the gates to creativity to the community at large.
