Sunday, September 27, 2009
Arts & Extras: Pick your pace for Roanoke's public art tour
Arts & Extras column
Mike Allen, arts columnist
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If you think downtown Roanoke's public art installations might be best appreciated at a brisk run rather than a leisurely stroll, "Run for the Arts" could be precisely the arts tour for you.
But then, if you'd prefer to walk, that's fine, too.
The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge and the Roanoke Arts Commission came up with the event as a way of raising awareness about the city's efforts to acquire public art, said council program director Krista Engl.
There are two parts to the event, a race and a walk, and both begin at the Roanoke Civic Center beside Rodney Carroll's huge abstract sculpture "In My Hands," which the city acquired on Oct. 28 using its Percent for Art fund. The fund sets aside a percentage of the city's capital projects budget for public art.
The four-mile route tracks along the Roanoke Valley Greenway behind the civic center and over the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Bridge into downtown.
Sculptures along the route include Betty Branch's "Fallen Firefighter" at the Virginia Museum of Transportation, the Mayors Monument in Elmwood Park, Mark Yale Harris' "Recoil" on Wells Avenue, Lee Badger's "Comma" at Wachovia Plaza on Salem Avenue and Gary Gresko's "Urban Trees" at the corner of Campbell Avenue and Third Street.
Though early registration is a little cheaper, event organizers will accept last-minute entrants. "You can wake up and just decide you want to come," Engl said.
The race begins at 9 a.m. on Oct. 17. The walk begins at 9:15 a.m. Registration is $25 until Oct. 7, children $10, pets $5. After Oct. 7, registration is $35. Funds raised by "Run for the Arts" benefit The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge.
Registration forms are available at the Arts Council or online at www.theartscouncil.org.
For more information call Engl at (540) 224-1203 or e-mail her at kengl@theartscouncil.org
Roanoke City Art Show to launch 30th festival
The Arts Council of the Blue Ridge has announced the selection of about 50 works by 43 artists for the 30th annual Roanoke City Art Show, which opens Thursday, the first day of the Roanoke Arts Festival.
The reception and awards ceremony will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. in the second floor galleries at Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke on opening day. This year's juror, Beth Grabowski, is an art professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The show will run through Nov. 8.
The Roanoke Arts Festival lasts through Oct. 5 and the arts council is selling $57.50 passes to all the events, including:
• "Soul of the Studio," a variety show Friday at Studio Roanoke on Campbell Avenue.
• "TIES," the Southwest Virginia Ballet's exploration of the history of the railroad through dance and pictures, Oct. 3 at Jefferson Center.
• Jazz artist Christian McBride & Inside Straight, performing Oct. 4 at Jefferson Center.
• The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's opening night with violinist Natasha Korsakova, Oct. 5 at the Roanoke Civic Center.
For information on festival passes, call 342-5790, ext. 4 or visit www.theartscouncil.org
The Extra section will have more coverage of Arts Festival events in the coming days, including my profile of Korsakova in Monday's paper.
Burning burdens
Floyd artist Kurt Steger's sculpture exhibit "Primal States & Portals" opened earlier this month at Perspective Gallery in Squires Hall at Virginia Tech. It will end in a ritual fire.
Steger asks people interested in participating in his "Burden Boat" project to write burdens they'd like to be rid of on a quarter sheet of paper. The paper can be placed inside the "Burden Boat" sculpture at the gallery, or sent to Steger at Burden Boat Project, c/o Kurt Steger, 244 Ivy Drive NE, Floyd VA 24091 or e-mailed to kurt@stegersculture.com.
Steger writes, "By placing our burdens together and releasing them together we come to the realization we are all in the same boat together. As we release our individual burdens we clear the path for working together to grow together and to heal our collective planetary burdens."
A sunflower seed will be planted in Virginia Tech's memorial garden for each burden released. The paper "burdens" will be burned at 3:33 p.m. Oct. 4.
Steger's exhibit ends Oct. 10. For more information call 231-4053 or visit www.uusa.vt.edu/artGallery/.
For more arts news, see my blog at blogs.roanoke.com/arts
