Sunday, August 29, 2010
Arts & Extras: Link exhibit chronicles life of those in poverty
Arts & Extras column
Mike Allen, arts columnist
Recent columns
- 'Ophelia' marks Black History Month
- Art Council's updated website reflects mission to be 'inclusive'
- Metal sculptor who died too young gets retrospective
Arts&Extras blog
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A woman, identified only as Christa, plays with her two small daughters, her double mastectomy scars and burns from radiation treatment visible.
In another image, she sits on the floor with a handkerchief over her shaved scalp, bursting into tears as she reads a medical bill.
These images from Charlottesville photographer Billy Hunt are just a sampling of the moving scenes that comprise "Through Different Eyes: The Faces of Poverty in Virginia," a traveling exhibit from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts that's on display at the O. Winston Link Museum through Oct. 1.
In 2005, the nonprofit Virginia Poverty Law Center, which advocates for low-income families, held a juried statewide photography competition that ultimately produced the exhibit, which contains about 50 works from 15 artists documenting poverty in 21st century Virginia.
Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Collection educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, curated the exhibition. He has said that the photographers share images that are about dignity, hope and sometimes simple acceptance.
He noted in an interview Wednesday that in 2005, when the show was assembled, "The economy was buzzing along pretty well," and so the intent then was to raise awareness of how the indigent were overlooked. "None of the stereotypes you have about poverty are necessarily true."
The goal was also to generate discussion about what terms such as "poverty" and "working poor" really mean. "We've had a lot of community discussions that have come out of it."
After the recession hit in 2008, the issues addressed by "Through Different Eyes" have become even more high profile, Allison said.
Some of the photographs come with stories. In one, "Guyda" by Chris Hancock, a woman with Alzheimer's disease is seen peering out a window in a panoramic view that includes her bed and the many medical accessories she needs. The accompanying text describes how she briefly focused to ask the photographer, "When am I going home?"
And other images simply stand alone. One of the most striking, Scott Neville's "James Roane Cleans Baptismal Pod At Church," uses reflections to superimpose a painting of a religious scene with a maintenance man at his labors.
Allison praised Link Museum director Kim Parker's arrangement of the exhibit in the venue's Trackside Lobby gallery. "The opportunity to have that show down there was just incredible."
To accompany "Through Different Eyes," the Link Museum is also displaying a selection of photographs from the "Invisible Inner City" exhibit by Roanoke Times photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis, first showcased in the Art Museum of Western Virginia in 1999. The photos, part of the Taubman Museum of Art's collection, are on display in the Scioto Gallery.
Admission $5, senior citizens $4.50, children 3-11 $4. For more information, call 982-5465 or visit www.linkmuseum.org.
Extreme sports films
The Banff Radical Reels Film Festival returns to Roanoke next month.
Radical Reels originates in Canada, and it's composed of film entries from around the world involving extreme sports, including skiing, climbing, kayaking, parachute jumping, snowboarding and mountain biking.
The first Roanoke showing happened at Mill Mountain Theatre, but the sold-out show prompted organizers to seek a larger venue this year, according to a Roanoke Regional Partnership news release.
This year's festival will take place Sept. 15 at Jefferson Center in Roanoke. Proceeds from the $13 tickets will benefit the center.
The film starts at 7 p.m. The movie festival will be preceded at 5 p.m. by an Outdoor Expo, where stores and volunteer groups will exhibit their wares and services.
For more information, call 345-2550 or visit www.roanokeoutside.com/radicalreels.
Classical puppets
Here's a whimsical event taking place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Sweet Briar College, in which marionettes will "play" and perform to masterworks by composed Beethoven, Vivaldi, Strauss and Copland.
Called "Life in Motion," the program involves 13 short skits taken from everyday life acted out by The Cashore Marionettes, puppets designed by artist Joseph Cashore. In the course of his 30-year career, he developed a control mechanism that allowed his marionettes to appear more lifelike, including a puppet that appears to realistically play every note of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' "The Lark Ascending" on a violin.
The show is aimed as much at adults as children, with a suggestion that it's more appropriate for ages 9 and up.
Tickets are $10; senior citizens $7; students $5; children younger than 12 free. Tickets can be purchased by calling (434) 381-6120, e-mailing boxoffice@sbc.edu or visiting www.lynchburgtickets.com.
And if you miss them, the marionettes will be at the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 29. Call 951-4771 or visit www.thelyric.com for details.
On the Arts blog
Washington and Lee University will be hosting an exhibit in September documenting the creation of Lexington-based artist Cy Twombly's ceiling mural at the Louvre. For more details and other arts news, visit blogs.roanoke.com/arts.
