DoorDash is partnering with the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association (VRLTA) to bring a $450,000 grant program for Virginia restaurants as they continue to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.
It was a cold and rainy day in December…
Construction is complete! A colorful 32-foot sculpture at the corner of Brambleton Avenue and Yarmouth Street, and just across from the York Street light rail stop, will announce Norfolk’s rich art culture, directing attention to the Chrysler Museum of Art and the adjacent NEON Arts District. The location will raise awareness of Norfolk arts to thousands of people passing daily through this busy corridor.
From a conversation with Artist Tommy Fox
“I honestly can’t anticipate what people might take away from the viewing the piece, but generally I hope it makes them happy. I also hope it engages the realization of a middle ground between pure realism (classical statuary) and pure abstraction (rusty steel I-beams welded at right angles). Somewhere between there is a lot of playfulness and room for material exploration. I would like the viewer to simultaneously think, ‘I could have thought of that,’ and ‘I have no idea how they built that thing.’ There is no right or wrong way to engage with it.”
See the blog post written by Thom White on the Chrysler Museum’s Torch: Stories from the Chrysler blog.
The APA (American Planning Association) Virginia Chapter has awarded the Dogwood Award — Virginia’s Citizen Planners of the Year to the Olde Huntersville Community.
WPA is excited to announce Mel will be receiving the Award for Distinguished Achievement from AIA Virginia, along with Al Cox, FAIA and Christopher Gordon, AIA.
The Elizabeth River Project is taking up position on the frontlines of the international quest to combat impacts of sea level rise on urban waterfront communities. WPA is proud to be designing the first facility on the East Coast intentionally to be constructed as a resilience model in the urban flood plain.
Work Program Architects is leading an effort to OpenNorfolk, as cities and towns around the world try to imagine living with COVID-19.
AIA Virginia’s Inform Magazine is back in action and WPA’s Thom White was interviewed for this issue’s Designer Q&A.
popblossom is pleased to present, A PUBLIC ACT, an exhibition of letterpress broadsides, posters and prints by RNR Showprint, showing Oct 18—December 24, 2019. The artists will be present at the Opening Event, Friday, October 18, 6:30-8:30pm.
By the 1990s, letterpress appeared to be at death’s door. A few decades later, a new crop of artists, designers and printers are resurrecting the centuries-old process. Among them are Ivanete Blanco and David Shields, founders of RNR Showprint, a collaborative letterpress and graphic design studio based in Norfolk, VA.
According to the Blanco and Shields, “A PUBLIC ACT presents the letterpress broadsides, posters, and prints of RNR Showprint. For nearly a century, letterpress printing was the embodiment of the loud public voice of American culture and commerce. The imposing typographic impressions made possible with wood type demanded attention as they recorded and legitimized our collective wishes, ambitions and fears. The work of RNR emerges specifically from the traditions and vocabulary of the letterpress show print, advertisements for performances of all varieties, from carnivals to tent revivals, medicine shows to wrestling matches, and particularly, concerts and dances. The exhibition is an exchange of public dispatches, the product of a traditional working print shop giving form to contemporary expressions while bending tradition to examine the old weird America portrayed in the roots music first captured during the reign of letterpress.”
The MEGA CAKE’s journey to Burning Man is getting close to it’s fiery conclusion! Fresh off its successful test build at the Hermitage Museum and Gardens, the 50′ tall sculpture has just been listed in Forbes Magazine as on of the “Best of the Best” to watch for in 2019.
From the article: MEGA CAKE is a large scale interactive sculpture of a 4-tier birthday cake that will serve as both a singular piece of art and a place to explore and discover art within. According to the artists, “We are a diverse group of misfits who came together due to a shared love of teamwork and crazy ideas. Each of us has a different combination of reasons for traveling to the Black Rock desert to spend a week laboring to bring a 50-foot wooden cake to life, only to watch it burn shortly thereafter.”
Architect Thom White of Norfolk’s WPA has designed a 12-sided wooden structure resembling a 4-tiered birthday cake. Art glass embellishments representing the animals of the Chinese zodiac and the constellations of the western zodiac will catch the light of the sun and sparkle like sugar in the distance. Plywood panels line each faceted tier and have perforations which recall cake icing embellishments while letting wind pass through. Flexible LED light strips are draped along the top of each level, adding to the icing motif. A propane-fueled “poofer” on the top-most tier will provide flame effects that will fire off at least once per hour at night.
“Our mission has evolved since work began over a year ago. At first, the Cake was thought of primarily as a place to gather, play, and observe Burning Man’s Black Rock City. Then, as the work progressed and construction began, we realized the piece is a singular work of art with vast potential for embedded meaning. MEGA CAKE facilitates a journey through the distinct moments that people encounter along the arc of one’s lifetime.”
Installations: The Best of the Best
Forbes Magazine article Jul 13, 2019
