KATHERINE TZU-LAN MANN | VEGETABLE VALLEY

Written by WPA on . Posted in Downtown Norfolk, Event, Exhibit, Norfolk, Public Art, Uncategorized, WPA Studio.

presented by popblossom
208 East Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510
Showing: Oct 12—Dec 28, 2018
Opening: 6:30-8:30pm, Friday, Oct 12
 
popblossom is pleased to present, Vegetable Valley, recent works by Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann. Please join us for the Opening Event, Friday, October 12 from 6:30 – 8:30pm at WPA Studio + Gallery, located in The Monticello Arcade in Downtown Norfolk, VA.
 

With roots in the traditions of Chinese landscape painting, DC based artist, Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann’s paintings and installations evolve a fantastic, abstract vision of the natural world. Monumentally scaled, Mann chooses to paint her lush, densely patterned landscapes on paper, a tradition in Chinese painting. Mann regards paper as “a medium of vulnerability and expansiveness, susceptible to crease and tear as well as to collage and collation;” these qualities are palpable throughout her large exuberant compositions, layered with paint and paper and brimming with motifs of vining ribbons and delicate flora entwined with broad meandering bands of color.

Katherine Tzu-Lan Mann is a graduate of Browne University in Providence, RI and the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD where she received her MFA in 2009. She is the recipient of numerous awards and residencies. Her paintings have been widely exhibited in the US and abroad and are held in private and public collections. Mann is currently an instructor at the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Imaginings!

Written by WPA on . Posted in Blog, Downtown Norfolk, Educational, Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Selden Arcade, Uncategorized.

A ribbon cutting on August 30th will realize the last piece of an exciting concept for downtown Norfolk’s Selden Market.

Already a vibrant place for up-and-coming entrepreneurs to develop and test new ideas in retail, food and art, the historic space once known as the Selden Arcade now boasts the Slover Makerspace, where anyone with a Norfolk library card can manufacture dreams. The space is outfitted with eight 3D printers, a 75-watt laser cutter, 17 Singer sewing machines and several soldering stations. The Makerspace is adjacent to Slover Library.

WPA congratulates the Slover on the space. We are excited and proud to have been a part of the process to design this place for new imaginings!

Spreading the Word

Written by WPA on . Posted in AIA, Blog, Convention, Educational, Event, Uncategorized, Urban Design.

Sometimes we are so focused on our own practices and communities that we don’t stop to think that there may be worthwhile messages to share with others.

Practitioners who traveled to CNU 26: Savannah (Congress of the New Urbanism) in May learned about Norfolk’s Vision 2100. A multi-disciplinary team led and in-depth discussion on efforts to address sea-level rise and resilience to protect the city’s sweeping tidal landscape from recurrent flooding. The Ohio creek Watershed project, funded by a grant as a result of the National Disaster Resilience Competition, was featured. Presenters included Stephanie Bothwell, Urban and Landscape Design, Washington, D.C., Ann P. Stokes, Ann P. Stokes Landscape Architects, Norfolk, and WPA’s Mel Price.

WPA then headed to New York City for the AIA National Convention, June 21-23. WPA helped make eight videos for the Small Firm Exchange, dealing with such issues as attracting and retaining talent.

Summer Feature: JT’s Camp Grom

Written by WPA on . Posted in Blog, Camp Grom, Civic, Event, Hampton Roads, New Construction, Uncategorized, Virginia Beach.

If we were to write an essay, “My Summer Vacation,” a highlight would be attending the opening of JT’s Camp Grom on June 10. This new Virginia Beach adventure park was created especially for wounded veterans and their families, the families of fallen military heroes, and children and adults with disabilities.

This unique experience, a vision of the YMCA of South Hampton Roads and the Virginia Gentlemen Foundation, is a place for fun, healing and hope, allowing those in wheelchairs and with other special needs to engage in a full range of outdoor activities. WPA is proud and honored to have been part of the team helping to bring this idea to life.

Located on a 70-acre parcel of land on Prosperity Road, the camp includes a Welcome Center, Wellness Center, Amphitheater, Cafeteria and Tiki Café, lake with fishing pier, Adventure Ropes Course, and an Aquatic Center featuring a Splash Park and Flowrider – surfing/body boarding attraction.

WPA designed the Welcome Center and Canopy Connections, contributing more than $130,000 in pro-bono design services to the project.

The 4,000-square-foot Welcome Center houses offices for the YMCA and Virginia Gentlemen Foundation, a boardroom, reception area, first aid center, and locker rooms.

MING YING HONG | CONDITIONS OF UNCERTAINTY

Written by WPA on . Posted in Blog, Downtown Norfolk, Event, Exhibit, Norfolk, Public Art, Uncategorized, WPA Gallery, WPA Studio.

MING YING HONG | CONDITIONS OF UNCERTAINTY
presented by popblossom
208 East Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510
Showing: Feb 2—March 16, 2018
Opening: Friday, Feb 2, 6:30—8:30pm

Ming Ying Hong’s beautifully rendered charcoal and graphite drawings explore the limits of our knowledge and experience by questioning the way we define and categorize states of being. Her bodily forms—masculine and feminine, dead and alive, aggressive and delicate—her explosions—teetering on the razor-thin edge of dissolution and whole—are common themes throughout her work. According to Hong, by “combining these seemingly contradictory elements, opposites which once defined each other overlap, ultimately dismantling the system in which one definition is privileged over another.” Through this integration of forces, Hong encourages us to examine the in-between spaces of these binaries or areas of uncertainty. As a result, a more complex spectrum of experience emerges.

Ming Ying Hong is an interdisciplinary artist based in Norfolk, VA. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and in 2015, received her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She has exhibited in galleries and institutions throughout the United States, including the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis and Ice Box Gallery in Philadelphia. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, most recently in MANIFEST Gallery’s International Drawing Annual 11. Currently, Hong teaches in the Art Department at Old Dominion University.

BOYER + VITALE | FADED BY THE SUN

Written by WPA on . Posted in Blog, Event, Exhibit, Norfolk, Public Art, Uncategorized, WPA Studio.

BOYER + VITALE | FADED BY THE SUN
Presented by popblossom
208 E Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510
Showing: Nov 17—Dec 31, 2017
Opening: 6:30—8:30pm, Friday, Nov 17

Like the physical universe in which we live—immeasurable, mysterious, unfathomable—so too the personal universe each of us inhabits and like the physical realm, we have an innate longing to understand it. In their two-man exhibition, FADED BY THE SUN, Hampton Boyer and John Vitale explore the personal universe, contemplating the intimate relationship between consciousness and reality as well as pondering one’s own existence and the largeness of it.

As a source of inspiration and a vehicle for filtering ideas, Boyer and Vitale turned to National Geographic Magazine.  Illustrational in style, Boyer’s compositions hint at imagery found in the magazine, albeit with a bit of humor and a pop-culture twist. His vibrantly hued paintings float on bright yellow walls, evoking the warmth and light of the sun as well as giving nod to the yellow border of the magazine’s iconic cover. For Vitale, the magazine itself becomes medium as well as representation of the ineffable nature of existence as each work’s layered composition emerges from the pages of a single issue of a bound magazine. Vitale notes that there is an element of time in the numbered pages, “individuals dissolving into environments while seeming to play with the ideas of experience and attachment” all the while moving forward in a state of wonderment.

Hampton Boyer is a Hampton Roads based artist whose works have been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions. A self-taught artist, Boyer’s artistic endeavors manifest in illustrational style graphics, vibrant paintings and youthful murals. In 2014, Boyer cofounded 670 Gallery in Hampton, VA where he served as creative director. In addition to his gallery experience, Boyer has instructed graphic design courses at Hampton University as well as working with the Contemporary Arts Network. Since closing 670 Gallery, Boyer’s focus has been his artistic practice as well as honing his curatorial skills with Thank You Gallery in Norfolk, VA.

John Vitale is a Minneapolis, MN based visual artist. His work has been exhibited in New York, Miami, Chicago, Brooklyn, Portland, Minneapolis, Baltimore, Romania, and Scotland. A graduate of Parson’s School of Design, Vitale has worked as a published and exhibited photographer, a three dimensional designer directing creative projects for Louis Vuitton, Tommy Hilfiger, and Stella McCartney as well as received funding from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to publish zines. After briefly curating pop-up events for VA MOCA, Vitale founded the Nobile & Amundsen Gallery in Norfolk, VA which closed in 2015. He is a practicing Vipassana meditator and works as an EMT on an ambulance.

UPDATE: NEON Community Open Space Charrette

Written by WPA on . Posted in Charrette, Civic, Downtown Norfolk, Event, NEON, Uncategorized, Wayfinding.

 

WPA led a well-attended public design charrette to determine the future use of the Cofer Lot in the NEON District at the Hurrah Players’ Copeland Center on September 19th.

The Cofer Lot, at the location of a demolished former auto dealership, is poised to be designated as much-needed open space in the District positioned in a perfect spot on West Olney Road midway between the offerings on Granby Street and the Chrysler Museum.

Some charrette participants suggested a public art space with opportunities for sculpture and performance art. Others desired a tranquil green oasis welcome to all, perhaps with a playground for small children. Voices for the skateboarding community advocated for a safe and welcoming place for sport. The challenge is to accommodate multiple uses in a small footprint, and participants seemed open to discussion and compromise.

TONIGHT: The results of the Charrette and next steps for the site will be presented at this month’s NEON District Committee Meeting, at the Push Comedy Theater in the NEON at 5:30 pm. 763 Granby Street, Norfolk.

400 Granby Street • Suite 301 • Norfolk, VA 23510 • Studio: (757) 227-5310

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