public art | WPA - Work Program Architects

Chrysler Museum of Art Public Sculpture

Written by WPA on October 30, 2020. Posted in Arts & Design District, Chrysler Museum, Civic, Downtown Norfolk, NEON, Norfolk, Public Art, Virginia, WPA, WPA Studio.

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

What do you hope people will take away from this work?

“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.

Happy Birthday! MEGA CAKE

Written by WPA on July 19, 2019. Posted in Burn, Event, Exhibit, Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Public Art, Structures, Uncategorized, Virginia Burners.

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

Transformation

Written by WPA on April 16, 2019. Posted in Blog, Burn, Downtown Norfolk, Educational, Event, Exhibit, Glass, Hampton Roads, Model, Norfolk, Public Art, Structures, Virginia Burners, WPA, WPA Gallery, WPA Studio.

Thank you to all of the artists and guest for a fantastic opening of TRANSFORMATION.
The exhibition will be on display until May 24^th at the WPA Gallery. The gallery is located in the historic Monticello Arcade at 208 E Plume Street, Norfolk, VA.

#transformation

#burningman

#tidewaterburners

Transformation

Written by WPA on April 12, 2019. Posted in Burn, Downtown Norfolk, Event, Exhibit, Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Public Art, Structures, Uncategorized, Virginia Burners, WPA, WPA Gallery, WPA Studio.

Opening April 12, 2019 6:30 – 9:30

Exhibition April 12- May 24, 2019

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Tidewater Burners, the local Burning Man Regional Community, in partnership with WPA Gallery presents Transformation, an exhibition in celebration of change. As the Virginia Burner group experiences its own form of growth and transformation, we want to recognize the transformation happening in the lives of those around us and in the communities to which we belong. Transformation is a juried group exhibition featuring artists from across the country that explore a wide range of topics related to change, with each artist contributing independent and unique ideas based on personal experience.

The artworks included in the show address physical and emotional change, as it relates to the life cycle including the undeniable impact of birth and death. They address changes in our environment, both through perception and reality. They capture society’s impact on personal growth and the effect of technology on human development. All of the works on view originate from a personal perspective yet are relatable on a much larger scale. They convey an understanding and acceptance that transformation is unavoidable. Exhibited together here, they have the potential to raise awareness and help us better understand ourselves, our relationship with others, and our relationship with our environment.

World Below the Brine

Written by WPA on December 19, 2018. Posted in Blog, Civic, Event, Hampton Roads, Public Art, Structures, Uncategorized, Urban Design, Virginia Beach.

BRITTON + SAUNDERS | WABI-SABI

Written by WPA on July 2, 2018. Posted in Blog, Downtown Norfolk, Event, Exhibit, Monticello Arcade, Norfolk, Public Art, WPA Gallery, WPA Studio.

BRITTON + SAUNDERS | WABI-SABI
Alternative Perspectives

presented by popblossom
208 East Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510
Showing: July 6—Sept. 1, 2018
Opening: 6:30-8:30pm, Friday, July 6th

popblossom is pleased to present, WABI-SABI (Alternative Perspectives). Please join us for the Opening Event, Friday, July 6th from 6:30 – 8:30pm at WPA Studio + Gallery, located in The Monticello Arcade in Downtown Norfolk, VA.

Sculptor May Britton and popblossom’s Lorrie Saunders have come together in a collaborative effort to explore exhibition as medium. Seeking an alternative to the traditional mode of art and exhibition-making, Britton and Saunders blurred the lines between artist and curator by eliminating prescribed or defined roles—their goal, to create a co-authored and co-produced exhibition as a single work of art. With creative energies fused and armed with a non-traditional approach, Britton and Saunders thought it fitting to construct an installation inspired by an unconventional point of view—they settled on wabi-sabi—the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature.

Turning to the natural world for inspiration as well as material—wild grape vine and flowers—Britton and Saunders’ installation reflects the rustic simplicity of the wabi-sabi aesthetic while acknowledging beauty in imperfection.

May Britton is a fine artist whose figurative and abstract sculptures and site-specific installations have been exhibited widely with many works held in both public and private collections in the US and abroad. A registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-500), yogic philosophy and teachings continue to influence her life and approach to art-making.

Former gallery owner Lorrie Saunders is the founder and director of popblossom. She has curated over 50 successful exhibitions of various media by artists of regional, national and international acclaim and whose works are held in public, private, and museum collections.

World Below the Brine

Written by WPA on June 25, 2018. Posted in Public Art, Rendering, Structures, Virginia Beach.

We’re very excited to announce that WPA, in association with Rhiza A+D and Piece of Cake Productions, has been selected by the City of Virginia Beach – Office of Cultural Affairs to design, fabricate, and install a piece of interactive temporary public art at Rudee Inlet Loop. Drawing inspiration from the vivid Walt Whitman poem of the same name, “World Below the Brine” will simulate the ever-changing shore, above and below the water’s surface by creating an canopy that both captures the wind and translates the sun into a “play of light through the water.” The piece consists of a tall steel framework anchored by four concrete benches and supporting a torqued stainless steel wire grid on which 200 painted metal paddles with cast glass counterweights will pivot in wave-like motion as breezes pass through. During the day, visitors will walk below the piece and be covered in moving diffused light and shadow. At night it will be illuminated with LED lighting that will respond to the movements of visitors, creating the visual of a floating anemone visible to passers-by from Atlantic Avenue and the nearby Rudee Inlet Bridge. “World Below the Brine” will debut this September and remain through the Spring of 2020. We are also excited to share that AP Art students from Virginia Beach City Public Schools will be lending a hand with fabrication and installation right at the beginning of their first semester, and that Lynch Mykins will be our structural engineering partner. Stay tuned here and on our Instagram @wpa_norfolk for updates on our progress.

$2.6M raised toward a new Elizabeth River Trail – complete with glow-in-the-dark paths

Written by WPA on April 6, 2018. Posted in Downtown Norfolk, ERT, Norfolk, Public Art, Rendering, Uncategorized, Wayfinding.

WPA is proud to support the Elizabeth River Trail as the Foundation welcomes our lead sponsors who will help transform the Elizabeth River Trail into the most iconic urban riverfront Trail in the country.

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