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Artsline - Meaningful history, music and art to inspire your week!

Relilience Wisdom Skill Maymont Domestic Staff
Maymont offers an oral history of the domestic staff who worked at the Maymont Mansion during the Gilded Age and Jim Crow era, followed by a virtual tour. See below for details. (Image used with permission.)

Artsline: Virtual Edition || February 21, 2022

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain.” ~Author unknown

As the rain comes down this week preparing the ground for the coming Spring, what can we do to enjoy the pattering drops, seek out the shadows, and prepare ourselves for the coming season? Seeds sprout in darkness – what within us can we nurture with a bit of contemplation and a lot of art. This week there are great opportunities to seek out what nourishes our souls. Check out the possibilities below!

To list your events on Artsline, go to vpm.org/artsline.


1. FOREVER ELLA WITH DESIREE ROOTS AND FRIENDS
Music, Theatre
Wednesday, February 23, 7pm
The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, 2880 Mountain Road, Glen Allen, 23060
$38

Ella Fitzgerald, “The First Lady of Song,” delighted audiences around the world for over 60 years, sold over 40 million albums, and received numerous awards and honors. The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen brings award-winning Jazz singer and actor, Desiree Roots to perform Fitzgerald in this production that she wrote directed under the music direction of James Gates. Roots will sing Fitzgerald’s most noted songs accompanied by some of the region’s most acclaimed Jazz musicians. Purchase tickets online.


2. GREGORY SAMANTHA ROSENTHAL | LIVING QUEER HISTORY
History, Literary Arts
Thursday, February 24, 6pm
Online and at The Library of Virginia, 800 E Broad Street, Richmond, 23219

As a part of the Weinstein Author Series, join the Library of Virginia for a talk by history professor and author Dr. Gregory Samantha Rosenthal on their book Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City, which explores an LGBTQ community in Roanoke, Virginia, a small city on the edge of Appalachia. Interweaving historical analysis, theory, and memoir, Rosenthal tells the story of their own journey—coming out and transitioning as a transgender woman—in the midst of working on a community-based history project that documented a multigenerational southern LGBTQ community. Based on over 40 interviews with LGBTQ elders, Living Queer History explores how queer people today think about the past and how history lives on in the present. A book signing will follow the talk. Register online to attend this free event in person. Streaming is also available on the Library’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.


3. 4TH FRIDAY ART SHOWS AND OPENING RECEPTION
Visual Art
Friday, February 25, 6pm reception
Exhibit through March 19
Art Works, 320 Hull Street, Richmond, 23224

In February Michael O’Neal, teacher, scholar, and master painter will present New Works in Art Works’ main gallery. Carolyn Pitts will exhibit a new body of work, The End in Mind, a colorful and delightful twist on the concept of Memento Mori (Latin for remember your death). And Corinne Schofield will display Folds: Small Images, intricate color pencil drawings of the many facets of folds. Did you know that March13th – 19th is Virginia Flood Awareness Week? The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) asked us to invite artists to exhibit artwork that captures the devastation and results of floods and high water. DCR will provide educational information on flood awareness. Free and open to the public. No registration required.


4. ACOUSTIC CONCERT SERIES: THOMPSON, SUMMEROUR & SELBY
Music
Thursday, February 24, 7pm
Perkinson Center for the Arts & Education, 11810 Centre Street Chester, 23831

Chesterfield County Public Library brings Jay Summerour on harmonica and Eric Selby on percussion from Little Bit a Blues (minus Warner Williams) and world-class acoustic blues artist Billy Thompson to perform their piedmont style acoustic blues. Register online for this free event.


5. FANTASTIC FOLKLORE: A STORY-BASED CRAFTING EVENT
History, Storytelling, Crafts
Saturday, February 26, 10am
Agecroft Hall & Gardens, 4305 Sulgrave Rd, Richmond, VA 23221, USA
$10

Have you ever wondered where stories like Robin Hood and King Arthur came from?  Join Agecroft Hall & Gardensfor a morning filled with storytelling and folktale crafts!  Kids ages 7-11 will learn about brave knights and nasty beasts as they complete three make-and-take crafts. They will also do a scavenger hunt through the museum. Purchase tickets online.


6. A NEW ERA IN BUILDING: BLACK EDUCATIONAL ACTIVISM IN GOOCHLAND COUNTY, 1911-1932
History
Thursday, February 24, Noon
Online and at Virginia Museum of History & Culture, 428 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard, Richmond, 23220

The Virginia Museum of History & Culture brings Brian Daugherity and Alyce Miller to analyze community efforts to increase educational access and opportunity for African Americans in Goochland County, Virginia, in the early twentieth century, as well as the connections between this advocacy and other communities across the state and throughout the South. The story, told using various archival records and oral history interviews, demonstrates the power and agency of rural Black southern communities during the Jim Crow era. Register online to attend this free event in person. Streaming is also available on the VMHC Facebook page and YouTube channel.


7. GELLMAN ROOM CONCERT: LYRICS & LAUGHTER IN THE LIBRARY
Music
Saturday, February 26, 2pm
Main Branch, Richmond Public Library, 101 East Franklin St., Richmond, 23219

The Richmond Public Library brings the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir to sing Lyrics & Laughter in the Library! Invite your young and young-at-heart friends to enjoy this performance by GRCC's training choirs under the direction of Crystal Jonkman and Pete Curry. Free and open to the public. No registration required.


8. MICHAEL PURYEAR - FURNITUREMAKER
Visual Art
Tuesday, February 22, 6pm
Online

Furniture maker Michael Puryear describes his journey synthesizing various parts of art, culture, philosophy, community, and identity into beautiful studio furniture. Puryear will share his personal and professional experiences that culminate in his work and openness towards the art of making. Please join The Branch Museum in welcoming Puryear to discuss the many intersections in his creative space. Register online for this free event.


9. THE WRITING SHOW – USING FEWER WORDS FOR BIGGER IMPACT
Literary Art
Tuesday, February 22, 6pm
Online
$12 Members | $17 Non-members | $5 Students

James River Writers collaborates with the Virginia Screenwriters Forum to bring you this special Writing Show. Economy of words is essential for screenplays, stage plays, and poetry, and it can enhance the readability of other fiction and non-fiction works as well. This conversation brings panelists together who regularly choose fewer words for deeper impact—including writers from the screenwriting, microfiction, and poetry communities—to answer your questions about getting the most bang for your writing buck. Register online.**


10. RESILIENCE, WISDOM AND SKILL: A LIFE OF SERVICE AT MAYMONT AND BEYOND
History
Friday, February 25, 10am
Online

Learn what it was like to work at Maymont during the Gilded Age and Jim Crow eras as historical interpreters portray monologues based on the oral histories of the domestic staff. Then take a virtual tour with a historical educator to explore the Maymont Mansion and grounds from the perspective of the African Americans who were in service here 100 years ago.  Register online by February 24 for this free event. Advance registration is required.


11. A BRASS AND ORGAN SPECTACULAR
Music
Sunday, February 27, 3pm
All Saints Episcopal Church, 8787 River Road, Richmond, 23229

Join All Saints Church organists Daniel Stipe & Scott Hayes, as they join some of the region's finest brass in a heroic concert of music for organ and brass. Admission is free, donations will be accepted. No registration required.


If you are an arts or cultural organization with lectures, exhibitions, performances, or even book readings, submit your events to Artsline  here

If you are an artist or an arts or cultural organization in need of resources and tools, check out the  list of local and national resources from Richmond CultureWorks.

The Library of Virginia and the Virginia Museum of History & Culture are sponsors for VPM.

**VPM employee, Terry Menefee Gau, is the moderator for James River Writers February, 2022 Writing Show.

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