Not that I ever need an excuse to buy local art, but given the beautiful September weather, how could I resist a trip to Byrd Park for the Guerrilla Art show Terry Rea was hosting this afternoon?
When my dog and I arrived, Barker Field was crawling with canines so there was no shortage of company for him to play with.
And at the ripe old age of 14 and being a beagle, he really just wants to sniff and mark territory anyway.
As we strolled past the Dogwood Dell stage, I noticed a guy sitting on the edge of the stage reading a book.
Why hadn't I ever seen the potential of this excellent reading spot before?
Duly noted; I'll be back with my book.
By now we were hearing the sounds of the drum circle nearby.
Multiple drummers and a flutist were providing the accompaniment for hula dancers and anyone else moved by the music.
They had a prime space under a huge old shade tree not far from the stage.
It's clearly a very popular gathering; drummers were still joining the group over an hour later when the beagle and i finally left.
When we arrived at the Ha'Penny stage, it was alive with art: paintings, prints, posters, and ceramics.
Next to it, a man was carving the most beautiful walking sticks and he tried to talk me into one, but I'm still getting around fine on these two legs.
I took my time perusing Terry Rea's offerings because I've been wanting to add one of his pieces to my collection for a while.
I've known Terry for a decade at least; our relationship goes back to when I was an editor and he was writing for us.
Then there's also a fair number of conversational nights at the Bean in our shared history.
Terry is a walking encyclopedia of RVA and has had his hand in many pots over the years, so I always enjoyed being an audience for his stories.
After much vacillating, I finally chose an original piece called "Zism," which I plan to have framed and hang in the same room with my Brandon Peck and Adam Juresko.
It's about time I added some old-school local artistry to my walls.
It makes me happy that it's Terry who will provide the representation.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I can't get over how small Richmond is sometimes and how cool and interconnected we are on the Internet too. I was at that art show too, met FT. Rhea for the first time, hula hooped and played with the drum circle, and then went to chalk happy messages of guerilla goodness with Kindness Girl. Hi :)
ReplyDeleteI love the random closeness of this place, too. Meybe we'll meet up on another serendipitous occasion. Be sure to say hi...
ReplyDelete