The Visual Arts Center of Richmond was founded in 1963.
The Visual Arts Center of Richmond was founded in 1963. It started in a house in Church Hill as a place for artists to work and as an outlet for the neighborhood kids to do art. In 1985, it moved to its current spot on Main Street. In 2007 the space was completely renovated and is now a state-of-the-art facility, one of the best in Virginia.
They offer several art classes and this summer there is a large number of them to choose from: Clay, Digital Design Software, Painting + Drawing, Fiber, Glass, Metalwork + Jewelry, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Wood art + Furniture, Writing, Weekend Workshops and Fall Youth Classes.
Fact of the matter is, you don’t have to go to VCU Art School to be able to learn these skills. If you are interested in taking a class but don’t know which one is for you, the Visual Arts Center Spring Open, happening this Saturday, is a good way to figure that out.
“If you haven’t taken a VisArts class, you’re missing out,” said Hunter Hopcroft, owner of Harvest Grocery + Supply, who is helping to support this weekend’s Spring Open House. “The open house is a great way to figure out which creative outlet might be your calling.”
For the past few years, VisArts has been hosting two open house events a year, one in December and one in the spring.
“Our open houses invite the community to the vis arts center to learn about everything we have to offer,” said Marissa Hermanson, Communications Manager at the Visual Arts Center. “We want to connect with our community so this kind of our spring party to invite everyone in.”
This event is very family friendly there are several children’s activities. There is something for toddlers, elementary, middle and high school students. There is an array of adult activities as well so there is something for everybody.
The event is free, open to the public and all activities are free. It’s this Saturday, April 25th, from 1-5pm. Bombolini will be there donating free food and Center of the Universe will be selling beer.
Harvest Grocery + Supply are hosting the event and will have a farmer’s market set up there selling pasture-raised eggs, produce, local dairy and some of their Stock Provisions Bacon.
“VisArts came and approached us about the event. We like to think of ourselves as a neighborhood grocery and VisArts is one of the most important, and coolest, neighbors we have,” said Hopcroft. “We thought it would be a great way to support an organization that makes being in business here so fun.”
Even if you don’t to participate in any of the art activities you can watch the people and artists participate. There will also be an indoor/outdoor art sale where you can browse and buy crafts and artwork.
If you do participate in an activity or find something that really interests you, you can sign up for a summer class at the front desk. Summer classes start June 1st. Sign-ups for children and adult classes will be available during the event.
Most of the activities during the Spring Open are related to spring, just as their holiday open has a lot of activities related to the holidays. Some of the spring related activities are painting Richmond City Rain Barrels and making Seed Bombs.
One that’s not really related to spring is the Exquisite Corpse Drawing but it definitely sounds interesting.
Another cool one is Shibori Dyeing which is an ancient Japanese dyeing technique. You fold, twist and bunch together, bind it then dye it in paint, it’s similar to tie-dye but you use only one color.
“The cool thing about the event is a lot of our teachers come, students can come to hang out with their teachers and participate in some of the art activities,” said Hermanson. “Artists from the community come along as well so it’s kind of like a big community art bash.”
For a full list of activities and goings on, visit their Facebook event page.
The event is good for the family, a group of friends or even as a fun date day!
