What Does This Emerging Arts Community Have That is working and What Else Does It Need To Earn “Arts Destination” Status?

By Brian Counihan

Roanoke certainly had a remarkable year for the arts in 2008.  The opening of the new Taubman Museum of Art was of course a great highlight even though it swallowed up the second annual Roanoke Arts Festival, the Blue Ridge Arts Council’s 4040Fest Arts Explosion, and the Roanoke Arts Commission’s outdoor sculpture exhibition AIR (Art in Roanoke). The museum’s opening weekend turned Roanoke into a carnival of stilt-walkers, puppet shows, and live-arts that blended together into one great party. All the organizers of these events (including Rick Salzberg, Susan Jennings, and Laura Rawlings) deserve a lot of credit for adding to the buzz of excitement Roanoke’s 20,000 (or more) visitors and residents experienced in those few days last November. We can only hope the third Roanoke Arts Festival, scheduled for the first week of October this year, will recapture the same energy.

This may seem the place where we could list all the best museums, galleries, artists, night clubs and pizzerias that Roanoke has to offer, but what use is a list without knowing how the list was chosen, who wasn’t chosen and what reason is be given for why didn’t they make the grade? So instead I would like to acknowledge the people, places and events that in my opinion are playing a large part in the transformation of Roanoke into a significant cultural hub.

The Emerging Artists series hosted by the Main Roanoke Library made a major impact on the Roanoke art scene all year. This is especially remarkable because the Library doesn’t really have an exhibition space, just a little corner upstairs and a few wall partitions.  Undaunted by these shortcomings River Laker, the Library’s Coordinator for these events, manages to give a little known artist a taste of the big time every month.  He ensures that their work is excellently promoted in a variety of media from Facebook to posters, that the artist and community are treated to an opening reception with an outstanding array of catering possibilities and accompanied by musical talent that is equally deserving of the attention. The program is always well attended, breaking all records when it hosted the Wright Kids in November: with so many attending (over 400) that the library had to shut its doors and turn people away. Perhaps the real secret to the Emerging Artists success is the extra panache that River Laker gives to each event, like providing live snakes, break-dancers, gyroscoping dancers, and wacky home videos. The events are always fun and of course, there is always the possibility that you might get discovered!

The Water Heater on 5th near Elm is also a valuable new addition. This intimate performance space is ideal for experimental musicians, modern dance performances, and community building activities. The Water Heater is also used on a regular basis by “Collab Fest,” a diverse group of people interested in collaborative intra-disciplined art projects. This group meets every other Wednesday evening to host performance art events, present collaborative projects and challenge one another to explore new media ranging from mail art, visual poetry and choreography to noisemaking in the spirit of Surrealism or Dada. The space is also available for rental and has been used by high school rock bands and national touring bands alike as a venue.  Although it has hosted its share of impressive national acts such as Paleface from Brooklyn, the Water Heater is at its best when it offers even the most unskilled individuals the opportunity to experience and enjoy the rush that comes from participating in the arts.

Six new galleries opened in downtown Roanoke this year all of which offer something different for the community. Gala, Wilson Hughes, and Patton Phillips have opened on Campbell Avenue and have led the charge in trying to establish the far end of Campbell (between 1st and 2nd  Streets) as an “arts district.” The artists who have opened these studio galleries work in very different ways and in a variety of media from whimsical steel sculpture, assemblage photography and painting. Generally, they exhibit their most recent work and especially encourage visitors to ask questions and comment on their work. Fleda A Ring and Signature 9 have opened just off Jefferson within a block of each other on Kirk and Church.  Both were already well established in other locations and represent well-known local artists.  Finally, Dialog also opened on Kirk late last year with little fanfare, just down the block from Signature 9.

Ed Dolinger’s Dialog stands out from the other galleries in Roanoke in one significant way: it will primarily focus on solo exhibitions from artists all over the United States.  This is the standard for commercial galleries all around the world but we have not seen a gallery of this sort in Roanoke until now because it does not come without some financial risk. A solo show by artists from outside the region offers the Roanoke area a couple of important things. First, when a gallery shows only one artist at a time it gives the viewer and potential collector the opportunity to really get to know the artist’s work. When you can see several years of work by an artist in one place you can actually see the development of the artist’s ideas and themes and get a sense of the variety in media and scale in which the artist works. In short, you get to see if the artist is consistently good, and if they are getting better. Everyone wins when art is seen and purchased as a thing of substance rather than merely as a decorative object. Secondly, solo shows help to establish consistency in local art prices, because artists who exhibits regionally or nationally must keep their prices the same wherever they exhibit. That means local artists, buyers and galleries can assess the value of artworks relative to these regional standards. The downside for the gallery is that if the artist’s work doesn’t sell locally that will mean the gallery will have no income for an entire month. It will take some courage (and luck) to survive but what is art or life without risk?

Roanoke is also fortunate to have a number of local universities and third level institutions that have recently become more actively involved in the regional arts. Roanoke College’s Olin Gallery and Virginia Western Community College provide regional artists with a prestigious and professional venues to exhibit their work. This is a vital service in the development of local talent.  The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, on the other hand will offer the community a scholarly perspective on national trends that will inform and stimulate our regional arts.

Now that we have reflected on the high points of Roanoke’s past year in the arts, and counted its blessings we would be remiss if we didn’t find room for improvement in the next year. Here’s my wish list for 2009: regional art reviews, an alternative exhibition space, a community arts initiative, and an audience proud of its homegrown culture. Why? Because these are the mortar that binds the brick that Roanoke has in place already.

#1… I know the suggestion of having art reviews may seem as ridiculous as calling for mimes on every corner—and that the common consensus is that nobody wants them, no one will read them and they are inherently and offensively elitist. But, art reviews are important in several ways: first to the professional artist’s career. The review records an event or happening, and offers a comment on the artwork’s significance or effectiveness – and all artists need to know that someone is paying attention and will notice when they push themselves to a higher level. We have many accomplished artists who live in the region but do not exhibit here in part because there will be no art review. Wouldn’t it be nice to see the best our area has to offer without having to go to D.C., New York or L.A.? Second, just look at most other regional calendar of events and you’ll have a hard time finding anything other than gallery events. Hundreds of such events choke the listings pages and yet tell us nothing about the art; in fact many of the listings even repeat the exact same information month after month. One short review would do more for promoting all those gallery events than two pages of gallery listings, by focusing on the new and praising the innovative. That’s why I was excited to learn that my wish list #1 has been answered. As of 2009 myScoper.com will begin providing art reviews courtesy of Hollins University art students for area exhibitions as well as exhibitions at the Hirshhorn in DC.

#2… An alternative arts space would be a dream come true for many area artists. Where commercial galleries need to sell artwork to pay the rent, alternative arts spaces generally pay their bills through fundraising and grants for educational and community projects. Of course raising the funds to support this sort of arts space is the problem, and why Roanoke does not have one right now. But the advantage of an alternative space is that artists can exhibit interesting and important work without turning it into a commodity for sale. Alternative arts spaces are also where the tires meet the asphalt in the community arts, as much of their fund comes from demonstrating that they provide a service to the community, alternative art space are often the place where a community can be engaged directly in art projects and art.

#3… An arts scene is the pulse of a city. It is how we explain who we are and our culture to others, and learn about ourselves. We must be always open to changing our understanding of our local culture, embrace the differences in our communities and celebrate uniqueness of our region if we are to remain strong. The alternative is that our culture will continue to be caricatured and marginalized by others.

This article also appeared in the January 2009 issue of Bella/Vennue Magazine.