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Learning from BeijingDance/LDTX

By the time contemporary Chinese dance group BeijingDance/LDTX graced our stage in November, they’d already spent tons of time with Virginia Tech students! One of the greatest aspects of working with this presenting arts organization is the opportunity to connect our community members (from the Virginia Tech community as well as the wider Blacksburg community and beyond) to the artists that come through the center.

We have so much fun throughout the year, and we love being able to extend all the fun to you, too!

BeijingDance/LDTX hosted two master classes with area dance students–sharing tips and tricks of the trade in both contemporary and folk dance.

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The photos above are from the contemporary dance master class, while the photos below are from the folk dance class.

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From warm up to cool down, it was such an incredible opportunity to learn directly from these masters of their craft. But during their visit to Blacksburg, the BeijingDance/LDTX dancers had a little down time, too, and enjoyed Friday tea with honors students.

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And, of course, any patron could sit in on the post-show talk with artistic director Willy Tsao!

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Some extraordinary fun also came from some very, very talented local dancers: the 15-50 Dance Group! Their performance in the Cube ahead of the BeijingDance/LDTX performance was pretty magical!

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Of all of the activities surrounding BeijingDance/LDTX, which was your favorite?

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December 18, 2014
By 2014-2015 season, Center Events, Center for the Arts, Community, Engagement, Moss Arts Center, Photos Tags: , ,

A bridge in the Grand Lobby?

A bridge in the Grand Lobby?

Odili Donald Odita’s artwork brightened the spaces in the Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery during the Evolving Geometries: Line, Form, and Color exhibition, which closed late last month. His paintings, so full of color, so vibrant and energetic, were a complete pleasure to have here in the Moss Arts Center.

But luckily, we don’t have to give up ALL of his work.

Odita’s expansive mural, Bridge, is in the Grand Lobby of the center, and will remain up for at least a year. It was such a treat to watch as the mural came together, bit by bit, day after day for nearly a month.

Check out this video and hear Odita discuss his inspiration for the video: our beautiful building!

You can see Bridge for yourself whenever the Moss Arts Center is open. For details on building hours and closings, please see our calendar.

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December 18, 2014
By 2014-2015 season, Building, Center for the Arts, Exhibitions, Inspiration, Moss Arts Center, Photos, Video, Visual Arts Tags: , ,

“Young Artists” bring creativity, rainbow of colors to gallery space

“Young Artists” bring creativity, rainbow of colors to gallery space

There’s a life-size, newspapered horse in the Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery.

Seriously.

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The fabulous artists and creative minds of Roanoke’s Community High School are exhibiting work now as part of this semester’s Young Artists exhibition, open now through Sunday, February 1, 2015, and if you missed the opening reception on Friday, Dec. 5, you missed something special. But don’t worry–you still have another chance to experience all the fun during the exhibition’s closing reception on Friday, January 30, 2015, from 5-7 p.m.

Poets, wordsmiths, puppeteers, artists, and more, all students in CHS classes Puppet Making and Puppeturgy, Reproducible Media and Two Centuries of “-Isms:” Intellectual Communities and Social Change, pooled their talents for the exhibition, and all performances by the artists were met with wild applause!

Check out our photos from the night below!

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What was your favorite part from the exhibition?

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December 16, 2014
By 2014-2015 season, Center for the Arts, Exhibitions, Moss Arts Center, Photos, Visual Arts Tags: , , ,

Sam Krisch: “I’m an adventurer”

Sam Krisch: “I’m an adventurer”

Antarctica. The Mojave Desert. Greenland. The Drake Passage. Bhutan.

Roanoke photographer Sam Krisch has traveled all over the world, after taking up photography as an art form in 2008. Before then, he was a writer, predominantly of screenplays.

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Krisch addressed the enthralled crowd in the Ruth C. Horton Gallery regarding how he captured his stunning landscape images. Imagine rocking back and forth on a boat in a rollicking sea with several other photographers, pushing yourself to the bow of the boat, splash be darned, in order to get the perfect picture of the 10-foot swells. Imagine sitting for hours in the cold, waiting for the perfect sunlight and finding the exact right angle in order to capture the image of an enormous iceberg you see so clearly in your head.

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Traveling to the far reaches of the earth may not be the adventure for everyone, but now through Sunday, February 1, 2015, you can experience the rush without leaving Blacksburg.

Krisch gives a second artist talk on Friday, January 30, 2015, at 6:45 p.m. For more from the opening reception for our winter exhibitions, click here.

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December 10, 2014
By 2014-2015 season, Center for the Arts, Exhibitions, Moss Arts Center, Photos, Visual Arts Tags: , ,

Betsy Bannan: “You have to find a way into the work”

Betsy Bannan: “You have to find a way into the work”

Our halls and gallery spaces were full last Friday night as we celebrated the opening reception for the latest round of exhibitions. We don’t know about you all, but we’re pretty blown away by the incredible local talent lining the walls in the center right now.

Roanoke artist Sam Krisch shows off breathtaking landscape photography in the Ruth C. Horton Gallery, and the insanely creative students from Community High School fill the Sherwood Payne Quillen ’71 Reception Gallery and the Miles C. Horton Jr. Gallery with larger-than-life masterpieces, while fellow Roanoke artist Betsy Bannan’s snaking aerial image-inspired works on birch panels bring life and color to the Francis T. Eck Exhibition Corridor.

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Bannan gave some fascinating insights into her work during an artist talk Friday night–the first of two she’ll give during her exhibition’s span at the Moss Arts Center (you can catch her second on Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, at 6:15 p.m.).

Inspired by the views from her cross-country flights, as well as the hours she’s spent looking at aerial views in Google Earth, she’s created stunning works, piecing together segmented birch panels into expansive oil paintings. Her segmented approach keeps the work from seeming too big, she says. “I tell my students, ‘you have to find a way into the work,’ “Bannan said. Each birch panel, although just one part of the larger work, acts as a much less intimidating starting point, giving Bannan somewhere to dive in.

Here are some pictures from Bannan’s talk on Friday, December 5.

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Flyover and The Big Country are on display in the Francis T. Eck Exhibition Corridor now through Sunday, February 1, 2015. 

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December 9, 2014
By 2014-2015 season, Center for the Arts, Exhibitions, Moss Arts Center, Photos, Visual Arts Tags: , , , ,
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