Investigation NOW Week 3: Alternate Realities

Another fun Friday night with Investigation NOW! This week was the First Friday art crawl for October, and so we ventured out to see some local contemporary art!

Before checking out a couple of local galleries, we stopped by VCU's Fine Arts Building for a studio walk-through with three VCU arts graduate students. The grad students are seeking their MFAs in Fiber. They each walked us through their studios and showed us their work, explaining their concepts and creative processes. The IN students were interested in how the graduate students used fibers and fabrics, and drew from traditional craft practices, like quilt-making and sewing. We then took a tour of the fiber department's classrooms and studios, and the grad students explained all the different processes you learn as a fibers major, like weaving, felting, and fabric dying.

After the studio visits, we headed down Broad and over to Jackson Ward to Art 180 for their First Friday show. Their exhibition focused on the school-to-prison pipeline and its effects, specifically on the local RVA community. There were community activists present that explained the crisis to our students and organizations to get involved with. Interactive gallery activities, like videos and virtual reality goggles, helped to contextualize and visualize the crisis. We left feeling empowered and ready to demand action and change!

From Art 180, we made our way back to the Art Education building where we had a short debrief. Students talked about how they were impacted by Art 180's show, and we connected Art 180's First Friday exhibition to our semester theme of Alternate Realities. Overall, we had a great time and can't wait for next week!