This article has been updated since it first appeared in print.
“Cosmic Perception” at the Science Museum of Virginia (Photo by Jay Paul)
‘We’re Getting Lasers’
The Science Museum of Virginia expands
A big bang is frozen in space and time on the grounds of the Science Museum of Virginia. Walk around and inside this captured cataclysm to experience kaleidoscopic views of the world and yourself at this new art installation.
Created by artists Shane Allbritton and Norman Lee, co-founders of RE:site, a Houston-based public art studio, the piece is titled “Cosmic Perception.” The 25-foot-high, 33-foot-wide artwork built using 39,564 pounds of steel features 50 protruding white spires.
This is part of a phased improvement of the museum and grounds that recently included reclaiming 2 of 33 acres devoted to surface parking for a landscape with native oaks, cypresses, cedars and willows, and meandering paths interspersed with public art including “Cosmic Perception.” The goal is to allocate more than half of the 37-acre campus to green space. Construction of the next green space begins this fall.
In addition to permanent exhibits, check out “Wild Kratts: Creature Power!” which runs Sept. 23-Jan. 21. The traveling exhibition centers on brothers Chris and Martin Kratt’s mixed live-action and animation program where they use a turtle-shaped boat to seek and defend wild creatures.
October brings the return of “Spooky Science,” and November sees the Model Railroad Show roll in for the 46th time. December will be a holiday treat.
“But the big thing is,” museum spokesperson Jennifer Guild says, pausing for effect, “we’re getting lasers.” The 40-year-old planetarium dome is receiving a major systems upgrade to offer programs for laser entertainment shows. These improvements, slated to be completed this month, will complement the regular series of presentations and films. Think James Webb Space Telescope images blown up big as the sky.
Bearing Witness
Learn from the past at the Virginia Holocaust Museum
Recent improvements at the Virginia Holocaust Museum include a redesigned lobby, expected to open with a ceremony in October. With temporary walls in place, construction has continued and allowed guests to bypass the former front entrance and move into the first-floor exhibits. These present the events that led into the extermination of European Jewry in the 1930s and ’40s, along with the current dangers of intolerance for everyone. A new section includes an installation pertaining to the crematoria used in Nazi death camps.
The exhibition “Halt! Remembering the Holocaust” continues through Oct. 31 and features the artwork of Vermont-based artist and playwright G. Roy Levin (1931-2003).
Opening Oct. 1, “Memorial Without Witness” is an original exhibit created by Tim Hensley, Virginia Holocaust Museum’s director of collections, in collaboration with award-winning graphic designer Emily Park. The presentation concerns Auschwitz and the unique experience of Charles W. Sydnor Jr., the museum’s senior historian and former executive director.
Admission to the Virginia Holocaust Museum is free, with a $6 suggested donation. For more information, visit vaholocaust.org.
More Than a Memory Palace
The Valentine continues to evolve with Richmond’s changing landscape
The Valentine is a major interpreter of Richmond and regional history. That role is undergoing extraordinary renewal through expansion and improvements at the 1015 E. Clay St. museum.
Photo by Harry Kollatz Jr.
Following a similar makeover completed in 1930, acting director Laura Bragg, whose position was unusual for a woman at the time, dismissed the suggestion of museum president Granville Valentine for a delay in reopening because it wasn’t yet completed. Her response: “A finished museum is a dead one.”
The exhibition “An Unfinished Museum: 125 Years of The Valentine” is on view through Sept. 2, 2024, in the lower level. It’s a photo essay chronicling the institution’s origin story and evolution.
The Valentine also houses the transplanted studio of the Wickham family artist and historian, Edward. His studio is receiving a massive makeover, slated for completion at year’s end, that will include interactive interpretation alongside many of his creations.
The Valentine’s workshop received famous persons — from playwright Oscar Wilde to Virginia-born President Woodrow Wilson and, in 1873, Jefferson Davis, the former Confederate president. Edward took the measurements of Davis used in a sculpture he made 30 years later. That figure, installed in 1907, was toppled in the summer of 2020, and in recent months the dented, spray-painted, recumbent Davis became an exhibit.
At the Museum
Oct. 5-March 7
“Controversy/History,” The Valentine’s engagement with the present through the past continues into its 13th year. This season focuses on the Lost Cause narrative: 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 5, Nov. 2, Dec. 12, Jan. 9 and Feb. 13. Free.
Oct. 11
Edgar Allan Poe returns to Richmond, the town he considered home, in the person of performer Stephen Smith at The Poe Museum. Smith, of the Threedumb Theatre, presents a selection of Poe short stories in character in this installment of the museum’s Illumination Series. $12.
Oct. 21-April 28
During “Willie Anne Wright: Artist and Alchemist,” the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts pays tribute to the versatile Richmond artist, presenting 70 of her photographs and eight paintings. The work travels between the playful and the ethereal. Free.
Nov. 4
The Virginia Museum of History & Culture hosts its first “History Matters Symposium.” The event includes panels and presentations on groundbreaking research into Virginia history around the theme of “Discovery.” 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. $75; $38 for keynote and reception-only tickets.
Through Dec. 8
At the University of Richmond’s Harnett Museum of Art, “Queer Pioneers: LGBTQ+ History Through the Photographs of Robert Giard” features portraits of LGBTQ+ pioneering activists, writers and scholars. Free.
Through May 31
During “Sign Spotting” at The Valentine, antique images show Richmond’s streets festooned with a plethora of classic signs that gave way to neon (including the Robin Inn sign above) and moving LED imagery. Included with museum admission ($8 to $10).
