“Happier Times,” a mural by artist Troy Summerell, also known as OnieTonie, can be found at 801 Granby St. in Norfolk’s NEON District. (Photo by Savannah Cherry)
Norfolk’s Fourth Annual NEON Festival (Oct. 18-19) provides a good reason for exploring not only the city’s NEON District but also checking out an improv show and enjoying sweet-potato gnocchi and panzanella salad at a cafe and bakery. You’ll see a splash of neon here and there, but the name of the city’s first designated arts district stands for New Energy of Norfolk. The moniker applies nicely to the Chrysler Museum area, which I’ve been keeping an eye on for the past year; it was once a grittier neighborhood than now and has been exciting to watch in transition.
The Festival
Thursday, Oct. 18, the festival focuses on the district’s Chrysler Museum and d’Art Center side — live music, glass-blowing, a yoga class. Friday, Oct. 19, will be focused on the Granby side, which houses The Plot, a city block comprising a stage, a pop-up beer garden, chessboard, community garden and parking lot. The NEON District still has empty storefronts, but road construction along its streets — heavy in early summer — will be complete before the festival and will be a terrific improvement to the area, where the Brambleton-Granby intersection has long been a barrier for visitors.
Street Art
Calls by the district’s public art committee for competitions to paint murals on buildings resulted in a plethora of artwork. While there are monthly mural tours, you can create your own street-art tour. Start at the intersection of Granby Street and Olney Road; Magazine Lane, a delivery corridor connecting Olney and Brambleton, is especially rich with art. Some of the vibrant daytime colors become activated at night through video mapping.
On Stage and in the Studio
Anyone in Norfolk on the third Thursday shouldn’t miss the Chrysler Museum of Art’s themed entertainment and cash bar, 5-10 p.m., $5 entry fee (regular admission, free). Glass art is a highlight here: 10,000 pieces spanning 3,500 years, dating to the 6th century B.C. — blown, cast, enameled, polished, and any other treatment you can imagine — while the museum’s permanent collection includes everything from antiquities to contemporary art. This is all courtesy of automotive heir Walter Chrysler Jr., who in 1971 donated his art collection to the city’s waterfront museum.
You can watch professional glass blowers create works at noon Tuesdays through Sundays at the Chrysler Museum Glass Studio. At 8 p.m. on the third Thursdays of the month, the studio offers live music, a cash bar and more glassblowing for a $5 fee. Viewing the artists as they go from a 2,150-degree furnace to the 920-degree kiln is, by itself, worth the trip to Norfolk.
The 1,632-seat Edythe C. and Stanley L. Harrison Opera House at 160 W. Virginia Beach Blvd. is a former USO theater that was lavishly renovated in 1993. It is home to the Virginia Opera, which dates to 1973 and has become known and respected nationwide for musical and dramatic integrity in its productions as well as the variety of its outreach programs, including the Richmond audiences for which it performs multiple times annually.
The Hurrah Players perform in a former horse stable (now a yellow shopfront) called the Hugh R. Copeland Center. “Our space is a dedicated area for this new energy of visual and performing arts,” says Katie Stone, managing director of the troupe. The players, entering their 35th year, also teach classes in this multipurpose facility that gets reconfigured for other purposes.
Don’t miss the d’Art Center across Virginia Beach Boulevard from the Chrysler Museum’s Glass Studio. I’ve popped into d’Art studios and become informed on work including colored pencils, fiber, ceramics and mixed media by artists up to 95 years young. Commitment to classes can be as short as one session for those looking to try something new.
Commune NFK’s Southern rice bowl (Photo courtesy Commune NFK)
Eating and Drinking
Eating breakfast or lunch at Commune NFK on Granby Street is a must (closes at 4 p.m. daily): owner Kevin Jamison, who opened his Virginia Beach restaurant, Commune, in May, has a farm from which many of his ingredients come. If you can’t squeeze in a meal, bring home some of the made-from-scratch sourdough bread, homemade biscuits, croissants or cookies. Local art also adorns his walls.
Also on Granby Street, you’ll find the microbrewery Bearded Bird Brewing, which will offer several one-offs during the NEON Festival, but its Ginja Ninja was a favorite when I visited in summer. Besides its own brews, it serves selections from home brewers who’ve won itsquarterly competitions.
