Let There Be Light
You are invited to experience the magic of light at the eighteenth annual “Let There Be Light” outdoor art exhibition on the grounds surrounding the V. Earl Dickinson Building. This family-friendly event celebrates the approach of winter and the longest night of the year with illuminated artworks, warm apple cider, and hot chocolate served at no charge. Food trucks will also be onsite!
This year’s exhibition features glowing sculptures, video projections, the return of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) traveling art gallery, VMFA on the Road, and—for the first time—a parade! Other works by local artists, students, and community members will transform the campus into a landscape dotted with luminous art installations. Some works to look for include:
Mystical Beings Parade, Charlottesville Homeschool Art Club: Each of us is spiritually a mystical being capable of emanating light into the world! Dress as your own mystical self and join our processions at 7 and 8 p.m. Let us become what we are on this night of light! Let There Be Lichen, Nettle Shirt Puppet Works: A puppetry slide show brings you inside the microscope to experience the in-depth intricacies of everyone's favorite fungal/algal symbiont! Groundless, Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell: Live performance-based installation of one woman, deciding to hang out with her fears. Currents of the Luminous Sea Serpents, Miriam Tobias: This installation explores transformation through serpentine light forms, illuminated costumes, and oceanic projections, shaping a luminous, shifting environment. Nothing to See Here, Peabody School: A UFO has crash landed on the PVCC campus. The authorities are investigating and there is likely an alien on the loose. The craft is no longer capable of flight but still pulsates with light and power. Love is the Answer, Veronica Jackson: This installation uses multi-colored, solar powered garden lights to form the shape of a heart, the universal symbol of LOVE. In the midst of America’s current turbulent and divisive moments, this lighted symbol provides a hopeful reminder that LOVE IS THE ANSWER. It’s a simple installation whose intent creates a meaningful and provocative impact. Tempest, Jeff Dobrow: {Tempest} is a vibrant, energetic and abstract visual journey through the evolution of our technology, from hard, analog, and exposed to the fluid, parallel, nanoscale palette of today, and the friction generated by this ever advancing process, commissioned for Code+Art, by city of Palo Alto. Water Light, Alexandria Searls and PVCC students: "Water Light" is a collaboration between PVCC instructor Alexandria Searls and her video students and was filmed in PVCC’s lake as it moved and shone. Flower Power, Boys and Girls Club: Boys & Girls Club youth use STEAM skills to create a life size evening gown that glows and moves. Facial Recognition, Circe Strauss: "There's some things inside my head." The New Normal, Russell Richards: A commentary on the current state of the world. Lilla: Memories of the 1950s, Patty Swygert: Embroidered and painted panels on vintage fabric depicting Lilla's kitchen and laundry with artifacts from the 1950s. Based on a short story, Lilla, written by the artist. How The Light Gets In, Jennifer Billingsley and Diana Hale: A floating cracked circle inspired by Leonard Cohen's words "there is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Nucleus, Raging Buffalo Glass Studio: The light from master glassblower Charles "Chip" Hall's centerpiece radiates, creating a visual expression of how the community has evolved from a single artist to a group studio with almost 20 members. |
VMFA on the Road is a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled trailer with interactive components that brings authentic works of art from VMFA’s collection to be viewed, up close and in person, around the state. The trailer currently houses the exhibition “Love, Laughter, Tears: An Artist’s Guide to Emotions.” The collection explores how art reflects and connects human emotions and fosters mutual understanding.
Please remember to bring your own flashlight and be ready to walk the darkened campus with a map of exhibitions. In case of rain, Let There Be Light will be held on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 6-9 p.m.
Image: Moon House: Altar of Light, Rose Guterbock & Piper Groves, Let There Be Light, 2024. Photograph by Will May.