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Artmobile is Back!

May 5, 2019 - May 6, 2019

ARTWORK ON TRAVELING EXHIBIT HAS TIES TO CHINCOTEAGUE

(ACCOMAC, VIRGINIA)  April 17, 2019 – The Artmobile is back!  It will be in Parksley on May 5th and 6th, 2019.  Shore residents may remember it from the 1960’s.  The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has brought it back to life with a new project called “VMFA on the Road.” The current exhibit is How Far Can Creativity Take You: VMFA Fellowship Artists, which celebrates the role VMFA has played in the lives of fellowship recipients. The exhibition includes works by the following acclaimed artists, who all have some connection to Virginia: Julien Binford, Ann Chenoweth, Esther Worden Day, Steven Fishman, Emmet Gowin, Sally Mann, Arthur Sawyers, Charles Sibley, Cy Twombly, Benjamin Wigfall, and Dennis Winston.

One of the artists, Emmet Gowin, lived on Chincoteague in his youth.  He is now an internationally acclaimed photographer exhibiting in museums around the world.  Cara Burton, Library Director, worked with Mr. Gowin on a retrospective exhibit of his work while she was Executive Director of the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History.  “Of course we connected as we had ties to Chincoteague!” Burton stated.  “It was wonderful to work with him as he is both endearing and an intense artist.  I learned a new appreciation for photography and hope this artmobile exhibit will inspire the Shore as well.”

Gowin lived on Chincoteague on Church Street from 1955 to 1957, after which he moved to Danville, Virginia which is where the exhibit photograph was taken and his birthplace. His father was Emmet William Seay Gowin, Senior, and was pastor at Christ United Methodist Church on Chincoteague.  He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts at what was Richmond Professional Institute, now Virginia Commonwealth University, and his Masters in Fine Arts at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design in 1967.  Gowin is well known for his memorable family photographs.  Since the 1980’s he has focused on the environment with images of nature and aerial photographs and has published several books.  His work has exhibited around the world, is owned by museums, and he has received numerous awards, like the VMFA fellowship.  “Actually, I head two Virginia Museum fellowships. The first was in state to finish my senior year at RPI in 1964. The second for graduate study at Rhode Island School of Design, 1965 to 1967,” Gowin clarified when Burton asked him about his fellowship.

“For many, such as Mr. Gowin, winning the Fellowship was just the beginning of a long relationship with the VMFA that resulted in acquiring their subsequent work.” Stated Sean Kane, curator of the exhibit.  He encourages exhibit visitors to view a 1970 VMFA interview of Gowin discussing the story behind the photograph in the exhibit, entitled Barry, Dwayne, and Turkeys, Danville, Virginia.  The interview link can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/BATJJToWScQ.

The “VMFA on the Road” artmobile exhibit will be in Parksley two days in May 2019 and is free.  On Sunday, May 5, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., the public is invited to visit the exhibit during the “Celebrate Us!” library multicultural festival.  School and community groups are invited to come on May 6 and may schedule an appointment by contacting Janice Felker at [email protected] or calling (757) 787-3400. The exhibit will be back at another time, to be determined, in Nassawadox and Cape Charles.

Details

Start:
May 5, 2019
End:
May 6, 2019

Venue

Parksley