Swing by The Bridge after the farmer’s market for Craft Work – an event featuring local handmade and vintage wares. Items for sale include prints, paintings, jewelry, terrariums, records, reworked clothing as well as vintage items, pottery, paper goods, grilled snacks and more (ie: whatever people are making.) The talented djs of WTJU’s rock department provide sweet jamz to accompany the great summer craft fair experience 2010.

Who (to name just a few): Jeremy and Allyson Mellberg-Taylor, Tea for Two by Whitney French, Isolated Article by Elaine Butcher, A Mystery in Common by Tristan Benedict-Hall, Lost Woods Print by Thomas Dean, Clasp of Isis by Tamara Cervenka, Julia Dent Jewelry, Paul Loukides, Plan 9’s own Jimmy Blackford brings the vinyl!

Why: Firstly, 10% of the day’s sales will be donated to The Bridge to support its programs and gallery. Secondly, Charlottesvillle artisans are one of they city’s most valuable assets. To support them is to make a meaningful investment in our city’s creative culture.

Thursday, April 22, 2010 | 6pm-9pm

Hoola hooping workshop with the ladies from Sintilation! HOOP HOOP BASICS at 6pm. Then try some TRICKS at 8pm for more advanced Hoopers. Lead by Jessica Baraff and Betsy Gilbertson.

Saturday, April 24, 2010 | noon-6pm

Noon to 1pm
MEET & GREET | SIGN-UPS

1pm to 2pm
MIME MIME MIME BASICS
Joe Pat studied mime in Portland, Oregon for one and a half years with a member of the Portland Mime Troup. “I was invited to join them, but I was committed to studying to become a chiropractor.
I’ve also studied with Dr. Tom and Suess in Atlanta, Georgia for two years while I finished chiropractic college. Over the years I’ve done small non-paid performances for friends and family. I’m enthralled at the physical expression of mime for health and art. Plus it’s a lot of fun.”

2pm to 4pm
CLOWNING FOR CHANGE
Way back in 2005, Kristina ran away from the circus to enlist in the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA), an international social movement that brings the magic of buffoonery to the struggle for social change. Passionate about offering groups the transformative experience of accessible “clown training,” Kristina has introduced the power of the red nose to activists (and other likeminded folk) in the US, UK, and Nigeria. The Rebel Clown Army has changed and adapted in myriad ways since its early years, but click here to see pics of Kristina in action with her original Glasgow “gaggle.” (She’s the one with the big pink fluffy hat.)

4pm to 5pm
THE ADVENTURE OF JUGGLING: Dancing With Gravity!
The practice of juggling offers many benefits physical, mental spiritual and social. Join us for a demonstration and introductory laboratory that will be fun and provocative for both both beginners and experienced jugglers ages 10 and up.

Bio: Mercury Morningstar is an emissary of the Healing Carnival Juggling Dojo, a pangalactic fellowship dedicated to proliferating joy and ripening wisdom throughout the universe.

5pm to 6pm
Basics of Fire Spinning with Jessie and Carrie!!! Poi Poi Poi!!!

The launch of the newest issue of Meridian—a semiannual literary journal from the University of Virginia—will be feted with a reading during which contributors from across the nation will converge at the Bridge PAI for an evening of poetry, fiction, a dramatic interpretation of a creative non-fiction by Lisa K. Buchanan and previously unpublished poems by Breece D’J Pancake.

The slate of readers includes Mike Antosia, Lisa K. Buchanan, Maranda C. Dennis, Matthew Hotham and Yael Shiner. The readers will be introduced by the Meridian editors, Jazzy Danziger, Kevin Allardice, Memory Peebles, Jasmine Bailey and Hannah Holtzman. Light refreshments will be provided.

Mike Antosia lives and writes in Rhode Island. His most recent story, “The Last King of China” appeared in The Massachusetts Review.

Fiction and essays by Lisa K. Buchanan have appeared in numerous literary journals including Fourth Genre, Mid-American Review, The Missouri Review, New Letters, and Quick Fiction. She lives in San Francisco.

Miranda C. Dennis attends the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst, where she teaches college writing and eats the local apples.

Matthew Hotham received his MFA from Syracuse University in 2007. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Third Coast, Stone Canoe, 32 Poems, Copper Nickel, anderbo, and Verse Daily, among others. His chapbook, Early Art, was published in 2006 by Turtle Ink Press. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and works as poetry editor for the online journal Slush Pile.

Yael Shinar was born in California and now lives near Cambridge, Mass., where she is working towards a degree of master of divinity at Harvard University. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Mid-American Review, The Drunken Boat, Slush Pile, Beloit Poetry Journal, Third Coast, and other publications.

Breece D’J Pancake (1953-1979) was a native of West Virginia and studied creative writing at the University of Virginia. He published six short stories in his lifetime, mostly in The Atlantic, and was posthumously nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his book The Stories of Breece D’J Pancake.

Founded in 1998, Meridian has featured the works of numerous Pulitzer Prize winners, National Book Award winners and established writers, including Charles Wright, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Seamus Heaney, Ann Beattie, John Casey, George Garrett, Heather McHugh, Richard Bausch, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Cathy Song and Eric Pankey. However, as a magazine edited by young writers, the publication values nothing more than showcasing tomorrow’s talent, often publishing a new author’s first story or poem.

For information about Meridian, click here.

The American Festivals Project unearths the hidden, and at times bizarre, festivals and competitions of America’s small towns. Over the course of 13 months in 2008 and 2009, Charlottesville photographers Ross McDermott and Andrew Owen crisscrossed the country to attend events like the Machine Gun Shootout in Kentucky, the International Water Tasting Championships in West Virginia, the Rainbow Gathering in New Mexico, and the Middle of Nowhere Festival in Nebraska. They traveled more than 40,000 miles, often riding in a diesel truck powered by waste vegetable oil, and sleeping in a 1960s camper. The American Festivals Project was funded partially through a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant.

“Renminbi—the duo of Lisa Liu and SMV, joined by a string of guest drummers—has developed a solid local buzz based on a style that summons memories of Olympia, Washington’s riot-grrrl scene of the early ’90s: Some songs are tense and wiry; others, relaxed and synth-padded. But on its newly released single, “Portland,” Renminbi demonstrates a serious dose of low-key heavy that calls to mind much of what we all love about noise-pop combos like Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo.” – Time Out New York

This years 4th year Photography Exhibit at The Bridge will be a group showing of all graduating photography majors in the Studio Arts Program at UVA and the Annspaugh Fifth Year Fellow in Photography. Each student will include 2-3 works selected from their thesis project. The exhibiting students are Allison Harbin, Anna Kreyling, Ellie Frazier, David Schneider, Adam Barkley, Carter Ward, Alix Baycroft, James Scheuren (Fifth Year Fellow).

A reading of poems both classic and local-grown. Get acquainted with some contemporary composers-of-verse; they’re all around Charlottesville. Each poet will read a poem they’ve written alongside one written by someone else. There will be quite a chorus of voices over the course of an hour or so. Tonight…Walt Whitman’s beard points to the lit gallery in Belmont. Readers include Joe Chapman, Julia Hansen, Russ Hicks, Jenny Johnson, Meredith Jordan, Paul Legault, Joanne Mosuela, Claire Skinner, Conor Wakeman, Corrie Williamson, Natasha Vaynblat, and Willie Lin.

Poet John Casteen celebrates the release of his new book.

“The poems in this debut collection revolve around physical work, the Appalachian landscape, and family relationships. Casteen, for ten years a designer and builder of custom furniture, ranges from the farm to the shop floor, from the rivers of the Piedmont to the wooded shoulders of the Blue Ridge, and from the hyperattentiveness of childhood through the anxieties and joys of fatherhood.

John Casteen teaches at Sweet Briar College. He lives in Earlysville, Virginia. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, his poems have appeared in Ploughshares, the Georgia Review, the Iowa Review, Shenandoah, and other journals. He has contributed prose to Slate, VQR, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.” (University of Georgia Press)

A team of artists and arts educators from the UVA School of Architecture, The Bridge PAI, and Piedmont Council of the Arts are collaborating on a unique public art project for Charlottesville Parks and Recreation. The PCA-coordinated artist team will repaint an everyday yellow school bus, transforming it into an exciting, kid-friendly vehicle that will be used to transport young people to Parks and Recreation programs throughout the year. Following an extensive design phase this spring, the Fun Bus project involves three main components: hands-on workshops with young people, collaborative bus painting, and a celebratory exhibition at the Bridge.

The Fun Bus design reflects the mission of Parks and Recreation in two ways: it weaves together elements of nature and urban life, and it highlights a young person’s unique perspective of the world. The lead designer is Sanda Iliescu, Associate Professor of Architecture and Art at UVA. Iliescu is working closely with local artists John Bylander, Mike Parisi, and Isabella Scott to implement the design, workshops, and painting processes. The project is coordinated by Maggie Guggenheimer of PCA with support from Greg Kelly of The Bridge and Erica Sims of Charlottesville Parks and Recreation.

The design team led hands-on visual art workshops with Parks and Recreation summer campers during the week of June 30th to involve them in the design process. Workshops explored concepts of measurement and geometry, the natural world, and color theory with campers in grades K-12. Community volunteers assisted with the workshops and will continue to contribute to the project throughout the painting process. Project volunteers from UVA School of Architecture, The Bridge, and PCA include: Christy Baker, Kate Daughdrill, Julia Hauser, Tom Hogge, Debbie Ku, Laura Merricks, Kevin Sullivan, and Linda Weinecoff.

Using the campers’ creative ideas as design determinants, the team will finalize the FUN BUS design during the week of July 7th. A central component will be a visual record of the height of each child who participated in a workshop. The children’s heights will span the lowest horizontal zone of the bus design, creating a grass-like field that evokes the natural world. The height design will also refer to young people as integral components of the bus design and function.

The bus painting process will take place from July 12-17 outside Carver Recreation Center at 223 4th Street NW. The core design team will manage the painting process, working with community volunteers and Parks and Rec campers. Visitors from the community are invited to observe the painting process throughout the week. The Fun Bus will be unveiled to the public during Parks and Recreation’s camp “Fun Day” on Friday, July 18th at Pen and McIntire Parks between 11am-3pm.

To mark the completion of the Fun Bus project, The Bridge will host a weekend exhibit and celebration from August 1-3. The First Friday’s exhibit will be held from 6-8pm on Friday August 1st to show drawings, photographs, studies and ephemera from the project. The exhibit will be on display from 12-3pm daily throughout the weekend.

In conjunction with the annual Graves St. summer block party, the Bridge will be holding our own little cookout this Saturday evening, in honor of Danny Shea (former music booker for the recently-departed Satellite Ballroom, poster-maker extraordinaire, long-time Plan 9 employee and WTJU disc jockey, and cornerstone of the contemporary Charlottesville music community).

You can expect food catered by Hamdingers, and music by the Modern Things, Cinnamon Band, The Invisible Hand, and DJ BaconFat. Wear your Chicago Cubs hat and be prepared to embarrass Danny in front of his friends. Things start at 5pm in the Bridge parking lot this Saturday!