Thursday, November 6 at 7pm

In a screening co-sponsored by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Health Department, The Bridge PAI will screen a segment of the documentary Unnatural Causes this November, as part of a community awareness campaign regarding health disparities.

Unnatural Causes was produced by California Newsreel in order to draw attention to the root causes of health and illness and to help reframe the debate about health in America, particularly with regard to economic and racial issues. The seven-part documentary series criss-crosses the country, investigating findings that are shaking up our conventional understanding of health. In particular, Episode 2: When the Bough Breaks, specifically addresses how racial disparities affect birth outcomes, which is clearly relevant given recent data on racial health issues here in Charlottesville, especially concerning infant mortality.

The 30-minute video will be followed by an informative discussion, accompanied by handouts and relevant information. This event is free and open to the public.

Bus Painting from July 12-17 outside Carver Recreation Center
Bus Unveiling on Friday, July 18th at Pen and McIntire Parks, 11am-3pm.
Opening Reception on Friday August 1st, from 6-8pm at The Bridge

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.

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  Wednesday, June 25 at 7pm

Charlottesville Photo Night is a casual monthly gathering of local photography enthusiasts; their meetings are open to the public, and they get together every month at The Bridge to discuss each other’s work. This month, special guest Richard Lord will present The Passionate Photographer, which is the opening session of workshops that he offers. He will discuss the relationship between personal and commercial work, illustrating his talk with photos from his archives.

Richard Lord is a corporate, editorial and stock photographer. Shooting in a photojournalistic style, his work is published extensively in annual reports, corporate identity advertisements, brochures and non-profit appeal posters. Working in this specialty since 1986, he has made photos in urban and rural US, Europe, and over 70 Third World countries. His work has been exhibited in 17 countries and the major art centers of the US. It is on permanent display in museums as well as private and corporate collections. He has been honored as one of “2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century.” His clients include Pfizer, Chevron, Travel and Leisure and the United Nations.

Saturdays in May (10th - 24th)

This May, The Bridge, in conjunction with the 2nd Annual Festival of The Photograph, will host a 3 day intensive photography workshop with 6 local youth.

Held over three Saturdays (May 10th, 17th & 24th), the workshop will focus upon themes of portrait and self-portraiture. The students will produce a book comprised of selected images and related text from their efforts.

Wednesday & Friday, April 23rd & 25th

The Art of Play: Finding Wholeness through Creativity
A Lecture and Workshop Series

Come and explore the art of play in healing, community-building, self-care and creativity. In this three-day event with international consultant Marta Sanchez and Rachel Mann, owner of MettaKowledge for Peace, we will rediscover the gift of play in our daily lives as a way to maintain balance and wholeness using creative tools such as storytelling, art, writing, meditation, and movement.

Read below for the two-day schedule of events.

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Saturday, March 29th, at 4pm at the Charlottesville Community Design Center

In 2007, six high school students were paired with senior citizens in nursing homes. They documented their experiences through photographic and audio media in The Generations Project.

Nell Casey (editor of An Uncertain Inheritance: Writers on Caring for Family) moderates a program in which the students present their work. This event will be at CCDC on Saturday, March 9th at 4pm.

Special thanks to the Shea Collaborative for their generous support of the Generation Project.

Opening Reception, Friday, April 4th 6-9pm

On display through April 27th, Thu-Sun, 12-3pm or by appointment

The work of St. Louis-based painter Steve Kelly explores the collision between the natural world and the so-called human world. His paintings explore the absurdity of that distinction. These playful and vibrant pictures coax viewers to look more closely at their connection and impact on the natural world and their relationship to it. His paintings will be shown at The Bridge from April 4th -27th, with an opening reception on Friday, April 4th. Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday Afternoons in February

This February The Bridge will return to the community of Westhaven to host the 2nd Annual Westhaven Portrait Workshop. Greg Kelly and John Bylander will conduct a month-long workshop to Westhaven youth together to produce 6 portraits of prominent black figures. Last year’s selection’s included such notables as Martin Luther King Jr. and Oprah Winfrey as well as local community members Joy Johnson and Harold Foley Jr.

There will be a reception from 6 to 8pm on Thursday, May 15th at the Westhaven Recreation Center, giving the larger community the opportunity to view the completed portraits and meet the young artists.

Thursdays-Sundays, 12-3pm (or by appointment), February 1-24

Throughout the fall of 2007, The Bridge PAI hosted an intergenerational photography and audio documentary workshop called Generations.

Six high school students were selected to take part in a three-month workshop that paired them with senior citizens in nursing homes. The objective was for the students to listen and learn about the lives of the seniors, and to document their experience and stories through photographic and audio media. The workshop included weekly visiting sessions between the students and seniors, and editing meetings at The Bridge.

There will be an exhibition of their work at The Bridge, beginning with a guest reception on Friday, February 1 from 6-8 pm; the work will remain up throughout the month. Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday, January 12 — 5 to 7pm / 8 to 10pm

Josh Van Horne and Adam Rogers present their second basic workshop for those interested in circuit-bending, the creative short-circuiting of audio devices such as children’s toys and small synthesizers to create new musical instruments and sound generators. They will introduce participants to the general idea of circuit-bending, basic bends, explanations of projects they’ve done, and resources for further pursuit. No experience necessary! For hands-on experimentation, please bring a low-fi instrument or musical toy to work on.

After a one-hour intermission, Adam and Josh will lead a circuit-bent noise jam, accompanied by an immersive interactive video environment (including video feedback and circuit-bent hardware elements), put together by Adam and Chris Balint, who have performed locally and have a cable-access TV show called Tesseract.