In honor of Veterans Day Art on Wheels will install the Veterans’ Impact Project on the hilltop Belvedere in VMFA’s E. Claiborne and Lora Robins Sculpture Garden. What may be the first crowdsourced monument, the work was created by veterans and their loved ones at Richmond’s Dominion Riverrock Festival in May 2014. Registered participants used a Roman siege device called a ballista, to hurl assorted objects symbolic of military service into large clay panels. The resulting 3’x15’ relief sculpture, comprised of three 300 pound panels, honors military service through the creation of a unique commemorative monument, will be on display beginning today through November 24. A public reception to meet the artists, James Robertson and Kevin Orlosky, will be on November 23 from 2 – 4 p.m.
The Veterans’ Impact Project challenges conventional approaches to public art by involving the honorees in every aspect of creating a monument to their service. Unlike most military service monuments, this work of art celebrates service members who came home, and gives them a platform to communicate to a broader audience about their experiences.
VMFA is a year- round Blue Star Museum, a national program that offers free admission to all active duty, National Guard, and Reserve military personnel and their immediate families. In addition VMFA will offer free admission to veterans on Veterans Day. Identification is requested. On November 11, all military and their families will have free access to Forbidden City: Imperial Treasures from the Palace Museum, Beijing, which is on view through January 11, 2015. In addition to the entire permanent collections, they may also enjoy the final day of The Great War: Printmakers of World War I, which opened on the first day of World War I and will close on Veterans Day.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 33,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary art – and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European – VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide Partnership program includes traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the Commonwealth. VMFA, a certified Virginia Green attraction, is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
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