Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411210010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There she labored for a few hours each day, sewing her creation together piece by burlap piece in front of an audience of curious passersby. Until at long last, "The 11th Mother" could stand on her own.
Branch will never be paid for the 40 hours she spent painstakingly erecting the mother's statuesque figure, nor will the mother ever stand in a gallery. Instead she will become part of Virginia Western's Community Collection - Roanoke Valley's first permanent exhibit of regional artists.
"It felt to me that she needed to be here," said Branch who years ago took psychology classes at Virginia Western. "It's a teaching opportunity. The conflict between the idea of grace, dignity and beauty and the coarse fabric and thread that I used makes people stop and question."
The "mini-museum" is housed on the walls of the campus' new Humanities Building. Branch's 14-foot woman will join 101 other pieces of regional artwork in the building. All but four pieces were donated by the artist. The other pieces are on loan from private collections.
The exhibit was the brainchild of associate art professor Sherrye Lantz, who also has a piece on display.
It was an idea she and other area visual artists had been toying with for years. But during last winter's ice storm Lantz decided it was time to make their dream a reality.
"I had too much time on my hands," joked Lantz when explaining how she got the idea.
That's a luxury Lantz, who is the collection's curator, hasn't enjoyed since.
She began immediately with calls to her friends in the art community. At first, she wasn't sure what to expect. What she got was an outpouring of support.
Everyone she contacted agreed to donate a piece, although Lantz admits some needed a little more persuading than others.
Once she got 40 artists to agree, and a professional development grant to give her the time off to dedicate to the project, she went to the school's administration for the final green light.
The go-ahead came from the top - Virginia Western President Charles Downs.
It wasn't a difficult sell, said Lantz. Using the building, which will house the college's fine-arts department, to display regional artwork seemed a logical choice.
The result: a collection of artwork representing everyone from photographer David Diaz Guerrero to painter Eric Fitzpatrick. Lantz's only requirement was that each artist could only give one piece, and the artist had to have spent at least seven years working consistently as an exhibiting visual artist.
Lantz's enthusiasm for the project was contagious.
When Lantz called Guerrero, he said he didn't think twice about donating his work.
"First of all I was honored that they asked me, and it's great to contribute to a collection that is trying to get a sense of what the work of an area is like," said Guerrero.
Still, there were obstacles.
Lantz couldn't get into the building to begin planning artwork placement until Oct. 21, giving her less than a month to plan and place all of the sculptures, paintings and photographs.
Despite the headaches of orchestrating the humanties building's collection, Lantz is set to extend the community collection across the campus to high traffic areas in the campus' other main buildings.
And she has plans for a sculpture garden outside the humanities building.
They're lofty, but attainable goals, Lantz said.
"There are about 200 or 300 regional artists that I haven't even contacted yet," she said.
Free tours of the exhibit are available for school groups and the public.
by CNB