Arts & Entertainment
VMFA presents Tsherin Sherpa’s first solo museum exhibition
On view from February 19 to October 16, 2022, Spirits is a tightly focused mid-career retrospective of Tsherin Sherpa’s captivating and sublime paintings and sculptures.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) presents Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits, the first solo museum exhibition of the Nepalese-born Tibetan American contemporary artist. On view from February 19 to October 16, 2022, Spirits is a tightly focused mid-career retrospective of Tsherin Sherpa’s captivating and sublime paintings and sculptures.
“Visitors to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts may remember seeing Tsherin Sherpa’s paintings in the museum’s 2019 exhibition Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA Director and CEO. “We are excited to present an exhibition of works by this globally acclaimed artist as the themes he explores — including the quest for individual and collective identity in a rapidly changing world — are universally relatable and compelling.”
Sherpa was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1968, and immigrated to the United States 30 years later. From a young age, he studied Tibetan thangka painting with his father Master Urgen Dorje. He eventually moved away from this form of traditional painting and began creating original work that draws on both Tibetan Buddhist iconography and the imagery of popular culture, exploring the interplay of the sacred and the secular and giving shape to the artist’s own cross-cultural experiences.
“Spirits is a captivating exhibition that will intrigue those who have an interest in contemporary global art, traditional Asian art, Tibet and Buddhism,” said exhibition organizer Dr. John Henry Rice, VMFA’s E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art. “Not only are Sherpa’s 36 works in the exhibition visually mesmerizing, but each is layered with meaning. Part autobiography, part social commentary, they contain the artist’s contemplation of struggles faced by Tibetans and other displaced peoples while inviting viewers to examine their own experiences with loss and re-empowerment.”
Presented as a narrative, the exhibition traces Sherpa’s Spirits, a series conceived soon after he shifted away from traditional painting and that has continued to evolve throughout the course of his career. “The story told by these works’ half-human, half-Tibetan-deity subjects is one of cultural loss, protracted struggle, eventual victory, wisdom gained and identity recovered,” said Dr. Michael Taylor, VMFA’s Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Art and Education. “I believe that visitors to the exhibition will be captivated, moved and inspired by these works of art.”
The painting Spirits (Metamorphosis) portrays two Spirits at just that moment of recovering their identity. Surrounded by butterflies symbolizing transformation, they discover under the dripping pigmentation of their bodies an internal power visualized as energetically swirling colors.
With Skippers (Kneedeep) — Sherpa’s first work to fully translate his painting into three dimensions — these empowering polychrome forms inhabit the body of a cheeky bubblegum-blowing Spirit clad only in golden briefs.
The sculptural installation Wish-Fulfilling Tree offers audiences a unique participatory experience. The seven-layer offering mandala, made from copper and ornamented with Spirit faces, was originally created to hold the wishes of survivors of Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake. Now it beckons visitors to write their own wishes on pieces of paper that will be inserted into the piece.
The finale of Spirits is a new work — Sherpa’s largest painting to date — created expressly for the exhibition. In it, Sherpa reflects on the long journey he and his Spirits have traveled.
The artist’s prolific Spirits body of work will be explored through a candid conversation between Sherpa and Dr. Rice on February 17, 2022, at 6:30 p.m. in the museum’s Leslie Cheek Theater. For more information about Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits and programs related to the exhibition, visit www.VMFA.museum.
Ticket Information
Tickets for the exhibition Tsherin Sherpa: Spirits are now on sale: $10 for adults and $8 for seniors 65+, youth 7–17 and college students with ID. The exhibition is free for VMFA members, children ages 6 and under, and active-duty military personnel and their immediate families.
Arts & Entertainment
Richmond Flying Squirrels to host summer movie series in the Diamond outfield
The Richmond Flying Squirrels will host Summer Movie Series presented by Woodfin at The Diamond with three chances to watch movies at The Diamond, the team announced recently.
The Richmond Flying Squirrels will host Summer Movie Series presented by Woodfin at The Diamond with three chances to watch movies at The Diamond, the team announced recently.
Movies will be shown on the video board at The Diamond on Friday, June 30, Sunday, August 27 and Saturday, September 16. Admission is $10 per person (children ages three and younger are admitted free). Tickets are available now at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Movies.
The three-night movie series begins on Friday, June 30 with a showing of the classic Pixar film, “WALL-E.”The gates open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie will start at 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, August 27, the Flying Squirrels will host a showing of “The Goonies” at 7 p.m. The gates will open at 6 p.m.
The movie series concludes on Saturday, September 16 with “Encanto.” The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. and the movie will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Seating will be located on the field or in the first-base lower bowl. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets or pillows, but chairs are prohibited.
Concessions will be available for the Summer Movie Series at the first-base lower stand on the stadium’s concourse. No outside food and drinks are allowed. Only credit or debit cards will be accepted at the concession stands.
Parking for the Summer Movie Series will be available for free in the Blue Lot at The Diamond, located off Arthur Ashe Boulevard across from the bus station. All guests should enter the stadium through the right-field gate located near the Cross Timbers Roofing Party Pavilion.
Attendees are asked to apply any sunscreen and bug spray before entering the field.
Tickets and more information are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Movies, by phone at 804-359-3866 (FUNN) or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
Arts & Entertainment
Richmond Triangle Players announces 2023-2024 season shows
Five plays, including a new production of one of RTP’s biggest holiday hits, will take the stage at Richmond Triangle Players for its 2023-24 season, as the company celebrates its 31st year.
Five plays, including a new production of one of RTP’s biggest holiday hits, will take the stage at Richmond Triangle Players for its 2023-24 season, as the company celebrates its 31st year.
“Last year’s 30th Anniversary Season included some of the largest and most ambitious productions we have ever attempted,” said RTP artistic director Lucian Restivo. “This new season, we will take an in-depth look into the LGBTQ+ experience with some intimate and edgier works, alongside a fantastical musical and the return of one of our favorite holiday hits.”
As always, the focus of every RTP is rooted in staying true to its mission, presenting unique — sometimes provocative, sometimes challenging, and sometimes simply hilarious –- works of theater.
For over three decades, Richmond Triangle Players has transformed the community’s conversations about diversity and inclusion through the production of LGBTQ+-themed works A nonprofit, professional theatre company founded in 1993, RTP takes pride in being the leading performing arts company in the region that produces high-quality transformational programming rooted in queer experiences and supports the development of queer artistry.
RTP is the only professional theatre company in the Richmond area – and the longest continually operating one in the entire Mid-Atlantic region — which expressly and regularly serves the LGBTQ+ community. While other local theatres occasionally produce plays with LGBTQ+ content, only Triangle Players has made an ongoing commitment to queer artists, issues, audiences, and community support.
The 2023-24 Season will Include:
A defiantly embracing call to action
One in two by Donja R. Love
September 20 – October 14, 2023
The raucous holiday treat returns in a brand-new production
Scrooge in Rouge, book and lyrics by Ricky Graham, additional material by Jeffery Roberson, other interesting bits by Yvette Hargis, original music composed by Jefferson Turner
November 15 – December 23, 2023
A new look at a ground-breaking comedy
Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein
February 14 – March 9, 2024
Forgotten women who are not easy to forget
Airswimming by Charlotte Jones
April 10 – May 4, 2024
The musical that will roll right into your heart!
Xanadu book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the 1980 film of the same name
June 5 – July 13, 2024
Plus, on our Spotlight Cabaret Series (a separate subscription), we will feature:
Georgia Rogers Farmer: Re-Butter My Biscuit! October 19 – 21, 2023
Darienne Lake: Altered Boy, January 19 – 20, 2024.
Dan and Jim: A (Sorta) Love Song, March 15 – 16, 2024.
Nicholas Rodriguez: Sincerely, Sondheim, May 10 – 11, 2024.
Arts & Entertainment
Author Sadeqa Johnson discusses The House of Eve on June 8 as part of the Library of Virginia’s 2023 Carole Weinstein Author Series
Johnson is an international best-selling and award-winning author of five novels. Her novel Yellow Wife, which won the Library’s 2022 People’s Choice Award for Fiction, follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia.
The Library of Virginia’s 2023 Carole Weinstein Author Series continues with a talk by best-selling author Sadeqa Johnson on The House of Eve, the historical fiction follow-up to her award-winning novel Yellow Wife. The free talk will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 8 at the Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, Richmond. A book signing will follow the talk.
The House of Eve continues Johnson’s tradition of confronting timeless questions that have no easy answers. In this moving work of historical fiction set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the stories of two women collide in unexpected ways as they both make decisions that shape the trajectories of their lives. The book explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal. The House of Eve was an instant New York Times best seller and was selected by Reese’s Book Club as the February 2023 pick.
Johnson is an international best-selling and award-winning author of five novels. Her novel Yellow Wife, which won the Library’s 2022 People’s Choice Award for Fiction, follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia. Johnson is a Kimbilo Fellow, a former board member of the James River Writers and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She also teaches fiction writing for the MFA program at Drexel University.
The Carole Weinstein Author Series supports the literary arts by bringing both new and well-known authors to the Library of Virginia. Free and open to the public, the series focuses on Virginia authors and Virginia subjects across all genres and is made possible through support from the Carole Weinstein Endowment for Virginia Authors. This year marks the Library’s 200th anniversary, a special occasion for spotlighting the Library’s role in bringing attention to talented Virginia writers and fascinating Virginia subjects.
To see the series schedule and register for events, visit www.lva.virginia.gov/public/weinstein. For more information, contact Elizabeth Kaczynski at [email protected] or 804.692.3536.
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