There's some great art here in Richmond, Virginia

Since I had time here in my unplanned "layover" in Richmond, Virginia, I looked for a local art scene here.  After a few years in and around Winston-Salem, NC, I've been used to a mid-sized city with a really small town feel.  Winston had a great art scene for a city of its size, but it just wasn't that big.   That limits the number of local buyers of art, the number of people running the show in the area, and everything else.

Richmond definitely has a much more urban, big city feel, even though the city itself is about the same size.  But it extends out right into the suburban areas.  The Piedmont Triad/Winston-Salem area is three separated cities of around 200,000+ people each, with rural areas between.  So here in Richmond it's a much different thing.  It's more gritty here, the downtown is much bigger, threr are some empty buildings, stores, and the kind of places I loved exploring as a BMX street rider years ago.

There are also A TON of great murals, and some pretty good true graffiti here.  I took a weird bus yesterday, one that kind of circled through the city, in and out of different neighborhoods.  There were murals all over the place.  My goal was first to find a library, which turned out to be small, low budget, and in the hood.  But it was being well used, and full of people reading and on computers, making the most of it.

Then I walked about ten blocks  through an old, partially run down merchant district, still part of the hood, to one part of the Yuppie loft/art district area.  My destination was the huge studio/gallery complex above, Art Works.  Despite my sweaty, sketchy appearance, the woman in the sales office let me set my bags there and I wandered around the place alone.  It's freaking HUGE.  It just went on and on, one hallway full of studios leading to another one.  The artwork had a lot of painting, some photographers, some mixed media and more.  And nearly everything was really high caliber work.  All kinds of styles and mediums, no one's work seemed to copy anyone else's.  If you travel to this area and like checking out art from very talented people you probably haven't heard of, definitely put Richmond, VA and Art Works on the agenda.  The work of two photographers really grabbed my attention, Doug Turner, and Robert Papas.  I love photos of outdoors and animals and places where you look at the photo and think, "I want to go there." Or maybe it's just me jonesing to see the wide open spaces of the West again.

I definitely want to come back here and really dig into the creative scenes at some point.  There's another, better known Art District right downtown on Broad Street, which I got a quick glance at on the "Pulse" bus riding through downtown.  There are small clubs, vintage shops, and all kinds of creative nooks and crannies to explore here.

I showed the woman in the office my Sharpie art, pulling it out of my trusty trash bag covered sketch pad.  She seemed pleasantly surprised, which is always good to see.  I know I look like hell, and people don't expect much when I ask to show my stuff.  I didn't manage to sell anything here (yet), to finance my trip onward, but for two city bus fares I saw some great stuff, in the gallery and on walls around the city.