Beauty is ephemeral and Windows in the Garden Art Exhibition at the Hahn Garden (200 Garden Ln on the Virginia Tech campus) in Blacksburg, installed in spring, is closing June 30.
The Windows theme was a local public arts project begun two summers ago by Blacksburg Regional Art Association.
Under the leadership of a local remodeling contractor, Dave Angle, and his artist wife, Diane Relf, the idea up-cycles dozens of windows Angle had sourced from old houses, barns and an historic hotel into art.
The project has consisted of a series of three installations of Art Windows over a three-year period, created by BRAA members and other “creativities” in the community.
Blacksburg’s bastion of history and culture, the Alexander Black House, hosted that first assortment of windows scattered across the lawn, catching the light, and sparkling with metaphor.
Promoted as a two-month installation, the windows at the Black House were so well received that the Board requested an extension that lasted two years until finally the weathered windows were gathered up to reconstruct the frames for use in this year’s Hahn Garden installation.
Last summer, local artists created two-dozen windows using the prompt “My Window on the NRV” evoking ideas of river and mountain and installing them on tall frames above the lawns and gardens of the Montgomery Museum of Art and History (300 S. Pepper Street) in Christiansburg.
Art in the landscape has been a great success. The MMAH director, Sue Farrar, reported a noticeable increase in visitors wandering among the outdoor art. Christiansburg City Hall requested the art visit the government building.
Both the Black House and the Montgomery Museum will house the art following its tour at the Hahn Gardens.
This year, the final collection of windows has been installed at the Hahn Horticulture Garden on campus at Virginia Tech co-presented by BRAA members and Art in the Hahn Horticulture Gardens volunteer committee, which have a significant overlap in membership. With 38 windows installed, this represents the widest diversity of artists with local artists from various parts of the NRV, faculty from the VT Visual Arts, students from VT and the Blacksburg New School, as well as a few retrospectives from 2017 and 2018 shows.
The exhibit is public art For the Public, By the Public and volunteers brought together resources, creative energy and old fashioned hard work as a gift to their community.
Combining the original estimate to have the frames built for the installations of $125 each, the usual market price of the 60+ windows used over the three years of $20 to $85 dollars each, the value of the art work and the cost of installation would have brought this installation to over $15,000.
According to BRAA President Gerri Young none of these public art exhibitions would be possible without the unflagging enthusiasm and amazing assortment of “stuff” stocked at the Christiansburg home of Diane Relf and Dave Angle.
“Their generous offer of old windows, art supplies, labor building and installing the frames, and time organizing the events, goes above and beyond anything we could have asked for,” she said.
As the Hahn exhibit begins to close, BRAA offers its admiration and thanks to Diane, Dave, Sue Farrar of the Montgomery Museum, Rhonda Morgan of the Black House and Scott Douglas of Hahn Horticulture Gardens and all the participating artists, volunteers and staff of the three installation sites for their hard work and willingness to think outside the norm for these exhibitions.
You can view the art at the MMAH and at the Black House virtually at https://www.blacksburgart.org/public-art and in real life at the Hahn Gardens until June 30.
