Celebrating Urban Places, Rural Spaces
The following article appeared in the Summer 2009 Piedmont View.
The Urban Places, Rural Spaces exhibit, which drew and appreciative audience in Charlottesville, will be on display again at the PEC Annual Meeting on September 19.
--Photo by John Mitchell
Celebrating Urban Places, Rural Spaces
This spring, PEC joined with local artists, the Charlottesville Community Design Center, the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County to create a unique art exhibit about the interconnection between the community's urban and rural environments.
"In Charlottesville and Albemarle, we really have the best of both worlds," says PEC Conservation Officer Rex Linville. "Many people that I know say that's why they chose to live here and why they enjoy living here. We've got a vibrant urban center with cultural events and jobs and great places to live and we also have open rural areas that give us local food and clean water and beautiful places for recreation and connecting with nature."
All of this came together in the Urban Places, Rural Spaces exhibit. Acclaimed photographer Robert Llewellyn provided large-scale images celebrating both the city and the countryside, while artists Trish Crowe and Anne Vanderwarker brought the exhibit together as an experience featuring words, pictures and interactive elements.
The well-received show was on display in the Charlottesville Community Design Center on the Downtown Mall during the month of May. During the exhibit, the gallery also served as the setting for a series of talks on local planning and community design.
Lee Catlin, Community Relations Director for Albemarle County, says, "One thing we wanted people to take away is that this balance between urban and rural environments is intentional. It isn't something that just happens. It's something that we do. We have policies and tools that we use in order to fulfill the public's vision for our community."
Urban Places, Rural Spaces will be on display again at the PEC Annual Meeting on September 19.
