Curated by Sara Woodbury
Message in a Bottle considers the rich maritime culture of the Hampton Roads region through a call and response between past and present. Selections from the Barry Art Museum’s permanent collection of 19th-century maritime art will appear alongside works from local museums as well as conceptual pieces from contemporary artists. Vibrant and dynamic traditional oil paintings – carefully collected by museum founder Richard Barry – tell a story of life on the sea: they show the hard work and play of sailors and soldiers. Contemporary works created by ODU faculty and other artists, in turn, reflect on the indelible impact of maritime culture on modern life, from shipping routes underpinning globalization to city layouts. In a world where shipping, sailing, and overall access to the sea can seem invisible, what does it mean for artists to address maritime life? We can’t wait to show you what we’ve found.
Please join us for our opening reception on Friday, April 12 from 6 to 9 PM. There will be free complementary parking in the 43rd street parking garage, live music, and refreshments. The curator will also be providing guided tours of the exhibition.
Exhibition Advisory Committee:
Dick Barry, Co-Founder, Barry Art Museum
Luisa Black, Resilience Manager, Elizabeth River Project
Ellen Gustafson, Navy Spouse, Executive Director of We the Veterans
Ingo Heidbrink, Maritime Historian, Department of History, ODU
Howard Hoege, President & CEO, The Mariners’ Museum and Park
Charlotte Potter Kasic, Executive Director, Barry Art Museum
Elspeth Mcmahon, Associate Vice President, Maritime Initiatives, ODU
George McLeod, Director, Geospatial & Visual Systems, ODU
Elizabeth Smith, Director, Interdisciplinary Initiatives, ODU
Lloyd Taliaferro, Chief Financial Officer, Norfolk Tug
Ricardo Ungo, Professor, Department of Information Technology & Decision Sciences, ODU
Lindsay Usher, Associate Professor of Park, Recreation and Tourism Studies, ODU
Jessica Whitehead, Executive Director, Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience, ODU
Brett Day Windham, Independent Artist, Writer and Curator
Robert Wojtowicz, Vice Provost & Dean Graduate School, ODU
Sara Woodbury, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Barry Art Museum
Exhibition Partnerships:
Chrysler Museum of Art
Colonna’s shipyard
Elizabeth River Project
ODU Visual Art Department
Mariners Museum
Nauticus
ODU Maritime Initiatives
Featuring the private collections of:
Dick and Carolyn Barry
David and Susan Goode
Brother and Meredith Rutter
Doug and Pat Perry
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