'America at 250' exhibit at Crossroads Art Center 'has sparked so many conversations'

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. — America's 250th birthday may have passed, but the celebration continues at a Henrico art gallery — and the conversations it is sparking are reaching well beyond its walls.

The Crossroads Art Center off Staples Mill Road near Willow Lawn is hosting "America at 250: A Celebration Through Art," an exhibit open to the public through Friday, July 31. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Jenni Kirby, owner of the Crossroads Art Center, said the exhibit has prompted unexpected conversations about heritage, ancestry and history.

"I can't tell you how much this exhibit has provoked people talking about their ancestry and where they come from and who was here to the Revolutionary War and who came through Jamestown. It has sparked so many conversations, not even in this building, but outside the building when I'm out in public and people are asking me about the exhibition," Kirby said.

The exhibit features work almost entirely by living artists, with just two exceptions — pieces by recently deceased artists whose families have maintained their spaces in the show. The work ranges from paintings and photography to dimensional pieces made from fabric, felt and even barrel staves.

Kirby said the range of tone across the exhibit is part of what makes it compelling.

"We have from very funny to very serious and very moving and then some things in between," Kirby said.

Among the pieces that drew Kirby's attention is "American Still Life" by Michael O'Neil, which she described as a mosaic of iconic American imagery.

"It's got a compilation of all different images — from the Big Boy to a crazy person playing the violin to the flag in the background to some sort of dead fish to cherries to Washington to Orange Crush," Kirby said. "It's just a mosaic of iconic things from our more recent history."

Other standout pieces include work by Diane Williams, who painted on barrel staves — the wooden planks used to make barrels for cider, wine and beer — in red, white and blue. Lavelle Rood contributed felted and fabric dimensional pieces that Kirby said challenge visitors' expectations of what art in a show like this can look like.

A piece by Cathy Pantelli titled "Freedom's Watchdog," featuring a rescue dog, has drawn significant attention.

"This is just absolutely beautiful and it talks about this is a rescue dog and that he's the strength behind the rescue and that he is there to defend," Kirby said.

The exhibit also includes photography that Kirby described as deeply powerful.

"There's a picture of a gentleman that's standing in front of the war memorial and he's reminiscing of the folks that he lost in the war. It is very moving," Kirby said.

Work depicting the removal of monuments on Monument Avenue is also part of the exhibition, reflecting Richmond's own complicated history alongside the nation's broader story.

Kirby said the exhibit's deeper purpose is to encourage reflection on where America — and Richmond — have been and where they are now.

"I think it's important to know our roots — where we came from, and then how we have progressed and where we are now. And that's not only for the country, but that is also for the place that we live in, the City of Richmond," Kirby said. "Where we have been, what we have gone through, and where we are now. A lot of that is representative in this exhibition."