RVA Community Makers installation will honor Black leaders

The art project, led by Hamilton Glass and presented by the VMFA, is in its sixth year.

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This year’s unveiling will take place Thursday, Feb. 15.

Photo by Sandra Sellars, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

RVA Community Makers — an annual public art project honoring Black leaders from a range of fields — returns this month.

Led by Hamilton Glass, this year’s project highlights those who uncover and share stories of African American life, in line with the ongoing VMFA exhibition “Dawoud Bey: Elegy.” It will feature work by Richmond textile artist Unicia Buster.

The honorees are community leader J. Dontrese Brown, public historians Elvatrice Parker Belsches and Ana F. Edwards, visual journalist Brian Palmer, and Lauranett Lee, Director of Race and Social Justice at Richmond Hill.

Contribute to the project by heading to the free open studio on Sunday, Feb. 4 from 1 to 3 p.m. Add your story to the quilt-inspired paper collage, which will be displayed alongside Buster’s work. The public unveiling of the project will take place on Thursday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. in the atrium.

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