MARTINSVILLE, Va. (March 18, 2026) — Piedmont Arts will host an opening reception in honor of its new exhibits from 5:30-7:30 p.m., Friday, April 10, at the museum.
“Neither Here Nor There,” featuring paintings by Betsy Hale Bannan, “Accelerations,” an installation by Lisa Beth Robinson, “Hot, Fresh, Brioche ... Knitting” by Lauren Thornhill, and “Forty Years of Fabulous Fiber” by the Reynolds Homestead Weavers Exchange will be on display.
The reception will feature live music by Joanie McPeak. A gallery talk with Bannan and Robinson will begin at 6:15 p.m. in the galleries. This event is free and open to the public. An RSVP is required by Wednesday, April 8, to 276.632.3221 or online here.
“Neither Here Nor There” examines the microcosm of the airport. Bannan uses the act of seeing the earth from above to explore a sense of place. She considers the aesthetics of infrastructure by focusing on the unexpected geometry of hard surfaces, the choreography taking place on them, and the scale of these vast spaces.
Airports are liminal spaces that people experience for a fleeting period of time. They are both nowhere and everywhere; chaotic yet rigorously controlled. Nobody “goes” to the airport. It is a necessary conduit to somewhere else and not a destination in and of itself. These paintings focus on the many backstage elements — from workers to machinery to the environmental designs directing our every move — that are often overlooked, but serve to highlight the larger picture of air travel and its complex, multifaceted infrastructure.
Bannan is a professor in the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech. She holds a BA in studio art from Virginia Tech and an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the country.
“Accelerations” is a multidisciplinary installation exploring interconnectedness and vanishings, particularly in relation to the environment. Robinson’s work is propelled by the hidden lines she sees sewing the universe together. Sometimes close, sometimes loose, there are parallels and commonalities to be found among these lines. By bringing them to light, she weaves a space where viewers can see themselves as part of a larger whole, finding meaning, connection, and agency over life’s outcomes.
Robinson is a professor at the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University. She is a member of the Catching a Wave collective, an interdisciplinary group of researchers from universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands who combine expertise in the environmental and social sciences with mixed media, fine art, and poetry. Her research presents Colony Collapse Disorder as a metaphor for global sociopolitical acts. Her work has been exhibited across the country and is part of the collections of the New York Public Library, the University of Chicago, Brown University, Emory University, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
“Forty Years of Fabulous Fiber” surveys the work of the Reynolds Homestead Weavers Exchange. The group was founded in 1985 by Cecelia Cassady and Johanna Britt. Since that time, it has grown from informal sessions where members worked on personal projects to organized meetings with programs and workshops led by weavers of regional and national reputation. The group meets bi-monthly at the Community Engagement Center at Reynolds Homestead in Critz, Virginia.
“Hot, Fresh, Brioche ... Knitting” features work by Thornhill, a knitter from Collinsville, Virginia. Her piece "A Crow's Gift" won Best in Show in "Expressions 2024," the annual open-entry exhibition presented by Lynwood Artists and Piedmont Arts.
These exhibits will be on display April 11-June 6. Exhibit admission is always free.
The exhibits and reception are sponsored by Tracie Heavner and Jim Frith, Olivia and Pres Garrett, Melody Margrave, Joan and Monty Montgomery, Kim and Jason Spratley, Helen S. and Charles G. Patterson Jr. Charitable Foundation Trust, Sovah Health, and What's Your Sign.
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