Community attends Arts Around the Lake

The 32nd annual Arts Around the Lake show was held on the ambulatory level of the Robins Center, because of inclement weather, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Ninety-two local artists bought booths from the university to display their artwork. Woodwork, pen and ink drawings, oil paintings, ceramics, steel sculptures, jewelry and photographs filled the Robins Center. Thousands of community members came to see the show and buy artwork.

Lee Kirby West, has been helping with the show for 28 years, and has been the chairwoman of the Westhampton Alumnae Committee since 2005, she said. She remembers helping her mother prepare the show at age 5, she said.

Lee West, class of 2000, is the daughter of Spring Crafts Kirby, a 1973 graduate of Richmond and a member of the original group of Westhampton alumnae who helped organize the first Arts Around the Lake Show.

The art show funds the Richmond Club Scholarship, which is valued at $8,000 and is given to the daughter or granddaughter of a WC alumna each year.

When Lee West attended Richmond, she received the scholarship three out of four years, West said.

Lee West said the benefit of holding the event at the university was that even if it rained, the show could still take place at the Robins Center. Very few other shows have this luxury, she said.

Artists submit their work for review before it can be featured in the art show, Lee West said. The work goes before a jury of alumnae, who decide if it is appropriate for the show based on its quality and uniqueness.

Artists have to submit their work to the jury every four years for renewed approval of their art, she said.

Richmond art students are welcome to submit work to be exhibited in the show, but often do not because the show happens so early in the year that they often do not have a large enough depth of work yet, West said.

Allison Vogler has been doing public relations and volunteering with the art show for the past 15 years, she said.

Vogler, a 1978 graduate of Westhampton College, was an art major who got involved as an alumna after her friend, Robin Newton, a 1978 Richmond College graduate, became part of the committee, she said.

"It brings people on campus more than some of the athletic events," Vogler said. She remembers attendance rates of 20,000, now they range from 8,000 to 10,000, she said.

One big appeal of the art show is that it happens at the close of Family Weekend, which the artists like because they get a new audience to see their work, Vogler said.

Artists must be from within a 60-mile radius of Richmond because the show benefits a scholarship for a local student, Vogler said.

This is the first year Carolyn Martin, staff liaison for the art show, has been a part of the planning committee, she said.

Martin helped with the art show's set-up and made sure the alumnae had everything they needed to carry out the show, she said.

"It's a great opportunity to see a variety of work by Richmond artists that you probably just couldn't cover by trying to see them all independently," Martin said.

Attendees included local artists' families, Richmond families who came after church and parents who were visiting for Family Weekend.

Contact staff writer Laila Hart at laila.hart@richmond.edu