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LOCAL
L AW
A BUDDING INDUSTRY
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fter moving in recent years to enact a medical marijuana program and decriminalize possession of the drug in small amounts, state lawmakers appear closer than ever to legalizing recreational marijuana. If approved in the General Assembly session later this month, Virginia would become the first Southern state to legalize marijuana and would join 15 other U.S. states that have already done so, though it remains illegal at the federal level. In November, Gov. Ralph Northam said he’d support legislation that prioritizes “equity, public health and public safety.” State legislators will need to consider those factors and more as they craft legislation that would not only create a new commercial cannabis market but could also rectify the racial disparity in marijuana law enforcement. “Legalization and regulation provide oversight regarding who may legally operate in Virginia’s marijuana market and provide guidance so that those who do can engage in best practices and ensure that the market is safe and transparent,” says Jenn Michelle Pedini, executive director for cannabis policy reform organization Virginia NORML and a member of Northam’s Virginia Marijuana Legalization Work Group. Not everyone is in favor of the proposed change, however. Dr. Kevin Sabet, president of anti-cannabis commercialization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, applauded the state for decriminalizing the drug but warned of an “addiction-for-profit industry that markets extremely potent marijuana products.” In 2020, the General Assembly passed legislation to reduce the maximum pun-
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ishment for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana to a $25 civil fine. The legislature also directed the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) to conduct a study on the impacts of marijuana legalization, while Northam’s administration convened its own work group on the topic. If approved, the commercialized marijuana industry could produce $31 million to $62 million in tax revenues during its first year of sales, according to JLARC’s study, reaching $154 million to $308 million by its fifth year and creating up to 18,000 jobs — though most would be low-paying. The governor’s report estimates the industry could be worth $698 million to $1.2 billion annually, with up to $274 million in tax revenues per year. Both studies suggest the commercial marijuana industry would take at least two years to materialize, arguing that the state would need to establish a regulatory agency, draft regulations and issue licenses, among other steps. Both studies also uncovered a history
OTHER JLARC RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE: • Setting the minimum legal age to purchase and use marijuana at 21 years old • Restricting legal possession to 1 ounce of marijuana flower, 5 grams of marijuana concentrate and marijuana-infused products containing up to 500 milligrams of THC • Banning marijuana use in public spaces and establishing a fine as penalty • Prohibiting marijuana use or the presence of open marijuana containers in vehicles • Barring marijuana home delivery for at least three to five years after commercial sales begin
of racial disparity in marijuana enforcement: JLARC found that between 2010 and 2019, Black Virginians were arrested for marijuana possession at 3.5 times the rate of white Virginians and were convicted at 3.9 times the rate of their white counterparts, although both groups use the drug at similar rates. “We wanted to make sure that legalization ... is redressing that inequity and that we are making sure we’re reinvesting in those communities that are the most impacted by marijuana prohibition and making sure that we were providing public safety protections to protect minors,” says state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who sponsored legislation to commission the JLARC study. The study suggests social equity programs to make the marijuana industry more accessible to Black business owners, after finding that most commercial marijuana industries in other states are dominated by white owners. McClellan says the expungement of past marijuana-related convictions should also be a key consideration. A one-time expungement could benefit around 120,000 Virginians, including 63,000 Black Virginians, according to JLARC. “Just legalizing it in and of itself is not going to be a magic wand to address the inequity,” says McClellan, who is running for governor this year. “That’s a very broad component that would include expungement [and] reinvesting in the communities that have been impacted by heavy and disproportionate arrests.” —Rodrigo Arriaza
GETTY IMAGES
Lawmakers endorse recreational marijuana legalization with racial equity, public health and public safety as priorities
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LOCAL
Q&A
Pamela Kiecker Royall
MAKING HISTORY Pamela Kiecker Royall becomes the VMHC’s first female board chair
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his month, Pamela Kiecker Royall becomes the first woman to serve as chair of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture’s board of trustees since the museum’s founding in 1831. She joined the board in 2015, leading its first marketing and communications committee, which helped guide the former Virginia Historical Society’s rebranding to VMHC in 2018. Royall and her late husband, Bill, who died of complications from ALS in June 2020, are well known for their philanthropy and volunteerism. “Bill would always say we’re investors, we’re not donors,” Royall says of their active approach to philanthropy. “He thought of investing as a more long-term commitment where you’re interested in the day-to-day productivity of the organization because it’s the future that you’re most concerned about.” We talked to Royall about what the future has in store for VMHC.
on the notion of learning through history, so [we emphasize] making it fun, making it engaging, making it a place to connect to other people. We’ve got these four pillars of our strategic plan, and one of them is to be a convener. We, like the [Virginia Museum of Fine Arts], want to be a place that people want to be and where people come together. And we really do want to engage new audiences.
Richmond magazine: How did you feel
RM: How can you accomplish that?
opportunity. Pre-COVID … we had the best-ever year in terms of attendance and diversity of our audience. We had made such a transformative change in terms of how we were perceived and what we were able to say about what we were doing, that it is just sad to be forced to step back. … When we’re able to gather again, we will be ready. And we will be ready in such a significantly different way, physically within this building, that we are going to be able to do what we do so much better. We’re going to have so much greater impact.
Royall: The way we can engage new audiences
RM: What do you think people want from history
Pamela Kiecker Royall: I remember so clear-
ly [in 2017] when my friend who was the board chair, Jack Nelson, took me down from our board room … and he showed me this plaque, and it had [the names] of all the chairs of the board since our beginning — you know, we are the oldest organization in the state of Virginia and one of the oldest in the nation. And Jack said, “Look at this list, do you notice anything?” and I said, “I sure do. There’s not a single woman on the list.” And he said, “Well, we want to change that, and we want to change that with you.” 28
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world, how do you battle the perception that history museums are “boring?”
Royall: You don’t want to turn off young people
is through exhibitions like “Fresh Paint” [a 2018 exhibition that featured murals inspired by VMHC’s collections]. In just this last year, we did “Determined: The 400 Year Struggle for Black Equality” … and “Agents of Change,” about the women’s suffrage movement. We really spoke to a diversity of audiences in a deliberate and really thoughtful manner. … It’s not all about the dead white guys who founded this nation.
RM: You’re taking on this role amid the
pandemic and a major construction project at
VMHC. What do you think will be the greatest challenges this year?
Royall: I think about this moment in time as an
museums today?
Royall: They really want a place where they can
learn, expand their horizons, where they can be challenged. I really think that to varying degrees, not everybody wants to have their long-held views challenged, but we do want to be engaged in discussion. … The types of programs that people sign up for here are often a forum for discussion. They want to be entertained, they want to have fun … they want it to be educational, and they want to come away enriched by it, [but] don’t want it to be boring. —Jessica Ronky Haddad
JAY PAUL
about being VMHC’s first female board of trustees chair?
RM: With so many distractions in today’s
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LOCAL
POLITICS
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE Faye Prichard is the first Democrat to serve on Hanover County’s board of supervisors in more than 30 years By Gary Robertson
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Faye Prichard
“I majored in boys and beer,” she says. “I was good at those two things but not a hell of a lot else.” It might not have been the best start for a local politician or a college professor, but Prichard was able to pivot. She became a certified respiratory therapist, and then in her 30s, she returned to college at VCU, earning a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in literature. She got interested in politics when a group of Ashland residents — Citizens for Responsible Growth — formed in 2000 to keep Walmart out of the small town. The battle, which made national headlines, was eventually lost, but Prichard’s interest in politics had been ignited. She and her husband, Steven, moved to Ashland 37 years ago as a compromise — she wanted to live in the Fan; he wanted to live in Louisa County. She says they lucked into the kind of small town they have come to love. Sue Watson, who served on the Hanover County School Board for 36
years and was the first woman named to the board, says Prichard has always amazed her with an ability to juggle work, family and life in general. “She’s got a wonderful attitude and approach to people, which makes her a particularly strong leader in the political world, as well as in the world of local government,” Watson says. Prichard says watching “The Andy Griffith Show” as a child helped define her personal morality and her approach to politics and to life. “It was all Andy,” she says. “That whole sense of community and the value of a small town and doing the right thing every time. You know how we say today, ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind?’ That’s Andy.” The idea of doing the right thing every time has crossed Prichard’s mind a lot over the past two years, which she says have been her hardest years in politics because of the issues Hanover has faced, including:
ASH DANIEL
aye Prichard got a piece of glass stuck in her eye as a toddler when her biological father, who soon split with her mother, dropped a glass in the middle of the night and didn’t pick up the pieces off the floor. She went blind in her left eye, and starting in about fifth grade, she says, a group of boys — she remembers them all by name — bullied her about her appearance. “I was the funny-looking kid,” Prichard says. “I looked cross-eyed. I’m not saying I’m a beauty now, but I sure as hell wasn’t a natural beauty as a child.” The bullying caused her to doubt everything about herself. But she pushed through. Today, Prichard is director of the writing program at VCU’s Honors College and a local politician. She served for 14 years on the Ashland Town Council, including 10 years as mayor, and is now in her second term on the Hanover County Board of Supervisors, the only Democrat to serve in more than 30 years in one of the reddest of Virginia’s Republican-dominated red counties. A graduate of Highland Springs High School, she veered to the wild side after enrolling at what was then Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, flunking out after a little more than two years.
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ILLUSTRATION BY IAIN DUFFUS
Leader photographer seeking to record the arrival of Straw Hat Day – when heavier head garb was traded for summer-weight hats — caught Carlton, smiling and sporting a jaunty boater, near Seventh and Broad streets. Then came Helen’s fateful streetcar ride, when she heard Carlton’s smoker’s hack. Summoned by police, Helen took a taxi to the station to find a thinner, pale, “but still fine looking” Carlton sitting in the
office. She told the News Leader, “He was a fine man, such a gentleman. The only discourteous thing he ever did was keep his seat when I saw him at the headquarters this morning. It hurt me so.” Belle Bossieux refused to cooperate with an inquisitive press, except to admit to a son named Carlton. The subsequent legal wrangling of almost five years provided Richmonders with a serialized newspaper melodrama.
Carlton fled Richmond, causing two courts to hold him in contempt. His lawyer, T. Overton Campbell, accused Helen of bigamy at the time of her and Carlton’s marriage. Morton L. Wallerstein, Helen’s counsel, produced a certified copy of her New York divorce from Dr. Lee Bailey Pultz (whose credentials she may have added to her own). Carlton stated that he’d filed for divorce when living in Westmoreland County, citing Helen’s cruelty and neglect, the papers mailed to the nonexistent Miami address. Around Christmas 1934, Carlton went to Reno, Nevada, to dissolve the marriage. Designated as “Dr. Bossieux,” Helen went on to enjoy local popularity. A News Leader article labeled her a “leader in social and civic circles.” She belonged to the Richmond Civic Betterment League that, among other concerns, sought to improve conditions in the city jail. The Richmond city directories variously listed her occupation as physician, poetess, astrologer and numerologist. She never obtained a license to practice medicine in Virginia, but her activities, poems and predictions appeared in newspaper pages during the next several years. She died at the Stuart Grey Rest Home, 425 N. 32nd St., on May 14, 1948. Her Richmond Times-Dispatch obituary repeated the Bellevue internship falsehood. Her Oakwood Cemetery grave is not marked. Carlton survived his ex-wife by 24 years. In 1936, he married the Nevada-born Dorothy White. In 1940, they lived with their daughter, Dorothy Lee, at 2007 Stuart Ave. They later added a son, Carlton. Their 1951 divorce proceedings also occurred in Reno. Carlton continued getting into and out of various scrapes, and for a time, he helped manage a casino in Patuxent, Maryland. He returned home to dispute the apportionment of Bossieux family properties. He died at age 79 of pneumonia on March 18, 1972, at Plyler’s Nursing Home. (Now The Columns on Grove.) The death certificate gave Carlton’s marital status as “Unknown.” He, too, went to rest in Oakwood. He left behind a satchel holding some tools and a pair of work boots. R
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A&E
EXHIBITIONS THROUGH 1/7 “Giant Insects” offers a bug’s-eye view of the world through this exhibition at the Science Museum of Virginia. $13.50-$15.50. smv.org
THROUGH 1/18 “Treasures of Ancient Cities: Sunken Cities” features ancient Egyptian art and artifacts from the city of Thonis-Heracleion at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. $10-$20. Reservations recommended. vmfa.museum
THROUGH MAY “Unfinished Business,” a panel exhibit on the fight for the right to vote, can be seen in the lobby of the Library of Virginia. lva.virginia.org
THROUGH 2022 “Southern Ambitions,” an exhibit examining how Confederate politicians and businessmen attempted to leverage the South’s economy into independence, is at the American Civil War Museum. $16. acwm.org
EVENTS THROUGH 1/10 The Dominion Energy GardenFest of Lights continues at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, with decorations, model trains, hot chocolate and holiday dinners. Ticket prices vary. lewisginter.org
ART | EXHIBITION
MILLIONS OF YEARS IN THE MAKING
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has got a bridge for you — Rockbridge County’s Natural Bridge. You can see it for free in “Virginia Arcadia: The Natural Bridge in American Art,” which opens Feb. 6. Thomas Jefferson purchased the land in 1774 and the site became one of the state’s earliest tourist attractions. Indigenous peoples likely knew the 400-million-yearold limestone formation as a sacred place. The remnant of the collapsed roof of an underground river, the site became one of the 19th century’s most depicted examples of natural wonder. Artists’ works include those by Joshua Shaw, Jacob Caleb Ward, David Johnson and Edward Hicks. vmfa.museum —Harry Kollatz Jr.
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ART GALLERIES THROUGH 1/3 “I’ve Been Waiting so Long for You,” paintings by Carissa Potter at the Quirk Gallery. quirkgallery.com
THROUGH 1/10 “Fernanda Laguna: As Everybody (Como Todo el Mundo),” paintings and memorabilia from multimedia artist and activist Fernanda Laguna. Icavcu.org THROUGH 1/16 “Here’s the Thing,” paintings by artist Laurie Fisher. pagebondgallery.com
COURTESY VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
JERVIS MCENTEE (AMERICAN, 1828-1891), NATURAL BRIDGE, 1877.
1/3, 1/17 The Spirit.jp Drifting Series continues at Richmond Raceway Complex, with local drivers demonstrating their drifting skills on Jan. 17. $5-$10. richmondracewaycomplex.com
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A&E Q&A
JAVICIA LESLIE Hampton University grad Javicia Leslie suits up as the hero Gotham City needs now By Nicole Cohen
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here’s a new Batwoman in Gotham City, and she’s played by Maryland native and Hampton University graduate Javicia Leslie. Taking over from Ruby Rose, who played a different version of the superhero but left the “Batwoman” television series after its first season, Leslie also stars as the crimefighter’s alter ego, Ryan Wilder, a new character who recently made her first appearance in the 50th issue of “Batgirl” for DC Comics. Leslie’s casting as the first Black actor to play Batwoman is a game changer, but it’s not her first time in front of the camera, as she starred in the 2019 film “Always a Bridesmaid” and appeared on the CBS show “God Friended Me” and the BET series “The Family Business.” We caught up with Leslie via phone as she wrapped filming her debut season in Vancouver, Canada.
Richmond magazine:
an opportunity to move to L.A., knowing that I would have some type of income coming in.
Javicia Leslie: No,
RM: Have you been to
my major was business management.
RM: So how did you make the transition into acting?
Leslie: I was always still acting, so I was doing plays and pageants and stuff like that while I was at Hampton, even though I was a business major. So I never really had to create a transition because I never really took my foot out of the acting world, and then when I graduated from Hampton and I moved back to D.C., I started working for the government, but I was still doing plays and commercials and stuff like that. When my contract was over in D.C., I used that as
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Richmond before?
Leslie: Of course, yes. RM: Are there any
places you like to visit when you’re here?
Leslie: I shot a film in Richmond by this Richmond director named Praheme. It’s on Amazon Prime, it’s called “Stuck,” it’s a short. When I was there, the city just showed up and showed out. It was so much fun. We used a lot of small businesses for what we needed on set, for food, for everything like that. There was this restaurant that’s like a staple in Richmond,
it’s this Black-owned restaurant [Croaker’s Spot]. That place, oh, my gosh, the food was so good. … We also shot a scene on this rooftop bar that was really cool, and you could overlook the entire city of Richmond, which was beautiful, so I love Richmond. It was just a really, really beautiful place and a lot of culture, a lot of history.
RM: What made you
want to audition for the role of Batwoman?
Leslie: As an actor, when we’re first starting out, we audition for everything. So of course if “Batwoman” comes across my desk, I’m definitely going to audition for it, and being a superhero has always been a super part of my life
Season two of “Batwoman” premieres Jan. 17 at 8 p.m. on The CW.
LEFT TO RIGHT: NINO MUÑOZ/THE CW; JOHN JAY
Did you major in performing arts at Hampton University?
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LIVING Yorktown Schooner Alliance
TRAVEL
PATRIOTS AND PIRATES Historic fun, fine food and invading buccaneers around Yorktown and Jamestown By Nicole Cohen
SURRENDER YOURSELF IN YORKTOWN Situated on the York River, the waterway where British Gen. Charles Cornwallis conceded the American Revolution to Gen. George Washington and French Gen. Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, Yorktown has the feel of a Colonial village with a touch of contemporary amenities. Visitors to Yorktown are met by a gorgeous beach with views of the York River and the George P. Coleman Bridge, the entry into Gloucester Point. You can enjoy a dip in the river, fishing,
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or sailing on a charter or a Pirate Cruise with Yorktown Sailing Charters. On Water Street, the tourist area’s main throughway, you can begin by learning the significance of ports at the Watermen’s Museum. You’ll walk away with an appreciation of those people who shaped our great nation while making a living on the water. The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown retells the American story from Colonies to Constitution. Chockfull of displays, video presentations and reenactments, it’ll teach you about life in the Colonies from various perspectives. Check historyisfun.org for pandemic safety protocols and procedures. Visitors to Yorktown encounter locally owned and operated eateries like Water Street Grille, Umi Sushi and Riverwalk Restaurant. A hidden gem a few blocks from the waterfront is Mobjack Bay Petite Café and Coffee Roastery. This family-owned organic coffee shop occupies the circa-1730 Cole Digges House and maintains its historic look and feel. Grab a cup of coffee and a pastry and enjoy a beautiful view from its upstairs dining area.
VENTURE INTO JAMESTOWN At Jamestown Settlement Museum, you’ll learn about 17th-century European settlers and native people through film, hands-on exhibits and historical reenactments. While there, you can board replicas of the ships that transported English colonists in 1607. You’ll see and hear what sailing across the Atlantic was like. Next, you can lie on animal-skin cots while exploring reed-covered houses at the Powhatan Indian Village, then talk with historic interpreters at the James Fort about life as an English settler in the New World.
Jamestown Settlement Museum
FROM TOP: TRAVELING NEWLYWEDS; WILLIAMSBURG TOURISM COUNCIL; OPPOSITE PAGE: PATRICIA BERNSHAUSEN
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ou don’t have to be a history buff to enjoy two of Virginia’s most celebrated historic destinations — Yorktown and Jamestown. These two Old World-style cities offer fun, food and culture that perfectly bridge past with present. As with all activities, check in advance for any pandemic-related restrictions or changes in operations.
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DIRECTIONAL: PHOTO CREDIT
BRAVE NEW W
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For the Love of ‘Za Grab a slice from one of Richmond’s recent cheesy additions By Eileen Mellon and Genevelyn Steele
DIRECTIONAL: PEOPLE'S PIE: JUSTIN PHOTOCHESNEY; CREDIT ALL OTHERS: JUSTIN VAUGHAN
People’s Pie
Zorch
2930 W. Broad St., 804-905-7437
2923 W. Cary St., 804-824-3103
Former Southbound executive chef Craig Perkinson first spoke of his dream pizza shop in 2019, and one year later, the ovens were lit. A strictly takeout venture, look for Detroit-style squares and inventive, chef-driven round pies on the menu. Pro tip: Order a side of housemade hot honey or water ranch for the perfect drizzle or dip.
Owner Rob Zorch began slinging New York-style slices at Scott’s Addition breweries in 2018. After two years of sellouts, this namesake food truck has found a home in Carytown. While the truck will still hit the road, a brick-and-morar — set to open in January — means Zorch will be just a call or click away.
Hot For Pizza
Mommiana’s
1301 W. Leigh St., 804- 447-0757
1717 E. Franklin St., 804-716-5729
Cobra Cabana owners Herbie Abernethy and Josh Novicki debuted their second Carver venture, the Eddie Van Halen-inspired Hot for Pizza, in April. Their specialty? A personal pan pizza — reminiscent of Pizza Hut's but chunkier — dubbed “The Carver,” with slightly charred cheese and crust.
In October, owners Ashley Ramsey and her husband, chef Micah Crump, began hosting pizza pop-ups in the shuttered Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery satellite bar in Shockoe Bottom. Eventually, the duo took over the location permanently, and in November, began dishing out personal-sized pies, such as the Chesapeake, a white pizza with crab and shrimp.
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Despite the cool air and a steady drizzle that mists his glasses, slicks his dark hair and drips down the collar of his navy blue trench coat, Bill Martin’s eyes are gleaming with excitement. On this glum chilly morning, Martin, the director of The Valentine, is engaged in one of his favorite pursuits: narrating a historic tour. Dapper as always in a suit and tie, Martin walks a slow circle around an urn-topped memorial, pointing out the engraved names of the 72 people who died on this spot in 1811 when the Richmond Theatre went up in flames. He mentions some of the notables buried in the crypt below — a governor, a former U.S. senator — but today those are not the names that draw him. He focuses instead on the six enslaved people interred alongside the city’s white elite. “One of the things that is very interesting here is that it is an interracial burial,” Martin says. After the theater fire, he explains, Richmond’s leaders confronted a problem both simple and profound: The bodies of those who perished were unrecognizable as white or Black. The differences that seemed so stark to everyone at the time — and to so many in the centuries before and the centuries to come — had been erased by the flames. And so, Martin recounts with obvious pleasure, “they’re buried in the crypt here together.” To be clear, these citizens of Richmond were not treated equally by the monument’s designers: The names of the six Black dead are engraved beneath those of the whites. This was Old Virginia, after all; even in death one was expected to keep one’s place. Life and death. Race and remembrance. Justice and oppression. The tangled threads of myth and history and memory.
‘A Sense of Wonder’
As the longtime leader of The Valentine, Richmond’s city museum, Martin thinks and talks often about such things. In
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conversation, he delights in jumping from one historical detail to another, sometimes making clear connections, other times seeming to wander for the sheer joy of it through the encyclopedic storehouse of Richmond history in his mind. He’ll start discussing a 19th-century African American church in downtown Richmond, and a few sentences later, he’s describing how he learned about Italian immigrants who settled in Highland Park in the 1960s. It’s as if he has incorporated the museum into himself. At age 67, Martin says he’s come to accept that his life is intertwined with the museum he has overseen for 27 years. “So much of what I do, so much of what I think about is this place,” he says. Over the past 2 1/2 decades, Martin has become something of an institution himself. “Bill has been around forever,” notes Adele Johnson, executive director of the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia. “I respect him as a leader who is not afraid to step out and tell his story.” His peers say he’s esteemed in museum circles around the country. Endlessly affable, Martin has applied his winning combination of self-effacing modesty and generous encouragement of others to build a network of support across the city and beyond. For many, he has become an ambassador for the idea that new and exciting possibilities may be discovered inside the musty world of city history museums. “He brings a sense of magic to the history business — and a sense of wonder,” says Christina Vida, who joined The Valentine in mid-2019 as its Elise H. Wright curator of general collections. “I have never worked with anyone who has maintained that sense of enthusiasm for what he’s doing, as long as his career has been.” Along with leading the museum and overseeing its $3 million annual budget, Martin serves on the board of directors of the Richmond Business Council and Leadership Metro Richmond. He chairs the Richmond Region Museum Directors
group and is a member of the Richmond Mayor’s Tourism Commission. He is particularly proud of his role helping to create a downtown heritage walking trail, the Richmond Liberty Trail, which joins the Richmond Slave Trail. “I feel like he knows everyone, and everyone knows him,” says Jamie Bosket, president and CEO of the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. Bosket met Martin four years ago, within days of arriving in Richmond to lead the state’s history museum after a decade at Mount Vernon. “He may have been the very first person to call me,” Bosket says, adding that Martin treated him as a colleague from the start. “He welcomed me with open arms.” It was like being welcomed by the history of the city itself, in a way. “The Valentine and Bill,” Bosket muses. “The two are sort of inseparable now, aren’t they?”
A Rocky Start
Ask Bill Martin for his life story, and you’ll get a brisk summary. He’s not one to talk about himself in detail. “As public as he is, he’s also exceptionally private,” observes Christy S. Coleman, former president and CEO of the American Civil
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scrambled for funding. Even he was uncertain of The Valentine’s future; he didn’t sell his home in Petersburg for years. (He now lives in Church Hill in a house built in 1809.) In time, with care and caution, the foundering museum was righted. “If it wasn’t for Bill,” says Valentine, now 94, “I can tell you, I don’t think there’d even be a museum at all.”
Complicated Present, Uncertain Future
COURTESY THE VALENTINE
Bill Martin leads a tour of The Valentine’s permanent exhibition, “This is Richmond, Virginia.”
War Museum, today executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, who has known Martin since 1994. While Martin loves to talk and meet people, she adds, “there are times when I think that at his core, he’s really an introvert.” An only child from Culpeper County, Martin attended Virginia Tech, earning degrees in urban studies and public administration. An oh-why-not application for a job at the Okefenokee Heritage Center/Southeastern Forest World in Waycross, Georgia, inspired his love of museum work. That post led to a disappointing and brief tenure as executive director of the Jacksonville Museum of Arts & Sciences in Florida, whence he escaped back to Virginia and a comfortable gig as director of tourism and museums for the city of Petersburg. In 1993, Martin was recruited by The Valentine’s innovative, mercurial and energetic director Frank Jewell to be its marketing director. With Jewell, Martin embarked — enthusiastically, he says — on a roller-coaster journey to bring to life Valentine Riverside, Jewell’s vision of a high-tech, truthful telling of Richmond history.
Jewell convinced the museum’s board and investors to fund a dramatic expansion of The Valentine into the former Tredegar Iron Works, including projections, laser light shows, video screens and an honest recounting of the miseries of slavery. The expansion was groundbreaking, technologically advanced and daring. It also was an expensive, resounding flop. Despite nationwide publicity, audiences did not show up in large enough numbers to support the debt The Valentine had taken on to create it. Six months after Martin had signed on, following a few desperate attempts to salvage the idea — including an ice rink and river rafting — Jewell was ousted. Unlike many of his colleagues, Martin did not leave when Jewell did. Instead, he got the job of trying to nurse back to life what was left of The Valentine, which was $10 million in debt and teetering on bankruptcy. “It was a damned mess, is what it was,” says Henry Valentine II, the former longtime chairman of Davenport & Co., who with Martin struggled to save the museum his family had founded. Martin scrimped, cut budgets and
About 15 years back, Martin had a bout with cancer that he feared would end his life. He’s been well for a while now, but he says that the experience pushed him to confront his mortality and consider what he could accomplish. And the support of museum board members during his most difficult times changed how he thought of his relationship to The Valentine. In his telling, he decided to embrace the museum as his life’s work — not as a tool or a toy for elite Richmond, but as a sort of prism to shape and focus and sharpen the way the city sees itself. These days, Richmond, Bill Martin and The Valentine, together and separately, are far more financially secure than they were in the doldrums of the late 20th century. But the city, the man and the museum are confronting a complicated present and an uncertain future. The worldwide pandemic forced institutions to shut down and rethink their approaches. Social unrest and concerns about injustice have inspired unprecedented reflection over the city’s racial history. All along Monument Avenue, heroically posed statues have been dismantled. Buildings are being renamed, streets rechristened, old legends reexamined. That reexamination goes on in the city’s museum as well. In many ways, this is a perfect moment for The Valentine. With The Valentine, Martin “has shown Richmond some parts of itself as an urban center that it didn’t always know or didn’t want to see ... and he’s
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Bill Martin leads discussion during a Controversy/ History event on education at The Valentine in 2019.
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Redefining History
Just after the Civil War, Richmonder Mann S. Valentine II, having failed at a literary career, earned a fortune by selling a “health tonic” of questionable efficacy called Valentine’s Meat Juice. Valentine’s sudden wealth allowed him and his family to embark on the then-fashionable hobby of collecting cultural artifacts in the fields of archaeology, anthropology and the arts. In 1898, the family bequeathed that collection and the Wickham mansion in which they lived to become the foundation of the museum that bears their name. Mann Valentine’s brother, a sculptor named Edward Virginius Valentine who is best known for his statues of Confederate leaders, briefly was its director. (More on him later.) Over the ensuing decades, The Valentine expanded into surrounding buildings, refined its collections to focus on the city’s history, and began presenting events and history tours that gave thousands of Richmonders a way to think of the city and themselves. Schoolchildren were welcomed — Black
and white alike. The Valentine taught Richmond history to everyone. What was that version of history? In its earlier years, as Martin acknowledges, The Valentine focused on the white elites who ruled the city from its founding through the Civil War and after. Martin and his team have been looking closely at the Valentine family papers. It seems the Valentines were fairly typical white Richmonders in the years after the war — the era that birthed the Lost Cause. “To be honest, we kind of hoped they’d be atypical,” Martin says ruefully. “But ...” Any discussion of Richmond history inevitably winds its way to The Lost Cause, the poisonous myth that the slaveholding Confederacy was a utopia of tranquility where genteel, aristocratic whites ruled over cheerful, servile Blacks. It is a myth, of course. In truth, the city of Richmond was founded on tobacco but grew wealthy on the slave trade. Standing on the manicured grounds of the Capitol, with its neoclassical pillars and grand rotunda, Martin points downhill. “Right there,” he observes, “is the site of the Richmond slave market.” He marvels at the idea that just downhill from Thomas Jefferson’s temple to liberty stood the nation’s second-largest slave market. (New Orleans was the largest.) In the years just before the Civil War, Richmond became a worldwide center for the sale and resale of human beings. When the time came, Richmond chose to become the headquarters of the doomed war; after the war, it became a nerve center of the Lost Cause. Between Reconstruction and the Lost Cause, though, came an almost-forgotten period that fascinates Martin today. The Readjuster Party, an unlikely alliance of former Confederates, recently arrived Northerners and the newly enfranchised Black community, briefly controlled Virginia. Martin sees these four years — 1879-83 — as a moment in which Virginia could have gone down a different road. That did not happen. The Readjusters were defeated by race-baiters in the
COURTESY THE VALENTINE
done it in some very clever ways,” says Coleman. “And he’s had to convince some pretty powerful people to support those ideas who ordinarily might not.” That includes wrestling with issues of race and class — topics associates say are close to Martin’s heart. “He can suffer fools,” Coleman observes of Martin, “but he does not suffer them lightly. And he really does not suffer bigotry. Nothing will set him off more.” Recently, Martin has helped lead The Valentine through a period of soul-searching that traces back to its founding in the late 1800s. Like the tangled ivy that grows up its brick walls, the museum and the myth of the Confederacy are entwined. “The Valentine, like most institutions established during that time period, expressed its biased nature through subjective exhibitions and slanted views,” says Johnson, the Black History Museum’s executive director. But, she adds, “I believe that Bill led and continues to lead the museum through a time of muchneeded change, and his leadership has influenced others to do the same.”
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Democratic Party. Within 20 years, a new state leadership had rewritten the Virginia constitution to make it all but impossible for Blacks and poor whites to vote. “Just think what might have been,” Martin says as he looks at the White House of the Confederacy, that towering monument to the Lost Cause.
Statues and Stories
Martin sees museums as collections of things that tell stories. “Objects provide a unique window into ideas,” he says. But there’s more to The Valentine than its collection. Under Martin’s leadership, the museum has embarked on a mission to connect the city’s past and present. Its annual Richmond History Makers awards for people who have made an impact on the city have been part of that effort, along with public “community conversations” on topics such as transportation, housing and inequities in health care. Nonetheless, The Valentine has long been known as ”Richmond’s attic.” Its storage rooms are packed with tall shelves lined with 1.5 million items: furniture, clothing, miniatures. Martin dislikes this impression, says Neelan A. Markel, chair of the museum’s board of directors. “Bill does not want people to think of The Valentine like that,” she explains. At the same time, The Valentine’s collection is missing vital elements of city history, such as objects that represent the city’s working classes and Black citizens. Its current “Ain’t Misbehavin’” exhibition of 1920s fashions even includes a note in which curators acknowledge these gaps. Recently, Martin has encouraged the museum staff to review its collection and refocus it on telling the story of Richmond. Items that don’t meet that goal are returned to their owners, if they can be found, or properly disposed of. This reevaluation has led to a reconsideration of a portion of the museum that has previously been something of an afterthought — the attached sculpture studio of Edward Virginius
Valentine. The studio of the artist, who died in 1930 and whose career spanned 50 years, holds a collection of his works, a potpourri of spectral heads and busts stacked on shelves. Among Valentine’s paid commissions were the statue of Thomas Jefferson that stands in The Jefferson Hotel and a recumbent figure of General Robert E. Lee that lies in the chapel beneath which Lee is buried at Washington & Lee University.
“BILL HAS BEEN AROUND FOREVER. I RESPECT HIM AS A LEADER WHO IS NOT AFRAID TO STEP OUT AND TELL HIS STORY.” —Adele Johnson, executive director of the Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia But Valentine’s most emblematic sculpture might be his bronze of Jefferson Davis from 1907. That figure stood for more than a century on Monument Avenue. In the summer of 2020, of course, Valentine’s statue of Davis was torn down, with its face daubed black, its pedestal scrawled with graffiti and its body spattered in shocking pink paint. The statue of Davis has been hauled off to storage until its ultimate fate is determined. Even before it was toppled, Martin had determined
the monument tells an important story of the city — and of 2020. Vida, the Valentine curator, remembers Martin phoning her about the Davis statue during the social unrest last summer: “Christina, we’ve got to have this!” Martin since has told the city that he thinks the bronze figure would be a perfect fit for The Valentine’s collection — exactly the way it is. “Everything about it now tells a story,” he explains. “The graffiti, the paint, everything. It’s beautiful.” The story of the Jefferson Davis monument is the story of Richmond during and especially after the Civil War. It is the story of the Valentine family. It had been the story of how the city portrayed itself, and more recently, it became the story of the way much of the city has rejected that portrayal. A moment ago, Martin was talking about the museum’s collection. But now, in true Martin style, he’s on a roll about the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, often described as the world’s first law protecting the rights of citizens to worship as (or if) they wish. Written by Thomas Jefferson and passed by the Virginia General Assembly in 1786, it is a precursor to the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. To Martin, Jefferson’s ideals, even as the statesman’s life and society failed to live up to them, are a counterbalance to the painful truths of slavery and injustice. The truths that the Lost Cause fought to hide. “Religious freedom, liberty, freedom of conscience,” Martin says. “Those bold, big ideas that we created to find our way — what do they look like today? What does ‘democracy’ mean today? Or ‘republic’? To reimagine the social contract, what are the things we can all agree to build on?” Then he returns, as he always does sooner or later, to his favorite theme, the museum that has shaped much of his life. “The Valentine can hint at where we live up to those values and where we fail,” he says. “We have to look beyond the standard stories. We have to.” R
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Ashley Williams, founder of BareSOUL Yoga and Wellness in Shockoe Slip
BareSOUL Yoga's founder creates a new collective centered on Black wellness By Bridget Balch
When Vicki Wise heard the news on Sept. 23 that the two police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor would not face criminal charges, she was angry. After a summer steeped in racial tension, it felt like yet another reminder that the lives of Black people — and especially Black women like her — aren’t valued in this country. She wanted to do something to honor Taylor, so she put on a Black Lives Matter T-shirt, grabbed her yoga mat and joined dozens of other Richmonders for community yoga at the 17th Street Market in Shockoe Bottom. Now a public square laced with colorful string lights and lined with restaurants, the 17th Street Market was once at the center of the busiest slave trading post north of New Orleans. The location for the community yoga class was no coincidence. Ashley Williams, the founder of BareSOUL Yoga and Wellness, started hosting weekly classes here precisely because of its dark history. She wanted to invite the healing power of both yoga and community to reclaim the space. And for Wise, this mission resonated. On that day, practicing yoga with a community of like-minded people
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brought her some peace. “I do believe that finding peace — that is an act of resistance in and of itself,” Wise says. “Being a Black woman in that space doing yoga — when you think of yoga, that’s not necessarily what you think of.” Williams recalls that when she attended her first yoga class as a student at the University of Virginia. She was the only Black person in the room and felt like she didn’t belong. Later, when she started visiting yoga studios around the Richmond area, she often felt keenly aware of her otherness. “I couldn’t completely relax,” she recalls. She would invite Black friends to yoga classes, and they would say they didn’t feel like those spaces were meant for them. With BareSOUL Yoga, which she started in 2017, Williams has made it her mission to create a space for Richmonders who don’t feel comfortable in predominantly white studios. The coronavirus pandemic and the racial reckoning sparked by George Floyd’s death in June put the importance of Black wellness front and center. The pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on people of color, with Black people in particular dying
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Reclaiming Space
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Holding Down the Fort
tion, and data from the National Institutes of Health show us that chronic diseases account for 70% of all deaths annually in the U.S (about 1.7 million annually). “Food is medicine,” he says, “and a nutrient-rich diet is the cornerstone of living a healthy life.” The immune system can be weakened by age, by obesity, by chronic mental stress, by lack of sleep and by chronic diseases, which can lead to autoimmune and immunodeficiency disorders that attack and potentially disable immune cells. While many of these issues cannot be controlled, a poor diet can be overcome. Eating enough nutrients as part of a varied diet is required for the health and function of all cells, including immune cells. A diet lacking in one or more nutrients can impair the production and activity of immune cells and antibodies. Nancy Farrell Allen, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and owner
VICTORIA BORGES
Much has been said about the importance of wearing masks, maintaining social distance and washing hands regularly as the pillars of protection against COVID19. One other method of protection, however, hasn’t received the same attention: eating well to strengthen the immune system. Dr. Aaron Hartman, a functional medicine specialist and family physician with Richmond Integrative & Functional Medicine in Midlothian, says via email, “We hear to wear a mask, wash your hands and social distance (which are all important), but let’s talk about eating a nutrient-rich diet, a powerful way to make sure your immune system is functioning the best it can right now.” Dr. Hartman points out that, according to research from the University of Florida, up to 50% of all chronic disease in our country can be directly attributed to processed food consump-
A nutrient-rich diet is the cornerstone of a healthy life By Tim Wenzell
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and CEO of Farrell Dietitian Services in Fredericksburg, has served as nutrition advisor on former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine’s Health Reform Commission Work Group and served on former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's Council on Bridging the Nutritional Divide. In March 2020, as COVID-19 arrived, she shifted patient education to focus on strengthening the immune system to fight off the virus. “No doubt, keeping our immune system healthy helps to fight off disease,” Allen says. “As we continue to learn more about the coronavirus, I do believe that strengthening our immune system every single day is one key factor in fighting it.” Tina Shiver, a registered dietitian and integrative functional medicine practitioner, agrees. “It is very important to support your immune system to fight off COVID, so if we do become infected, we have a smaller chance of getting sick and having major symptoms,” she says. Further, a healthy immune system helps fight off other maladies that might otherwise require hospitalization at a time when hospitals are already overwhelmed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, individuals with chronic health conditions such as kidney disease, diabetes, heart disease and
obesity, as well as diseases that compromise the immune system, are at an increased risk of being hobbled by COVID-19. Diet plays a crucial role in determining what kinds of microbes live in our intestines. A high-fiber, plantrich diet with plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes supports the growth and maintenance of beneficial microbes, which break down fibers into shortchain fatty acids and stimulate immune cell activity. These fibers are sometimes called prebiotics because they feed microbes. Therefore, a diet containing probiotic and prebiotic foods is essential to good health. Perhaps more importantly, a healthy diet strengthens mental health and is crucial to managing stress, especially during this long pandemic. “Think of it as feeding your brain,” Allen says. “A significant part of my private practice is counseling disordered eating patients. While nutrition is not necessarily the root cause of some of these disorders, nutrition is a very important component of treatment in helping to improve cognitive function. I have seen the difference time and time again in the role that consistent, good nutrition plays in mental health.”
RECHARGE YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
HEALTHY CHOICES FOR EATING OUT
PROBIOTIC FOODS: Kefir, yogurt with live active cultures, fermented vegetables, sauerkraut, tempeh, kombucha, kimchi, miso
• The Beet Box, 2611 W. Cary St.
PREBIOTIC FOODS: Garlic, onions, leeks, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, dandelion greens, bananas and seaweed
• Ginger Juice, 7021 Three Chopt Road
• The Daily Kitchen and Bar, 2934 W. Cary St.
and 12201 W. Broad St.
• Goatocado, 1823 W. Main St. • Pulp on Lakeside, 5411 Lakeside Ave.
VITAMIN A: Carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes/ yams, cantaloupes, oranges, dark leafy greens VITAMIN C: Oranges, red peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, kiwi, guava, blueberries VITAMIN D: Cow’s milk, yogurt, cheese, salmon (frozen or canned), egg yolks, fortified orange juice. Sunlight can also promote Vitamin D production. ZINC: Protein sources (beef, oysters), pumpkin seeds, red lentils, kidney beans
• The Juice Laundry, 6231 River Road • Ms. Bee’s Juice Bar, 114 W. Brookland Park Blvd. • North End Juice Co., 718 N. Cleveland St.
and 240 Jefferson Ave. A
• Organic Krush, 3406 Pump Road • The Pit and the Peel, various locations • Roots Natural Kitchen, 939 W. Grace St. • Saadia’s Juicebox, 402 1/2 N. Second St.
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Catching Some ZZZs
by Paula Peters Chambers
restful sleep.” Taylor, who notes that the field of sleep study didn’t become a codified medical subspecialty until the 1970s, says sleep is “intimately intertwined” with mental health. What’s challenging, he notes, is that the most common forms of insomnia — difficulty falling or remaining asleep, waking too early, or waking without feeling rested — can be symptoms of another issue or a disorder in itself. “A good analogy is the difference between seizures and epilepsy,” he says. “Epilepsy manifests itself through unprovoked seizures. But you can have an isolated seizure and not have epilepsy.” In the same way, Taylor says, acute insomnia, which lasts less than three months, can be a reaction to a specific event, such as the death of a loved one or the end of a significant relationship. Insomnia becomes chronic when it persists for more than three months, which
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Feeling moody or cranky? Having trouble concentrating or recalling something from earlier in the day? Spinning your wheels on a project? You might need to work on your sleep. Certainly, the events of 2020 — a global pandemic, a national reckoning with racial injustice, a polarizing election cycle — brought added stress to our lives. While a good night’s sleep goes a long way toward managing stress, anxiety is one of the chief culprits behind sleep disruptions. And high-quality sleep is vital to our health, local doctors say. “It’s still not exactly known why we need sleep, but many mechanisms in the body rely on sleep,” says Dr. Samuel A. Taylor, medical director of the VCU Health Center for Sleep Medicine, chair of the Division of Sleep Medicine and an assistant professor in the neurology department in the VCU School of Medicine. “An increase in anxiety can make it difficult to settle down into quiet and
Sleep is about more than feeling good
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monwealth University School of Medicine, says that many of his colleagues who decided to shut their practices for economic or health reasons while the pandemic dragged on for months could not weather the economic impact wrought by the loss of income. Primary care medicine is known to compensate at lower rates than many specialties, and the fee for service structure in health care poses unique challenges for private practice physicians. These stresses have been compounded during the pandemic, when additional investments in infrastructure and supplies are needed even as income is cut due to a diminished caseload. “I think it takes a very dedicated individual who would want to balance the life of not only being a physician, but a small business entrepreneur,” Freeman says. “That is a very big hat to wear. I think that many physicians really don't get a lot of understanding in medical school about the economics of health care. We are all very well versed in medical education and medical-wise, but it takes more than that [to succeed].” You can be a great doctor, but you also
Dr. Rebecca Etz, associate professor in the department of family medicine and population health at VCU School of Medicine and co-director of the Green Center.
have to make money and invest in your practice. For example, Freeman this fall invested in telehealth technology to serve his 4,500 patients. Dr. Mike Petrizzi has been with Hanover Family Physicians for 33 years and was a founding owner. He’s really involved in high school athletics.“The challenge in primary care is how to divide yourself up into the many ways [you need to as a primary care physician],” says Petrizzi. He says there are many issues facing his field, like the right way to provide quality care and how to keep up to date. “The challenge is to do good care and let patients know who you are and [that you care],” Petrizzi says. “However, there are 20 people coming through your office every day, and there are so many hours in a day and so many minutes allotted per visit. The biggest challenge, as in every specialty, is the amount of documentation and paperwork. There is a frustration with prior authorization and approvals, and which prescription patients should get. It’s
a balance, and [decision-makers] have got to make [health care more] affordable.” Petrizzi says the question of how private offices find funding for extra services is important. For example, small offices don’t have social workers, and the fee for service structure often limits investing in needed infrastructure. “There will always be opportunities to improve what we do and always a cost to do that,” Petrizzi says. “If you are going to provide stellar service, it feels that subpar service is wrong.” Doctors with larger health care provider practices can better weather the fiscal storm. Dr. Alex Krist, who works as a VCU primary care physician, had the benefit of telehealth technology quickly, soon after his practice closed in March, because he is a part of a big hospital system. Krist sees the pandemic as a crucial time for primary care practitioners. Telehealth is one major change that’s likely to carry over post-pandemic. The use of these virtual visits successfully increased because the federal government eased restrictions on platforms from which the sessions could be made, and
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opened its use to Medicare and Medicaid patients. Private insurers followed suit. “It took a while [for insurance companies] to pay for virtual visits,” says Krist, who views the pandemic’s effect on primary care as an opportunity to improve on the way compensation and the profession are structured.
Understanding the Big Picture
As an associate professor in the department of family medicine and population health at VCU School of Medicine and co-director of the Green Center, Dr. Rebecca Etz has her finger on the pulse of primary care practitioners’ feelings about the rewards and challenges facing their profession through the Green Center survey. With anywhere from 500 to 1,000 responses a week, the survey provides a snapshot of financial strain from the pandemic: 54 percent of respondents have experienced Covid-19-related furloughs and layoffs; 26% say that at least a third of practice work continues to be unpaid; 28% have permanently reduced the size of their staff because of COVID-19; and 19% report that clinicians in their practice have retired early because of COVID-19 or are planning on it. Etz points to underlying systemic problems. “Prices for services are not set by the doctors, they are set by a third party,” she says. “If you listen to the national conversation, they talk about reimbursements. Our system is set up to prioritize things that require equipment. Then when you introduce the pandemic, doctors needed to invest in new equipment and materials, without a capital infusion. We have seen a tremendous strain on the practices.” Freeman says adjustments needed in 2021 and tight budgetary margins within independent private practices will put additional pressure on primary care doctors. Etz adds that some practices are worried about skyrocketing prices for protective gear even as they space out patient visits, leading to fewer physical interactions with patients and fewer reimbursements.
Prepared to Serve
Another problem cited by Etz and Krist is
the “upside down” statistical makeup of doctors in the U.S., with only 20 percent working as primary care physicians — numbers that are declining. About 100 primary care physicians across five specialties work at VCU Health System’s hospitals and clinics. These primary care doctors practice family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics, general OBGYN and geriatrics. It also has more than 75 advanced practice providers, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners, as well as medical residents from these specialties who see patients in primary care settings. Bon Secours in Richmond has a network that includes 195 primary care providers in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatrics and sports medicine. Bon Secours also utilizes nurse practitioners and physician assistants to assist in providing primary care.
Experts project a shortage of 54,000 or more primary care physicians in the U.S. over the next decade. Virtual visits have expanded access, especially during the pandemic. “Even though this technology was already an established practice at Bon Secours when COVID-19 began, we did make an additional investment in telehealth,” says Jenna Green, a spokeswoman for Bon Secours in Richmond. “We ensured all our hospital sites had a telehealth technology presence by increasing the number
of devices systemwide, which helps to protect our clinicians and does not interrupt current telehealth programs that were already in place prior to COVID-19.” From March to October in Richmond, Bon Secours practitioners have conducted more than 169,000 virtual visits. It also offers a direct-to-consumers app that has been used since October for more than 5,200 virtual visits. In 2019, these services were used by just 700 patients, Green says.
The Next Generation
On top of economic and stress-related challenges facing primary care doctors, experts project a shortage of 54,000 or more primary care physicians in the U.S. over the next decade. To cultivate the next generation, Freeman mentors the undergraduate VCU student group Black Men in Medicine to encourage diversity in the medical field. Second-year VCU medical students Caitlyn Syptak and Sarah Beaverson lead the VCU School of Medicine Student Family Medicine Association, which has been taking aim at this shortage for years, helping students see the primary-care specialty with a fresh perspective through presentations, workshops and funds to attend conferences. “The largest draw to family medicine specifically is just the longitudinal care,” Syptak says. “It's the idea of creating almost lifelong relationships with my patients that allows me to get to know their families, to get to know the community around me and be able to use that to really influence and advocate for my patients and be able to kind of comprehensively care for them as well as understanding where they come from so I can provide proper care for them.” Beaverson says that family medicine is crucial to providing holistic care for patients. She says that she’s looking forward to being that first touch point in the health system, helping patients who are confused and don't know where to go. “What draws me to primary care medicine is helping people navigate the complexities of care and being there for patients,” she says.
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SPECIALTY MEDICAL CENTERS Bon Secours Ambulatory Surgery Center, 8262 Atlee Road, MOB III, Suite 100, Mechanicsville, 804-764-7250 or bonsecours.com. Provides a range of outpatient surgical procedures. Bon Secours Center for Healthy Living Sarah Garland Jones Center, 2600 Nine Mile Road, bonsecours.com. 24/7 Healthy living center for the East End provides the space that brings community members together to support one another and equip them with tools to create healthier lifestyles. 804-562-5361. Bon Secours emergency centers, Bon Secours Colonial Heights Emergency Care, 60 E. Roslyn Court, Colonial Heights, 804-765-6700; Bon Secours Short Pump Medical Plaza, 12320 W. Broad St., 804-923-1400; Bon Secours Westchester Emergency Center, 601 Watkins Center Parkway, 804-594-2100; bonsecours.com. Around-the-clock emergency care facilities with state-of-the-art diagnostic equipment. Bon Secours Southside Medical Office Building 1, 210 Medical Park Blvd., Petersburg, 804-7655000 or bonsecours.com. Home to the Southside Cancer Center; Women’s Imaging Center, Bon Secours Southside Obstetrics and Gynecology practice; and Virginia Cancer Institute location. Bon Secours Virginia Breast Center, 601 Watkins Centre Parkway, Suite 200; 5875 Bremo Road, MOB South, Suites G11; 8220 Meadowbridge Road, MOB 1, Suite 309, 804-594-3130 or vabreastcenter.com. Same-day diagnostic and treatment options including stereotactic and ultrasound-guided biopsies, and a high-risk breast-cancer and survivorship clinic. The Ellen Shaw de Paredes Institute for Women’s Imaging, 4480 Cox Road, Suite 100, 804523-2303 and 2530 Gaskins Road, Suite C, 804934-0340 or paredesinstitute.com. Specializes in the diagnosis of breast disease. 2D and 3D digital screening and diagnostic mammography, breast ultrasound, bone densitometry, breast MRI and minimally invasive stereotactic, ultrasound-guided and MRI-guided biopsy procedures. Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, 5700 Fitzhugh Ave., Richmond, 804-288-5700 or encompasshealth.com; 34 Medical Park Blvd., Petersburg, 804-504-8100 or encompasshealth .com. Inpatient and outpatient care of orthopedic, neurological, pulmonary and more; physical, occupational and speech-language therapies; programs to treat MS, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury and stroke. Hallmark Youthcare, 12800 West Creek Parkway, 804-784-2200 or hallmarkyouthcare.org. Residential programs provide education during
psychological treatment, as well as sex-offender treatment and assessment and diagnostic services to adolescents. Hanover Emergency Center, 9275 Chamberlayne Road, 804-417-0300 or hanoverer.com. Full-service emergency center for adult and pediatric patients. Private treatment rooms, specialty trauma rooms, pediatric, behavioral health patients, onsite laboratory and imaging. HCA Virginia surgery centers, hcavirginia.com. Boulders Ambulatory Surgery Center, 1115 Boulders Parkway, Suite 210, 804-672-4040 or bouldersasc.com. State-of-the art orthopedic outpatient surgery center with three operating rooms. Colonial Heights Surgery Center, 930 South Ave., Suite 2, Colonial Heights, 804-5208272 or hcavirginia.com. A facility specializing in otolaryngology, gastroenterology, surgery, interventional pain, orthopedics, podiatry and urology procedures. Forest Ambulatory Surgery Center, 7607 Forest Ave., Suite 220, 804-285-9416. Medarva, 804-775-4500, medarva.com; Stony Point Surgery Center, 8700 Stony Point Parkway, Suite 100, stonypointsc.com. West Creek Surgery Center, West Creek Medical Park, 1630 Wilkes Ridge Parkway, Suite 101, Goochland, west-creek-surgery-center.com. Imaging Center, West Creek Medical Park, 1630 Wilkes Ridge Parkway, Suite 101, Goochland, medar va-imaging.com. More than 200 surgeons offer outpatient surgical services in adult and pediatric specialties including ophthalmology and otolaryngology, orthopedics, general and vascular surgery, cardiac procedures, cancer surgery, breast surgery, plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery, colon/rectal, urology, gynecology, podiatry and endoscopy. Richmond Surgical Group, 7611 Forest Ave., Suite 300, 804-968-4435 or richmondsurgical.net. Experts in endovascular techniques, carotid-artery disease, aortic aneurysms and occlusive disease, peripheral vascular disease and vascular access. All surgeons are board-certified, with a special interest in hepato-bilary-pancreatic surgery. Sarah Cannon Cancer Institute, 7607 Forest Ave., Suite 220, 804-285-9416; 110 N. Robinson St., Suite 303, 804-200-1850; 1401 Johnston-Willis Drive, (804) 330-2000 or richmondsurg .com. Da Vinci robotic and advanced laparoscopic surgery; specialize in gastroesophageal reflux, endocrine, colon, abdominal wall, gallbladder, liver and melanoma; also state-ofthe-art technology and procedures to treat breast diseases. Select Physical Therapy, Locations throughout
the region, selectphysicaltherapy.com. Addressing orthopedic and sports-medicine concerns from sprains and ligament reconstruction to work conditioning and functional capacity evaluation. Sheltering Arms Institute, 2000 Wilkes Ridge Drive, West Creek Medical Park, 804-877-4000 or shelteringarmsinstitute.com, and Sheltering Arms Physical Rehabilitation Centers, seven locations, 804-764-1000 or shelteringarms.com. Institute in collaboration with VCU Health offers intensive, hospital-level physical rehabilitation; rehabilitation centers provide outpatient care and services. Specializing in treating spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, concussion, amputation, joint replacements, orthopedic injuries and more. St. Mary’s Ambulatory Surgery Center, 1501 Maple Ave., 804-287-7878 or stmarys-asc.com. Adult and pediatric outpatient procedures in ENT, orthopedics, podiatry, general surgery, pain management and spine. Swift Creek Emergency Center, 14720 Hancock Village St., Chesterfield, 804-818-7750 or swift creeker.com. Full-service emergency center for adult and pediatric patients. Certified acute stroke-ready facility; telemed technology for stroke and behavioral health; outpatient imaging services 24/7 for laboratory testing and X-rays. TriCities ER, 1700 Temple Parkway, Prince George, 804-722-1300 or tricitieser.com. Full-service emergency center for adults and pediatrics; staffed with board-certified physicians and nurses; telemed technology for stroke and behavioral health; outpatient imaging services 24/7 for laboratory testing and X-rays. Virginia Eye Institute, 804-287-2020 or vaeye.com. Specializing in glaucoma, laser-assisted cataract surgery, cornea disorders, retina diseases, diabetic eye care, pediatric eye care and adult strabismus, cosmetic and reconstructive surgery and services, LASIK and refractive surgery, optometry and general eye health. Eight offices. Virginia Eye Institute Ambulatory Surgery Center, 402 Westhampton Station, 804-287-2020, outpatient services in ophthalmology. Separate practice operates in surgery center. Virginia Urology, 804-330-9105 or uro.com. Specialty center for urology and urogynecology, with urologists, urogynecologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, pathologists and women’s health physical therapists; six offices and an ambulatory surgery center and imaging center includes MRI, CT and X-ray capabilities. Updated December 2020.
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R•HEALTH
BEAUT Y
SHAPE SHIFTING Emsculpt is touted as a fat eliminator and muscle builder
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f you’re finding it hard this winter to play catch-up at the gym after the holidays and need a boost to get your strength back, you may want to consider Emsculpt. It’s an FDA-approved procedure that uses electromagnetic energy and is said to tighten muscles and eradicate fat. This nonsurgical treatment can treat the abdomen, glutes, arms and legs. There is no downtime; it takes four 30-minute sessions for each area to be treated. Kourtney Smithson, marketing and social media director for Mint Spa in Midlothian, has had the treatment and says, “It’s very fast and easy. It’s a noninvasive treatment that offers immediate results. It has given me a lot of confidence and motivation when I’m in the gym because I am stronger. It catapulted the goal I was trying to reach.” Emsculpt works by inducing contrac-
tions that cause muscles to respond with a deep remodeling of their inner structure. The company claims that this method increases muscle strength by more than 16% on average and provides about a 19% reduction in fat in the treated area. Results are said to be immediate, with the benefits believed to gradually increase for several weeks or months following the last treatment. The optimal treatment regimen includes four sessions, spaced two or three days apart. Maintenance visits can be set up if you want to continue to increase tone. “It’s so important for candidates to know that this is fast because finding time for most people is an issue,” Smithson says. “There is no pain or recovery time with this treatment.” She says her spa’s agreement with the company that provides the device precludes her from discussing the price outside of consulting with a potential client. Town & Country magazine in 2019 report-
ed that costs vary by provider and treatment, and they can run about $750 to $1,000 per session. Suzanne Irvin of Midlothian has had multiple treatments. “There has been an increase in the definition of my abs,” she says. “I can hold planks longer and do situps. I feel stronger.” She adds, “I have three kids, and I found it was hard to get my core strength back. This helped because I could not get there with exercise alone.” Smithson says that Emsculpt clients regularly report feeling stronger. “Emsculpt can help those who need to pass a plateau at the gym, but it can also help build core strength for people with medical conditions who can’t exercise regularly,” she says, adding, “Our core is so important for the prevention of injury. The core abdominal muscles literally hold our body upright. From back pain to posture, we all can benefit from keeping our core muscles strong. Building strength in this way can be life changing for individuals with chronic medical conditions because there is no movement required.” She recommends a consultation to determine if Emscuplt is right for you. “If you have a heart condition, an IUD, pacemaker or metal implants, you should seek other options,” she says. Whether you’re physically fit and looking for an easy and effective method to increase productivity in your workouts or if you just want to improve your overall quality of life, Emsculpt might make a difference. Learn more at bodybybtl.com.
COURTESY EMSCULPT
By Crystal Alvis
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EAT&DRINK
RIDING THE WAVE An easy-to-drink alternative to their boozy counterparts, hard seltzers are having a moment By Stephanie Ganz
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hat LaCroix and other flavored sparkling water brands did to the world of soda (namely, upended it), White Claw, Truly and their ilk have replicated in the beer industry. These lighter, often nominally healthier options represent a trend gone wild, poised to account for $3.5 billion in sales for 2020 and $6.5 billion by 2024, according to financial analyst S&P Global. Big beer has gotten in on the trend, with Anheuser-Busch releasing products like Bud Light Seltzer and Seltzer Social Club, while Molson Coors has launched Vizzy Hard Seltzer and Henry’s Hard Sparkling Water to compete with other category leaders. Meanwhile, local breweries, cideries and laser-focused seltzeries are staking their claim to the trend with unique flavor combinations to suit a variety of vibes.
RIVER CITY SELTZER 2114 E. Main St., bryantscider.com
A relatively new venture for fledgling cidery Bryant’s Cider, River City Seltzer offers two options — the flagship Unicorn Fuel, which is naturally brewed with organic rose hips and hibiscus, and a rotating seasonal flavor, currently a winter-friendly cranberry-rosemary concoction called Crackberry. For owner Jerry Thornton, the foray into seltzer was equal parts chasing the craze and customer education. “We specialize in brewed ciders, which is a lesser-known segment of the cider industry, and every day is a challenge to educate people that it’s no sugar added and low carb while still high alcohol,” he explains. “Part of the seltzer thing was to encourage people that aren’t usually our customers to try our products and get them looking at what cider can be that way.”
COURTESY RIVER CITY SELTZER
ROUNDUP
/ 2021
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The Tuckahoe Woman’s Club Since 1936
Weddings • Corporate Events • Fundraisers
Please consider using The Tuckahoe Woman’s Club for your next event. For more information call
Debbie Niemeier Club Manager 804-257-7251 ext. 403
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what's new
Visual Proof’s Latest Incarnation
Gary Inman and Dani Blake's eponymous design firms will
partner as a creative team on large projects.
Kristi Lane reimagines her design firm By Susan W. Morgan
K
risti Lane, a founding partner of the 3North architectural firm, is reimagining Visual Proof — the design firm she founded in 2011 after leaving 3North, only to merge with 3North three years ago — as a boutique architectural design firm providing a holistic approach to residential and commercial design projects. “I realized that what I really loved is working with clients and doing the design work,” says Lane, who found her-
self managing more and designing less at 3North. “So we split off again. And now we’re rebuilding Visible Proof and want to keep it a smaller boutique-size firm [where] we can all have a hand in the design. Where you can stay engaged longer and be more than just their architecture design firm. ... Approaching projects holistically, so you’re doing the architecture, the interiors and the landscape, as well as the furniture, fixtures and equipment. “There are a lot of design firms that have a very specific look, and people go to them for that look,” Lane says. “We are different in that we really like clients who are a little more adventurous and OK with going dow n a path where they don’t know what it’s going to look like in the end. … The product is always so much better and so much more them.” Visual Proof’s architectural design team is based in Carytown, in the newly retrofitted storefront that previously housed Guitar Works, at 3335 W. Cary St. visibleproof.net
K ri st i L an fo u n d e e , r th e b o u o f ti q u e a rc h ite c tu ra l d e si g n fi rm V is u a l P ro o f
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A Creative Pairing Gary Inman and Dani Blake are creating a new type of design partnership. The pair, who began working together five years ago at Baskervill, have opened their own bespoke design practices that will function as one on larger projects. Originally their plan was to form a traditional partnership to pursue more residential projects, but the pandemic and Inman’s decision to accept a position as designer in residence at High Point University in North Carolina inspired them to rethink their plans. Blake’s practice is based in Richmond, while Inman splits his time between Richmond; Washington, D.C.; Charlotte, N.C.; and High Point. “We work incredibly well together,” Inman says. “Our skill sets complement each other. Our experiences and perspectives differ. … She’s younger, and I’m an older gentleman,” Inman continues. “But we’re always on the same page.” Inman and Blake’s joint portfolio includes boutique hotels, country clubs, sports facilities, restaurants, bars, private clubs and large residences. Although they’re focusing on residential projects individually, they’ll continue to partner on larger hospitality projects. “Being separate entities will make us stronger in the long run,” Blake says. “We think of it in the same way we consider the creative possibilities when an artist signs with a manufacturer to create a new product.” —SWM
Left: Courtesy Kristi Lane; Right: Kip Dawkins
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art
Endless Inspiration Artist Mark Pehanich’s sketchbooks feed his creativity By Taylor Peterson
WHO:
Mark Pehanich
WEB:
dolmarva.com
ARTIST MARK PEHANICH doesn’t always know which direction his pieces are going to go when he starts them — and quite frankly, he doesn’t want to know. Leading with intuition instead of concepts, Pehanich combines ideas from his sketchbooks to create colorful, hard-edged pieces full of movement and dimension. “I’m sort of at odds with a lot of contemporary art today that is more idea-driven and conceptual. … There’s some very good conceptual work out there,” Pehanich
explains. “But I don't understand putting the idea first and then making art to fit this idea.” Originally from Illinois, Pehanich developed his approach while earning his master of fine arts degree at Brooklyn College, studying under prolific artists such as Lee Bontecou and Philip Pearlstein. Over the years, his work has gained both national and international attention, exhibiting in galleries from Texas to Japan, as well as the Eric Schindler Gallery in Richmond. His sketchbooks serve as a working encyclopedia of ideas that he keeps on standby. Once the individual pieces are combined to make new shapes, he gets down to specifics — building his own canvases and frames and meticulously experimenting with colors and materials. “It makes all the difference that I have the right type of surface quality for every color to make them work,” he says. Often using wood panels instead of traditional cloth canvases, Pehanich rotates between acrylic paints, pigment dispersions and even powdered tire rubber to produce different textures and color intensities. The artist’s joining of intuition and methodology allows the viewer to see the embodiment of his creative process, showing how the combination of fragmented feelings can come together to produce something new and exciting. Pehanich currently resides in Petersburg, where he shares a renovated 1850s warehouse turned studio with his wife and fellow artist, Dolly Holmes. He has taught painting and sculpture at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School and Richard Bland College. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing many galleries to cancel or delay exhibitions, Pehanich has been focusing on creating new pieces and exploring a more digital approach to his style. “It's pushing it in a different direction,” Pehanich says. “It’s exciting to do something new.”
ABOVE: Artist Mark Pehanich in his Petersburg studio CENTER: Zippo, acrylic, oxidized brass paint, powdered tire rubber and glass beads on 12 panels, 30 by 45 inches, 2019 RIGHT: Coup, acrylic on panel, 16 1/2 by 30 inches, 2019
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Courtesy Mark Pehanich; Left: Monica Escamilla
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ABOVE: The Arne Jacobsen Egg Lounge chair was “a little splurge� when Nisbet moved to Richmond. RIGHT: Nisbet designed the lemon yellow banquette in the dining area of the connected kitchen/living room/dining room space.
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Avid outdoors people, the Caudles stow their fishing gear in the mudroom. The brick floor was chosen to stand up to wet, muddy boots.
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The designers gave the family room fireplace more presence by bumping it out and reshaping the chimney. A durable black granite fireplace surround adds dimension.
A symbolic grouping of elements — vintage French church votives, natural touches like leaves and feathers, selenite healing wands and clay beads — was created to infuse the home with positive energy.
hen longtime Fan District residents Rob and Letitia Caudle decided to make the move to a home on the James River just outside city limits, they called Lindsey Frank and Shonda Humphrey of Lindsey Frank Design to help create the riverside haven they desired. The Caudles loved the work the duo had done to transform their neighbor’s newly renovated kitchen and wanted to infuse their new home with a similar aesthetic. The six-month renovation is the firm’s most extensive project to date, Frank says, transforming the home from an
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indistinct ranch to an idyllic retreat. The new interior plan features an abundance of natural light, which, according to Frank, was essential to the homeowners. The original interiors were disjointed and rather dark, and the house had most likely been remodeled a few times through the years. A large addition from a prior renovation provided much-needed family space but had cut off the flow of natural light into several rooms. One of the team’s first decisions was to raise the ceiling in the addition and add windows and glass doors where there previously were none, increasing views of the river and outdoors. Rob, it is rumored, likes to go fishing before heading off to work. So, starting from the outside in, a mudroom with the maximum amount of storage space for equipment that doesn’t belong all the way inside the house was essential. The mudroom cabinets match the color of the kitchen island, and a whitened-brick floor contributes to a cottagey look, creating an intuitive transition from the
exterior to the interior, foreshadowing the pattern of the kitchen floor. Frank gave a lot of thought to the flow of spaces — the movement from room to room, how the eyes glide from surface to surface, and where the eyes might settle when looking through a doorway. She actively directed the gaze to land on softened, sometimes newly rounded edges in the new floor plan. The reimagined kitchen features a wide island surrounded by comfortable leather stools. The honed quartz counters and large island more than doubled the usable counter space of the original. A herringbone wood parkay floor replaced tile. To gain space, the range wall is set back into an alcove with softly curved elements, a decorative nook and drawers for the homemade spice blends the couple prepares for their catch of the day. The kitchen was enlarged by pushing the wall back into the dining room, which was relocated. In the remaining portion of the former dining room, the
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The oversized herringbone pattern of the parkay floor was inspired by a beautiful floor Frank saw in a house in Charleston, South Carolina, years ago.
designers fashioned a serene home office for the couple, papered in a soft gray Farrow & Ball print. Wraparound desks with traditional styling, sleek lamps and modern office chairs add to the welcoming ambiance. New pocket doors can be closed for privacy or opened when the occupant wants to be a part of the action. In the new dining room, charcoal grasscloth on the walls and natural wood floors create a serene backdrop for the homeowners’ traditional Chippendale-style dining chairs and double pedestal table. The remodeled living room is open to the kitchen and provides an inviting glimpse into the new dining room. The living room fireplace was refaced and its presence enlarged with a new mantel and hearth. The wraparound design incorporates a bookshelf and ample storage for games and other necessities for entertaining. Light and entertaining spaces are both plentiful in the formerly dark addition. The low ceiling was raised, and
an all-new family room was created with custom built-ins and angled walls. A bump-out around the fireplace shares design elements with the living room fireplace, providing the illusion that the fireplace is centered in the space. The incorporation of raw and natural materials like brick and wood, light-hued paint, subtle wallpaper, textured walls, light paneled walls and ceilings, and the strategic placement of vintage pieces make each room welcoming. The designers, Frank and Humphrey, are best friends and graduates of the VCU Arts Department of Interior Design. Both have a love for incorporating traditional details with one-of-a-kind items, creating a signature look that is curated and special, yet livable. “It’s not just value, but memories,” Frank says. “In the Caudles’ home, the value is apparent in the craftsmanship and the materials, while memories are preserved in touches like a vintage mirror with a painted background, passed down from a grandparent, that holds a special place in the Caudles’ hearts.”
The project did not come without challenges: The couple lived in the house throughout the extensive renovations and were even able to carry off a major entertaining event successfully. “They are outdoors people, but roughing it at a campsite is one thing; roughing it in one’s new home is something else altogether,” Frank says. “The house’s L-shape made it possible for us to close it off in sections, enabling us to protect the Caudles and their guests from construction debris as walls, ceilings and paneling came tumbling down.” All renovations can be stressful, but this one came with extra trauma. Work started in mid-October 2019, with most of the construction completed by January 2020, just before the pandemic shutdown. The project was officially completed in the spring, which, according to Frank, was possible because of the relationship between the Caudles, the design team and their contractor. “They trusted our vision,” Frank notes, and now “they feel like family.”
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Layered textures in the dining room include a Moroccan rug and Schumacher grasscloth on the walls.
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maker
LEFT: An assortment of Fielding Archer's candlesticks — no two are alike. ABOVE: Archer's candlesticks are made from wood scavenged in the nearby woods. BELOW: Archer at work on his woodturning lathe.
The Perfect Foil to Painting Artist Fielding Archer’s improvisational approach to candlestick making By Elizabeth Cogar
Original Inspiration: NAME:
Fielding Archer WHAT HE MAKES: Turned candlesticks crafted from a variety of regional woods.
WEBSITE:
FIELDING GOODS.COM
Creative by nature and game to experiment, Archer bought a used wood-turning lathe and taught himself how to use it, beginning with an oak log from his firewood pile. “I started turning it, and it turned into a candlestick,” he says. “So I made 10 more and gave them as Christmas presents.”
The Process: Unlike his
lifelong vocation of portrait painting, which requires planning and months of work, the improvisational nature of making the candlesticks is what Archer enjoys most. “I love how they evolve while I’m working … sometimes curvy, sometimes with harder edges,” he says. “I’m always trying for different shapes.” Free of design constraints, he
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tells customers what he has available, and they choose. “This is so far removed from painting,” he explains. “All I need is a lathe and a sharp chisel … no ruler, no pencil. It’s the perfect foil to painting.” Of his candlesticks’ quirky lines, Archer says, “I like to make shapes that look foreign to me, not identifiable as colonial or baroque or anything else I’ve ever seen.” Each one is unique, with heights ranging from 10 to 18 inches, and each is finished with a coat of beeswax harvested locally. His first retail order came from Deborah Boschen, owner of women’s clothier Verdalina. “She wanted some for her shop, so I gave her a few, and I couldn’t make ‘em fast enough,” Archer says. One advantage of this new
pursuit is that raw materials are free. “I like the fact that it’s all found wood,” says Archer, who scavenges while riding his bike or walking in the woods near his home. He’s experimented with a variety of woods, including maple, plum, river birch, elm and locust, and he has developed favorites — dogwood, in particular. “I hate seeing any good dogwood go to waste,” he says. “It’s thin, and I can make smaller candlesticks that can be very elegant.”
Fun Fact: Archer is also in production with an innovative flat-pack furniture line that he designed to be easy to transport (in your car trunk) and assemble (in two minutes). Tables, chairs and sofas will be available this spring.
Jay Paul
11/24/20 2:03 PM
aces
great sp
The new “corner office” THIS HOME OFFICE BY DESIGNER KRISTI LANE of Visual Proof is totally CEO-worthy. The salvaged-wood floor and coffered ceiling give the space presence. Offering a serene view, the French doors bring in the outside — and fresh air — while custom bookcases crafted by local artisans provide ample storage for books, collectibles and files. Meanwhile, the sleek trestle desk and Arne Jacobsen Swan chair, which are all business, get cheekily juxtaposed with a classic wingback chair upholstered in a David Hicks geometric fabric to add big personality. —Susan W. Morgan
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Ansel Olson
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