Maybe it’s the Blue Ridge Mountains. Maybe it’s the red clay, rolling pastures, horse farms, holsteins and herefords. Of course, it could be Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village.

Whatever the lure, Charlottesville and Albemarle County have an abundance of talented and varied visual artists. Streetlight looks forward to highlighting many of their works in the months ahead. Our first issue features the black and white photographs of Bill Emory and the paintings and mixed media of Rosamond Casey, both Charlottesville residents. Emory’s fine photographs document the past and present, candid and mysterious images confronting family, cows and churches, dolls and damage, politics and weather. Casey’s palette combines a sensuous blend of painting, calligraphy and photography, the results are both hard-edged and ephemeral.

Locally, The Piedmont Council For The Arts lists 123 members, artists working in many mediums. Artists show in numerous exhibition spaces; the majority of openings are held on the “First Friday” of each month. The University of Virginia Museum hosts a “Final Friday” opening as well as Family Art Jams on Saturday mornings. Their exhibits include 100 Years of Photography until May 13 as well as the contemporary paintings of Tom Burckhardt until June 3.

The McGuffey Art Center, founded as an artists association in 1975, houses studios for 45 member artists ranging from glass blowers to watercolorists. This hub of Charlottesville creativity highlights work by three resident or associate member artists each month. April 30-May 27, McGuffey will show works by Ron Evans, Margot Hamilton, Blake Hurt and Scott Supraner.

In June 2009, Look3 Festival of the Photograph was added to the local artistic mix. This year’s Festival, June 7-9th will feature notable photographers from across the country.

Further afield, Richmond’s Fine Arts Museum’s will exhibit Making History: 20th Century African American Art until June 10th and Visions of France: Three Postwar Photographers until July 8th. Maharaja: The Splendors of India’s Great Kings opens May 21 and runs until August 19.

Photographer Annie Liebovitz’s Pilgrimage is a current gem at Washington’s National Portrait Gallery until May 20th. A departure from Liebovitz’s revealing celebrity portraits, Pilgrimage documents her personal journey to iconic destinations—the torrents of Niagara Falls, Ansel Adam’s cloistered darkroom, Freud’s frayed Viennese couch, and Elvis Presley’s Graceland grave.

For now, I hope you will enjoy Streetlight’s online debut. We look forward to seeing your submissions soon.

–Elizabeth Meade Howard, Art Editor