What would surprise you about Richmond’s creative community?

What wouldn’t surprise you!? Richmond’s community of artists is vast, spanning every medium you could think of – and plenty that you probably didn’t think of! Did you know Richmond is home to a nationally-renowned pumpkin carver? Or an artist who prospers from his works built entirely of masking tape?  Richmond is home to a band that grew gourds and squash, fashioned them into instruments and now tours the folk festival circuit as the country's only band who had to wait two seasons before their guitars were ripe.

I didn’t learn about Richmond’s creativity until I looking deeper into the Arts community. It’s a really compelling feature about Richmond; most of Richmond’s creatives are geographically scattered. But once you deliberately look for creativity in Richmond, you’ll find it everywhere.

It was in Richmond in 2006 that I began Brickworkz LLC, creating portraits entirely built from Lego bricks. What began as a hobby, building a Lego mosaic as an art fixture for my home, quickly blossomed into something unexpectedly bigger. I’ve built for Fortune 500 companies, designed a Guinness World Record-breaking mosaic with 1.2 million pieces, and have shipped art around the world to places like Israel, Hong Kong, Ireland, etc.

And that’s exactly what you’ll find here in RVA: little cottage industries making a big splash. Take Kara Buntin as an example. She’s a life-long artist who turned her kitchen into a professional cake-making studio. Her business, A Cake to Remember, is frequently featured in bridal magazines and national wedding websites like theknot.com. Or Richmond artist Noah Scalin, who created at least one image of a human skull each day for a full year in as many ways as possible, then wrote a book about the journey. His skulls are seen in galleries around the country and sold in shops and charity events in Richmond as well.  It might be one of our best-kept secrets that Richmond’s creativity would surprise a gallery owner in Manhattan or a music studio owner in Nashville.

So the next time you think you have Richmond pegged, think again. Our city is teeming with creativity. Discovering creativity in RVA may have been difficult in the past, but that’s what we’re here for at C3. We want to be the nucleus of Richmond’s creative family. We celebrate the actors, designers, musicians, artists, poets, puppeteers and writers and want you to celebrate them with us. Come join us in our quest and discover for yourself all that Richmond has to offer.

-Brian Korte, Brick Artist at Brickworkz LLC, proud C3 Board member

What surprises YOU about Richmond’s creative community? Leave a comment below. I’d love to read your thoughts about our thriving community of creatives.