Codes, riddles, scavenger hunts and art are tools artists Colleen and Jeff Hall have mixed together to create an interactive art exhibit, #decodeRVA which hopes to encourage Richmonders to step outside of their comfort zones and explore more of their wonderful River city. This unique exhibit opens on November 22nd at Artworks Gallery.
The creators, a husband and wife team, Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School’s art teacher and artist, Jeff Hall and mural artist Colleen Hall, collaborated to dabble into genres of art ranging from traditional to new media forms including multimedia videos and photography. Jeff has always been very interest in the idea of codes and had wanted to do a show using them for quite some time. The interactive exhibit was an idea generated by Jeff Hall after Artworks invited him to do a show.
“I was like great, I’ll do some experimental work,” Jeff Hall said.
The artistic duo view Richmond differently, yet in a similar light. Jeff, being a native of the Richmond scene, had a particular view of his home town as the traditional Richmond and the Capital of the South. Growing up, his father was a police officer with a conservative view on the city. This made Jeff explore outside of his fathers wishes, creating an alternative view of the city well into his college years.
Colleen, on the other hand, is a native of New York who came to Richmond to attend the University of Richmond. There are things she’s since found that were “very Richmond,” citing the certain accents natives have and the ties the city and its people have to the Confederacy.
“I understand the clinging to the history, for those who can claim that as their heritage. However, in some ways, it has held the city back from moving on as swift as it could have. There were divisions in places you would hope there weren’t, but there has been incredible progress made,” Colleen said.
The concept of the RVA being a city of contrast comes from the mix of the old, conservative Richmond and the new, vibrant Richmond characterized around forward thinking, art movements and diversity.
This is where the idea of Decode RVA and getting viewers to explore the city came from. “The idea of discovering Richmond, for me, is to really go out and see a wide range of things in the city, to take our children to places in the city is the goal. We are hoping to encourage the audience to do the same, the interacting component,” Jeff said.
The scavenger hunt angle of the project came from Jeff hearing about other people doing hunts using codes and traveling all over the place to solve a larger puzzle. Jeff then decided to merge his craft of art with scavenger hunts. As the process began, he realized he needed to channel someone else’s creativity as well, which is when Colleen joined in.
Richmonders are highly encouraged to participate in the interactive aspect before the art opening, but it isn’t mandatory. It will bring a different appreciation to the art opening and will also allow people to engage with one another as they solve five clues.
The first clue can be found on the website, decodeRVA.com which will lead to the second clue.
Clues three, four and five require venturing out in Richmond to find answers which are part riddle and part scavenger hunt designed to avoid the easy way out of most scavenger hunts such as Wikipedia. Yes, you will have to go to the physical locations to solve these riddles.
After these three clues, individuals will end up with three secret words, when combined they will have the final answer to unlock the first piece seen when walking into the gallery Friday night.
“In our world we are constantly sharing things like pictures and in the internet world, imagery art becomes devalued because it’s so readily accessible so by taking something and specifically saying you can’t see this unless you work for it,” Jeff said.
The art piece that will be unlocked is Jeff and Colleen’s answer to what Richmond is from their perspective. “We hope it will start a conversation, no idea of how things are going to be perceived. It’s not your typical thing,” Colleen said.
Whether or not you want to participate in unlocking the clues or want to learn about Richmond’s history through art, come out this Friday at 7 PM and join the Hall couple at the art exhibit at Artworks Gallery located at 320 Hull Street Road.