Student Artist To Exhibit Work At First Fridays Artwalk

19-year-old Kristin Joseph has always had a love for art. The Short Pump resident, who paints mainly large scale abstract works, took her first art class at age 9.

“In elementary school, art was my favorite class,” Joseph said. “I remember in first grade we were doing a Valentine project and we all got [boxes shaped like] hearts. The [boy] next to me wanted me to color in the heart, so I did.”

After her classmates saw how well she decorated the box, a line soon formed by her desk. “The teacher yelled at me because everyone wanted me to color their hearts in.”

The young artist took her passion for painting to the next level when she entered high school. Deep Run High School art instructor Michael Guyer inspired Joseph to do large scale paintings and experiment with abstract art.

From then on out, she’s done mainly large scale abstract works, using acrylic paints on canvas or artboard. She even adds dimension and texture to many of her paintings using various methods.

“I’ll put whatever texture I want on the board, and then I paint over it and kind of pull the details out,” Joseph said about her work. “I’ll  have an image in my head of what I want, but it never comes out exactly like that. I keep putting layers on it and it all just kind of conforms together.”

Joseph’s paintings don’t have any one central theme, but she often times centers her paintings on figure drawings. They’re abstract, yet figurative, and open to interpretation. “The thing about my [paintings] is that I want people to see their own images when they look at them and also what I’ve tried to make out of them. Most people say all my stuff looks like I’m capturing motion and it keeps moving while your eye is looking at it.”

This past summer, Joseph worked with Tammy Hinkle, owner of U Neek Walls. The talented local artist paints in the style of trompe l’oeil, which literally means “fool the eye” in French. It’s a method of realistic painting that creates the illusion of depth. Hinkle and Joseph collaborated on a large wall mural at a new home in the Henley subdivision off of Pouncey Tract Road.

Joseph will show and sell some of her paintings on Friday, October 3, 2008 at the First Fridays Artwalk downtown. Her exhibit, entitled “Impermanence of Motion,” will be displayed at Lift Coffee Shop at 218 West Broad Street from 6:00-10:00 PM the night of the event, and throughout the entire month of October.

The second year college student is in the process of earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with an emphasis in studio art. For more information on Joseph’s work, visit her website.

Circuit City Stock Slumps To All-Time Low

Struggling Richmond-based electronics giant Circuit City, headquartered just east of Short Pump off Mayland Drive, had their stock fall to its lowest ever value. Shares in the retailer at press time had fallen to a mere 75 cents. Circuit City lost $239.2 million, or $1.45 a share, in a three month period ending on August 31, 2008, compared to losses totalling $62.8 million, or 38 cents a share, in the same period of 2007.

Police Investigate Whether Deadly House Fire Was Arson

As the investigation into a deadly house fire that killed two Thai women at 2404 Bridgehaven Terrace continues, police have new leads in the case. Documents filed at Henrico County Circuit Court show that police obtained a search warrant to enter the home just after the fire was put out to seek evidence of arson.

Henrico Police Search Apartment In Connection With House Fire

Two women who died in an intense house fire at 2404 Bridgehaven Terrace last Wednesday may have been victims of identity theft, according to a search warrant obtained by Henrico County police the day of the fire. Police searched an apartment in the 9400 block of West Brightway Circle (near the intersection of Hungary & Springfield Roads) in connection with the fire investigation.

Trader Joe’s Opens At Short Pump Station

A light rain didn’t put a damper on turnout for the highly-anticipated opening of the new Trader Joe’s store in the Short Pump Station shopping center. The colorful, Hawaiian-themed store, which opened Friday morning, drew in a huge crowd. During our visit around 10:00 AM Friday, the checkout lines were backed up well into the aisles, despite seemingly dozens of employees on hand to handle the massive amount of customers.

Fire Victims Positively Identified

As a followup to our earlier story, the two victims of a blaze that broke out Wednesday morning have been positively identified. 27-year-old Nitchawan Srikhamwong and 32-year-old Orawan Lungtaekul died in the fire that started around 4:30 AM.

Outsted Circuit City CEO Departing Richmond?

Forgetting for a moment that former Circuit City CEO Philip Schoonover might have sold his Goochland home (BizSense has not confirmed it yet), one local recruiter says local companies will be hard-pressed to land him should he consider staying. Richmond has few recruiters who place CEOs of Schoonover’s pay level, and his skills would make him more of a national candidate.

Investigation Into Deadly House Fire Continues

A fire that we first reported on Wednesday that claimed the lives of two Short Pump residents Wednesday continues this morning. 911 calls came in from one of the victims inside the house at 2404 Bridgehaven Terrace, near Pump & Church Roads in the Steveston subdivision, around 4:35 AM Tuesday morning, but Henrico County Public Information Officer Chris Buehren said that certain elements of the distress call indicated that the fire was already fully involved by that point.

Two Confirmed Dead In House Fire

It has now been confirmed that two people were found dead in a house fire that tore through a house at 2404 Bridgehaven Terrace, located off Glen Eagles Drive near Pump & Church Roads on Wednesday morning. We first reported just after the blaze that fire officials feared one person had been trapped inside and died, but there were indeed two individuals that never made it out.