The Branch - The Branch Museum of Architecture & Design

The Branch is Reopening to the Public!

Friday, July 17^th

We are happy to announce that we will be open to the public starting Friday, July 17^th. We will be following social distancing guidelines and all protocols for a safe experience for our visitors.

To facilitate social distancing, we will be using a timed ticket process and selling tickets in advance. We recommend using the advance ticket process, so that you will be able to enter at your desired time. If you cannot use this process, immediate entry tickets will be available at the front desk, but only up to the limits of our social distancing guidelines.

Advance Tickets and Timed Tickets

Purchase your admission tickets to the Branch in advance and avoid paying in person. With an advance ticket you can be certain you’ll be able to visit the Branch at the time and date of your choice.

For advance tickets, follow this link to our Eventbrite page.

VISITORS & STAFF

Facemasks will be required of visitors, staff and volunteers (as required by the Governor’s Executive Order), with exceptions for young children
Capacity will be reduced to provide guests space to socially distance. In some cases, pre-registration/timed tickets may be required
Contactless payment and use of credit/debit card for purchases will be strongly encouraged

Social distancing will be required, and may be encouraged with barriers, designated walk routes and additional signage
Hand sanitizer and similar options will be available across institutions

PROGRAMS & EXPERIENCES

The Branch is currently exploring new options for programming through online webinars, check back on our website where we will post details as they become available
Alterations or adaptations to hands-on exhibits and experiences will be made to reduce interactions with high-touch surfaces

CLEANING PROTOCOLS

Cleaning protocols will be expanded, especially in restrooms and high-touch areas
Each site will clearly post their institution-specific guidelines and protocols on their websites, on social media and onsite

Guidelines prepared in collaboration with:

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UPCOMING EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS

RVA Baroque

JULY 11

4:00 PM

Join us at the Branch Museum for a performance by Richmond’s period instrument ensemble, RVA Baroque! The concert features innovative use of simultaneous repeated indoor and outdoor sets. The audience will experience two different sound worlds: winds and voices in the garden, and strings and harpsichord in the building. The outdoor sets feature medieval and renaissance music, including a mystical hymn by Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), while the indoor sets feature 17^th and 18^th century music, including one of the earliest string quartets.

Light refreshments will be provided. Per the requirements of our performers, all visitors must wear masks and practice social distancing at the event. The outdoor program will be held rain or shine except in the event of severe weather. Tickets are $30 per person.

For more details check out our Calendar of Events under Exhibitions & Programs!

Tickets: $30 per person

TICKETS

Listening Theatres: The Sounds of Iconic Landscapes and Architectural Spaces

JULY 17 – SEPTEMBER 13

Many architects consider the aural qualities of their created spaces in terms of acoustics. This exhibition explores how listening to these created spaces can inspire creativity, imagination and discovery of the surrounding world. Karen Van Lengen and Jim Welty have created a series of animated soundscapes that portray visual representations of iconic architectural spaces, including The Academical Village at the University of Virginia, and New York City spaces of Grand Central Terminal, The New York Public Library, The Seagram Building, Rockefeller Center and the Guggenheim Museum. Listening Theatres: The Sounds of Iconic Landscapes and Architectural Spaces is an exhibition including sound, animation, and drawings created using real recordings and interpretive drawings, presented in active animations that celebrate the aural personalities of iconic architectures. Photographs of the drawings and stills of the animations are included in a colorful display that demonstrates the artists’ process.

VA Made: Meditation Across Media

JULY 17 – SEPTEMBER 13

VA Made: Meditation Across Media is an exhibition bringing together various artists and various forms of art. At one time, artists were learned in diverse materials and techniques. Today, artists are encouraged to narrow their focus and specialize in a specific art form. VA Made is an exhibition intended to consider the broader view of formats available to the artist. Art forms from large to small, from functional and representational will be exhibited in tandem with one another to explore the relationships between media and subject matter. To this end VA Made is organized around various and diverse things; it features art forms in media that are generally not exhibited together, including pictures, sculptures, jewelry, furniture, and other “functional” objects. In doing so VA Made seeks to call attention to seemingly disparate works of various sizes and made of differing materials–wood, glass, fiber, ceramic, metal, paint–and constructed using a variety of techniques. And while such a presentation of subject matter/material does have the effect of undermining the idea that fine art is somehow superior to craft, the main reason for such a presentation is to encourage broader thinking, especially across media. In this sense, VA Made is an explicit attempt to explore the relationship between media, to wonder about the effect of media on subject matter and subject matter on media, how one informs the other.

Joan Elliott, *Migration* and Jason Hackett, *Commerative Set*
*(Mesa, Basin, Mitten, Moon)*

Cub Creek: Twenty Years Together

JULY 17 – SEPTEMBER 13

Cub Creek: Twenty Years Together highlights the diverse work of residents and founding members and heighten awareness of the only residency program exclusively for the ceramic arts in the Mid-Atlantic region. The exhibition will be a critical reflection of the abiding respect, affection and enthusiasm for the ceramic arts that is embodied and promoted by the Cub Creek Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. Located in Appomattox, Virginia, Cub Creek hosts workshops and educational events and offers a year-long supportive residency in a rural environment. Cub Creek’s facilities have attracted young ceramic artists from around the world. Several foreign residents have stayed in the Atlantic region and contribute significantly to the vitality of ceramic arts here as teachers and professionals. Workshop presenters at Cub Creek, including Resident Director John Jessiman, represent a virtual who’s who of important figures in the field.

Cub Creek hosts numerous workshops and educational events, and residents prepare and execute regional outreach experiences for local schools and youth groups. In addition, Cub Creek brings internationally recognized artists together annually for a demonstration workshop to share methods and ideas. Regional university students and professional artists are invited to participate.

Work by Shasta Krueger

The Cub Creek Board of Directors believes in providing continued support to those completing a residency. With a network of professional ceramic artists throughout the US and abroad, they have been successful in finding venues for many to continue their educational pursuits.

Ody the Outsider is still standing tall out front in the courtyard – come by to see him!

Statement from The Branch Board of Trustees

June 16, 2020

The Board of Directors of The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design stands with all who are demanding an end to end racism and its covert, systemic and explicit practices in our society. The killing of black men and women across our nation represents a tipping point that has laid bare the persistent and pernicious racism holding our country back from attaining a more enlightened and inclusive society. We at The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design join in sympathy with the victims of violence and their families, and we share the outrage of our community which has resulted in the peaceful protests across Richmond, the United States, and the world.
In our expression of grief and support for the black community, we recognize the impediment that the Confederate monuments represent in the path toward a better society. We understand how they glorify the values of the Confederacy and celebrate the institutionalization of racism in our country during the Jim Crow era.
The symbols of our racist heritage, the Confederate statues, must be removed, so that we can march forward to an equal and just community
We at The Branch believe this will result in a better understanding of, and reconciliation with, our past. As a public institution and proponent of good design, we are optimistic that the catharsis of removal will lead to an opportunity for beneficial change. The Branch looks to the future and plans to take a role in guiding that change toward a better ideological and built environment which supports the quest for an improved society united for the public good.
Together we can begin a dialogue to correct past and current injustices. We will work with others to create new symbols celebrating our determination to treat all peoples equally. May these new symbols inform following generations of our resolve, so that they, too, will be steadfast in promoting fair and equal treatment for all.