vol. 105 / Trask 🎨Artist Ed Trask provides his tips on how to enjoy this place we love to call home.
VOL. 105 / TRASK
It just doesn’t get much more Richmond than this week's guest editor, our friend Ed Trask. After growing up in Loudoun County, Ed moved to the River City and enrolled in VCU’s painting program. While in school, he spent every waking hour playing music in the mid-80’s punk scene and creating art. After many attempts to garner gallery attention, Ed decided to do it his own way and began turning the dilapidated buildings around RVA into his canvas. Long before mural artists were regularly celebrated in this town, Ed painted directly onto buildings, perhaps a bit illegally at times, until the city was covered. He continued this approach around the world as he played with popular bands like the Holy Rollers, Kepone, Corntooth, and AVAIL. Today, his work is found in many permanent collections including Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gap, Capital One, and Fortune Magazine. He’s also the co-founder of RVA Street Art Festival and can regularly be spotted around Richmond supporting any good cause that pushes our community forward. With that in mind, we give you Ed’s tips for enjoying this place we call home…
Morning
Run
My addiction to morning running takes me on an ever-changing, ever-seeing circle around the James River Park System. The River City that I see on these runs resides deep inside of me. It inspires me, it inspires all of us. Running through Oregon Hill, I begin by waving to the ghosts in Hollywood Cemetery; cringe when I pass the spot where an old half-pipe used to sit (first ramp that I tried dropping in on); and reflect on some crazy times in the many Hill houses. Winding down the hill toward the footbridge to Belle Isle, I listen for the rhythm of a train to set my cadence and then start the trek over the river, stopping occasionally to see if I can spot any catfish or gar in the water below. Sixty steps on Belle Isle, I take the first right to circle the old quarry as the morning light shoots around the trees atop the quarry cliffs. Hollywood Rapids pound east to the right. The river smells, like stale PBR, and the island feels lush with winding trails of clay and exposed tree roots. It’s an island of past overwhelming suffering and lost industry, and now a place of respite and rejuvenation. Near the old hydroelectric power plant, I take in the Habitat Restoration Project, the bike pump track, and then head over the access bridge above the rocks toward the stairs that lead to the Buttermilk Trail. Sometimes, I’ll take the trail to Forest Hill park or follow the extension path that brings you to the Lee Bridge to see Joshua Wiener's metal circle sculptures. Within this section of Richmond’s Southside there are climbing walls, city overlooks, trails, stairs, and the beginning of the Floodwall path underneath art-like pylons holding up the Manchester Bridge. You’ll also spot the crew change on trains, monikers and graffiti on rail cars, and those simply taking in the sights and sounds from the T. Tyler Potterfield Memorial Bridge. No matter your reason for being there, listen to the roar of the water, breath in, breath out, and be humbled by the beauty of this city.
Some years back, I was in a frantic state. My first real solo show was opening in 10-minutes at Glave Kocen Gallery, and I was running on fumes. On top of it, I had a writer who was doing a piece on me and following me around asking questions. Months of pushing in the studio, not sleeping, and trying to empty everything I had inside onto the walls for the public to see, was pushing me to fits of crying or raging tantrums over nothing. As people started to fill the gallery, I panicked and ran out the door and into Heritage restaurant across the street. At the bar, Mattias Hagglund sat down a rye neat and gave me a calming smile. Seeing the state I was in, co-owners Joe and Emilia Sparatta brought out plates of food. I was home. I believe from that day on I realized that Heritage was much more than great food and cool bartenders. Joe and Emilia regularly invite Richmond to break bread with them and to understand that we are all human and need help from others. Today, Heritage still serves as an inclusive place where the food doesn’t just give you comfort, it gives you an opening—a portal—to attach your own personal storylines to the well-thought-out entrees and cocktails.
There are a handful of places I like to go to when I feel like I’m creatively shooting blanks and chasing my own tail. Beyond the James River, I like to park a couple of blocks from the VMFA so that I can walk into its grandeur. There, I tend to make my way to the second floor and spend some time with my friends. These aren't people—they’re paintings that never stop informing me. They talk to me, they challenge me. These paintings are like private, personal best friends that you can complain to. One of those paintings is by Edward Hopper. This painting has brought me to tears on many occasions. It’s rich and complex, and it can be reinvestigated over and over again. Please people, please—go see the beautifully curated Edward Hopper exhibit at the VMFA. After leaving the VMFA, I like to stop by Can Can for a chocolate croissant, hit Chop Suey Books and bbgb, and throw down an Ellwood Thompson salad before heading back to my studio. Whatever you decide to do, I recommend putting aside everything on your plate at the moment and head to VMFA right now. Seriously, right now.
Here Weekly and Grid Supply Co. have teamed up with artists like Emily Herr to create cocktail glasses that celebrate Emily's Girls! Girls! Girls! portrait series and Hamilton Glass to spotlight his famous #Whosham RVA logo. Both glasses are laser-etched by Richmond based Big Secret. We're now ready to make something special with Ed Trask. Do you have a favorite Trask creation that should find its way onto a cocktail glass or maybe something else? We want to hear your ideas for a chance to be featured.
