Most of us who live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia are familiar with Fort Monroe. It’s the fort with the moat in remote Hampton.
I recently had the opportunity to visit the tunnel under the Casemate Museum there and was entranced by the quiet sense of history. The walls are multi-colored and textured. They were brick red, stone, green, and even black soot from fireplaces. I saw it as background for the soldiers I imagined training and manning the 32-inch cannon and writing letters home.
Some of the collages of letters are copies of original documents left behind in boxes when the U.S. Army left Ft Monroe in 2011. I was able to get some photocopies of the letters and added them to my paintings. Thus my painting series: Letters from Fort Monroe.
View at Hampton Art Center
This new series is hanging in the Hampton Art Center’s Show, Sea to Stars. The opening is scheduled for April 29, 2023, from 3:00 pm until 5:00 pm at the former Charles Taylor Library in Hampton, Virginia. You can enjoy the entire show from April 22 – June 17, 2023, at your leisure.
Let me know how you enjoy this bit of history when you stop by.
