![]() Verner Johnson and Associates, is approximately 38,500 square feet and features 6,300 square feet of exhibition space. The current structure, designed by Boston architect E. In 1989, after nearly a decade of planning, fundraising and construction, MOCA opened in its present location at 2200 Parks Avenue. After maintaining a small oceanfront property for several years, local supporters in the late 1980’s planned to construct a new physical space for the Museum. The building is owned and maintained by The City of Virginia Beach and MOCA operates within it as a private, non-profit. ![]() MOCA is one the region’s best examples of a private-public partnership. By operating at a national standard, MOCA received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2010. By balancing its four primary activities-gallery exhibitions, studio art classes, educational outreach programs and outdoor art shows-MOCA seeks to involve a diverse regional public in the rich and active language of contemporary visual art. Regularly changing exhibitions feature painting, sculpture, photography, glass, video and other visual media from internationally acclaimed artists as well as artists of national and regional renown. Through excellence and diversity in our changing exhibitions and educational programming, MOCA stimulates critical thinking and dialogue throughout the Hampton Roads community. The museum hopes to keep the mural up for a few years, and then use the building as a canvas for “another amazing piece of art,” says Byrne.The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art is a non-profit institution which exists to foster awareness, exploration, and understanding of the significant art of our time. While some art can be intimidating to the uninitiated, Byrne says the public has responded well to the mural it has even served as the backdrop for a few wedding party portraits. People want to be close to it, they want to take a picture of it.” “Maser’s work is very much rooted in art history and design, but it’s also personable. “He started doing it illegally-tagging walls, creating these secret projects-but now, he’s commissioned to make art all over the world,” explains Byrne. It was really fun, other than the 90-degree heat.”īyrne says Maser’s origin as a graffiti artist influenced the museum’s decision to work with him. “Then, the MOCA staff and some artists here in Virginia Beach worked alongside him. “Maser was on site with us for two weeks last July,” says Byrne. Maser, who is MOCA’s current artist-in-residence, painted the mural last summer. ![]() “We wanted a huge, dynamic block of color and pattern to get people to look at our building, and to immediately know what we were all about,” says Byrne. Sporting wide swaths of bright colors, lines and angular shapes, it’s no accident that the mural is painted on the back of the MOCA building facing I-264. Visitors may walk inside the sculpture and interact with it in a tangible, unusual way. The other two components are an entertainment stage, which Maser recently completed, and a three-dimensional sculptural installation, finished in the spring. “The mural is actually part of a three-part project we’re doing in partnership with the Virginia Beach Office of Cultural Affairs, and the ViBe Creative District,” Byrne explains. The mural, created by Ireland-born artist Maser, is part of a series of works designed to pique the public’s interest in the city’s evolving art identity, says Alison Byrne, MOCA’s director of exhibitions and education. The geometric patterns covering the exterior of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Virginia Beach came to bear through one artist’s vision and a community’s collaboration. The Maser mural, painted on the back of the MOCA building, faces I-264 in Virginia Beach.
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