After a week of exams for much of the University, the sunshine and crisp chill in the air on Friday was a welcome respite from a dreary, stressful week. Many students looking for a way to unwind before weekend festivities headed to the Fralin Museum of Art for the September edition of their monthly “Final Friday” event, which occurs on the last Friday of each month.
The Fralin is located on Rugby Road, conveniently accessible from Grounds and the Corner. The museum offers free admission to all visitors six days a week, and hosts a variety of events and rotating exhibits. Activities vary depending on the month and have previously included live music and a variety of arts-engagement activities. September’s Final Friday included free boba from Tealicious and an interactive collage station inside the museum.
The majority of Final Friday events also include free food and student-led tours of the museum via the Fralin Student Docent program. Emery Troxell, fourth-year Education student and Fralin student docent, noted that the Fralin being nestled in amongst sorority and fraternity houses often leads to the museum and its host of unique opportunities flying under the radar.
“A lot of times when students come to Arts Grounds, they just walk by the Fralin and kind of excuse it as being like a frat house because it is next to a bunch of frats on Rugby Road,” Troxell said. “It's relatively unknown for the students here. It's just a fun place to see art and build a community with others.”
At the September Final Friday, the Fralin brought the Tealicious boba truck to its backlot — accompanied by a long, winding line of students eager to grab a free boba tea. At the tables outside the museum, students enjoyed their tea accompanied by the views of Mad Bowl and the lovely fall air while working on homework or chatting with friends.
Inside of the museum, the collaging event was in full force. Signs welcomed students to make their own collages, with large round tables inviting collaboration between guests. Assisted by a donation of books from Gingko Bookshop, the Fralin had set up a long table with a plethora of pages to choose from in the center of the atrium. Other collaging materials were available at the tables, and a separate long table provided snacks such as chips and popcorn.
Materials provided by the Fralin included scrapbooking pages, vintage cookbooks, comic sketch collections and novels. The variety in materials invited inspiration, and the students inside the museum were busy creating masterpieces of their own while conversing with friends old and new.
Haley Orr, third-year Commerce student and co-chair of the Fralin’s Student Engagement Council, discussed the importance of events like Final Friday in getting new students involved in the arts at the University.
“I think it's really cool that we just have a place, like a central place, where we have all this art, and that's free of charge for students to visit and come into. It's not something that's at every university, and it's really cool,” Orr said. “Our exhibits change semesterly, so there's always something new to see, always a good reason to visit.”
Orr also noted that she often sees students meet new friends or reconnect with familiar faces at Fralin events. She said that these spaces are valuable in giving students an opportunity to connect with each other and the greater Charlottesville community through shared experiences of art, culture and food.
One group of students reflected on the event as an opportunity for connection and relaxation, using the event as an opportunity to unwind and reconnect with friends after a stressful week of midterms. Third-year Engineering student Amrit Kaur attended Friday’s event with two of her friends and said that she thoroughly enjoyed finding a creative outlet with her friends at the event.
“I liked going through all the collage materials and talking about [collaging] with my friends,” Kaur said. “I think that was really fun. And the bubble tea itself was also really nice to have, while you're doing all this.”
As the weather gets cooler and classes intensify, these Friday festivities become even more pleasurable. The next Final Friday event will occur Oct. 30, and updates about activities and timing — as well as a full list of all of the other events — are available on the Fralin's website.
Read More
An essential guide to the Charlottesville music scene
By CC West | 30 minutes agoWhether someone is a composer, a dedicated listener or looking to grow their music knowledge, here are some ways to find new harmonies throughout a student's years on Grounds.
Bebe Stockwell’s sunny disposition shined at The Southern
By CC West | 32 minutes agoFor the third show of her first headlined tour, Bebe Stockwell graced The Southern Café and Music Hall Saturday with her upbeat attitude and optimistic lyricism.
Big Red makes Charlottesville’s day on his ‘Day Made’ tour
By Bridget Baile | 22 hours agoFor the chronically online, Big Red’s “Day Made” tour lived up to its name.
