Curated Coffee and Casual Conversation

When you walk into Blanchard’s Coffee Roasting Co. at 3121 W. Broad St., you almost immediately feel a sense of calm. Blanchard’s opened the first of two cafés in the Richmond area on the edge of the Museum District in October. The space is comfortable, light, airy and has a sense of energy. “The design is based on simplicity and attention to detail that comfortably focuses the customer on their own coffee experience,” says Stephen Robertson, Blanchard’s director of sales and marketing.

As a former Museum District resident, Stephen was very excited about this location because it felt like coming home. Architectural firm Fultz & Singh Architects designed the space of this 1938 Art Deco building into something casual yet elegant while retaining some of its original elements. Even the outdoor patio is refined and comfortable.

Blanchard’s launched in Richmond in 2005 as a coffee roaster dedicated to traceable, sustainable sourcing and thoughtful roasting. This coffee shop is Blanchard’s first foray into the retail market. A second café is expected to open next year on Forest Hill Ave. and their warehouse is located on Westwood Ave.

Blanchard’s offers a full coffee menu plus baked goods from Ellwood Thompson’s, Ukrop’s White House rolls and chicken salad and a simple seasonal menu of handcrafted toasts from Brenner Pass. During evening hours, the menu will transition to a selection of charcuterie and cheese boards along with a limited wine and craft beer selection. The air is filtered, the water is still or sparkling (to cleanse the palate), the music
is curated by Space Bomb Studios, the flowers are from Pomona Plants and the art is by Sometimes Gallery. Blanchard’s is all about supporting Richmond’s local businesses.

Blanchard’s wants to push the beverage conversation forward in their industry, so they will offer classes on coffee home brewing, plus wine and beer classes and tastings. The coffee, food and specialty beverage program will rotate regularly in response to the newest coffee releases.

The café is across from the eastbound Scott’s Addition Pulse bus stop. Stephen feels the consistent ridership has a positive impact on their location. The popularity of the Pulse line has exceeded goals and currently has about 6,100 riders each weekday, nearly double the goal of 3,500.

For more information, go to their website and follow @blancharsbroadstreet on social media for regular updates.

Casting a New Narrative

Kehinde Wiley first came to Richmond in 2016 to present his exhibit A New Republic at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. On December 11, 2019, Wiley returned to Richmond.

One thousand men, women and children stood crowded under a gray and drizzly sky that was threatening to open up at any moment, but the air was full of excitement. Governor Ralph Northam and Mayor Lavar Stoney spoke of inclusivity and how to embrace the future. Wiley reflected on the artwork itself and the narrative he’s trying to create.

““The dignity it takes to be able to recognize the neighbor in front of you. Those people who don’t speak the same language or occupy the same cultural tendency. That state of grace is something to bow to.””

— Kehinde Wiley

Wiley said his statue was not meant to honor one individual or culture. “Yes, I hired someone and I said, ‘please, hold this pose.’ But, then I looked at the faces of many African American men. It’s about a society that can include all of us. We should all be proud of what this America looks like.”

Wiley started receiving widespread recognition after painting the presidential portrait for Barack Obama in 2018. The inspiration to create Rumors of War came to Wiley two years prior while driving down Monument Ave. here in Richmond. For many citizens of Richmond, these monuments represent a painful history. Rumors of War is modeled after J.E.B. Stuart’s monument located at Stuart Circle at the intersection of Monument Ave. and Lombardy St. Erected in the early 1900s, long after the end of the Civil War, many feel this memorial is now worth discussing.

Wiley said of his work, “Simply by virtue of announcing on the same scale, in the same language, in the same bronze and stone that a young black man can be positioned in the same monumental language, it allows you to see someone who’s oftentimes relegated to the peripheries elevated to the status of an icon.”

“Language” and “position” are elements Wiley pays close attention to in all his work. And Rumors of War is not Wiley’s first equestrian portraiture. This subgenre of portraits features a subject on horse- back, usually a person of high status or nobility, to suggest a sense of chivalry. Wiley uses this appropriation to reveal what we as art viewers have traditionally seen as power and privilege in mainstream art and propaganda throughout history.

Bonaparte Crossing the Alps at Grand-Saint-Bernard by Jacques-Louis David

Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps by Kehinde Wiley

A great example of this is Wiley’s Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps (2005), which is an adaptation of Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800-1). Wiley’s well-executed oil on canvas painting first captures our attention in a familiar way, shedding light on what we understand and accept as authoritative: the posture, the light, the expression of the subject. He then includes fantastical elements: color, pattern and a young man wearing a bandana and Timberland boots in lieu of Napoleon Bonaparte. And when you learn Napoleon’s real crossing of the Alps was by mule days after his infantrymen, one might wonder: which painting is more misplaced? Or is this simply a different time and place in need of a new nobility and elevating the status of all? Can we change something unimaginable into the imaginable while creating a more tolerant and inclusive America?

Kehinde Wiley says yes. “The dignity it takes to be able to recognize the neighbor in front of you. Those people who don’t speak the same language or occupy the same cultural tendency. That state of grace is something to bow to.”

HD Bros: Your Friendly Neighborhood Real Estate Video Powerhouse

What happens when four friends who grew up together graduate from VCU with degrees in Criminal Justice? You guessed it — they form a real estate photography and video production company.

HD Bros has been in business since 2012 and was founded by Chris Smith, Dan Clifton, Nick Kime and Rob Malan. Smith serves as Creative Director; Clifton is Product Engineer; Kime is the company’s Marketing Director; and Malan is General Manager. “We started out shooting photos and videos for pretty much anybody who would hire us,” says Smith. “We had made videos for school projects, of ourselves skateboarding and various other things that made us laugh, so we had some skills and decided to take on freelancing. We kinda figured we didn’t want to work for anybody else.”

The HD Bros outside their new Museum District office.

The friends’ big break came just months later thanks to Smith’s and Clifton’s parents, who worked for the same real estate agency. At that time, real estate videos were not as popular as they are now. “...we gave it a shot and it ended up working in our favor. The timing was right and we knew what we needed to do.”

The volume of work quickly outgrew the co-founders’ capacity, so they established relationships with videographers in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., northern Virginia, Richmond and Los Angeles. HD Bros currently has nine videographers in the field taking pictures and videos of homes for sale; and they’re looking for more. The majority of the HD Bros team works out of their newly leased Museum District office, editing videos, creating new products and marketing the company.

Their services include video tours of homes for sale (including aerials by FAA-certified drone pilots), profile videos of real estate agents and computer-generated 3D “tours” of homes not yet built. They also license video footage of various neighborhoods (Museum District footage is coming soon, they say). The team works quickly, delivering finished videos with music and graphics in as little as 24 hours. During their busy season in the spring, HD Bros can shoot, edit and deliver up to 100 home tours. They were working on almost 50 different projects the week I interviewed them in December.

To learn more about HD Bros and see some of their work, visit www.hdbros.com.

Restore, Enhance and Transform: Providing Specialized Tattoo Services

It’s likely no surprise that Richmond takes the number three spot in the country when it comes to the number of tattoo shops per capita (14 .5 shops per 100,000 people). Just take a glance at any passerby and there’s a good chance you’ll spot a tattoo.

Linda Dunn of MediTatoo Services

For many, tattoos are a form of self- expression. They might convey a personal passion, pay homage to a loved one or simply emphasize a certain aesthetic.

For others, tattoos can be a form of restoration. Linda Dunn, a resident of the Museum District for 20 years, discovered permanent cosmetic tattooing in 2019 and began pursuing it as a way to continue her life’s work.

“I’ve been a nurse since 1996, but recently my experience had changed,” Dunn said. “I wasn’t working in a hospital any longer and was missing the patient contact, missing doing something where I knew I was making a difference in someone’s life.”

Paramedical tattoo services can be applied in a variety of instances, including correcting skin tone discoloration as a result of skin trauma, reducing the appearance of scars and providing realistic post-mastectomy tattoos.

“For people who have battled breast cancer, this kind of cosmetic tattooing is often the last piece of the puzzle,” said Dunn. “They’ve gone through so much for so long; they are coming to me victorious, and they are looking to move on.”

The process to become licensed for this specialized service is no small feat. Dunn has completed over 200 hours of training in order to obtain her Master Permanent Cosmetic Tattooer license, and she is now eager to start providing services to people who often feel these tattoos are the “completion of a long journey.”

Dunn plans to open a clinic in January 2020. To find out more, visit www.meditattooservices.com or call Linda at 804-306-9584.

Mother’s Day House & Garden Tour Committee Donates $5,000

Representative from local non-profit organizations attended the MDA Annual Meeting

The MDA Mother’s Day House & Garden Tour celebrated its 25th consecutive annual tour in May 2019. Despite the threat of torrential rain, the tour was a resounding success with record-setting sales and donations. Each year the tour committee gives 25 percent of the proceeds to local non-profit organizations that provide services to the immediate area. Representatives from each of seven local organizations were present at the MDA Annual Meeting in November to share information about the specific services they provide to residents in need in our area. Each of the following received a check in the amount of $500:

• Albert Hill Middle School PTA

• Belmont Library

• Humphrey Calder Recreation Center

• Health Brigade

• Prevent-A-Litter (PAL of Carytown)

• TeeJay Viking Fund(Thomas Jefferson High School)

• Tree Stewards of Richmond

An additional $1,500 will be awarded in the spring to selected graduating seniors at Thomas Jefferson High School.