By: Zoe Santos, arts, culture, and sports reporter
Local boutique 310 Rosemont in Blacksburg is using social media marketing to connect with Virginia Tech students and new residents. Social media manager Nicole Zuckerman explains how consistent posting and creative content help the store reach new audiences.
By: Zoe Santos, arts, culture, and sports reporter
The Sinkland Farms Pumpkin Festival in Christiansburg has grown from a small family fundraiser into one of the region’s most beloved seasonal events. Featuring a pumpkin patch, hayrides, live music, and activities for all ages, the festival continues to draw thousands of visitors each year. What began as a way for Susan Sink and her family to support their farm has become a fall tradition for the New River Valley.
By Zoe Santos, arts, culture, and sports reporter
BLACKSBURG, Va. (Sept. 11, 2025)– Artists Clare Grill and Margaux Ogden converse in front of one of Grill’s paintings. (Zoe Santos, Newsfeed NRV)
Visitors gathered Sept. 12 at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech for Beyond the Frame, a monthly tour series that gives audiences a closer look at current exhibitions. September’s tour focused on “Things I Had No Words For”, featuring the paintings of Clare Grill and Margaux Ogden.
Beyond the Frame takes place on the second Thursday of each month at noon. The program invites audiences into the galleries for informal conversations about the art on display. This fall’s exhibitions, which opened Sept. 4 and run through Nov. 22, include Grill and Ogden’s “Things I Had No Words For” on the first floor and “Seeing and Reading” featuring Dana Frankfurt and Josephine Halberstam, upstairs.
The exhibition is part of CFA’s rotating series of gallery shows, which change out each semester. Visitors can view the works during regular gallery hours, Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4 p.m.
BLACKSBURG, Va. (Sept. 11, 2025)– Margaux Ogden, Clare Grill, and Brian Holcombe discuss one of Ogden’s pieces on display. (Zoe Santos, Newsfeed NRV)
Curated by Brian Holcombe, director of the visual arts program, “Things I Had No Words For” pairs Grill’s contemplative canvases with Ogden’s energetic, color-driven abstractions. Holcombe said he was first introduced to the two artists in 2014 through a mutual friend and immediately saw their work as complementary. “It struck me that they would have a wonderful conversation together,” Holcombe said during the gallery tour.
Clare Grill, lives and works in New York, received her Master’s of Fine Arts from the Pratt Institute in 2005, according to her biography on M + B’s website. She builds her work from a personal archive of images, memories, and textures. Her paintings often incorporate faint outlines and muted tones that evoke a sense of layers of history. She told the group that she begins with fragments from the past, mostly from antique embroidery, and allows them to inspire her to create something new on the canvas.
“I really think of painting as an excavation,” Grill said, “I’m looking for something, and I’m not exactly sure what it’s going to be until I’m there.”
BLACKSBURG, Va. (Sept. 11, 2025)– Artist Margaux Ogden poses for a photo in front of one of her pieces on display titled “Bathers.” (Zoe Santos, Newsfeed NRV)
Ogden, who is based in Brooklyn, uses a very different process. Her works are full of bright colors and geometric shapes, and she paints without sketches or strict plans. She explained that her studio workflow thrives on risk and spontaneity. All of her pieces are seemingly perfectly symmetrical, but she shared with the group that she only measures the first four lines of a painting and then relies on her judgment for the rest. “The way I work is improvised,” Ogden said. “It’s not predetermined. It’s about responding in the moment.” View more of Ogden’s works here.
Holcombe said bringing both artists into the same gallery space emphasizes the contrasts while also showing how abstraction can take multiple forms. “Clare is often working from history, while Margaux is responding to the present moment,” he said. “That tension is what makes this exhibition really exciting.”
The gallery tour drew a mix of students, community members, and regional art enthusiasts. Among them was an older couple who had travelled from Roanoke specifically for the event.
As Holcombe guided visitors through the space, the group moved slowly between large canvases that filled the white-walled gallery. Grill’s pieces provoke close looking, with texture and subtle brushstrokes that reveal themselves the longer you look at the piece. Ogden’s paintings, in contrast, catch viewers’ attention immediately with bright bursts of pink, green, and orange.
Standing in front of one of Ogden’s pieces, Holcombe described the effect of viewing both artists side by side, “There’s an energy in the room when you put these two bodies of work together,” he said. “You start to notice connections you wouldn’t see otherwise.”
Beyond the Frame and “Things I Had No Words For” continues CFA’s mission to showcase contemporary art while engaging both the campus and surrounding communities. Previous exhibitions have included national and international artists, but Holcombe emphasized the importance of highlighting painters like Grill and Ogden, who are contributing to ongoing conversations in abstract art today.
Both artists spoke about the balance between personal meaning and public reception in their work. Grill said she hopes viewers bring their own experiences to her paintings rather than looking for a single interpretation. “I want the work to feel open, like there’s room for the viewer to enter,” she said.
Ogden shared that thought, noting that the intensity of the color often provokes strong reactions. “People might see joy, chaos, or even confusion,” she said. “All of that is valid. It’s about how the painting meets you.”
For visitors, the tour was not only about viewing paintings but also about connecting with artists and ideas. Some lingered after the formal program ended, continuing to talk with Grill and Ogden about their processes. A few students took notes, while others snapped photos to remember specific works.
The CFA hopes that kind of engagement continues throughout the fall. With the exhibition open until Nov. 22, Holcombe encouraged visitors to come back more than once, noting that abstraction often rewards repeat viewings.
“You can walk into this show on different days and notice new things each time,” he said. “That’s the beauty of work that resists easy answers.”
“Clare Grill and Margaux Ogden: Things I Had No Words For” is on display at the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech through Nov. 22. Admission is free. More information is available on the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech’s website.
By: Zoe Santos, arts & culture reporter
Evan Hughes, Assistant Director of Broadcast Services and Voice of Virginia Tech women’s basketball and baseball, poses for a portrait in Blacksburg, Va.
Even with recent losing seasons, Virginia Tech football continues to draw sold-out crowds to Lane Stadium. The passion is strong as ever, and Hokies, students and alumni alike, say the program represents more than wins and losses.
Evan Hughes, a Virginia Tech alumnus and assistant director of broadcast services for Virginia Tech Athletics, has experienced the culture from both sides of the stands. As a student and now a staff member, Hughes offers a perspective on the influence of Frank Beamer, the game day atmosphere in Lane Stadium, and why Hokie spirit continues to thrive.
(Edited for clarity)
You’ve been both a student and an employee at Virginia Tech. How would you describe what makes the culture here unique?
I think first and foremost, it’s the people, and I think that it’s so overly used when it comes to organizations or universities, “the people, the people, the people,” but truly, there’s a reason why Virginia Tech is near the top every year in student life happiness.
You hardly meet people who come to Virginia Tech who don’t like Virginia Tech. I just think there’s something about the way others treat fellow students and professors that makes this community so special.
I don’t know if it’s the small-town vibe. I don’t know if it’s being in the mountains. But it’s contagious. You can feel it. And there’s a sense of real pride in being a part of something bigger than yourself, too, which is kinda cool.
Every day, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed from when I was a freshman in college to now being an employee. It’s the people.
Frank Beamer was at the South Carolina game recently, supporting his son Shane. What did you think about the fan response to him being there in another team’s colors?
I think it’s a really good question. Obviously, Coach Beamer is arguably the biggest celebrity and one of the most impactful people to ever graduate from Virginia Tech, but then had the biggest impact that one person has had.
The growth of the football team really helped the growth of the university from an academic standpoint. So to see him there supporting Shane, I thought it was cool because he had a Virginia Tech pin. That was so cool, just paying homage like, “Hey, I am a Hokie. I love you guys. This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, but of course I’m going to cheer for my son first.”
Just about every Hokie understood that. Nobody’s like, “Hey, why isn’t Coach cheering for the Hokies?” Everybody gets it. It’s his son. Of course, he’s going to cheer for him. That was really unique. I mean, it’s not every day that your legendary coach is going up against his son.
If you could put it into words, what lasting impact did Beamer leave beyond numbers and wins?
When he first got here, from an athletic department standpoint, we were a very small athletic department. We had not achieved a lot from a team perspective. We’d had some good football seasons in the past, but nothing like where we are now in the ACC and from a competitive standpoint.
We are where we are because of Frank Beamer. I think the rise of the football program allowed for so many more people to get on the bandwagon, so to speak, and then students started saying, “Hey, Virginia Tech’s good. Are they good in school? Maybe I should apply there.”
I don’t think you can sum up what he has meant to this place. Even in his retired life, he walks around campus almost every day, and he’s been around for years. In my opinion, Frank Beamer is one of the most impactful people to ever be a Hokie.
I think about Virginia Tech, how many students we can admit every year, how competitive it is, and how we need to expand. All these things. It’s because of him. He is one of the common denominators for why we are the way we are.
I hope he knows that. I hope he feels that from Hokies, because I don’t think he fully understands that he is one of the primary driving forces of why we are where we are as a university and athletic department today.
As a student and now an alumnus, how do you think the experience changed? Does the passion remain the same?
I think the passion absolutely remains the same. As a student, it depends. Some people come in having grown up a Hokie, and they know everything about it. Some come from out of state and don’t know who Frank Beamer is. Everybody has different starting points for when they started following Tech football. But once you’re in, you’re hooked.
As an alum, so many people who love sports follow Tech football because it takes them back to their college days. Tech football is that placeholder in their heart. It’s their way of staying connected to what’s happening with their alma mater.
It is cool how Tech football continues to give to those who have already graduated. That Hokie Stone the players touch running out of the tunnel comes to mind, “For those who have passed, for those to come, reach for excellence.” That’s what it represents.
If you had to sum up a gameday in Lane Stadium to someone who’s never been here, how would you describe it?
Exhilarating. Jumping, a lot of jumping. Coming together with 66,000 of your closest friends to cheer on one common goal, and that is for Virginia Tech to win a football game. You are the 12th man, helping push the team to victory. You’re also sharing in three hours of one of the most special moments you’ll have all week.
From kids who are five to alumni who are 90, people love being Hokies. And there’s no better way to show that than being inside Lane Stadium on a Saturday.
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