Celebrate 40 with us all year!
Current Exhibits:
When I Don’t Remember You is a deeply personal multimedia exhibition that explores the lasting emotional impact of growing up with an incarcerated parent. Drawing from lived experience, Kayla examines memory, absence, and the complexities of maintaining a parent–child relationship shaped by incarceration.
At the center of the exhibition is a sculptural installation that recreates a prison visitation booth, modeled after those Kayla encountered beginning at age eight. Visitors are invited into this space to experience an audio component played through telephones, simulating a prison visit. The audio weaves together personal reflections, recorded conversations, and narration, offering an intimate glimpse into the emotional landscape of a childhood marked by separation and distance.
Surrounding the installation are cyanotype and mixed-media works that reflect on rare in-person visits and fragmented memories of Kayla’s father. These images draw from archival photographs and documents, emphasizing vulnerability, truth, and the act of remembering. The cyanotype process—known for its distinctive blue tones—plays a symbolic role throughout the exhibition. While blue is commonly associated with calm within institutional settings, here it evokes uniforms, visitation rooms, official documents, and the emotional weight tied to those spaces.
Together, the sculptural installation, photographic works, and sound elements create an immersive environment that invites viewers to reflect on the broader realities faced by millions of families affected by incarceration. The exhibition balances personal healing with social awareness, encouraging empathy and deeper understanding of a shared yet often unseen experience.
Exploration of Creation
JC Armbruster (b. Dublin, Ohio) lives and works in Waynesboro, Virginia. A professional artist since the age of sixteen, Armbruster brings decades of creative exploration to his dynamic, evolving process. His work emerges from emotion into thought—focused instinct transformed into powerful visual expression.
These “living art” works shift and deepen over time, inviting viewers into an ongoing dialogue. As perspective changes and matures, new discoveries unfold within each piece, allowing the art to grow alongside its audience.
JC is a studio artist at Shenandoah Valley Art Center and curator of our Outside Exhibit Program.
This month’s marketing is sponsored by our wonderful friends who plan transformative trips for discerning travelers:
Shenandoah Valley Art Center 126 S. Wayne Avenue, 416 W. Main Street, Waynesboro, VA 22980 540-949-7662
Join our email list to stay up to date:
We are supported by the generous support of our many members, private donors, the community, and the following organizations:
