Solo Exhibition: “Remnants/Remembrance” at Workhouse Arts
August 18, 2021
Remnants / Remembrance
August 12 – October 31, 2021
Vulcan Muse Gallery
Workhouse Arts Center
9518 Workhouse Way
Lorton, VA 22079
About the exhibition: The Workhouse Arts Center is proud to present Remnants/Remembrance, a solo exhibition by Whitney Lea Sage. Sage’s work aims to address the history and current struggles of the Rust Belt; the region from New York to the Midwest that was once dominated by manufacturing, now facing deindustrialization, population loss and urban decay. Sage incorporates her personal experiences of growing up in a Rust Belt city in her illustrations by using architecture and the domestic interior of the home to communicate the universal notions of home, loss, and hope.
About Workhouse Arts: The story of the Workhouse began 110 years ago when President Theodore Roosevelt appointed a penal commission to investigate the over-crowded and unsanitary conditions present at the District of Columbia Jail. Congress approved the purchase of a 1,155- acre tract of land north of the Occoquan River and the first prisoners arrived in 1910. The Workhouse gradually became an agricultural work camp and was intended to be self-sufficient and eventually developed extensive agricultural operations. By the late 1980s, the prison was known more for over-crowding and disorganization than the rehabilitation program for which Roosevelt had promoted. In fact, the prison was in such a state of disrepair that it became representative of the nation’s difficulties with correctional facilities. In 1997, Federal legislation required the Lorton Correctional Facility to be closed by December 31, 2001.
In 2002, a group of community leaders proposed a plan to transform the former prison facility into a cultural arts center. After several years of planning, adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic buildings, the Workhouse Arts Center opened to the public in September 2008. The Workhouse currently consists of six (6) artist studio buildings, the main galleries, dance studios, music rooms, outdoor performance and event space, and the W-3 Theatre.