Because art is a difficult thing to price, art farmers bring freshly harvested works to museums rather than selling them in grove-side stands. Corral visually edible art exhibitions all in one convenient location with today's Groupon to the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia on Parks Avenue. Choose between the following options:

• For $20, you get an individual one-year membership (a $50 value). Members receive, among other benefits, unlimited admission to the museum, invitations to members-only events, discounts in the museum shop, and discounts for classes.
• For $30, you get a one-year standard household membership for two adults and dependents under 18 years old (a $65 value). Membership benefits are identical to those of the individual membership.

The CAC is a non-profit art institute where creative acts of painting, photography, sculpture, and video assemble to tickle intellects and inspire imaginations. Current exhibits include sculptor John R. G. Roth's dreamlike dioramas and complex models, as well as Heidi Fowler>>Re:USE, the Virginia-based painter's works modeled after photographs shot from her car. Starting February 10, 2011, Marc Sijan's Ultra-Realistic Sculpture will be on site. The sculpture recreates a person's every pore, wrinkle, and scar, forming a remarkably natural figure ready to come to life and start selling lottery tickets at any minute.

For visitors more interested in creating than contemplating, the CAC offers fun and instructive studio classes and workshops for adults, teens, and children (members receive a $15 discount). There are members-only Master Classes, wherein members meet an artist whose work is on display at the museum and complete a project that relates to his or her work. Whether you want to shake a painty hand, take a bite out of an oil-painted peach, browse in the museum shop, or explore and transcend the boundaries of modern art and its ability to communicate narratives about the human experience, a CAC membership is a superb step.

Reviews

The Daily Press reviewed the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia's two new exhibits. The Center has more than 1,200 Facebook fans:

• Titled "Heidi Fowler>>Re:USE," Fowler's exhibit includes numerous serene and beautiful landscape paintings produced with such untraditional and unexpected materials as junk mail, work shirts and phone book pages. She also uses such unusual materials as egg cartons and bottle caps, underscoring her interest in preserving the environment while at the same time creating images that focus on the way modern technology often interrupts the aesthetics of the natural world. – Mark St. John Erickson, Daily Press