One of the most striking parts of the installation is up a spiral staircase at the back of the room. Cole draped some chicken wire from the ceiling and hung soda bottles by their necks from the mesh. A projector shines from behind, throwing a kaleidoscopic pattern of light on the wall. You have to ask yourself why she didn’t use glass or build something specifically for the light, but then, why bother if the bottles and chicken wire work.

On the First Friday in December at a “Lure” reception, many Virginia Commonwealth University students were there drinking beer to support VCU’s first participant in a new artist-in-residence program. (The deal includes: a stipend, a teaching assignment, a show at Reynolds Gallery, and an apartment and studio at Plant Zero — so she can keep tinkering with the work through its run.)

The whole installation is like a blueprint. It comes together to capture that delicious moment of optimism and potentiality you get when you first settle into a new home or buy a day planner, the feeling you get when you have a new instrument to structure your ideas. — Amy Biegelsen

“Lure of the Lore” is on display at VCU’s Solvent Space gallery in the Plant Zero complex through January at 0 E. Fourth St. in Manchester.