Charlottesville is a city filled with local-loving people, and a spirit of community and collaboration unlike anywhere else. Every week, Cville Niche will celebrate that spirit by featuring a local’s top picks.
Check out previous local check-ins!
Photo by Linnea White
Lisa Woolfork
You can spot this local lady at a 6am MADabolic class, around the University, and even on Perez Hilton or Rolling Stone for her now famous Games of Thrones seminar. Find out more about Lisa and her Cville picks!
Describe what you do in town.
Associate Professor of English at the University of Virginia, research and teaching interests include African American Literature, American Literature and most recently The Game of Thrones. I also love to sew as a craft and stress-reliever. I make 85% of my clothes, my husband’s dress shirts, home decor, and kid’s clothes.
Describe yourself in 5 syllables or less.
Wife, Mom, Professor
Top Picks
A favorite local fitness class or fitness event.
MADabolic Cville. A high intensity, interval training gym that really pushes you to do your best, not against anyone else, but the best you can do. I have been attending this gym since it first opened back in August 2013, and it is a real treat to see it thrive (and my clothes are a LOT looser too. Luckily, I can easily make more.)
A favorite local artist.
Mary Beth Bellah, a local quilt artist and UVA employee with an international reputation for breaking the boundaries of quilts. She has earned recognition for traditional quilting, but lots of acclaim for work in both hard and soft mediums–barbed wire, 3-D shipping cube replicas, to create amazing works of fine art. She has a series of teapots–yes, teapots!–made from quilting materials and a “hand quilting” series with 3-D models of hands in various poses. Sharp, insightful, fun, and witty, Mary Beth Bellah’s work is to be treasured.
A favorite local gallery/venue to see art.
Charlottesville Area Quilt Guild (CAQG) Quilt Show. A biennial show of quilts made by CAQG members will be held on March 28-29, 2015 at the East Rivanna (Glenmore) Fire Station. Truly impressive works, including a Raffle Quilt, will be on display.
A favorite local shopping destination.
Les Fabriques, Downtown Charlottesville. Les Fabriques is a Charlottesville institution offering a variety of classes, programs, and of course stunning and unique fabrics. Whenever I go there, I find something I want, need, or don’t yet have. A great place for fabric lovers.
Cville Niche 
The Diner of Cville...
November 18, 2014
Lisa might appreciate this blog, The Inn at the Crossroads, where the author attempts to cook every food featured in Game of Thrones. Highly entertaining! http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/
Lisa Woolfork
November 19, 2014
Thank you! I will check this out! I have seen several cookbooks and there’s a DC-based brewery that has a line of Game of Thrones inspired beer.