RVA is the type of city that usually gets one big snowstorm a year and spends the rest of winter dealing with merely mild coldness. I don’t know about you, but I miss that. This year, we’ve instead been troubled by whatever a “polar vortex” is, and so far, none of 2014’s First Fridays have been all that picturesque–at least where the weather is concerned.
RVA is the type of city that usually gets one big snowstorm a year and spends the rest of winter dealing with merely mild coldness. I don’t know about you, but I miss that. This year, we’ve instead been troubled by whatever a “polar vortex” is, and so far, none of 2014’s First Fridays have been all that picturesque–at least where the weather is concerned. Sadly, we’re stuck with more of the same tonight, though the temperature should at least be above freezing–which means the precipitation we encounter will be liquid rather than solid. So you’re best advised to bring an umbrella, or at least move quickly from gallery to gallery, when you hit the First Friday Art Walk tonight. But don’t stay home, for pete’s sake–there’s way too much great local art on display that you will kick yourself for missing. By all means, dress warmly, but make sure you venture out and see some art! You’ll be glad you did. Here’s some of what you’ll find:
Ghostprint Gallery: Rêverie
A la baignoire 1 8″x8″, mixed media on canvas
This month, Ghostprint Gallery presents Rêverie, an exhibition of new works by Tifenn Python.
The title of the show, Rêverie, evokes the elusive figures Python portrays—many of them beautiful women in dream- like situations, dreams that dissolve upon awakening and leave only a haunting memory.
Born in France, Python moved to the South Pacific island of Tahiti at a young age. Water and fish appear in many of her paintings, imagery that must be drawn from that formative period of her life. A six months artist’s residency in Shanghai in 2007 added a subtle new dimension to her mature work. Python is not given to discussions about her art. She says only that it is “a documentary of the people and situations that have made an impact on my life.” Python’s degree in Fine Arts /Illustration is from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto, Canada. Her paintings have been shown in Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Soho (Opera Gallery) and other venues in New York City. Ghostprint Gallery presented her earlier works in 2011. Python’s illustrations have appeared in American Illustration, Communication Arts, and Print Magazine. She does illustration work for a wide range of clients including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Harper’s, Nylon, The Utne Reader, Playboy and Elektra Records.
Rêverie will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6-9 PM, at Ghostprint Gallery, located at 220 W. Broad St.
Gallery 5: Repeat/Delete
This month, Gallery 5 presents Repeat/Delete, a group show featuring new works by Todd Hale, Sean Sweeney, Julie Hinzmann, Shawn Saharko, Kylie Lockwood, Jeff Evarts, Young Hwan Yoo, Erin Willett, and Clayton Smith. Music will be provided by local bands Houdan The Mystic, Wool, and Spandrel. The exhibition will open on First Friday, March 7, beginning at 6 PM, at Gallery 5, located at 200 W. Marshall St.
Quirk Gallery: Be Attitudes, Hearts Desire, Sometimes I Panic
This month, Quirk Gallery presents three exhibitions: Amy Rice’s Be Attitudes in the Main Gallery, Aimee Joyaux’s Sometimes I Panic in The Vault, and Sarah Hand’s Hearts Desire in the Shop.
Be Attitudes is a selection of new work by Amy Rice.
In Alice Walker’s novel, Temple of my Familiar, the character Shug composes her own Beatitudes. I was fairly young when I first read the book and I had 2 powerful reactions to this: You can do that? And also: It’s not Be Attitudes? As in, “an attitude you should have, how you should be.”?
My first artist statement for my first art show was: Grow Flowers, Ride a Bike, Love an Animal, Learn Something New, Find Your Wings, Make Art of it All
It is my own Beatitudes (be attitudes). How I be happy. A decade plus into my art career and I rarely finish a piece of art that doesn’t echo those sentiments.
Be Attitudes is a body of work consciously created to reflect and celebrate what makes me happy.
In this body of work there is a constant in each piece; mediums and materials that were made by another’s hand, long ago. There is antique correspondence and antique embroidery (some stitched by my great and great-great grandmother). There are feed sacks from my family farm, mended by hand by my grandmother to be used again and again. These elements combine with my own handwork for collaborations decades in the making.
Sometimes I Panic is a collection of mixed media works on paper by Aimee Joyaux.
Hearts Desire is a collection of new works by Sarah Hand.
All of these exhibitions will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 5-9 PM at Quirk Gallery, located at 311 W. Broad St. Be Attitudes will remain on display through April 27, the other two shows will close on March 29.
The Gallery At UNOS: Unity
Unity highlights United Network for Organ Sharing’s 340 dedicated team members who work together to save lives through organ matching and transplantation. Their original artwork is showcased in this exhibit. Unity celebrates 30 years of working together, saving lives. On March 21, 1984, UNOS was founded. Since then, more than 625,000 lifesaving transplants have been performed nationwide. Unity honors the thousands of organ, eye, and tissue donors memorialized in UNOS’ National Donor Memorial whose lifesaving gifts are celebrated throughout the month of April, National Donate Life Month.
Unity opens with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 5-7:30 PM at The Gallery At UNOS, located at 700 N. 4th St. Refreshments will be provided by the Bull & Bear Club. Art will remain on display through April 26.
Richmond Public Library: Everyone Likes Pizza
Everyone Likes Pizza is a collection of cartoons by David J. Bromley and Philip Bowles, presented in collaboration with Richmond Public Library and City Of Richmond Public Schools in celebration of Youth Art Month.
This exhibit will contain more than 50 color cartoon panels as well as some full scale posters. Some subjects are wild (biker gangs), a few are tame (like barbers), while others are far-out (aliens). What do these characters have in common with their fellow guest stars King Kong, Alfred E. Neuman, Captain Crunch, and many others? They all want PIZZA – and they want it DELIVERED!
These dangerous deliveries are made by none other than our very own MITCH, employee of Zeno’s Pizza, who delivers pizza anywhere. ANYWHERE.
Everyone Likes Pizza will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6:30-9, at the Richmond Public Library, located at 101 E. Franklin St. Art will remain on display through April 1.
EDIT Gallery: Parts Of A Whole
Join Gallery: EDIT for the first Friday in March as we proudly display the photography of Juliann Itter. Living abroad for nine years offered Juliann incredibly unique opportunities to expand and grow. Please come. Meet Juliann. See her photography.
Parts Of A Whole will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, beginning at 6 PM, at EDIT Gallery, located at 8 E. Broad St. Art will remain on display through the end of March.
Art 180: Every One A Story
ART 180 is pleased to announce a new exhibition showing selected works created by young artists in our various programs throughout the city including:
Hip-Hop Lyrics by Franklin Military Academy
Mixed media collage by St. Andrew’s School
Wishing banners by Thompson Middle School/CIS
Community tree sculptures by The Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club
Sculpture by E.D. Redd Elementary School/CIS
Self-portrait collage by Binford Middle School/CIS
Video games by Elkhardt Middle School/CIS
Every One A Story will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6-9 PM at Art 180, located at 114 W. Marshall St. Art will remain on display through March 28.
Steady Sounds: Sonic Spaces
This month, Steady Sounds will be showing prints from Brandi Price’s “visual manifesto,” Sonic Spaces. The exhibition will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6-9 PM, at Steady Sounds, located at 322 W. Broad St. Art will remain on display through the end of March.
Sediment Arts: You Get What You Get
You Get What You Get is a survey of recent works by San Francisco-based artist Whitney Lynn. The exhibition incorporates an opening night performance as well as a selection of works utilizing a variety of materials and mediums from sculpture, photography, video and works on paper.
Mining American history, popular culture, and art historical tropes, the works on display at Sediment include sculptural traps, an archive of hand-painted signage, and spatial subjects that share titles while expanding their specific meanings. Lynn’s work is both dark and humorous; diagramming social, political and historical relationships, exploring themes of disjunction within systems of value, context and reenactment, and calling to question places where boundaries are in flux.
A return to Richmond, Lynn graduated from VCU’s department of Sculpture + Extended Media before receiving her MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has an upcoming exhibition at the Torrance Art Museum and has previously shown work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, Steven Wolf Fine Arts, Catharine Clark Gallery, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. She currently lives and works in San Francisco and is Visiting Faculty at SFAI in New Genres and the History and Theory of Contemporary Art.
You Get What You Get opens with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6-9 PM, at Sediment Arts, located at 208 E. Grace St. Art will remain on display through March 28.
Candela Gallery: American Folk & When Morning Comes
Candela Books + Gallery will host two solo exhibitions this spring: Lisa Elmaleh’s American Folk and Brandon Thibodeax’s When Morning Comes.
Lisa Elmaleh employs the 19th century wet collodion tintype process in her documentation of present-day folk musicians living in and around the Appalachian Mountains. Preserving the essence of a tradition tied distinctly to place, Elmaleh creates portraits and landscapes of haunting beauty. The subject matter and the chosen photographic process are paired purposefully, as Elmaleh explains; “The tradition of American folk music echoes in the historic nature of the tintype photographic process. As urbanization becomes more prevalent in America, American rural identity and culture become obscured.”
Brandon Thibodeaux photographs among five rural communities that span roughly 15 square miles in the northern Mississippi Delta. Towns like Alligator, Bo Bo, and Mound Bayou are historically rife with poverty and racism, but are also emblems of faith and perseverance today. Thibodeaux began the project as a personal exploration but encountered the universal; “While this work makes specific reference to the rural black experience, I am reminded that with every visit themes of faith, identity, and perseverance are common to us all.”
American Folk and When Morning Comes will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 5-9 PM, at Candela Gallery, located at 214 W. Broad St. Art will remain on display through April 19.
Glave Kocen Gallery: Osterhaus
This month, Glave Kocen Gallery presents new pastoral oil paintings and animal portraits by artist Greg Osterhaus. The exhibition will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6-9 PM, at Glave Kocen Gallery, located at 1620 W. Main St. Art will remain on display through April 1.
Artemis Gallery: Ceramic Contradictions Revisited
This month, Artemis Gallery presents Ceramic Contradictions Revisited, featuring ceramic works by David Camden, Tanya Tyree, Val Marousek, Steven Summerville, Lee Hazelgrove, Trista Chapman, Kay Heartwell Franz, and Sara Knox.
Richmond & Regional Ceramic Artists show their divergent works at Artemis Gallery From Raku to Hand-built, Thrown, and Pointillism; ceramics take a new direction!
Ceramic Contradictions Revisited will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 5-9 PM, at Artemis Gallery, located at 1601 W. Main St. Art will remain on display through April 4.
Brazier Gallery: Jason Saunders
This month, Brazier Gallery will be presenting a collection of new works by Jason Saunders. The exhibition will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 6:30-8:30 PM, at Brazier Gallery, located at 1616 W. Main St. Art will remain on display through March 29.
Page Bond Gallery: Hidden In Plain Site & View Find
This month, Page Bond Gallery presents two exhibitions: Hidden In Plain Site, a collection of new paintings by Christopher Baer; and View Find, a group photography exhibition.
Christopher Baer, Palisades #017, 2014, Oil and wax on canvas, 30 x 40 inches
Washington D.C. painter Christopher Baer has developed a unique interpretation of expressionist and color field painting. His newest work in the “Palisades” series continues to explore the relationships of color, line, and the materiality of paint. Often large-scale, his paintings have an imposing presence and vigor: alternating thick impasto and light washes move energetically across his canvasses. Panes of color seem to map adjacent territories, complimenting and competing. Each work serves as a record of its making, and the viewer is invited to share in each painting’s process: we can see evidence of earlier washes of white, fields of yellow or red, or delineating lines of blue or pink; all of these layers combine into a unified visual experience. Baer is interested in the contrast between seemingly plain compositions and the complexity concealed within them that “make up the story of each work.” As he notes, each painting has its own autonomous history, development and character. In observing this progression, the viewer is invited to join in the enthusiasm and energy each work conveys. Because of this sense of participation, each animated brush stroke and application of paint feels like our own. As joyful explorations of color, brushwork and line, his bold canvasses convey a contagious sense of exuberance and optimism.
David Mitchell, AB 122, 2012, Pigment print, Edition of 7, 32 x 32 inches
View Find includes a selection of work by photographers Linda Connor, Elijah Gowin, Cynthia Henebry, David Mitchell, Amanda Means, Gordon Stettinus, Brian Ulrich, and William Wylie.
Hidden In Plain Site and View Find will open with a reception on First Friday, March 7, from 7-9 PM, at Page Bond Gallery, located at 1625 W. Main St. Art will remain on display through March 29.
—-
Artists! Galleries! Would you like your future First Friday events covered in these monthly articles? We might hear about your event anyway, but why leave it to chance? Email your press releases to andrew@rvamag.com.
