First Friday is always a surprise when it lands on the first of the month, and never moreso than when the night before First Friday is Halloween. Therefore, if you were to show up to some of these gallery openings in costume, I doubt anyone would mind. Regardless of how you’re dressed though, you must show up–art waits for no one! Thankfully, the weather still seems relatively hospitable for so late in the year, but 1708 Gallery’s gearing up for this year’s InLight Richmond, so you know it won’t be long before winter conditions arrive for real. So shake off the post-Halloween exhaustion, get out there, and enjoy what the First Friday Art Walk has to offer. Here are some of the things you will see premiering this Friday:
First Friday is always a surprise when it lands on the first of the month, and never moreso than when the night before First Friday is Halloween. Therefore, if you were to show up to some of these gallery openings in costume, I doubt anyone would mind. Regardless of how you’re dressed though, you must show up–art waits for no one! Thankfully, the weather still seems relatively hospitable for so late in the year, but 1708 Gallery’s gearing up for this year’s InLight Richmond, so you know it won’t be long before winter conditions arrive for real. So shake off the post-Halloween exhaustion, get out there, and enjoy what the First Friday Art Walk has to offer. Here are some of the things you will see premiering this Friday:
Gallery 5: Screens N’ Suds 2013
This First Friday, Gallery 5 presents the prelude to the fifth annual Screens N’ Suds Big Event, which will take place at Gallery 5 on Saturday afternoon (hear more about it here). But visitors on First Friday will find plenty to enjoy as well! The event will feature screenprinted art from Seansberg, Ashley Phipps, Christian Leaf, Brian Mandeville, Bomb Proof, and other artists, as well as a performance from RVA Dance Collective.
RVA Dance Collective returns to Gallery5 with a work in progress entitled, The Other Side of Now. The piece has evolved from a study in the energy of contact improvisation to a set piece. The Other Side of Now will enthrall the audience with the ebb and flow of dynamic movement.
On top of all that, RVA Vegan will be on hand serving up great vegan food (cupcakes and tacos? We can only hope) and there will be musical performances by Zac Hryciak & The Jungle Beat, Glass Twin, Hoax Hunters, and the Late Virginia Summers. The event begins at 6 PM on First Friday, November 1, at Gallery 5, located at 200 W. Marshall St.
Quirk Gallery: Sparkle Plenty 8
This month, Quirk Gallery presents their 8th annual Sparkle Plenty exhibition. Featuring work from Ashley Buchanan, Raissa Bump, Nikki Couppee, Tara Locklear, Meghan Patrice Riley, and Rachel Timmins, it’s “going to be really sparkley and something for everyone.” The show opens with an Artist’s Reception (with candy) on Thursday, October 31 from 5-8 PM, followed by a First Friday reception on November 1 from 5-8 PM, at Quirk Gallery, located at 311 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 24.
Love RVA: Gated Community: The Art Of Incarceration
Local artist Mickael Broth, who got his start creating illegal public paintings and was eventually incarcerated as a result, will be in residence at Love RVA Gallery throughout the month of November, culminating with the release of his third and final book in the Gated Community trilogy on November 23. Throughout the month of November, Love RVA Gallery will display Broth’s collection of “drawings, legal documents, photographs, newspaper articles, and various other artifacts relating to his arrest and time in jail.” There will be a First Friday opening reception on November 1 beginning at 7 PM at LoveRVA Gallery, located at 202 W. Broad St. The release party for Gated Community: Graffiti and Incarceration will take place Saturday, November 23 from 7-9 PM. Broth’s art will remain on display throughout the month of November.
The Gallery At UNOS: Tree Of Life
Andy Dyson travelled to Africa in 2012 & 2013 and photographed the Baobab Tree, also known as The Tree Of Life. The collection focuses on life and the circle of life. Andy’s photography also includes work from Alaska.
Jane Joyner is an artist who understands the importance of organ donation. Her son received a kidney transplant 5 years ago. In Jane’s words, “I do it all. From landscapes to still life and portraits.” Her work includes oil with tar, which creates stunning paintings of contrast.
The National Tree of Life will be located in The Gallery At UNOS through December. The lighting of the National Tree Of Life will take place Thursday, December 5th at 5 PM, in honor of all organ, eye, and tissue donors.
Tree Of Life will open with a reception on First Friday, November 1, from 5-7:30 PM at The Gallery At UNOS, located at 700 N. Fourth St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 28.
Visual Art Studio: Reflections Of Our Soul
Visual Art Studio gallery proudly announces Reflections of Our Soul, new handcrafted jewelry and decorative hand sewn purses by The Passage opening First Friday November 1, 2013 with reception from 7-10PM.
The Passage is husband and wife Joel and Teresa Howard (also known as TH Collectibles for one of several lines in their collection). They have been showcasing their beautifully crafted pieces around Richmond for over 30 years and at Visual Art Studio for over 12 years. More than 2 decades ago I met them when we were vendors at June Jubilee and it is with great pleasure to have their work featured in the main gallery. – Anne Hart Chay
Reflections Of Our Soul will open with a reception on First Friday, November 1, from 7-10 PM at Visual Art Studio, located at 208 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 14.
1708 Gallery: INTRAFACING
1708 Gallery is proud to present INTRAFACING: Dina Kelberman and Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, which includes works that explore the abundant, heterogeneous and mediated character of contemporary imagery. Dina Kelberman’s web-based experiments gather, organize, and reintroduce imagery from found sources such as product advertising, popular cartoons, and amateur photography. Simultaneously fascinating and overwhelming, they bring us into awareness of the way images accrue not just on the net, but also in the mind and memory of their beholders. Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s multimedia dioramas call to mind the vignette–a moment in a larger narrative–and investigate the meaning-making process that occurs between an image and its viewer.
Dina Kelberman works in a wide variety of media including comics, painting, web media, animation, playwriting, photography, and screencaps. Her ongoing web project I’m Google, in which she reorganizes images from Google image search according to her own discreet criteria, was recently featured on NPR.org and in Wired, Papermag and Beautiful/Decay. This year, Kelberman was invited to create an original web-based piece, “Smoke and Fire,” for the New Museum, and she was awarded a 2013-14 Rhizome|Tumblr Internet Art Grant.
Since their inclusion in the first MOMA PS1 Greater New York exhibit in 2000, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s collaborative installations have blended sculptural and digital techniques in two and three dimensions. Often recalling analog special effects processes that predate computer generated imagery, their work highlights the role that narrative can play in blurring the lines between artifice and reality. Jennifer and Kevin McCoy’s work has been exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, P.S.1, The Museum of Modern Art, and The New Museum. They were the recipients of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011, and their work has been discussed in Art in America, Artforum, Flash Art, Art News, The New York Times, and Newsweek. Jennifer and Kevin McCoy are represented by Postmasters Gallery in New York and Guy Bartschi in Geneva.
INTRAFACING will premiere with a First Friday opening reception on November 1 from 5-9 PM at 1708 Gallery, located at 319 W. Broad St. There will be an artist talk on Friday, November 22 from 6-8 PM, and the art will remain on display through December 7.
Virginia Center For Latin American Art: Procession–An Installation For The Dead
In honor of all Latin Americans who gave their lives in an effort to rid South America of repressive, dictatorial governments and interventionist foreign interests and to honor the mothers who prayed for decades on end for their children lost to these struggles, VACLAA presents a sober installation as part of the celebrations of the Day of the Dead.
Come light a candle for those still missing.
Procession will be on display during First Friday, November 1, from 6:30-9:30 PM at the Virginia Center For Latin American Art‘s mobile gallery, located at 401 W. Broad St.
Art6: A Collage Exhibit and Celebration of Dia de Los Muertos
Since pre-Colombian times, “El Dia de los Muertos” (“The Day of the Dead”) has been celebrated in Mexico, as well as other Latin countries. La Milpa Mexican Restaurant & Market has sponsored the presentation of this celebration in Richmond since 1998. Martin Gonzalez invites an authentic Aztec dance troupe to perform the very special ritual in which the living lovingly remember their departed relatives. The rituals used to celebrate the “Day of the Dead” are varied and very colorful, yet all carry the same message – celebrating “Dia de los Muertos” is truly a celebration of life.
Art6’s celebration of Dia De Los Muertos takes place First Friday, November 1 from 6-10 PM, with live performances beginning at 7:30 PM. Art6 is located at 6 E. Broad St.
Gallery Edit: Moments
Some art shows are so good you want to take the art off the wall and eat it with a spoon. We get that. This month at Gallery Edit, we’re featuring the work of local RVA artists Hannah Stallard and Christine Kaloudis. Polish your spoons, ladies and gentlemen.
“Moments” features a mix of prints, ink drawings, paintings and a special 3-d top secret piece specifically designed for this show. These talented women are serious about beauty, creation, and design. Even more incredibly, they see their abilities as gifts from God to be used for his glory and good.
You’ll want to be there.
Moments will open with a First Friday reception on November 1, from 5:30-9 PM, at Gallery Edit, located at 8 E. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display throughout the month of November.
Art 180: Make A Difference
This month, Atlas: A Project Of Art 180, presents Make A Difference: The Art Of Kindness.
The Pediatric Connection asked young patients and their siblings to create self-portraits reflecting how they make a difference. They each focused on one way they can create positive change in the community. The hope is that their art will inspire you to consider ways that you, too, can make a difference.
Make A Difference: The Art Of Kindness will open with a First Friday reception on November 1 from 6-9 PM at Art 180, located at 114 W. Marshall St. The exhibition will remain on display throughout the month of November.
Turnstyle On The Artwalk: Mr. White
Turnstyle On The Artwalk presents an encore showing of paintings, prints, and photography from Raleigh, NC artist Mr. White, aka Jonathan Cavanaugh. Art will be shown inside, while DJ Lynk, Vinyl Alchemist, and Jesse Split spin vinyl outside on the sidewalk. Turnstyle On The Artwalk takes place on First Friday, November 1, from 7-10 PM, at Turnstyle, located at 102 W. Broad St.
Steady Sounds: I Remember Halloween
This month, Steady Sounds presents drawings, prints, and more from RVA artist Jason Conrad Mazzola. I Remember Halloween will premiere with a reception on First Friday, November 1, beginning at 6 PM, at Steady Sounds, located at 322 W. Broad St.
Candela Books & Gallery: Continuum
Candela Books + Gallery is proud to present Continuum, a selection of photographs by celebrated photographer Linda Connor. The exhibition includes original contact prints, as well as recent digital prints on paper and silk, from her haunting 2008 monograph, Odyssey. Using a large-format 8 x 10 view camera, Connor has captured an array of sacred iconography, religious sites and related cultural events that span multiple continents and several decades. With images from India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Egypt, Turkey, Tibet, Hawaii and Southwest America, Connor has created a transcendent body of work that evokes a sense of wonder as equally for the natural world as for our human endeavors in it.
Continuum will open with a special preview reception and artist talk on Thursday, October 31 from 5-8 PM, with the artist talk beginning at 6:30 PM. This will be followed by a First Friday reception on Friday, November 1 from 5-9 PM at Candela Gallery, located at 214 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 21.
Black Iris Gallery: There Are Things I’ve Always Known
Bob Kaputof’s newest solo exhibition, There Are Things I Have Always Known, creates an ethereal space where memory and place are explored through language, image, and sound. A body of new and re-imagined works demonstrate an approach to making that is at once meditative, prosaic, spiritual, and humorous. Through these methods Kaputof examines life’s intimate and mundane details, giving form to the space between life and death.
There Are Things I Have Always Known will premiere with an opening reception on First Friday, November 1, from 5:30-10 PM at Black Iris Gallery, located at 321 W. Broad St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 22.
Studio Two Three: Second Date Preview
Matt Lively, 4 Beecycles
Second Date is Studio Two Three’s print auction, taking place Saturday, November 2 at 7 PM.
Second Date is showcasing the work of established, emerging, and cutting-edge artists. Featured among them are two pieces created especially for the night’s festivities by artists Bill Fisher and Chris Milk.
We are also excited to feature two special raffle items; the ONE/OFF Printmakers 30th Anniversary Portfolio, several of the groups portfolios are in the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Studio Two Three’s giant woodcut map of Richmond, steamroll printed at the RVA Street Art Festival.
The auction also features work from Sally Bowring, Heide Trepanier, Alyssa C Salomon, Chris Milk, Mary Holland, David Freed, Pam Anderson Sutherland, Tanja Softic, Amie Oliver,and Matt Lively.
There will be a preview showing of the artwork for sale during Second Date on First Friday, November 1, at Studio Two Three, located at 1637 W. Main St. Tickets for the auction itself are $30, and can be purchased at studiotwothree.com.
Glave Kocen Gallery: The First 35
This month, Glave Kocen Gallery presents The First 35, a collection of recent landscape paintings by Steven Walker.
This most recent body of works is a little bit more personal than many of Steven’s previous paintings. All of the works relate to the various relationships and events (good or bad) that have led him to this point in his life.
“I’ve decided to express these thoughts via landscape to protect the innocent and allow the viewer to make their own interpretation.” ~Steven Walker on The First 35
The First 35 will open with a reception on First Friday, November 1, from 6-9 PM at Glave Kocen Gallery, located at 1620 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through November 30.
Artemis Gallery: Milennium Metal Show 2013
The Millennium Metal Show 2013 celebrates the creative spirit of metal smiths everywhere and the end of 2013. This metal will feature mixed media works by artists and their unique final statements on society and the hereafter. Included are works in 3-D miniature sculptures, multiple metals, wood, graphics, accessories, jewelry and more…
A decade has passed since Artemis Gallery was chosen to host the SNAG Conference International Metal Show “Millennium Metal 2001.” The current show strives to update the current metal work of several artists who were there and many new undiscovered metalsmiths…
The focus of the show is cutting edge mixed media metals and will include many first time seen objects of art!
The Milennium Metal Show 2013 will open with a reception on First Friday, November 1, from 5-10 PM, at Artemis Gallery, located at 1601 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 5.
Visual Arts Center: Reflections
Founded in 1963, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2013. In honor of this important milestone, we have installed a monumental, living portrait of our community art center. Led by master printmaker Bill Fick, a team of volunteer artists worked for five months to create a 2,500-square-foot screen-printed collage of the people, places, key moments, and artist’s materials that have shaped our 50-year history. Layered and colorful, the installation includes thousands of images that connect our founding days in Church Hill to our current community at 1812 West Main Street.
Reflections will continue to evolve throughout the run of the exhibition, as 50 new prints are added to the walls each week through a unique vertical screen printing process. We invite the public to visit, reflect, learn and participate.
Reflections will open with a reception on First Friday, November 1, from 6-9 PM, at Visual Arts Center, located at 1812 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through January 2014.
Page Bond Gallery: False Colors & On One
This month, Page Bond Gallery presents two exhibitions; False Colors, featuring new paintings from Sarah Irvin, and On One, featuring new work from Aaron Koehn.
Sarah Irvin, Point In Time, 2013, Ink on yupo, 26 x 40 inches
Sarah Irvin is best known for her animated, intuitive paintings that touch upon themes of personal memory, the limitations of language, and her own family history. Line is an important element in her work. Process and final image are given equal weight. Her work undergoes a number of steps that reflect the behavior of memory itself: text and lines are transferred and repeated, and each version is progressively less faithful to the original, the way that a memory loses its precision and is reformed with every recollection. “My marks represents a memory covering and editing the previously recorded memories to form a cohesive expression of human comprehension,” Irvin says.
In her newest series of ink on yupo, Irvin writes text on the surface of the paper then uses a squeegee to destroy the marks she has created. As in her earlier work, process is both significant and evident. The ink is dragged across the non-absorbent surface, leaving a wide, transparent stain or pooling and drying in areas of saturated color. These new work resembles stained glass illuminated from behind. Marks are a record of a phrase that was composed, transferred, and abolished. “Each color is the remnant of a written word, but the meaning has been confused and hidden. In these works I am exploring a visual representation of the written word and thought while contemplating the limits of words as signifiers,” Irvin says. Just as synthetic pigments cannot accurately replicate a color in the natural world, language is an imperfect tool to communicate experience. Nonetheless, each painting celebrates an attempt, and shows an account of its own rich history.
Aaron Koehn, Rainbow Box, 2013, Shear fabric, wood, rubber, 18 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 18 1/2 inches
Aaron Koehn is known for his visually striking paintings of anonymous, empty industrial spaces void of human activity. His increasingly conceptual work has recently turned away from painting toward an object-based practice. His newest series shows a latent humor and an understanding of the power of context. Much of his new work concerns his own typical (and our collective) relationship to what he appropriately terms “stuff,” or the designed environment. The shiny, seductive, or novel (yet cheap and widely available) surfaces of windows, kettle bells, dumbbells, outdated Mac computers, sprinkler heads, Astroturf, yoga mats, etc., are modified by printing, sanding, buffing or chroming. They are also, significantly, removed from their standard context on the shelves of the local Target or mall department store and re-evaluated in the contemplative space of the gallery. These interventions, ranging from subtle to dramatic, alter the appearance, function and reception of the object. “I’m interested in the social aura attributed to the commodification of these fragments and materials,” Koehn says. Using humor, altered contexts and functions, and aesthetic interventions, Koehn’s work invites the viewer to examine our attraction, aversion, or general relationship to the hundreds of objects we encounter daily as we navigate contemporary American experience.
False Colors and On One will premiere with a reception on First Friday, November 1, from 7-9 PM, at Page Bond Gallery, located at 1625 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through December 7.
Reynolds Gallery: Captiva Works
Stephen Vitiello, “Captiva, Bell and Dock”, 2012, Archival pigment print on enhanced matte paper, 19 ½ x 36 ¼ inches
Reynolds Gallery presents Captiva Works: Sounds And Photographs, from artists Stephen Vitiello and Taylor Dupree. On First Friday, November 1, at 7 PM, there will be an artist’s talk and reception with sound artist Stephen Vitiello at Reynolds Gallery, located at 1514 W. Main St. The exhibition will remain on display through November 16.
—-
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.
