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RVA Mag’s First Fridays Picks May 2018

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It finally feels like spring in Richmond–the city went from a clammy winter chill to a dry heat in the span of a week–which means even a simple walk down the block is enough to get you sweating. It would almost be easier to stay inside. But if you, like us, suffer from a crippling case of FOMO, here are six of RVA Mag’s top picks for this month’s First Fridays artwalk worth dragging yourself through the 90-degree stew of a dozen city blocks.

Chris McCaw: New Works & Harrison Walker: Portals, Candela Books + Gallery

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Using tools like long exposure, hand-built cameras, and vintage photographic paper, Chris McCaw brings his second solo exhibition to Candela. The exhibition, featuring work from his Sunburn series and his Tidal series, sets the sun and tide at its center, documenting their movements, and their rise and fall, through a synthesis of traditional photographic staples and new techniques.

Joining McCaw is Harrison Walker in his first solo exhibition at Candela. Using varying texture, surface, color, and form, Walker’s abstract photographic works are an investigation of photographic chemistry, perspective, and duplication. The result is a series of repeated circular forms, intended to explore the different ways the viewer perceives them.

Forest Kelley: Michael, 1708 Gallery

May 4 – June 9, 2018

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Photographer Forest Kelley imagines the life of gay men in rural New England through the history of his uncle, Michael, an artist and gay man who died by presumed suicide in 1985. Using video installations, documentary photography, and found film strips, writing, and interviews, Kelley explores the stigmatization of identity and the subjectivity of individual experience. The work largely concerns itself with the unknowable, with visualizing the memories, dreams, speculation, hopes, and fears that plague the LGBTQ community.The exhibit is a haunting examination of a personal history, and how it fits into the larger framework of survival.

Though the world may seem far removed from the persecution and isolation of the LGBTQ community that defined the late twentieth century, from the Stonewall Uprising to the AIDS Epidemic, Kelley considers the universality of these events and the discord between culture and subjectivity. The opening reception is from 6 – 8 pm and the artist talk is May 5 at 11 am. You can check out a short story we ran on him here. 

Pastimes: Her Present, The Broad

This First Fridays, all-women coworking space, The Broad, opens its gallery doors to the public from 5-9 pm. The exhibit, Pastimes: Her Present, brings female artists together to examine how a return to pastimes became their livelihoods. It acts a revival of certain art forms, like weaving, quilting, and collage. The exhibit features artists Justine McFarland, Nikki Galapon, Kate Koconis, Barbara Skolaut, and Ynes Bouck. This is a great opportunity to get a look inside the brand new space, newly opened in February, and appreciate the work of five talented local women. Make sure you check this exhibit out before May 31. 

Latin Ballet of Virginia, Dominion Energy Center for Performing Arts

Tomorrow, The Richmond Performing Arts Alliance welcomes Richmond to a free performance of Cuban music and dance. Participation is encouraged, and there will be Latin and Caribbean dance demonstrations throughout. The Latin Ballet of Virginia is a non-profit performing arts organization that seeks to connect communities through Latin cultural dance experiences. Tomorrow night they will preview Alternate Routes: A Night in Havana, a gala and public concert that will take place later in the month.

And don’t forget to check out their 17th annual Que Pasa? Festival on Saturday at the Historic Canals of Richmond in partnership with the Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. There will be over 20 food vendors from different Latin American countries such as Peru, Venezuela, El Salvador, Mexico and more, see the original Xochimilco boat decorations sent by the Mexican Embassy, attend Michel and Liza Zajur’s first children’s book release “The Piñata Story”, try your dance moves to the sounds of salsa and bachata, and much more. 

Convergence, 9WG Studios

Join Chris Smart (the art of cjs) and opensvrgery at 9WG Studios from 5:30 – 9 pm, featuring free raffle prizes from the artist’s as well as Alqmey Apparel and the Richmond Experience. Visual artist Chris Smart is an expert in the art of the dystopian. His photographs pair digital effects with starkly realistic landscapes, from post-apocalyptic visuals interpretations of humanity, to clean shots of the Richmond cityscape. His work is a meld of reality and visual manipulation, generally running 50/50 on effects via camera settings and edits done in photoshop.  The exhibit promises a look into the world that surrounds us. Check out our interview with Smart on his most recent work here. 

Wildflowers, Gallery5

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This Friday, Gallery5 offers live music–from Gull, Parlor Wall, Serqet, and Basmati–and two gallery exhibitions. The main gallery features Jarred Barr, a 17-year-old artist who has worked in and around Richmond for years. “Wildflowers,” his 5th solo show, focuses primarily on drawing and lettering, alongside one large cardboard sculpture. Barr is largely inspired by the things that often go unnoticed–everyday scenes, song lyrics, and memories. Barr created pieces for the RVA Street Art Festival in 2012. The twist? He was only 11 at the time.  

The rear gallery exhibit, “Esotericae,” is a showcase of occult-inspired surrealist art featuring The Lady Octavia, Jean-Baptiste, Josephine Rusell, Kelly McLeod, and Lauren and Jacob Borchardt.

Manchester Manifest First Fridays Southside

Now, this is a bit of walk from your usual stroll down West Broad Street for First Fridays, but well worth the drive over to Manchester. Brewer’s Cafe is putting on their monthly event series, Manchester Manifest  featuring live musc, DJs, art, an art auction, live painters, food trucks, outdoor bar, vendors and much more.  This month, there will be live music from RVA Mag’s contributor Hip Hop Henry, Zhe Aqueen and the Good Vibe Tribe and more. Free. 4-10 PM.

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For a full rundown of all RVA First Fridays events, check out the First Fridays May map here.

 

Wham City Comedy Brings Their Absurd & Bizzare Antics to Gallery5 in May

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I was just thinking to myself, it really has been a long time since someone has brought a good, strange surrealist comedy show ala Kids in the Hall or The State into the world, let alone this city.  Just as the thought popped into my head, Baltimore-based Wham City Comedy announced they would be making their way to Richmond next month for a one of a kind show.

Initially created in 2004 as the Wham City Art Collective by a group of friends who met at New York’s Purchase College, the collective over time evolved into various things, including Wham City Comedy as it is now known. However, despite initially meeting in New York, it was the convenience and relative underdog status that drew all of the members, including founding member Ben O’Brien, down to Baltimore, Maryland.

“There’s a lot of warehouse spaces for artists to live in, there’s an art school and it’s placed kind of conveniently on the eastern seaboard where New York is a three-hour trip, DC is an hour away,” O’Brien said. “A lot of the people in the collective and all of us have been determined to be working artists and musicians and stuff like that, so I think we saw it as a way of not falling into the trap of having to pay these big bills and get a job we didn’t enjoy, and kind of our way to keep making art in the way that we wanted to.”

With such a unique and absurdist style, it is unsurprising that Wham City’s comedic inspiration runs the gamut. Between early days of performing at music shows with bands, to interacting with their audiences, to even founding member Robby Rackleff’s obsession with mundane things like Best Buy and Amtrak, it’s interesting to see how this concoction comes together to create a hot stew known as the Wham City Comedy show.

“We love to involve the audience in whatever way we can think of,” O’Brien said. “Just in general be unpredictable in that way, so that’s where that style came from. We almost always have a routine that acknowledges the audience that isn’t a skit so much as it’s like a big presentation. We perform as people who know they are in front of the crowd which allows{us} to create that kind of interaction and those layers that we enjoy.”

At the suggestion of Adult Swim editor and ‘Off the Air’ creator, Dave Hughes, and with some mystical luck, the collective submitted a pitch to Adult Swim. Since then, Wham City has created a series of bizarre infomercials for Adult Swim such as “Unedited Footage of A Bear” and “Live Forever As You Are Now”. 

With so many platforms for the collective to perform on between live shows, Adult Swim, and videos, they try to keep everything as separate as possible. Although sometimes, the expected overlap works out for the best in their favor.

“I will say that the most recent thing we’ve done with Adult Swim, which was called ‘Cry of Man’, which was a live streaming soap opera, where people could call in and talk to the actors who are performing at that moment,” O’Brien said. “That was the best marriage between our video work and our performance.”

Ever since Wham City began touring in 2010, even before their start with Adult Swim, the River City has always been one of the group’s top tour stops on their list. Their love of Richmond became cultivated after realizing it was the first place outside of Baltimore that any sort of fan-base was really growing. “It’s been a sort of special place for us to play,” said O’Brien. “I just love to perform in front of audiences that love to have fun and laugh, and Richmond falls into that category big time.”

And when it comes to their roles, the members, and crew where many different hats. O’Brien and fellow Wham City member Cricket Arrison will do a lot of the producing, fellow founding members Robby Rackleff and Alan Resnick will do a lot of the directing. The writing is mostly a collaborative effort, and depending on whose idea they are working on, they will take the lead.

“Robby himself is an amazing writer, he’s very prolific so he’s a very fast writer. He often has great ideas so he’s often writing. We all wrote parts of ‘Cry of Mann’, the thing I’m doing on Audible, I’m doing with my brother so it’s all different,” O’Brien said. “The way that we collaborate is if someone comes up with an idea and we’re excited about it, we pursue that idea, we pitch it, that pitch gets bought by someone, then whoever started that pitch gets to choose who writes with them.”

Originally described on the pitch document as something along the lines of a sitcom meets a Japanese horror film, but wackier, the collective took a detour from their usual brand of comedy to create “This House Has People in It”. Instead of sticking with the infomercial format they were using on Adult Swim, they decided to try expanding and see what they were capable of, and just how badly they can mess with whoever is watching at the wee hours of 4 AM.  

“I think this was Alan’s idea. We listed a bunch of stuff, and we had a bunch of ideas that we could do,” O’Brien said. “We had the commercial that becomes a horror, and then at that time, Alan had an idea that you just turn on the TV and there are security cameras. So I think we kind of developed that idea for our next pitch. Then we kind of took it from there and kept expanding.”

While Wham City Comedy shows are always interesting in their own way, and like a live extension of their video work from the internet and Adult Swim, if nothing else, O’Brien said their goal is for “people to have some sort of unique experience”. I’m sure that will be the case when they hit Gallery5’s stage on Sun., May 6.

Tickets are on sale now, $8 in advance or at Steady Sounds, or $10 at the door. Show starts at 8 PM. 

 

Mixed-Media Exhibit ‘Liminal Alchemy’ Opens at Gallery5

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Tonight, Gallery5 hosts the opening reception of art show “Liminal Alchemy” in conjunction with RVA’s First Fridays. The show is a collaboration between three Richmond artists who use a variety of diverging forms, media, and materials to explore ideas of perception and reality, as well as “the transitional and artificial nature of surface and identity.”

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Artist Tamara Cervenka said it was about finding the common ground in their work, which despite superficial differences, has an undercurrent of unity and cohesion. “It really came together organically,” she said. 

The exhibit exists in tiers of abstraction, as it transitions from Cervenka’s work to fiber artist Michael-Birch Pierce and painter Jane Winfield. “It’s almost like this sort of unwrapping of something,” said Cervenka of the exhibit. “[You go] into the room where Jane is and it’s a whole other world of complete abstraction.”

Despite the contrast of style, Cervenka and Birch-Pierce found commonality in some of the material. As Cervenka experimented with bones and animal pieces, Birch-Pierce said that furs and leathers are staples of his works in this showing. Likewise, nature plays a heavy influence on Winfield’s pieces, a testament to her work’s fluidity and dimension.

“The Alchemy is the whole melding of all the different elements together,” said Cervenka. “Between the three artists, it really did feel like an alchemy, in itself. Not just the materials…all three of us really just took these elements and put them through a rigorous process to make them into something new.”

Cervenka is a mixed-media artist. She creates collages and sculptures, sometimes using them to deal with issues of feminine expectation and projection. “In the most recent stuff I’ve been doing, there has been a story. The stuff that I make now is so much more alive to me, so much more important, than anything I’ve made before.”  

Using materials like images from vintage pornography magazines, and 1960s housewife periodicals, she juxtaposes them to explore the “hypocrisy and the absurdity” of expectations placed on women. “There’s a lot of universal imagery in my work,” said Cervenka. “There are these associations that people carry with them with these very specific images. I kind of like the idea of people making their own stories with these images.”

Birch-Pierce is a textile artist and adjunct professor in fashion design at VCU, with a background in couture embroidery and fashion design and embellishment. “My work is all a re-contextualization of that medium,” said Birch-Pierce.

“My research in graduate school was all based on identity, was all based on artificiality. And all of my work is about the sense of self, sense of gender, sexuality, and identity, public-self versus private-self, and how all of those lines and boundaries between people and identities blur together,” said Birch-Pierce. “I get to focus on the things I love about fashion, the things I love about the creation of objects, and get to ignore all the bullshit I didn’t.”

Winfield, whom RVA Mag interviewed in 2017, also likes to remain unlimited by the boundaries of any medium. Her work is an eclectic mix of materials and found objects, often inspired by the world around her. “I use everything from my two-year-old son’s toys to thick, moldy paint to flowers from the kitchen. Clay, baseball display cases, tree branches…you name it, I’ll see what I can do with it,” said Winfield. “I think it’s a poor artist who blames their tools. I also think that you have to be inspired by everything that’s around you, and I certainly am.”

Winfield said she likes to work outside as nature and uncontrollable elements often act as inspiration. “Eventually, I can choreograph these mistakes that have happened over time to create really, really specific surfaces. And I’m always just trying to control the uncontrollable, which is fluidity.”

Like Cervenka and Birch-Pierce, Winfield uses this show as a chance to skew expectation, and to encourage, even if just for a little while, a shift in perspective.

“My goal is usually to make something that’s hung straight look like the walls are crooked, for just a second,” said Winfield.  “I don’t expect anybody to get some sort of epiphany or cerebral, prophetic thing happen to them when they see art, but I do want abstraction to be friendly, and I think the best way to do that is to be playful, and I think the best way to be playful is to try to turn things on its head. If for some reason someone wanted to straighten the picture out, then I think I hit my goal.”

The art show opening starts at 7 p.m. and goes until midnight at Gallery5’s gallery, live music, and marketplace location at 200 W. Marshall St. The show runs through March 28.

Top Photo By; Tamara Cervenka

RVA Mag First Fridays Picks January 2018

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From the  Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China making its way to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts this fall, to Pueblo artist Virgil Ortiz‘ figurative ceramic works retelling the story of his ancestors’ rebellion against Spanish colonizers in 1680 in the “Hear my Voice” exhibit, to VCU’s announcement of their forthcoming Insititute of Contemporary Art, and our ever-growing number of murals, Richmond’s arts scene was booming in 2017. To kick 2018 off to a great start, RVA First Fridays returns this month with a slew of emerging talented artists, new exhibits, fashion showcases, artisan markets, and more.

RVA Mag has rounded up a handful of our top picks for this month’s First Fridays Artwalk and there should be a little something in there for everyone this go around.

Dogtown Dance Theatre

Made by RVA’s RVA Creative Market

Opens Sat. Jan. 6

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In an effort to support Richmond entrepreneurs and local artisans, the Manchester dance theatre has partnered with events website Unlockingrva and Made by RVA to host a market for Richmonders to shop local products and support local shop makers, creators, artists, crafters, and bakers. 109 W. 15th St. 

Candela Books & Gallery

Science As Muse 

 Exhibit runs Jan. 5 – Feb. 17

Caleb Charland, “Fruit Battery Still Life (Citrus),” Archival Pigment Print, 32 x 40 inches Courtesy of Sasha Wolf Projects

For their first show of 2018, Candela Books & Gallery will feature eight artists in the photography exhibit, Science As Muse. The artists, which include,  Walter Chappell, Caleb Charland, Rose-Lynn Fisher, Pam Fox, Daniel Kariko, Michael Rauner, Robert Shults, and Susan Worsham, all use science as their inspiration to base their photographic works around. Some of the artists use equipment made possible by modern science while others have create work by applying the scientific method, and some have simply documented the worlds within scientists practice their craft, each telling a story with their photos. 214 W. Broad St. 

Pam Fox, “Windsock,” 1999-2002. Gelatin Silver Print, 20 x 16 inches

Art 180
Future Studio Opening
Opening reception Jan. 5

Photo Credit: Future Studio program

In partnership with the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU and the VCuarts Department of Sculpture & Extended Media, Art180 will feature its first “Future Studio”, showcasing artwork by high-schoolers in the Future Studio program. The 10-week free program provides Richmond teens with hands-on experience creating art and other media in VCU’s Sculpture department. The Future Studio program also gives teens the opportunity to visit the ICA building, access to portfolio workshops, lectures, free materials, and a chance to have their work showcased in Art 180’s Atlas gallery.

Gallery5
Gold for A Silver Situation
Fri. Jan. 5-Jan. 25

This Friday, Gallery5’s “Gold For A Silver Situation” opens, featuring the work of 12 Richmond female artists. Curated by fellow local artist Katie McBride, the exhibit aims to break gender barriers, and highlight the many talented female illustrators and artists making significant contributions to their field, yet still, are too often seen or viewed as an afterthought to male artists in their field.

The show includes the art of Cathryn Virginia, Holly Camp, Melissa Duffy, Ally Hodges, Brooke Inman, Meena Khalili, and,  Mary Chiaramonte,  Victoria Borges,  Clara Cline, Kamille Jackson, Amelia Blair Langford, along with McBride, whose known for her design of the 2016 Richmond Folk Fest poster.

Art by Mary Chiarmonte

“Female illustrators are not an afterthought. Walk in and see 50 pieces of amazing art and understand that these people should be first in your mind for a big, crazy, stunning, dramatic oil painting, or super smart conceptual think-piece, or a portrait, or whatever it is,” said McBride, told RVA Mag in a recent interview about the new exhibit.

You can view a catalog of each of the artists’ work here. Gold For A Silver Situation opens tonight at 7 pm. Music kicks off at 8 pm with Elizabeth Owens, Slurry, Georgie Isaacs, and Deau Eyes. Other vendors will also be at Gallery5 so make sure you stop by Gallery’5 membership table, Belle Isle Moonshine, “Interconnection”, a series of Multimedia Collages, and Portraits of Richmond Icons by Courtney Lebow, and  Becky Whitson, who will be selling floral headpieces and fine art.

Page Bond Gallery
Glow Glimmer Sparkle Shine
Exhibit runs until Jan. 13

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You still have a few weeks left to check out Page Bond Gallery’s Glow Glimmer Sparkle Shine exhibit featuring 26 artists which range from paintings to ceramics to abstract work.

Sculptural ceramics artist Piero Fenci is among those showcasing his work, which resembles ancient architecture, armor, and industrial machinery. Fenci describes it as “loosely rendered reinventions of the past” that reveal “a heritage of [his] own passions.” The artist has been a professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas since 1975 and he founded the first university program in contemporary ceramic art in northern Mexico at la Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua in 2004.

Ross Browne, a Richmond native and figurative painter,  is displaying his dream-like portraits, which fuse together fact and  “imagined mythology” to challenge “preconceived notions of the shared human experience”. The artist also incorporates nature such as birds, land, and cityscapes into his artwork to convey “the struggles of identity, power, and self-actualization.”

You can see their work and the work of the following artists at Page Bond Gallery in this exhibit: Participating artists include: Isabelle Abbot, Will Berry, Karen Blair, Sanford Bond, Robin Braun, Amy Chan, Charlotte Culot, Clark Derbes, Sean Donlon, Isa Newby Gagarin, Sarah Irvin, Harris Johnson, Becky Joye, B. Millner, Sarah Mizer, Jaydan Moore, Matthew Langley, Tim O’Kane, Corey Pemberton, Curtis Ripley, Fiona Ross, Nancy Murphy Spicer, Leigh Suggs, and Julie Wolfe. 1625 W. Main St.

ADA Gallery
Bruce Wilhelm: Next
Exhibit runs Fri. Jan. 5-Jan. 28

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ADA Gallery presents Richmond-based artist Bruce Wilhelm’s solo exhibit, Next, featuring his abstract works. A VCU graduate, Wilhelm has received two Virginia Museum Fellowship Grants and has showcased his work at ADA Gallery since 2005. The artist is also the co-founder of Philly’s Grizzly Grizzly gallery. 228 W. Broad St. 7-9 PM.

Sediment Arts
GenderFail
Exhibit runs Fri. Jan 5-Jan. 21

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Opening tonight is Sediment Arts storefront exhibit, GenderFail, a publishing and program initiative founded by Brett Suemnicht. The exhibit will feature a multimedia installation of publications, prints, and select programming focused on perspectives of queer and transgender people as well as people of color. The aim is to “build up, reinforce and open opportunities for creative projects focusing on printed matter.”

The featured works are from the GenderFail Archive Project in the form of a reading room with select titles from the GenderFail library.  The selections will be archived on the site and presented at the gallery as installations on sculptures commissioned from Richmond-based artists. The collaborative sculptural displays were created by artists Hallie McNeill, Evan Galbicka and Colin Klockner. GenderFail will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 1-6 pm and tonight’s opening will run from 6-9 pm. 208 E. Grace St. 

68 Home
 The Zodiac Collections
Exhibit opens Fri. Jan. 5

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 68 Home, a used and locally made furniture and home decor store and art gallery, will open First Fridays this month with “The Zodiac Collections”, a complete astrology-inspired exhibit.

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There will be $5 card readings by @snakeoil, online jewelry boutique Sun and Selene will be there selling their products, along with Maven Made, a local company selling all natural, ethically-sourced beauty, home, and wellness products, and local custom-flag shop Guards and Flags. 5 W. Broad St.

Threat Count Shirts
Cotton to Canvas: Champ Era Street Calculus

This Friday, Thread Count Shirts, a local custom brand t-shirt and apparel business, will have a pop-up shop showcasing local designer Champ Era’s latest collection, Street Calculus. 6-10 PM. 209 E. Broad St. 

Fresh Richmond
Pop Up Shop
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Fresh Richmond is hosting a Pop-Up Shop for their First Fridays of the New Year. The shop will feature clothing from Sky Mission Clothing Co., artwork made using water, fire, and air by SABartStudio, jewelry and gemstones by The RAW Aura, homade lotions by Nature’s Booty, and a DJ set by DJ Lady Syren and Neili Neil. 5-8:30 PM. 213 E. Broad St.

 

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Artwork by featured artist Shaylen Amanda Broughton

Vagabond
 Smoochie Jankins 1st Fridays Party!

Vagabond will throw an artist pop-up in The Rabbit Hole tonight at 9 PM featuring art and design from Jessica Camilli, Kamala Bhagat, Liberatus Jewelry, with music by Smoochie Jankins. Led by Mark Ingraham on the trumpet, the band is rounded out with Garen Dorsey (Sax/ Keys), Macon Mann (Keys), Kelli Strawbridge (Drums), Nekoro Thabiti Williams (PBR, Drums) and Derek Goodall, (drums) which is bound to get you out of your house braving the cold weather to hear these awesome musicians play. 700 E. Broad St. 

Check out all the RVA First Fridays happenings here.

 

Gallery5 Exemplifies and Breaks Gender Barriers in ‘Gold for a Silver Situation’ Exhibit

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Gallery 5 is offering a stunning exhibit of talent while also providing a social commentary in its upcoming First Friday exhibit, “Gold for a Silver Situation.” As described by former New Yorker and Vanity Fair editor, Tina Brown, “women have always had to be gold for a silver situation.” Reaching new, unthinkable limits to be commissioned is the norm for female artists. In “Gold for a Silver Situation,” curator and participating artist Katie McBride wishes to provide 12 examples of local female artists whose work transcends any gender separation.

After attending VCU for communication arts, McBride, who works at the University of Richmond in print design, found that the professional field did not reflect the student body present in her classes. “I remember a lot of the professors saying, ‘Professionally, I know this seems like a boy’s club, but there’s more women in school now, so we can see that changing,’” McBride said. “Well, I graduated in 2004, and I don’t necessarily see the field has changed markedly in that way, and I think that it’s because of some unnecessary structural barriers that are making it a hard field for women to stay in for the long term.”

McBride sites many of these barriers rooted in societal expectations of the professional realm. One example she explained was the rigid deadlines many freelance artists experience, which often goes to men since women are seen as incapable of reaching these deadlines. Additionally, the concern of hiring a woman with a family automatically siphons employers to hire male freelancers.

“I get that it’s a boy’s club. It’s just like men are chefs, women are cooks. It feels shortsighted and knee-jerky to not consider female illustrators but as an afterthought.” She further explained that women are often thrown into gallery shows to diversify the featured artists, almost as if including a woman is a checkmark on a list of necessary items to be “politically correct.”

It is safe to say that if anyone is asked to recall the names of five famous painters, a majority of those names would be male. McBride emphasized that the awards realm of the art profession are also male-dominated. “It’s the same cook and chef mentality. When you see the Caldecott [Award], the preponderance of children’s book creators are women. The preponderance of Caldecott winners and book winners are men within the field,” she said.

For women to have to go the extra mile to be included in galleries, shows, and award ceremonies, McBride concludes that the societal acculturation for associating femininity with a lesser value than masculinity is the root of this problem. “There’s as much of a glass ceiling in art as there is in anything that we like to pretend is a meritocracy but we know is really not.”

After researching for a representative group of local to semi-local female or “femme” artists, McBride found 11 talented illustrators, painters, and more to include in Gallery5’s “Gold for a Silver Situation.”

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Richmond Folk Fest by Katie McBride

McBride’s work is recognizable from the 2016 Richmond Folk Festival poster. Most of her other work features anthropomorphic themes, as well as detailed maps and whimsical and detailed illustrations. Her posters, maps, and illustrations exemplify McBride’s variety in color, detail, hue, and themes, all bound together by her love for storytelling, animals and nature, and more.

Art by Victoria Borges

The work of Victoria Borges harkens the like of the covers of The New Yorker, soft hues and lines, mixing the airy with the real. Her commentary on social trends, the media, relationships, money, and culture all play into her art beautifully. The softness of her pieces mix well with her colors and balance.

Art by Mary Chiarmonte

The most striking feature of Mary Chiaramonte’s work is the realism. Rather than leaning towards one end of the spectrum, her use of the dichotomy between light and dark translate magnificently in her paintings. The amount of detail in her portraits and nature scenes are evident.

Art by Clara Cline

Illustrator Clara Cline stands apart from her fellow artists with her design of paper goods, gift wrap, prints, and scout badges. More specifically, her attention to detail provides stunning star charts, field guide manuals, and more. Her mixture of rustic vibes with the elegance of natural beauty equate to aesthetically-pleasing prints and paper.

Art by Kamille Jackson

Kamille Jackson finely points out the details in her typographically-inspired pieces. From her black-and-white drawings to her Richmond-inspired postcards, Jackson perfectly ties together type with the culture surrounding her. Even within the lettering and type itself, lines and colors bring out the depth of her work.

The show also includes the art of Cathryn Virginia, Holly Camp, Melissa Duffy, Ally Hodges, Brooke Inman, Meena Khalili, and Amelia Blair Langford.

You may remember Langford from our interview with her in 2016 about her detailed artwork and Virginia wildlife mural, which won the RVA Street Art Festival Contest that year.

While many people have categorized 2017 a “dumpster fire” year, even more artists have utilized their work to communicate their feelings on the world around them. McBride is among those who wish to use their art to make a difference. “It’s been this feeling of, ‘I want to do something,’ and then the feeling of immediately being burned out.”

After the dozens of accusations of sexual harassment or assault of celebrities from all realms, the experiences, and difficulties women have had are coming to the surface from every profession and concentration, art being among them. “Female illustrators are not an afterthought. Walk in and see 50 pieces of amazing art and understand that these people should be first in your mind for a big, crazy, stunning, dramatic oil painting, or super smart conceptual think-piece, or a portrait, or whatever it is,” said McBride. “There’s a woman for everything you need. Women are not an afterthought and they shouldn’t be.”

“Gold for a Silver Situation” will be available for the January First Friday, which is Jan. 5, starting at 7 pm. More information can be found here.

PLF Presents the Pyro Circus Street Show at Carnival of 5 Fires

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Party Liberation Front (PLF) is proud to continue keeping the tradition alive at G5 and on RVA First Fridays, October 6th 2017 at the Carnival of 5 Fires 2017 we will once again light the streets up with fire performance, dancing, with tunes provided by some of the finest DJs in the land… crunky, funky, bassy circus style! Come join us for our free, community street party event outside of Gallery5!

Main photo by janpim wolf photography

DJ Lineup:
DJ Danny Baltimore – (Bmore) Camp Beemore
https://soundcloud.com/danny-baltimore-1

Dj Phil Dice – (RVA) EQ Productions
https://soundcloud.com/phil-dice

Tag team set by Mr. Jennings and Dope Solo
Mr Jennings (RVA) PLF 
http://soundcloud.com/mrjennings

Dope Solo – (RVA) PLF
https://soundcloud.com/dopesoloofficial

Pyro sculptures by
Gon

Projections by
Doc Jim
Grey Hash

This event is sponsored and supported by the Party Liberation Foundation 501(c)3 non-profit

Then join us for…
PLF Freakeasy Speakeasy (Carnival of 5 Fires Afterparty)
Vagabond (700 E Broad St. Next to the National)
10pm-2am.
$5 suggested donation

Your PLF DJs for the evening:
Alicia Rox
https://soundcloud.com/alicia-rox

Reinhold
https://soundcloud.com/jreinhold

Beat Kitty
https://soundcloud.com/thebeatkitty

Catering to the sounds of basement jazz bass, where you can dance all your cares away. You’ll be beating your feet, and shaking yo’ booties to the roaring, thumping soundwaves, as we take you hip cats back to the prohibition era of drinkin’ in the dark.

*donations will be split to support the music makers of the evening*
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SPECIAL NOTES FOR PYRO CIRCUS
***If you are a fire performer interested and/or planning to join us in the street with fire props, there are a few things you should know:

*crowd experienced performers only. we take this very seriously. this isn’t for performers new to fire play or for people that just “dabble” in this art.

* In order to perform with fire you must attend one of the two scheduled safety meetings and sign a waiver.

* The safety meetings are scheduled to be held at 6:45 and 8:15 PM.

* Waivers will be available at the safety meetings and must be signed to participate.

* With the exception of fire breathing, we will only be using white gas (naptha, camp fuel). As for fire breathers, please note the below bullet point.

* As is pointed out below, fire breathing performances will be held until last, as lamp oil tends to make the performance area slick for other spinners.

* In the name of fairness and reciprocity, it is encouraged that all fire performers volunteer for a fire safety shift. It’s just like watching fire performance, but you get to wear a brightly colored vest and who doesn’t like brightly colored vests?!