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Artist Blythe King Aims to Lift Up the Female Form & Identity in Her Latest Exhibit at Quirk Gallery

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When you hear the word collage, most likely images are brought up of newspaper clippings, old Elmer’s Glue, and a ton of glitter that will never leave you. Emerging Richmond mixed-media artist Blythe King instead is taking collage work and photography to a new level by incorporating such elements as gold leaf, circle motifs, and pages from catalogs from the 40s, 70s, and 80s.

In her newest exhibit Two Sides of the Same Coin, which recently opened at Quirk Gallery, King uses her unique collage style to not only examine the female form, but also to lift it up and praise it. Taking a cue from her influence Andy Warhol, the Pittsburgh native pulls commercial images of women from old Montgomery Ward catalogs of the 40s, 70s, 80s and brings them to life with elements of Eastern iconography.  Feeling inspired by the unique level of empowerment felt from these images, she raises them to their goddess level by enshrining them in beautiful gold leaf.

Collage by Blythe King

Flipping through a 1940s catalog one day was what sparked the idea for these collages for this avid collector.

“I spend a lot of time looking through images, and I have a huge collection of catalogs,” King said.  “I found this catalog in my neighborhood, I brought it home, and I was just fascinated by it. It was the first time that I had seen women depicted [with this] dignity and strength to their poses that I hadn’t seen before in advertising. So I kind of felt like I uncovered this little blip of time and it felt like I needed to show people these images, they need to be seen again.”

King is also originally drawn to collage work because of its inherent double meaning, the familiarity, and the accessibility. She uses the foundation of these recognizable, commercial images to lure in audiences. Much like the multiple layers of the collage work are complex, as is the multiple layers of the women in question that she chooses to focus on.

Collage by Blythe King, Richmond, Virginia

While it is hard to deny that King’s work is of course visually and aesthetically striking, it is also out with a not so undercover mission. As society enters deeper into a stronger, more unified and intersectional renaissance of feminism, King uses her art to support the cause and unify all women in today’s stormy climates.

“I feel like I have a mission. My work is especially urgent right now. It’s finally a point in history where we are no longer tolerating violence against women. Women’s voices are being heard,” King said. “I feel that it’s even more important that I continue this work and make this work, and allow people to see it.”

Image may contain: 3 people, people smiling

King, who studied religion and art at the University of Richmond, has exhibited in South Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and DC. Prior to delving into collage work, the mixed media artist produced tablet covers from vintage women’s shirts for her Louisiana-based online textile startup, iSockits. However, as some things naturally do, when the business found its end almost like clockwork, she ran across the first catalog that would inspire her series.

“I didn’t have a focus then. It was something that I did. That business, I did everything so it was pretty all consuming. The business sort of ran its course and it was about that time that I found that catalog in my neighborhood in Church Hill, and it got me thinking.”

While lifting women’s voices up is her aim, King admits that it may not be initially obvious when audiences first see her work. Because the medium is not always so obvious, she admits that sometimes the perception is different depending on what medium audiences think it is. However, she does have a large hope of what audiences will take away from her art.

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“My biggest goal through my art is that it affects our culture, that it actually changes the way people see, so that actually has an effect on a larger scale. I feel like if you would understand that all women are gods that that will change the status of women in our culture. And you can do it through just one person at a time,” King said.

In addition to the Two Sides of the Same Coin exhibit, King is also working on a book about her artwork, which she hopes to have ready by the summer. The book will feature all of the pieces showcased in the then exhibition, which you can check out at Quirk Gallery through May 6.

 

 

 

MASS APPEAL RVA: Fashion Photographer Bree Davis, Liberatus Jewelry, Love This, & A Look at Mac’s Smack

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A movement has been building for some time in Richmond. The city has become globally known for its creative talent pool and has proven fertile ground for startups and entrepreneurs. Industries such as technology, music, food, crafts, advertising and more have taken root and created a community to sustain them.

Though VCU’s Fashion Design and Merchandising school is anchored in the city center and brands like Ledbury and Need Supply have set up home base here, Richmond has yet to become known for its position in the world of fashion.  Not many VCU graduates decide to pursue fashion-related careers in Richmond.  For those that stick around, the opportunity to build a community is what compels them to stay put. Bree Davis is one of them.

This article was featured in RVAMag #29: Summer 2017. You can read all of issue #29 HERE or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.


Davis: has a fine arts degree with a focus in photography. She’s one of a few working fashion photographers in the city. Davis has opened her own studio in the Fan last year. Here, she’s has built a business working with Richmond based boutiques including Mod & Soul and Tailor, up and coming brands like Stitch and Urban Mint Couture, skincare brand Mac’s Smack, as well as local musicians. A growing network of stylists, make-up stylists, and artists round out a rolodex of professionals she brings together to create magic and build a community.  We sat down with Davis recently to talk about her inspiration, her path, and her vision for Richmond.

Wilson: Why photography?

Davis: This story starts a long time ago. When I was younger, if one of my siblings or I was interested in a hobby, my mom tried to get us all involved somehow to save money and bring us closer. My sister got into modeling. I went to a photoshoot with her. I knew right away I didn’t want to be in front of the camera. I helped the photographer that day, though. I held the reflector and had so much fun being behind the scenes. I started to do photos for my friends in high school. By the time I was applying for college, I knew this is what I loved and what I wanted to do. VCU was the only in-state school I applied to and I got in, thankfully.

Wilson: How did VCU shape you and your craft?

Davis: I didn’t know about the foundations courses I needed to take for my degree. I had never taken art classes before. I had to take sculpture, painting, drawing and more. I had to do something that was really foreign to me. I really gained a lot from doing all-nighters with people who were really good at things that I’m not good at. It was an intense year of being surrounded and learning what fine arts really meant. I think learning the fine arts perspective of photography helped me be a more well-rounded photographer. I have a more inclusive take on what I want to shoot. I also slow down and hone in on details and design more than others might.

Wilson: When did you start actually working as a photographer?

Davis: I always had freelance work. I would shoot for architect firms, do portraits for the school, quick photoshoots for apparel and brands or just assist people with their shoots.

Wilson: When did fashion photography become a career interest?

Davis: Matt Licari was a really important person for me. He was in Richmond for a couple years during my junior and senior years at VCU.  He specializes in fashion photography. He spoke on a panel and I knew I wanted to pick his brain. I started helping him with shoots in Richmond and in New York. I would do anything from hold lights and reflectors, to work with stylists on hand and help spot details. I’d even stop traffic for his photos.

Wilson: Did VCU help bring fashion and photography together for you?

Davis: I would have loved it if there was a fashion element to that major. The only thing we had was a studio class where I learned about lighting and back drops, which is how a lot of fashion photography takes place. I also took a Fashion for Beginners class as an art elective. I’d love to see a fashion photography course or series of courses. Once you learn it, you understand that it’s a skill in and of itself.

Wilson: What makes Richmond different than other cities known for fashion and where many graduates wind up migrating)?

Davis: There’s not a crazy large fashion market here, yet. People are still more likely to hit the internet or the malls for what they want. You can see pockets of the growing community though. I think the First Friday’s area has become known as a fashion area with boutiques popping up and becoming successful. That is really great, but I think we need to see more of that as a community. We have to make an effort to get out and shop at their stores more. You can even shop local stores online instead of a more big box version. There is an opportunity for businesses to expand more if we as consumers support them before they decide to relocate elsewhere.

Wilson: How can these businesses expand and grow from their home base in Richmond?

Davis: We’ve all proven here that we can use the power of the internet to reach new markets. Lots of businesses are doing it. Round Two has opened a second location in Los Angeles and Utmost has grown a large following online. More and more we have great shop owners who are well educated and ahead of the trends. They’ll provide more and more competition for other places doing the same thing and it will grow.  It’s going to happen here eventually.

Wilson: Who have you worked with here in Richmond lately?

Davis: Recently, I shot Tailor’s summer line. She has a great group of girls and it’s obvious they are all genuinely excited about the clothing they are modeling. It’s cool to see that the girls she uses as models are her customers, too. I’m working with Chanel G. of Stitch to create images to revamp her website. She just finished RVA Fashion Week and has a lot of energy. She’s going to make some of the pieces she showed there buyable. We worked to create a cohesive lookbook and shoppable site. I’m working with a high schooler behind Urban Mint Couture. She is killin’ it in the entrepreneur game. I just love seeing people, especially young people, hustle and sacrifice for their career to start something for themselves and their community. When people show up, I want to give them 100% of my time and mind and I want them to know how excited and thankful I am to be doing what I love to do every day.

See more from Bree Davis HERE

Liberatus Jewelry Debuts First Collection At Quirk Gallery

Jewelry designer Ginny Rush launched her jewelry brand Liberatus a year ago, named after the Latin word for “freed” or “liberated.”

“I like giving people the freedom to express themselves through jewelry,” Rush said. I like to think I start the story and my customers finish it. I love what I create, but then people ding up rings and kink necklaces. They live life in it and it becomes theirs.”

Rush, who works days at the Shops at 5807, spends the rest of her time at her studio creating commissioned pieces and developing lines of jewelry that feature minimalist shapes and structures. She has successfully grown her business online, on the shelves of local boutiques, and during festivals.

Local boutique Mod & Soul carries earrings from Liberatus and Rush created an exclusive collection of jewelry for Richmond-based online boutique Tailor. Quirk had seemed like a “far off dream” when she started Liberatus.  “I remember telling my fiancé that when I have my pieces in Quirk, I will have made it,” Rush said.

A year later, Quirk is now carrying 15 Liberatus Jewelry items including stacking rings, men’s tie bars, her new copper tube necklace collection and studs that comprise her “piece of pieces” collection. She works primarily with sterling silver, copper, and brass, which are all ethically sourced. Rush is working with local blogger Kelly LaFerriere of The Good Wear to revamp her studio practices to dispose of chemicals and more.

Find more HERE

Mac’s Smack, A Socially Conscious Skincare Brand Launches First Beauty Collection

MacKenzie Payne calls herself a product junkie. Since she could remember, she was making trips to the drug store to try on new lip gloss colors and foundations. After her first son was born, she became interested in eating an organic diet, growing her own food, and paying extra attention to what she put on her skin.

“I was taken aback by what was in the products we were using on our own bodies,” Payne said. “I decided I could come up with skincare and beauty products from items right in my own kitchen.”

Payne embarked on an intensive research mission, reading labels, talking with skincare and organic lifestyle experts, and experimenting with ingredients to create what became Mac’s Smack. The brand carries lip balms, body butters, facial serums and cleansers. This May, Mac’s Smack launched its first collection of beauty products featuring a trio of tinted lip balms, a highlighter balm, shimmering body oil and hydrating tonic which can be used to help set makeup.

“The whole premise of the new line is ‘How can we enhance the beauty that we already have and take care of our skin?’” Payne said. “I personally have started wearing less makeup and am working on trying to be okay with that. I want to embrace the true beauty we all carry with us.”

In addition to the website, the new Mac’s Smack beauty line is available in Sweetest Stitch boutique, five local Whole Foods stores, Mod & Soul boutique, Ellwood Thompson’s, Little Greenhouse Grocery, Pure Barre, Bliss 5812, Parlor Salon, and more. Payne said she ships to customers as far as Germany, India, and Afghanistan.

“We’re on the cusp of a new way in cosmetics and beauty,” Payne said. “We want to help make products that are true and pure without a bunch of chemicals and make them accessible to everyone.”

Find more HERE

Love This Turns Two and Launches Local Collaborations

The fashion and beauty industries don’t have a very good reputation for being sustainable or ecofriendly. As a consumer, it’s difficult to access the limited amount of socially conscious products available because of high price points and availability. Rupah Singh and Amber Lantz decided to bring affordable handmade and fair-trade goods right to Richmond by way of their silver 1969 Airstream Globetrotter. The duo first began pulling up to customers for business during the Good Day RVA Festival in 2015. They plan to revisit the good Day RVA Festival on June 3 this year to celebrate the second anniversary of Love This.

“Since we opened, we’ve been expanding the line of items we carry,” Singh said. “We used to carry mostly jewelry and now we carry more apparel, shoes, kid and baby clothing and people are responding.”

Love This has become more than a place to find unique items for Richmonders, it’s also become a vehicle for conversations about sustainability according to Singh. “Everyone wants to know how they can make a difference,” she said. “We help show them that they can make a big difference by making small decisions about where they buy their clothing and more.”

Singh recently spoke at Creative Mornings, a series of breakfast talks throughout the city. By educating the community, Rupah feels she can empower more people to make a living from creating products that are sustainable, including local makers.

Love This has launched three new collaborations with local companies who have created items exclusively for sale at Love This. Each product from these collaborations will give 10% back to a nonprofit.

Lightbox Print Co. developed a “She Believed She Could So She Did” tote bag in honor of International Women’s Day and Bulb-e Vases developed a line of ceramic vases for Love This. Singh also reached out to Bethany Frazier of Maven Made, local skincare line known for serums and essential oil products.

“I have been using Maven Made’s facial serum for a while now and I thought Bethany would make a great collaboration partner,” Singh said. “I asked her to create a fragrance that would represent a woman who is confident and believes in herself.”

The final product is the Powerful Babe Fragrance Oil featuring ingredients like lavender, rose, cardamom, and ylang ylang.

Find more HERE

The Road Less Traveled: RVA photog Kip Dawkins discusses his exhibit ‘Vacant’ at Quirk Gallery

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Local advertising photographer Kip Dawkins did not intend to take his craft, which has long been a professional endeavor, to expressive visual artistry.

He did not expect photographs of the rustic scenery of America’s back roads taken while traveling for his professional photography would revitalize an appreciation in photography as an expressive art. And he certainly did not anticipate an exhibition at Quirk Gallery when showing these photographs from his travels to gallery director, Katie Ukrop. However, his exhibit, “Vacant” is now up at the Quirk Gallery.

Dawkins first got into photography as a means to carve a participatory place into the music scene. Having a passion for music, photography allowed Dawkins a place in the music scene despite not playing an instrument. In time, this led him to a career in advertising photography. However, being a photographer for 20 years, the creative appreciation began to dissipate.

“I enjoy doing it but it kind of sucks the soul out of it,” said Dawkins. “I got my start photographing punk rock bands and that’s what I love more than anything because music is everything to me.”

Kip Dawkins does plenty of traveling all around the United States and sometimes internationally for his work and has worked with everyone from Better Home and Gardens, Bloomingdales, Destination Hotels, Stolichnaya Vodka, GMC, and Morey’s Piers & Beachfront Water Parks.

To break from the insipid scenery of the highway, Dawkins will often take alternate routes off the highway, which is where his inspiration strikes. .

“If you’re not on 95 going 75mph you just see a lot of different stuff you don’t normally see,” he said.

On the back roads of America, Dawkins began stopping wherever an opportunity for a good shot seemed to be – often abandoned or bucolic scenery.

“I’ve always been drawn to things that are forgotten or lost or you know, just old Americana or whatever it may be,” he said. “It really got started at this abandoned mid-century hotel in Georgia that my dog and I found in the middle of nowhere.”

Once Dawkins inadvertently started the project, he began seeking out places to shoot. “I started using Google maps to find abandoned things and you can always see the swimming pools,” she said. As you may imagine, an empty pool full of algae sticks out.

There are lots of variables on which the value of a shot is dependent on. Dawkins keeps a keen sense of his surroundings while on the road because sometimes, it’s the perspective that makes the shot.

“There was one in South Carolina,” said Dawkins. “There were all these bones hanging in this guy’s driveway. I just happened to drive by there when it was rainy, creepy, dark, cold, and there are cow bones and Halloween decorations hanging up and I just happened to be there at the right time, because years later I drove by in daylight and it doesn’t have the same impact.”

One important lesson Dawkins takes from having an eye for the photogenic is to always have a camera on him. “A long time ago I missed this one shot of a children’s bike chained up to a topless bar in Austin, Texas. Looking back I’m like ‘what an amazing shot that would have been, it was a pink kid’s bike.’ So you always have to have it.”

Through his creative photography, Dawkins’ appreciation for photography in all forms was revitalized. “It wasn’t my intention, I’ve never thought of myself as a true artist. I’m kind of a technician,” said Dawkins.

“I totally fell in love with what I do again too, I started looking at how light was reacting when I was doing different shots. My work went to another level because I think I started to care more about it and I started to understand visual queues more than I used to.”

“Vacant” will be up at the Quirk Gallery until April 9th.

Images via Kip Dawkins Photography

The Road Less Traveled: RVA photog Kip Dawkins discusses his exhibit ‘Vacant’ at Quirk Gallery

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Topics: , ,

Local advertising photographer Kip Dawkins did not intend to take his craft, which has long been a professional endeavor, to expressive visual artistry.

He did not expect photographs of the rustic scenery of America’s back roads taken while traveling for his professional photography would revitalize an appreciation in photography as an expressive art. And he certainly did not anticipate an exhibition at Quirk Gallery when showing these photographs from his travels to gallery director, Katie Ukrop. However, his exhibit, “Vacant” is now up at the Quirk Gallery.

Dawkins first got into photography as a means to carve a participatory place into the music scene. Having a passion for music, photography allowed Dawkins a place in the music scene despite not playing an instrument. In time, this led him to a career in advertising photography. However, being a photographer for 20 years, the creative appreciation began to dissipate.

“I enjoy doing it but it kind of sucks the soul out of it,” said Dawkins. “I got my start photographing punk rock bands and that’s what I love more than anything because music is everything to me.”

Kip Dawkins does plenty of traveling all around the United States and sometimes internationally for his work and has worked with everyone from Better Home and Gardens, Bloomingdales, Destination Hotels, Stolichnaya Vodka, GMC, and Morey’s Piers & Beachfront Water Parks.

To break from the insipid scenery of the highway, Dawkins will often take alternate routes off the highway, which is where his inspiration strikes. .

“If you’re not on 95 going 75mph you just see a lot of different stuff you don’t normally see,” he said.

On the back roads of America, Dawkins began stopping wherever an opportunity for a good shot seemed to be – often abandoned or bucolic scenery.

“I’ve always been drawn to things that are forgotten or lost or you know, just old Americana or whatever it may be,” he said. “It really got started at this abandoned mid-century hotel in Georgia that my dog and I found in the middle of nowhere.”

Once Dawkins inadvertently started the project, he began seeking out places to shoot. “I started using Google maps to find abandoned things and you can always see the swimming pools,” she said. As you may imagine, an empty pool full of algae sticks out.

There are lots of variables on which the value of a shot is dependent on. Dawkins keeps a keen sense of his surroundings while on the road because sometimes, it’s the perspective that makes the shot.

“There was one in South Carolina,” said Dawkins. “There were all these bones hanging in this guy’s driveway. I just happened to drive by there when it was rainy, creepy, dark, cold, and there are cow bones and Halloween decorations hanging up and I just happened to be there at the right time, because years later I drove by in daylight and it doesn’t have the same impact.”

One important lesson Dawkins takes from having an eye for the photogenic is to always have a camera on him. “A long time ago I missed this one shot of a children’s bike chained up to a topless bar in Austin, Texas. Looking back I’m like ‘what an amazing shot that would have been, it was a pink kid’s bike.’ So you always have to have it.”

Through his creative photography, Dawkins’ appreciation for photography in all forms was revitalized. “It wasn’t my intention, I’ve never thought of myself as a true artist. I’m kind of a technician,” said Dawkins.

“I totally fell in love with what I do again too, I started looking at how light was reacting when I was doing different shots. My work went to another level because I think I started to care more about it and I started to understand visual queues more than I used to.”

“Vacant” will be up at the Quirk Gallery until April 9th.

Words by Greg Rosenberg. Images via Kip Dawkins Photography

“Dearest Margaret”: Local painter honors late loved ones & explores sentimentality in Quirk Gallery exhibit

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Mary Scurlock, a local painter and mixed media artist, was cleaning out her mother Margaret’s attic when she found over 50 letters that were decaying and on their way to falling apart.

The letters, dating from May to September of 1957, were exchanged between her parents. Her father, who was in the Navy and serving overseas, wrote her mother daily, who was pregnant with her at the time. The letters covered the everyday minutia between two people who didn’t want to miss a thing.

According to Scurlock, the letters were “kind and sweet”, but ultimately “not that interesting”. She felt that they might not be worth saving, but still had a sentimental attachment to these letters that documented her parents’ deeply caring relationship.

Instead of letting them continue to decay, she decided to use them as part of a mixed media abstract body of work, titled “Dearest Margaret”, after her mother. The pieces also feature magazine and newspaper clips from the era. Scurlock’s work is now on display at Quirk Gallery.

When her mother passed away in April, Scurlock found it therapeutic to begin her work as part of the grieving process. Being a teacher, she did the bulk of the work over her summer off. According to Scurlock, the work formed organically.

“It came very easily; I didn’t struggle. The pieces made themselves.” she said.

And when the Quirk Gallery offered her the space in January, Margaret’s birth month, she knew the timing was perfect.

She would start creation process by gluing down different scraps of paper from magazine clips and maps once used in the family. Then Scurlock would begin painting. Because she was building off of layers of paper and paint, Scurlock said she would often lose letters within the piece itself, unable to get them back.

But the intention of using the letters wasn’t so viewers could read them; nor was it so she could keep them in tact forever. “I didn’t want people to stand there and read the letters,” said Scurlock. “I wanted it to be more nuanced, and maybe the fragment would tell people something about what was happening at the time.”

The results were thick, loosely organized, lightly colored pieces, each unique in it’s content of family artifacts.

While the pieces grapple with honoring those passed, preserving their memory, and aiding her in the grieving process, Scurlock also draws attention to the way technology has influenced how we perceive history and connect with one another today.

Through her work, she invites viewers to consider the letters as historical artifacts. “Most people today aren’t gonna have that paper trail. I find that a little sad actually,” said Scurlock. “It’s a record of our history and how we communicated in the past.”

Many of us won’t have this kind tangible, hand-crafted evidence of significant times in our lives that allowed Scurlock to explore her family history and grieve. She found a way of making these records permanent through her artwork.

The other artwork featured in the gallery by Pam Sutherland covers the same kind of subject matter. Her collage work is prompted by a scrapbook once owned by her friend, Kevin Kelly, who had passed away. Both Sutherland and Scurlock invoke a sense of honor and sentimentality through personal artifacts in their works, but execute them in slightly different ways. In fact, the two artists are friends.

“Pam and I go back; we were on the board at 1708 together. Every year she comes in as a visiting artist for my seniors,” said Scurlock, referring to her students. She’s currently a visual arts teacher at Henrico High School’s Center for the Arts.

Both Sutherland and herself were considering an exhibition at Quirk, but neither knew their bodies of work dealt with the same subject matter so closely. Scurlock suggested that they have an exhibition at the same time, and management at Quirk thought it a great idea. Scurlock said she knew the content and use of materials in their works would complement one another’s.

You can see Mary Scurlock’s “Dearest Margaret” at the Quirk Gallery located at 207 W. Broad St., now through February 19th.

You can also join her for her Artist Talk at the gallery, where she’ll discuss the work in the exhibit in more detail, February 11th at 5 PM. http://quirkgallery.com/events/artist-talk-with-mary-scurlock/

Words by Katherine Mendes

Current offers unique contemporary art fair for experienced and novice collectors this weekend

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Richmond’s first contemporary art fair is hitting the scene on October 20. Current is a brain child of several local gallery owners and directors including 1708 Gallery, ADA gallery, Candela Books + Gallery, Glave Kocen Gallery, Page Bond Gallery, Quirk Gallery, and Reynolds Gallery.
[Read more…] about Current offers unique contemporary art fair for experienced and novice collectors this weekend