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RVA #37 Is On The Streets Now!

RVA Staff | August 15, 2019

Topics: art, avail, Culture, entertainment, gayrva, graffiti, lee county, metal, music, nat geo, nat geo photographer, National Geographic, new magazine, News, photography, politics, print issue, print magazine, punk, richmond art, rva 37, RVA Magazine, rva37, skateboarding, Southwest virginia, street art, trevor frost, Unmaker, washington skate

Summer is alive in the River City, and the latest issue of RVA Magazine is here with it to tell the stories of arts, music, politics, and culture across Virginia.

It’s August, it’s hot, and it’s only going to get hotter here in the River City with the arrival on the streets of RVA Magazine #37, our Summer 2019 issue! This one’s bursting all around, with plenty of art, music, news, politics, and more. From the far corners of the Commonwealth to right here in Rich! Mond! Vee! Ay!, RVA Magazine is on point with the coverage of Virginia’s street-level culture that you’ve known and loved for the past 14 years.

The biggest news of the summer here in Richmond was the reunion of Avail, the band who defined Richmond’s music scene in the 90s and helped put the river city on the musical map throughout the country and beyond. After 12 years away from the stage, they brought a hotly-anticipated two-night stand to the National and blew fans’ minds all over again. In the run-up to that memorable weekend of rock, we had an exclusive conversation about their reunion with vocalist Tim Barry, and you’ll find it all in this issue of RVA Magazine!

PHOTO: Ken Penn

We’re also bringing you an in-depth profile of Trevor Frost, a photographer and Richmond native whose work with National Geographic and other world-renowned publications has taken him to every corner of the globe. You’ll learn what Frost has seen and discovered in his voyages, and why he keeps coming back to Richmond every time.

Photo of Trevor Frost by Melissa Lesh

We don’t just focus on Richmond, though — our reporting takes us to the farthest reaches of the Commonwealth this issue, where we learn about Tennessee-adjacent Lee County’s attempts to create a policy based on comments from political leaders about arming teachers to prevent school shootings. Why does this rural county at the very tip of Virginia’s panhandle think such a policy is a good idea? And how do they intend to put it into practice? We’ll give you a deeper look.

Photo by John Donegan

We’ve got a lot more in store for you in this issue as well, from a GayRVA report on the recently-released documentary capturing and honoring the life of legendary Richmond cult figure Dirtwoman to an exclusive conversation with up and coming postpunk band Unmaker. We’ll also learn about the hip hop and skateboarding connection with Richmond’s own Washington Avenue Skateboards, and take a closer look at the history of the city’s underground graffiti scene — a major influence on the mural boom RVA is undergoing today.

All of that is in store for you when you grab your very own copy of RVA #37, available in all your favorite local businesses around town. Get yours now… they’re going fast!

Check out the digital version on Issuu here.

Science Inspires Latest Photography Exhibit at Candela Books + Gallery

Ash Griffith | January 23, 2018

Topics: Candela Books + Gallery, richmond art, RVA ARt, RVA photography, science

Science and art are such an uncommon intersection, which arguably makes for a curious theme. Candela Books + Gallery delves into this idea with eight artists in their latest exhibit, “Science As Muse.”

The exhibit, which features photographic works from Walter Chappell, Caleb Charland, Rose-Lynn Fisher, Pam Fox, Daniel Kariko, Michael Rauner, Robert Shults, and Susan Worsham, shares with viewers how each of these artists, in one way or another, interpret science and use it as an inspiration for their work.

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

“We conjured up the idea, I think probably with a couple of familiar names, sort of artists that we work with on an ongoing basis,” said Candela founder and director Gordon Stettinius. “We had people for whom science was pretty specifically a muse, and we thought about that as just sort of a broader topic. I think the early photographers really were sort of scientists or chemists engaged in pursuing some sort of alchemical dreams.”

Associate Director Ashby Nickerson said photography and science have always had this really close relationship and for this particular exhibit, the gallery received a wide variety of work. 

“We got some vintage work, darkroom work, and then we also have digital alongside that, too,” she said.

Velvet Ant_Print copy
Daniel Kariko “Chair, Main Office, September 3rd [Velvet Ant], 2017 Archival Inkjet Print, 27 x 28 inches
The show itself houses roughly 45 pieces from the eight artists. As you walk through the show, it’s not difficult to notice a very particular flow, each piece telling its own story.

“There {are} a few people that we sort of hung their work all in one area, and then we did break up a few in both galleries,” said Nickerson. “Sometimes, that’s just because it’s a nice balance, or it helps support the other work. There’s some really cool relationships between a few of the artists. Pam Fox and Susan Worsham have a really nice relationship in my mind.”

Despite the fact that they worked separately, when placed together the artists seem to have a natural motif together in their work.  “With the group show, you start to see almost a composition. You want to see the formal elements, the circular kind of motif that’s going on. From Susan into Pam into Susan, or the rhythm when you have color and black and white work, you kind of want it to feel kind of balanced,” Stettinius added.

rauner_shulginlab (1)
Michael Rauner “Sulgin’s Lab”

Susan Worsham, a Richmond native, discovered photography while she was in college and found her muse through her neighbor Margaret, a biology professor.

“Through Margaret, things like the picture with the bread, ‘Communion’, by taking that home and letting it rot, and seeing how it changed, through that process, and the process of making art, and the process of visiting her, it slowly, like the circle of life, it’s become more about life,” Worsham said. “I bring [the bread] to Margaret and she shows me the penicillin which is a healing fungi, and I start to see.”

CatEsophagus
Susan Worsham “Margaret’s Azalea’s Through Section of Cat’s Esophagus,” 2014

Worsham said she normally doesn’t delve into science too much in her work, but a fond memory from the third grade, which has stuck with her to this day, also inspired some of her pieces for the exhibit.

“My dad was a chemistry teacher and he came to our class {for} show and tell, and he dipped flowers into liquid nitrogen and then he broke them on our desks, and I was so amazed,” she said. “The flowers shattering, I still think about that today. Because the beautiful gardens, bittersweet things that are beautiful, but then shatter…I make all of these connections in my work, and Margaret has helped to make the work richer and broader.”

TrumpetFlower
Susan Worsham “Section of Trumpet Flower,” 2017

Worsham’s view of the world through her work shows her dedication to the beautiful, small moments in life, and in turn, aims to find a comfortable balance between not only her view of the world, but of Margaret’s as well.

“Her [Margaret] way of seeing the world is through a glass slide, and mine is through my viewfinder,” she said. “That’s her way of seeing life, as a biologist, a little different, and mine is seeing that beauty,” she added.

Pam Fox, also a Richmond-based photographer, already had some pieces that perfectly fit into the concept the gallery had for the exhibit when they approached about showcasing her work.

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

“I made this body of work a number of years ago, and Gordon remembered it,” Fox said. “I work at a college, Hampden-Sydney that is really, really old, and I found, with some help of my colleagues there, this stash of this old science equipment that had been in the attic for 50-70 [how many] years, and I just fell in love with how it looked.”

Fox, who received her MFA in photography at Hampden-Sydney, is currently a professor at the Prince Edward County-based liberal arts school and like Worsham, found her scientist muse for her collection within the story of a photographer.  

“I’ve thought a lot about Gordon’s idea of science as muse, and I was thinking, ‘well, gosh John Draper’s kind of my muse because his presence is still there,” she said.

Draper, a professor at Hampden-Sydney in 1836, was also a historian, photographer, and scientist who is credited with producing the first clear photograph of a female face.

Screen Shot 2018-01-04 at 11.38.23 AM
Pam Fox “Spark,” 1999-2002 Gelatin Silver Print, 20 x 16 inches

“His old camera is there, some of the equipment he might have used is there. And the fact that he was a scientist and a photographer,” Fox said. “Here’s this guy who’s inventing how to make a portrait. Like, he took a lens from an old telescope and fitted it onto a box and really, some people believe it’s the first camera in the United States ever made.”

rose
Pam Fox “Rose,” 2001

With so much potential through the Science as Muse premise, Stettinius said there is a possibility of a second exhibit and more.

“We have found a ton more interesting people. It’s just a really kind of ripe vein that we will need to explore again. So, we thought about maybe we could do this in a sort of follow up or a really awesome book potentially or something,” Stettinius said.

“Science as Muse” is on display at Candela Books + Gallery, located at 214 W. Broad St. through Feb. 17.  

Photos courtesy of Candela Books + Gallery. Top Photo:  Daniel Kariko, “Along City Greenway Path, May 2nd [Soldier Fly],” 2016. Archival Pigment Print, 27 x 28 inches

 

Art Sponsored by Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art 

Remembering RVA artist Jamie Pocklington

R. Anthony Harris | April 4, 2016

Topics: art, jamie pocklington, richmond, richmond art, RVA

Richmond artist Jamie Pocklington passed away last week at the age of 46. RVA Magazine was fortunate to meet and profile this complex and talented individual in our pages back in 2006.

[Read more…] about Remembering RVA artist Jamie Pocklington

InLight Richmond to illuminate Monroe Park this Friday night

Brad Kutner | November 19, 2014

Topics: 1708 Gallery, InLight Richmond, richmond art, RVA arts

InLight Richmond is one of the city’s most prized free public exhibitions, and this year the event is heading to Monroe Park Friday 11/21 to light up the Capital City.

[Read more…] about InLight Richmond to illuminate Monroe Park this Friday night

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