First Friday this Friday, April 2nd

Lots of First Friday info at Curated Culture Commentary and you can click the image below to make it bigger and read more...

And check out the fb page for Light House_1- set to return to Jackson Ward this First Friday. This is part of a series of events leading up to and highlighting the reopening of VMFA in May.

VCU Student Exhibitions opening this week

Is this student work? Whose work is it?

VCU's undergraduate juried fine arts exhibition opens this Thursday, April 1st at Anderson Gallery, with an opening reception from 5-7 PM. Also opening, exhibitions for Design and Kinetic Imaging.

More info here and at Anderson's site here

Last March Link Monday FOREVER (until next year)

Light House_1 returns to Jackson Ward this First Friday, April 2nd

Daniel Pink Creativity Forum at UR, April 1st

Style on Charles McGill's "Baggage" at Russell/Projects

The Hat on James River and French Film Fests

RAGE on exhibitions at 1708

VMFA on NCMA

RVAMag with images from Gallery 5's Model Citizen

TAD RVA is for real! Check out their blog and images from the open house

RVATV's Last Friday

Director Alex Nyerges's vision for VMFA

RTD on P. Buckley Moss show at Cultural Arts Center of Glen Allen

Mid Atlantic artist registry


Calls for artists:

Artemis Gallery's call for artists/designers- deadline: April 7th

Conner Contemporary's gogo projects- deadline: June 1st

Greater Reston Arts Center's "Gaps"- deadline: March 31st

McLean Project for the Arts' "Fantastic Journeys"- deadline: April 12th

Support Art On Wheels- Mural opening tonight!

Art on Wheels Mission Statement:

Art on Wheels is a nonprofit, educational outreach organization designed to foster growth through cultural development, with a focus on under-served communities, through exposure to historically significant art processes not included in standard art programming.

Learn more about Art on Wheels, who they serve, content that they use in lessons, and more at their website.

From a recent Art on Wheels email:

We have teamed up with The Down Syndrome Association of Greater Richmond to create three large murals. Bring the whole family out to view these three spectacular masterpieces.

These large scale murals depict characters developed through an old surrealist game called "Le Cadavre Exquis." In this game, a different artist draws a portion of the character without seeing what the other artist(s) have drawn. The results are very fun and exciting! Each mural displayed places these characters in different quirky and whimsical scenarios.

Please join us for the reception at the Children's Museum of Richmond at 5:30 on Friday, March 26th.

The Children's Museum is located on 2626 West Broad Street.

Cookies and milk will be provided.

We would also like to thank Fan Frame for stretching the murals and mounting the drawings. Visit their website at http://fanframe.net.

See you there!

Cheers!

Kevin Orlosky, Director of Programs

http://www.artonwheels-va.org

More Art Thangs, Current and Upcoming

Art openings tonight- previously blogged here.

Happening now until the 28th- VCU and UR's French Film Festival.



Also today, at 1:30, artist/instructor Marjorie Perrin discusses "How... do you paint a portrait?" at the VMFA Studio School (this talk is free and open to the public).

Saturday, March 27th, 3 PM at 1708 Gallery, currently exhibiting artist Dana Sperry will discuss what led to his work in "Forest for the Trees."

work by Dana Sperry

AND... don't forget about TAD RVA's open house Saturday, March 27th from 9 AM- 5 PM at Rockett's Landing. Solve the mystery, RVA!

Coming to RVA (Part I- "The Fairytale Experiment")

Quintessence Project/ "The Fairytale Experiment"

...

Last year we toured around the USA performing and filming a documentary. We met many amazing artists on the road who are making things happen and featured them in the film- people like Rex Dingler who started the NOLA Rising project and is this year organizing a project to paint the largest mural in the USA on the 9th levee, The Art House and Artist Scott Pterodactyl in New Orleans, Rachel Katz who started a circus in Philadelphia called "Carnivolution," The Tannery in Santa Cruz an amazing art space for artists, and many more ...

To see the documentary please follow this link.

The documentary has been sent to 15 film festivals, 5 TV stations and 3 producers, in the hope to create interest for the 2010 tour and documentary series. The documentary will also bring to light what's happening in each state we travel through and show a side of America and Americans, Canada and Canadians you don't see very often.

Who are we?

The Fairytale Experience is a band of artists from different places and cultures, who will be traveling for 5 months together through thick and thin, performing around the USA and Canada meeting other artists and improvising with them, bringing performance arts to communities and showing the people that they also can thrive on the exchange of ideas, abilities and laughter. We will be filming the tour in hope to make a reality documentary series, about a group of artists making it on the road.

The 2010 tour will start in Montreal QB at the end of June, we will then travel to Berlington Vermont, New York City NY, Philadelphia PA, Richmond VA, Ashville SC, Atlanta Georgia , Tallahassee Florida , Montgomery Alabama , New Orleans Louisiana, Austin Texas , Santa FE New Mexico , Denver Colorado , Salt Lake City Utah , Las Vegas Nevada, San Jose California, Seattle Washington, and finish in Vancouver BC the last two weeks of November.

This year we brought together a talented group of artists:

Ezekial Kelly- musician from Alaska

Charlotte Gaspard and the Theater of the Magical Real from Brooklyn NY

San Lluis- musician from Paris France

Rose Robin- live performance paint from Britain
...

To see videos of the performers and a 30 minute version of the documentary please look at our myspace.

Email: quintessenceproject.org@gmail.com

Web: myspace.com/thefairytaleexperience

*Note: the above information was excerpted from an email RVAAB received from Quintessence Project- they will be visiting Richmond from Saturday, July 24th to Saturday, July 31st. If you would like your work or the work of your organization to be part of this group's Richmond experience, CONTACT them! They are really interested in checking out what Richmond has to offer.

Pics from Daniel Calder's "More or Less" at Main Art

on view until March 27th

more info at Main Art Gallery's site- here
and at Calder's website- here

Art Openings this Friday

"The Silence of God, The Unbearable Silence of God" at Reference Gallery- with an opening reception from 7- 11 PM. Featuring work by:

Matthew Brett (Richmond)
Andrew Laumann (Baltimore)
Jason Lazarus (Chicago)
Peter Sutherland (New York)
Ann Woo (Hong Kong)
Damon Zucconi (New York)

Selected works from Artspace's National Juried Printmaking and Photography Exhibition

Fourth Friday openings at Artspace and Artworks- Artspace's National Juried Printmaking and Photography Exhibition will have an opening reception from 7- 10 PM, and numerous openings at Artworks, including Beth Nixon's "A Little Bit of Everything" (reception also from 7-10 PM).

Beth Nixon's "A Little Bit of Everything" opens this Friday at Artworks

March is the Longest Month Link Monday

Richard Roth's show "Perimeter Check" is up at Reynolds Gallery until April 17th

John Bryan writes for RTD about RCAP on its first anniversary

New space in Charlottesville- Chroma Projects Art Laboratory

RAGE on "Fragments of Our Imagination"

Gallery 5 membership information

Studio Two Three blog (RVA printmakers!!!)

Style on "Minds Wide Open"'s savvy internet presence and on "Artists in Exile" at Gallery 5 AND with more on the VA arts' budget cuts

RVA Mag on "Galvanized Monstrosities" at Black Hand Coffee

RTD on current shows at Reynolds

FDHub on "Mourning Portrait," upcoming at Visarts and on April 8th RCAP/CultureWorks/Fractured Atlas meeting

Russell/Projects to host UR thesis show in new Plant Zero ANNEX space

Mystery for the Weekend...

What is TAD RVA? Is it for real?

Saturday Art Openings

Click here for our previous post about the openings/events happening tonight (Russell/Projects, Visarts, and more).

Work by Gian Pierotti at ADA Gallery

This Saturday, ADA will open "Ambling," with work by John Coburn and Gian Pierotti- more info may be found here. Be sure to stop by the gallery as you are taking part in the first RVA Saturday Stroll.

Also on Saturday, the Joel and Lila Harnett Museum at UR will have an opening reception for "Surface Tension: Pattern, Texture, and Rhythm in Art from the Collection"- find more information about this show here.

Work by Ted Gordon in "Surface Tension"at UR

James River Film Festival starts tomorrow

More info here

Second Talk20, sponsored by C3 and 1708

1708 and C3's second Talk 20 this last Tuesday night was great! Presentations by each of the artists and designers were jam-packed with interesting information, some levity, and surprising amounts of inspiration. For those of us who are creative, opportunities to spend time with like-minded people usually result in a desire to dive back into our own ongoing projects; something about being around other creators and innovators reminds us just how important it is to exercise our playful, problem-solving right-brained-muscles.




Talk 20 presenters/artists Tiffany Glass Ferreira and Brian Korte explained how they are using their creative efforts to exact positive change a little bit at a time.




Designers Tamara Van Meter and Peter Fraser focused on the ways design can shape our environments and our identities.

Artists Gordon Stettinius, Shelia Gray, Rosemary Jesionowski, and Susan Singer discussed their personal creative endeavors with humor and humility.




The evening brought another treat in the huge turnout packing 1708. It was nice to see that not only were the presenters happy to discuss what they have going on, but there are tons of people in Richmond who want to listen, and who want to support one another's endeavors.




At the close of the event, C3 Executive Director Chrystal Wake reminded everyone to check out C3's revamped website to get involved in Richmond's creative community- artists and companies can register with C3's FREE directory in order to network and be seen, while other interested parties can stay up-to-date with C3's calendar of events.

Did you attend Talk 20? What'd you think? Who would you like to hear speak at the next one? (C3 is taking nominations...)

Art Thangs Comin' Up...

Tonight and Thursday: Collectors Night Preview and Friday: Collectors Night at Visual Art Center- more info here

Friday: Opening reception for Charles McGill's "Baggage" and Saturday: artist talk at Russell/Projects- more info here

This Saturday: Saturday Stroll Kickoff- Midtown RVA, more info here and on their facebook page

Hey, did you hear about this Talk20 thing?

It's happening tonight from 6-9 at 1708!

The following information is from C3's website:

The event will feature a hybrid of educators and professionals working in some branch of the creative field – such as art, architecture or design. talk20 is based on a series of short presentations of 20 slides each. Each presenter has 20 seconds per slide to express his or her very own artistic voice. The event has the broader goal of encouraging an exchange between those in the creative industry and a wider audience.

Participants for the upcoming event include:

Tiffany Glass Ferreira, artist and founder of the Real Small Art League
www.realsmallart.com

Peter Fraser, Fraser Design Associates, pushing creative thought in articulating Vision, Identity, Brand and Environment
http://www.fraserdesignassociates.com/

Brian Korte, LEGO artist, founder of Brickworkz LLC and fan of creativity everywhere
http://www.brickworkz.com

Rosemary Jesionowski, visual artist
www.rosemarykate.com/

Susan Singer, painting every naked woman in Richmond, one at a time
www.SusanSinger.com; www.susansingerart.blogspot.com

Gordon Stettinius, photographer and bon vivant
www.eyecaramba.com

Tamara Van Meter, of Baskervill, blending the worlds of physical environment, branding and culture into one collective vision
www.baskervill.com

Shiela M. Gray, multi-media artist
www.3cornersmedia.com

talk20 is not simply a lecture, but it focuses more along the lines of a gathering, an open forum for the dissemination of ideas in art, architecture and design. talk20 events are held across the nation and globe in such places as Chicago, Santa Cruz, Toronto and Guatemala.

Doors will open at 5:30pm. The event is free to the public. Complimentary light food and cash bar will be available.

Free registration at C3's website

It's a Beautiful Day in this Neighborhood Link Monday

Loren Schwerd's "Mourning Portrait" will open at Visarts April 9th

Top story ICYDK*

Talk20 is this Tuesday at 1708- 6-9 PM!

Grid on Loren Schwerd at Visual Arts Center (opening April 9th), LYDM and Minds Wide Open, and Heidi Field-Alvarez upcoming at Main Art (Daniel Calder is showing now)

More info about Minds Wide Open here

RTD reports on Minds Wide Open, too, and here, as well

Richmond Crafts Examiner(!!!) on Visarts regular/RVA artist Bob Scott and RVA artist/teacher Richard McCord

Last week to see "Fragments of Our Imagination" at Visarts (our previous post on this show is here)

RAGE on Chris Semtner at Visual Arts Studio and Gallery 5's needs

Upcoming "blockbuster" shows at VMFA

VMFA's new website look

C3's free RVA artist directory is growing- sign up for FREE, and check out their other good stuff coming up

Rawls Museums' call for entries for their 2010 Juried Exhibition (to be juried by RVA artist Sally Bowring)

Greater Reston Art Center's call for artworks

Earth Day Recycle Art Show's call for entries (this Plant Zero show will be juried by Heather Russell of Russell/Projects)

Proposals for "The Zone" (artist residencies at the Science Museum of VA) are due March 30th


*(in case you didn't know)

It's Alive: General Assembly Votes to Preserve VA Commission for the Arts!

(from VA Alliance of Local Arts Agencies blog)

Budget conference makes 16% additional cut in arts funding but Commission is intact, lion's share of funding is preserved (More info here).

The House and Senate budget conferees have compromised on the questions of arts funding and the continuing existence of the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA) by recommending an additional cut of $669,673 -- approximately 16.4% -- to the state general fund appropriation for grants to arts organizations throughout the Commonwealth.

This cut, while unfortunate in light of the 30% in cuts to arts funding previously made during 2008 and 2009, is a far cry from the proposal in the House budget plan, which would have cut VCA funding by 50% in the fiscal year that begins July 1 and eliminated the Commission, and all arts funding, a year later.

I am absolutely certain that this relatively small cut -- in the larger context of a $4.2 billion gap between base spending needs and available revenues -- is a direct result of the wonderful outpouring of advocacy efforts from every corner of Virginia since the House plan was unveiled on February 21. Arts advocates rose to the challenge and contacted legislators in unprecedented numbers, making clear the enormous breadth and depth of support for Virginia's rich and diverse arts and cultural resources. But for this heartfelt display of support, this cut could have been far worse -- and the Commission itself might not have survived.

Assuming that the Governor does not choose to suggest amendments to this budget item -- something we consider unlikely -- total state general funds available for arts grants in FY11 will be approximately $3.37 million.* This represents a significant decline -- some $2.4 million, to be precise -- from the high point of funding, achieved in FY08, of $5.78 million, and regrettably will bring Virginia below 50 cents per capita in arts funding for the first time in a number of years. Nevertheless, we count ourselves fortunate in comparison to those in several other states. facing similarly unprecedented budget pressures, that have made more draconian cuts, and even zeroed out arts funding altogether.

Please take the time to thank your legislators -- all of them -- for preserving arts funding and the Commission. A simple thank you goes a long way. Contact information HERE.

And please make a commitment to reach out to your legislators during the balance of 2010 -- invite them to your facilities, events and educational programs so that they can see, firsthand, what the arts mean on the lives of Virginians.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you have done to bring us home safely in the midst of an extraordinarily difficult fiscal storm.

Alan D. Albert
VFTA Legislative Counsel



* This figure represents the state general fund appropriation for arts grant funding, the "yardstick" by which we measure progress toward our dollar-per-capita goal for state arts funding. This does not include (a) funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) (approximately $721,000 this year, plus one-time stimulus funding of approximately $300,000), (b) the operating budget of the VCA itself ($532,137), and (c) a small amount of revenue derived from sales of the "Virginians for the Arts" license plate and income tax refund checkoffs (totaling approximately $43,000). Other published reports regarding arts funding occasionally refer to the combined general fund appropriation for grants and for administration; that figure will be $3.9 million in each of the next two fiscal years once this additional cut is taken into consideration.

RVAAB asks some questions of... Reference Gallery

How did “Reference Gallery” happen?

Reference unofficially started in Conor Backman’s apartment on Monument Ave. in November 2008 when he along with friends had the first of two house shows in the eponymously titled “Monumental Gallery”. The four current owners of REFERENCE, Ross Iannatti, James Shaeffer, Conor Backman, and Edward Shenk met through working on these shows.

Check out the website for "Monumental Gallery" here

How did you find and acquire your space?

After several trials and errors with vacant retail spaces on Broad St, including instances of realtors literally laughing our plans off, we finally found a retail space available for cheap with an apartment upstairs.

From your statement: “Our mission is to introduce up-and-coming artists from around the world to Richmond, as well as promote artists in our city.” How are you selecting your artists, both from Richmond and from outside of Richmond?

It is a mixture of us finding and scouting out artists and people approaching us for shows. We are extremely interested in finding artists outside of Richmond to both bring attention locally and showcase a variety of art in our city.

Work by Ryan Crowley- his show "Scouting Foul" was up at Reference from Feb. 12th to March 6th

Has running a gallery changed the way you think about your own work? (Assuming that you are an artist/artists.)

Absolutely! It has given us a chance to realize how our individual pieces would be seen inside of gallery walls. Also, being able to look at a wide variety of work from all over has inspired us to create more.

3.5's drawing night at Reference

If you could work with ANY artist(s), who would it (they) be?

VAN HALEN OR ICE CUBE

What has surprised you in your experience of running a gallery thus far (what advice would you give to others considering starting a gallery)?

Probably getting the business license was the most surprising thing. Getting an official business in the city is tough to do, we talk about how if we would have know how much it would have been how we would have been discouraged from the very beginning. However, it has exposed us to what it’s like to be on the other end of a gallery/artist relationship.

What is unique about Reference within the scope of Richmond’s art scene?

We like to think that we’re showing art that isn’t seen in galleries here in Richmond. Part of our feeling in starting this gallery was that there weren’t enough spaces representing emerging artists.

Michael Muelhaupt's work was part of Reference's inaugural show, "No Promo"

What was the best non-Reference art show you saw in Richmond in the past year? (What made it the best?)

There have been a lot of people organizing independent shows around town this year, which we are excited to see happening, such as ‘taut’ and PDF blast. The Panera Bread in Church Hill also has a really good collection, including but not limited to early work by Matthew Brett. They also have very clean bathrooms.

What is your favorite aspect of Richmond and/or the RVA art scene?

Richmond has been a good place for us to start a gallery because it has a strong art scene that is also accessible. If we were to try doing this in New York it wouldn’t be feasible and the other galleries there would easily overshadow us. The city is also not so small that we’re off the map. It’s a good mix of the two.

What is one aspect of Richmond and/or the RVA art scene you would like to see change?

It would be great if more people could get involved, it’s easy and a great thing to do.

Get involved- sponsor a part of Reference! Click here for more info.

What can we look forward to seeing at Reference in the near future?

We’re hoping to host more music events, movie screenings, and community events in addition to the art shows that will be continuing to present. People can check out our websites for up to date info on everything happening at our space.

Thanks to Reference for taking the time to answer our questions- check out their website and facebook for info on upcoming shows and events at the gallery. And sponsor a part of the gallery! Ice Cube would want you to...

Mixed Link Monday

Martha Jones Carter's quilt is on view at Spotlight Gallery

Art at/to come to 101 Addison

Bobby's Blog: please don't get rid of the Virginia Commission for the Arts

Art at Harrison St Coffee Shop

Bob Mooney: awesome RVA arts servant leader

Style on Reference Gallery and Russell/Projects

Grid on "Chemicals in Balance" at Ghostprint, Visual Art Studio's current show

Style on Art6 "Stayin' Alive"

VMFA expansion update from the Hat

More from Grid on 1708's 20th Annual Art Auction, Spring Bada Bing (the boss of all craft shows), women in fiber arts at Spotlight Gallery, First Fridays east info



Philadelphia love:

the artblog

One Review a Month is another great Philadephia-based art blog

AND former Richmonder Bruce Wilhelm (represented by ADA) has opened a gallery in Philla. It's called Grizzly Grizzly- check out their website and facebook pages.

So Much Art to See Tonight!

"The Portrait & the Figure" at VMFA Studio School

There are lots of openings to check out tonight- including "The Portrait and Figure," at VMFA's Studio School. This show's opening reception is tonight from 5-7 PM.

Get more info about what else is happening tonight and in the near future here, at First Fridays' website, and on Curated Culture Commentary (jazz!).

Scott Phillips' "z-black series" at Eric Schindler Gallery

on view until March 9th

(detail)

See Eric Schindler's website and facebook page for more information about this and other upcoming shows.