That's right, everyone, it's that time again! June's First Friday is on the 1st of the month, so if it snuck up on you we understand, especially right after the long holiday weekend. But this short week is nearly over, and the weather has made clear that summer is now in full swing, so this Friday evening, why not beat the heat by ducking into some cool art galleries? There's plenty to see around town this weekend, so let's get right to it. Here's the rundown:
Ghostprint Gallery: Richmond Illustrator's Club Annual Juried Show
This is the fourth year Ghostprint Gallery has hosted this exhibition showcasing works in a wide variety of genres and mediums. A locally organized event, The Richmond Illustrators Club Juried Show draws international attention while reminding Richmond of its own remarkable presence in the illustration world. Thirty-one U.S. and international artists have been chosen by jurors Alice Cho , Martin Gee, Sterling Hundley, George Pratt and Noah Scalin. Medals were awarded to the following artists:
Gold - Richie Pope, Zombie
Silver - Wouter Tulp, Parker's Mood (pictured above)
Bronze - Leslie Herman, The Red Leaves
The Philip Meggs Award for Design Excellence - Steven Hughes, Cecropia Bot
The Richmond Illustrators Club Annual Juried Show, opens on Thursday May 31 with a preview reception from 6–8 pm. The exhibition continues on First Friday, June 1, from 6-9 p.m. and remains on view through June 30 at Ghostprint Gallery, located at 220 W. Broad St.
Gallery 5: These Boots Are Made For Walking/Affecting Space
Gallery 5 will present two different openings. Their main exhibition space will present These Boots Are Made For Walking.
Due to recent legislation in this year's General Assembly where many women felt under attack, Gallery 5 has put together a night to explore these issues and feminism in today's society through art. Included are photographs, from the March 3rd Protest on the Virginia State Capital, by Donna Schatz, Jen Fettweis, and Leigh Weedon. The protest was held due to Virginia forcing a medically unnecessary ultra sound prior to providing abortions. 30 people were arrested and the state police were present in militarized gear, garnering this event massive national attention.
The show also features:
--works by Susan Singer that shed light on the graphic approach of a transvaginal probe and the beauty of every woman
--a series of photos called "I had an abortion" by Kate Fowler, detail every-day people and the stories of their abortions
--a story and series of images by Mark Strandquist, focusing on an often over looked demographic--America's homeless women
--other works exploring concepts and ideals in feminism, by Jan Shropshire, Tif Robinette, Susannah Raine-Haddad, Jared Cullum, Keeley Laures, Jessie Schwetke, and Todd Raviotta
In Gallery 5's Gallow Lily's space upstairs, they present Affecting Space: A Solo Exhibition Of Works By Lauren Denitzio.
Lauren Denitzio is an artist and musician based in Brooklyn, New York, whose multi-disciplinary practice focuses on community, visibility and the radical imaginary. She is a founding member of the For the Birds Collective and regularly collaborates with non-profit and social justice organizations on visual art projects. Lauren publishes the zine Get it Together, featuring images and text based on mantras and motivational phrases, and recently collaborated with Paper + Plastick Records to release the female-fronted pop-punk compilation Are You With The Band?. She participated in Gallery 5’s show of original album art, Self Titled, in 2010, and has also worked with such music-related groups as Best Friends Day, No Idea Records, Rorschach Records, The Fest, and Righteous Babe Records, among others. Lauren was a vocalist and guitarist in the band The Measure [sa] from 2004 to 2011, and currently plays music with her group Worriers. She received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2006 and is currently pursuing her MFA at Parsons the New School for Design.
"My creative work has always centered around different aspects of community, support, and intimate relationships. When personal choices are forced into the political sphere, how we form private and domestic spaces can become a way to define what is considered 'safe' for us individually. I am fascinated by the ways that gender and personal politics interact to make the creation of safer spaces necessary. My recent work aims to convey and explain this fascination and to construct these spaces along with the people who inhabit them."
These exhibits open on First Friday from 7-11 PM. The opening will also feature a presentation by Girls Rock RVA, as well as performances from mixed-gender music groups Pedals On Our Pirate Ships and Fire Bison, and a DJ set by Lightning's Girl. The exhibits will remain on display through June 30 at Gallery 5, located at 200 W. Marshall St. For more info, click HERE.
Quirk Gallery: Sarah Hand & Alex Johnson
Quirk Gallery will be featuring the opening of two new shows: Sarah Hand's show Wonder People will be on display on the Shop Wall, and new works by Alex Johnson will be on display in the vault. There is an artist reception on Thursday, May 31 from 5-8 PM, and a First Friday reception from 5-9 PM on Friday, June 1. The First Friday reception will also include a trunk show by Bizhan Khodabandeh, from 6:30-9 PM. Annie Waldrop's Seeds Of Memory, which opened last month, will remain on display in the main gallery until June 27, as will the Hand and Johnson exhibits. Quirk Gallery is located at 311 W. Broad St.
Visual Art Studio: ARTe'licious 2012 Art Auction
Visual Arts Studio presents the ARTe'licious 2012 Silent Auction to benefit gallery programming, featuring Cutting Edge Figurative Photography with body paint by Erasmo Daaz, and lazer, LED, & UV lights by Ricarrdo Tenti. The auction will also feature work by local artists Carolyn Gabb, T. McConville, Clark Fitch, Tyler Thomas, and more. Bidding for this first round of artwork opens First Friday, June 1st, from 6-9 PM, and closes Sunday June 3rd at 6 PM (at the end of Broad Appetit). The opening will feature music from My Son the Doctor, performing Yiddish and Gypsy Music from the Mediterranean. Visual Art Studio is located at 208 W. Broad St.
Art6: The Work Of Thornton Dial
“Lady Caught Between Two Fishes and the Tiger Looking In” (1990), oil on canvas
Art 6 presents The Work of Thornton Dial, a group of works on loan from Virginia Union University and the collection of Barbara and James Sellman. Dial is a self-taught artist whose work is at the forefront of contemporary art, both in sculpture and in painting. His work is in numerous private and public collections including the Whitney Museum, Philadelphia Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Thanks to the generosity of life-long Thornton Dial collectors Barbara and James Sellman, Virginia Union University’s permanent collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture by Dial has now become one of the most important repositories of his work in America. The exhibition also includes significant loans from the Sellman family’s LLC Collection. Visitors are able to see highlights from Dial’s remarkable artistic evolution as his art progressed from an intensely colored abstract style to a simpler, but equally vigorous expressionistic late style.
The Work Of Thornton Dial opens Friday, June 1 from 5-9 PM, and will be on display through July 29, at Art6 Gallery, located at 6 E. Broad St.
Candela Books & Gallery: UnBound
This summer Candela Gallery will host UnBound, its inaugural invitational exhibition featuring work from over 50 contemporary fine art photographers. The UnBound exhibition and UnBound gala event will raise proceeds which will be used to purchase select works from the exhibition. Purchased works will subsequently be featured in Candela’s newly-founded UnBound Collection. The mission of the UnBound Collection will be to support photographers through the purchase and collection of original photographic work while also actively pursuing opportunities to donate said work to notable art institutions.
This annual summertime invitational exhibition will generate opportunities and exposure for participating artists far beyond traditional group or juried show opportunities. For the first go-round, Candela received over 280 submissions from 32 states and 11 countries. 2012’s UnBound will include notable and emerging photographers, including Joni Sternbach, Louviere + Vanessa, Susan Worsham, Lex Thompson, Beth Moon, Michael Donner, Caleb Cole, Susan Burnstine.
The exhibition will open to the public Friday, June 1st, with a reception from 5 to 9 pm, with many of the artists expected to be in attendance. UnBound will continue through July 28th, with a gala event scheduled for Friday, July 20. Candela Books & Gallery is located at 214 W. Broad St.
Steady Sounds: Golden Haze
Steady Sounds presents Golden Haze, a collection of paintings and drawings by Richmond artist Sara Gossett. The opening reception will feature a DJ set by Gregory Darden of vintage vinyl psych/soul/reggae/spacey selections for your musical pleasure. Golden Haze opens Friday June 1, from 6-9:30 PM, and will remain on display throughout the month of June, at Steady Sounds, located at 322 W. Broad St.
Turnstyle: 9 Year Anniversary Celebration, Featuring Art By Ryan Yates
Turnstyle celebrates their 9 year anniversary with an art show featuring the work of Ryan Yates, as well as DJ performances by Konztant, Junglist, and Lynk. The event will take place on Friday June 1 from 7-10 PM at Turnstyle, located at 102 W. Broad St.
Main Art Gallery: Water Based/You're The Sun
Main Art Gallery presents Water Based, featuring work by Andras J. Bality, Durwood Dommisse, Dawn Flores, Lindsay Nolting, Maruta Racenis, Erling Sjovold, and Ken Winebrenner.
These seven professional artists display their collective versatility with water media, from transparent watercolors to acrylics. The show represents an extraordinary contrast of styles and subject matter from Bality’s loose plain air landscapes to the deliberate studies by Dommisse and Sjovolt. An exhibition that offers something for each viewer to contemplate and enjoy. --Maruta Racenis
Main Art's X Gallery, a 9 by 11 foot exterior space for displaying large-scale works, will feature You're The Sun, a new work by Michael Lease.
You're the Sun is an excerpt from a cycle of skyward photographs begun in 2009. Conceived as a respite from the relentless this-ness of pictures, the project is like a long breath, or a pair of earplugs used not to shut out but to look in.
Michael Lease’s photography addresses the vernacular - a shared vocabulary of objects, places, experiences that demonstrates a sense of commonality. A 2011 recipient of the Theresa Pollak Award for Excellence in the Arts, he is also the current President of 1708 Gallery’s Board of Directors. Lease has exhibited widely, most recently in a solo show at the Flippo Gallery in Ashland, Virginia.
Water Based and You're The Sun open Friday June 1 with a reception from 7-9 PM at Main Art Gallery, located at 1537 W. Main St. Water Based will remain on display through June 29. You're The Sun will remain on display through August 17.
Studio Two Three: Mesh Mountain
Studio Two Three presents Mesh Mountain, an exhibit of new prints by Jacob Green and Travis Robertson.
Jacob Green and Travis Robertson invite you to climb Mesh Mountain and have a look around. Travel through a forest of silkscreen prints and then consider dipping your eyeballs in the rich colors, which bloom algae-like on the crystalline surface of the surrounding bodies of water. Each artist has their own take on the ages-old ritual of image making with an emphasis on stories, told through intricate lines and vivid colors. They are bold imagists spinning a new mythology–with a dedication to the craft of printmaking, and executing it all with joyful brilliance.
Mesh Mountain opens Friday June 1 with a reception from 7-9 PM, and will remain on display through June 22, at Studio Two Three, located at 1617 W. Main St.
Glave Kocen Gallery: Lifescapes
Glave Kocen Gallery presents Lifescapes: New Work by Eldridge Bagley, Bagley's 31st consecutive one-man exhibit. Bagley was awarded “Artist of the Year” by The Folk Art Society of America last September. The award read, “Southside Virginia’s favorite son whose art makes us look at ourselves.” This will be Bagley's most diverse show in decades, in subject matter as well as in dimensions of the work.
Lifescapes will open Friday June 1; reception with the artist is from 6-9 PM. It will remain on display through July 7 at Glave Kocen Gallery, located at 1620 W. Main St.
Artemis Gallery: Floating Folk Festival 15th Anniversary Celebration
The Floating Folk Festival Presents their 15th Anniversary concert at Artemis Gallery. There will be three stages of music during the event, featuring Pam McCarthy, Norman Nortledorf, Meade Skelton, Harry Gore, Brooke Saunders, Chuck Kerwath, Chris Branch, Wendy Pace and much more. Also included in show are the detailed graphic Art Guitars by John Crutchfield, as seen at music festivals everywhere, and Rock and Roll photographs by James Fortune. The Floating Folk Festival 15th Anniversary Concert will take place on Friday June 1 from 6-11 PM at Artemis Gallery, located at 1601 W. Main St.
Visual Arts Center Of Richmond: People's Portrait Project
The Visual Arts Center Of Richmond presents the People's Portrait Project, a collection of submissions from the local community. Portraits are 5"x7", unframed, and feature two-dimensional renderings in any media the artist chooses. VACR received over 200 submissions for the project, and encourage everyone to "stop by and check out the wonderful work we've received from our community of creators."
The People's Portrait Project opens Friday June 1 with a reception from 6-9 PM, at the Visual Arts Center Of Richmond, located at 1812 W. Main St.
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Artists! Galleries! Would you like your future First Friday events covered in these monthly articles? We might hear about your event anyway, but why leave it to chance? Email us your press releases: hello@rvamag.com.