7/3/19
Image courtesy of American Civil War Museum.
1. Greenback America
at the American Civil War Museum
This temporary exhibit tells the story of how the United States’ decision on how to pay off the Civil War transformed the relationship between government, the economy, banks, and citizens. A visually stunning display of the story is presented through an imaginative and artful arrangement of many pieces of money.
The introductory section uses infographics to feature the chaotic antebellum monetary system which was inconsistently regulated by state and banks. Using poems, songs, cartoons, jokes and newspaper clippings, visitors will explore how Americans assigned cultural meaning to money and how doing so helped them interpret politics, patriotism and race. The final section uses a cursory survey of the 20th century to prompt visitors to think about the ways that technological transformations are reshaping our relationship with money.
Image courtesy of Jacqui Fehl & Art Works.
2. PLAYcation
at Art Works RVA until August 17
Welcome to Jacqui Fehl’s “PLAYcation”. This lively and eclectic show is truly a celebration of process, which for Fehl is a series of happy accidents coupled with an intentional final composition. Each piece starts out with a spontaneous application of diverse materials such as: acrylics, graphite, pastels, paint markers, hand painted papers or book pages. Nothing is off-limits.
Fehl loves creating art, but like many artists, she reached a point recently where she felt tired, uninspired, and a bit burned out. She needed to get away, but not in the literal sense. No luggage required for the creative holiday she had in mind; only some space, time and permission to explore. Then the creative dance of scraping back, sanding off and then layering back on begins. Individual realistic elements such as silhouettes, flowers, and photographs of windows and doors are added to the somewhat abstract surface to ground the final painting. She says: “This show was so much fun to create, I may never come home!”
This exhibit will be in the Jane Sandelin Gallery.
Image courtesy of Gallery5.
3. Puerto Rico
at Gallery5 until July 27th
Join Gallery5 for an art and photo show devoted to the amazing place that is Puerto Rico. Gallery hours are every Wednesday from 5pm - 10pm but the art show will also be open for all ticketed performances and events at Gallery5 throughout the month of July. July events include Free Community Game Nights, a Burlesque Benefit show for Puerto Rico, and ten different live music shows to choose from! On July 27th, there will be a closing show featuring the live music of Miramar and a screening of a documentary about the marine environments of Puerto Rico. Art by Rei Alvarez, Jorge Negron. Photos by Steven Casanova.
Image courtesy of Shelby Lum & Richmond Times-Dispatch
4. Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion
at The Valentine until December 1
Following Monumental: Richmond’s Monuments (1607-2018), the Valentine is hosting Monument Avenue: General Demotion/General Devotion. The Storefront for Community Design and the mObstudiO at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts invited teams of planners, architects, designers, artists and individuals to participate in a national design competition to conceptually re-imagine Monument Avenue and contribute to the ongoing dialogue about race, memory, the urban landscape and public art. The finalists are featured in this one-of-a-kind exhibition at the Valentine.
Image courtesy of the Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU.
5. Shadows Are to Shade
at ICA until September 1
Shadows Are To Shade is a solo exhibition by Richmond-based artist Corin Hewitt (b. 1971, Burlington, Vermont), occurring simultaneously at the ICA and at the artist’s home and studio in the Fan district of Richmond, Virginia. Hewitt describes Shadows Are To Shade as a “parafiction” that conflates his family’s daily life in the building with that of the family of the last recorded landowner of the site, prior to the building’s construction in 1915.
For limited hours during the run of the exhibition, one room on the ground floor of his home and studio will be open to visitors. Concurrently, at the ICA, Hewitt will transform the distinctive “v”-shaped galleries on the second floor into a pair of mirror-image installations. Each will offer a set of layered encounters for visitors as they move into a landscape of raised platforms, translucent walls, shadows, scrims, sculptures, and video. The interplay between them blurs the line between public and private spaces and extends Hewitt’s material and historical considerations across two sites.
Shadows Are To Shade is the first phase of an ongoing project; through it Hewitt joins a long history of artists transforming their homes and/or studios into immersive and evolving works of art
Image courtesy of Endeavor RVA.
6. Uncommon Ground
at Black Iris Gallery until July 27
Uncommon Ground brings 30 artists together to join forces and collaborate on 95 different pieces with the goal being to facilitate a qualitative cultural foundation for communities. This collaboration is courtesy of Endeavor RVA and Black Iris Gallery.
Artist collaborations include:
- STEVEN BOBER X EREK JONES
- CHASE BEASLEY X TYLER THOMAS
- JOHN DIJULIO DEREK SETZER
- EMILY HERR X JAMES MCPHERSON
- MICKAEL BROTH X ANDRE SHANK
- MATT LIVELY X SAXTON MOORE
- WINGCHOW X IAN C. HESS
- CAMILLE MCMULLEN X ELI MCMULLEN
- CHAD HILTON X ANDREW INDELICATO
- PRENTICE CARROLL X SILLY GENIUS
- TRAVIS ROBERTSON X MAX HUBENTHAL
- MIGUEL CARTER-FISHER JULIE ELKINS
- NATE COMPTON X MADELINE PERICAK
- AGNES GROCHULSKA X DIEGO SANCHEZ
- JACOB DANIEL GREEN X EMILY YEATTS
To celebrate the exhibition, there will be a closing party with Body Talk Collective on Friday, July 27th from 5PM-12AM.
Image courtesy of ABIGAIL BUCHHOLZ & RVA Magazine.
7. State of Deception
at Virginia Holocaust Museum until July 14
The Nazi Party developed a sophisticated propaganda machine that deftly spread lies about its political opponents, Jews, and the need to justify war. But Nazi propaganda was much more complex than that. For the Nazis to achieve power and pursue their racial policies and expansionist war efforts, a much more nuanced picture had to be painted—one that would appeal to broad swaths of the population, not just a fanatical extreme.
The exhibition reveals how shortly after World War I, the Nazi Party began to transform itself from an obscure, extremist group into the largest political party in democratic Germany. Hitler early on recognized how propaganda, combined with the use of terror, could help his radical party gain mass support and votes. He personally adapted the ancient symbol of the swastika and the emotive colors of red, black, and white to create the movement’s flag. In doing so, Hitler established a potent visual identity that has branded the Nazi Party ever since.
“Bracing for the Glory” by Nick Candela. Image Courtesy of artspace.
8. Vulnerable and Predatory & more
at artspace from July 26 thru August 18
artspace is pleased to present five new gallery exhibitions this summer, featuring artists Adam Bradley, Nick Candela, Jennifer Printz, Martha Prideaux, and a group exhibition of work by artspace Artists Members.
In the Main Gallery, Adam Bradley presents _Vulnerable and Predatory. _This body of work is a response to feelings of grief, isolation and the powerlessness of loss. Bradley’s figures are shown with varying degrees of disfigurement which represent feelings of helplessness, desperation, and a loss of self in a world that no longer makes sense. Based in Washington D.C, Adam is primarily a figure sculptor, constructing work from found materials such as welded steel, wood, cast metal and ceramics. He teaches 2d and 3d Foundations, Drawing and Sculpture at George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College and Catholic University. His work has been showcased in Atlantic Gallery, Chelsea, New York, 2018 Foggy Bottom Outdoor Sculpture Biennial in Washington D.C., and Hillyer Art Space.
Other exhibits include:
- Dealing with the Archive by Richmond artist, Nick Candela on view in the Helena Davis Gallery.
- Gental Equanimity, mixed media drawings by Jennifer Printz, featured in the Frable Gallery.
- Grounded in Water, the oil and cold wax paintings of Martha Prideaux on display in the smallspace Gallery.
- The Hard and the Soft by artspace Arist Members, which can be found in the Suzanne Foley Gallery.
All exhibits are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 12-4PM. The opening reception will be Friday, July 26th from 6-9PM and a closing talk will take place on Sunday, August 18th at 2PM.