The Boys & Girls Club Visit SSG

On Thursday, October 22nd, children ages 6 through 10 from the Washington Park Boys & Girls Club visited Second Street Gallery for a painting lesson led by local artist Susan Patrick.



Eight students stepped off the bus and lined up in the gallery for a tour of John Grant's exhibition "Fairy Tales & Reveries". Settling down in the gallery, the children identified some of the organic images layered throughout Grant's resin-coated photographs.



Susan brought the kids in to focus on John's smallest piece, titled "Carpe Diem" which has a focal point of a bright red leaf floating in a pond. We tied in the concept of decomposition, and how that process leads to the coloring change we see in the leaves during the Fall season (they came up with green, red, yellow, orange, and purple for colors they've seen in the trees outdoors). Susan gave each student an orange maple leaf that she had collected outdoors for reference and inspiration.



Then it was time to paint! One goal was to show the kids how to mix primary colors in order to generate new colors. Using their stirring sticks, the children mixed red, yellow, and blue tempera paint together and came up with a dark green to start painting the stem and veins of the leaf. Susan showed the kids how to connect each segment to form an outline.



Outreach volunteers swooped in with blue and white tempera paint, and the students mixed those two colors to form a blue sky background on their paper. Artistic freedom then took over, and the participants created their own color variations for the four different blank quadrants. Lots of fun, with beautiful results!





Thanks go out to SSG intern Kaye, Outreach volunteer Caitlin, artist Susan Patrick and site directer Olga for their help organizing the workshop. We'll be seeing the Boys & Girls Club children again in November at SSG.



Post by AG

Women for Art - A Photo Recap

In no particular order, here is a delectable spread of pictures we just received in the mail.  Meredith Montague, of Charlottesville, graciously donated her photography services to capture the eats, treats, faces, and spaces of the big event. Enjoy...

signature cocktail : muddled ginger, cilantro, elderberry liquer, vodka, & ginger ale

cheese tray by Whole Foods

arrival and raffle ticketing

dinnerscape tunnel to Georgianne Stinnett's "Dog"

enjoying the John Grant triptych of "Clematis Rising," "Spawn," and "Falling World."

**all still availiable!**

Andy Warhol showed up! the invite said to artfully accessorize...

revelry

best dressed award...

festive feathers

seated for dinner

 

one more, what a roomful!

harvest moon superstars at work

shrimp bisque and thai curried crispy shrimp 

 

seared salmon with yuzu citrus glaze, sesame sauteed spinach, and wasabi mashed potatoes.

 

each woman got a portion of a "did you know" interactive speech about ssg's mission, programming, and the women for art initiative. one woman would stand up and say, "did you know?" while the next would answer. among many answers was, "ssg's mission is to enliven Virginia through access to the best in contemporary art and artists to inspire new ways of thinking, seeing, and doing."

getting things started

 

teamwork

some ladies received slips that said, "just smile and wave!"

Rebecca Schoenthal, the director,  spoke to the need to keep art in our daily lives and the doors open at SSG, 36 years and counting!

Co-chairs Onnie Baldwin and Pam Friedman spoke about the goals of Women for Art and 2009-2010 activities, please email us for details!

 

riveted by the call for support and involvement...

dessert bar of chocolate tartlets, cookies by ABC, and cookies by Brix

wines for the evening provided by J.W. Sieg Wines

raffle time! gifts provided by acac, bikram yoga, nicole sherman, tru pilates, maya, ventana, a painting by marge allegretti, massage by Robin Blanco, Moxie, Blenheim Vineyards, Scarpa, and SSG.

a happy winner

Chelsea, our faithful intern, a bit delirious after the big push...so worth it

a sweet ending to an invigorating evening.  everyone agreed on their favorite answer to the  "did you know" prompt was that, "together, women can accomplish extraordinary things!"

Thanks to everyone that made the night so memorable.

note: all images are credited to &  copyrighted by Meredith Montague Photography

Dine and Donate, X-Lounge tomorrow 10/21!

COME OUT AND SUPPORT SSG BY EATING AT X-LOUNGE TOMORROW NIGHT!

WE'LL ALL BE THERE.....SO SHOULD YOU!

Women for Art

Last spring, a few male board members and supporters decided to hold a Men's Dinner on the rooftop of the CCCA building.  The goal was to have a simple, no frills, Rockefeller style fund raiser.  Steaks, great wine, and cigars accessorized the evening. The men raised an impressive sum and only a little bit of hell.

In response, SSG's Women for Art group decided to make its official debut through a counter fundraising dinner.  This dinner would be the gateway event to a number of social and educational programs planned through SSG throughout the year such as a trip up to the Glenstone private collection in Maryland and a performance by Robin Lane who embodies female artists. In order to field interest, the idea was to gather 100 women at 100 dollars to support the gallery and the group!

A committee of eight incredible women planned the whole event which featured generous donations of  catering by Harvest Moon, a cheese spread by Whole Foods, fish by West Main Seafood, wine by J.W. Sieg Company Inc., all the necessary dinnerware by Dave Simpson and C&O, cookies by Brix and Albemarle Baking Company, flowers by Ken of Patterson's Florist, and photography by Meredith Montague. Thanks to all our generous in-kind sponsors!!!

Despite the cold, an artfully dressed crowd arrived on Thursday, October 15 ready to celebrate SSG's 36th season, the Women for Art effort, and their friendships.  The point, after all, was to create a community of women who make art, support art, and recognize it's necessary function in life and society.

Congrats to the committee, the women, and the gallery for a gorgeous dinner filled with fun gallery facts, future plans, and generous spirits!

....Here are a few shots while we wait for Meredith's images...

before the guests arrive

 

dahlias from ken's garden of patterson's florist

 

 one more pre-shot 

p.s. the Women crushed the Men's total....sorry boys!

p.p.s. if you'd like to get involved with Women for Art, please email members@secondstreetgallery.org

October Artist Forum

On October 6, after a busy installation and opening the week before, SSG welcomed Shelby Fischer and Ros Casey who spoke about the journey to embracing one's artistic abilities and impulse. Each one of our speakers in this year's Artist Forum Series have incredible stories with talent to match.  However, Shelby and Ros's story is particularly interesting because one served as the catalyst for the other. 

Shelby began her talk by explaining that after years in DC, having enjoyed gratifying and successful careers, she and her husband reevaluated and decided to move....anywhere!  Somehow that anywhere became a delapidated farm in Charlottesville that they began renovating.  In the spirit of personal exploration, she was soon signed up for a class at McGuffey called "Mapping the Dark" with Rosamond Casey.

The class was a match.  It burned away old tendencies, namely difficulty opening up, and set fire to Shelby's love of creation.  Ros's technique in class was to encourage collaging, book production, and material arrangement so that the participants found gratification in their "ordering of that world."

Shelby re-ordered her world.  She set up a studio.  She filled that studio with paper, glass, vintage woods, old sheet music, album covers, and probably trunks full of other delights.  Then she set to work, sometimes for 18 hour stretches, constructing newly interpreted narrative scenes from existing materials. Though only an "artist" for the past few years, she has already worked through several stylistic phases -from sewing pattern transfers to glitter to cut glass -  saying that once she has moved through what she has to say, "it's just done."  At the moment, she's putting together abstract landscapes, horizontally arranged from ripped jazz album covers. As soon as we work out the technological kinks, the movie she made for the group will accompany this entry!

Having Ros as a foil to Shelby was invaluable.  She may be one of the most well-spoken artists I've ever experienced.  In a low voice, often playing with her curls, Ros aptly pointed out that when the student is ready the teacher will appear.  The mandala exercise she introduces in her class often has this effect on people, the ripple of taking pleasure in making transferring to the compulsion to explore further, though Ros did note that not many of her students taken it so far.  Trish Crowe, of the Studio at Firnew Farm, shared what a pleasure it was to see this new artist develop.  She had a front-row seat to boot, they're next door neighbors!

Speaking of...Shelby has had multiple shows in the Charlottesville area, and they are ever increasing.  This month she is on show at PVCC and in the spring will be featured in the Mother's Day event held at the Gallery at Firnew Farm.

Stay tuned for the movie, and be sure to sign up for our November 10th Forum featuring Lyn Bolen Warren, of Les Yeux Du Monde,  and Russ Warren who will speak about the artist/gallery relationship.  Email members@secondstreetgallery.org for details and to RSVP!

Interviews with the October Exhibit Sponsors

While waiting for fabulous images from last week's openings (thanks John!), we thought it worthwhile to feature the viewpoints and motivations of this month's exhibit sponsors.  Gardy Bloemers and Nick Duke sponsored John Grant's "Fairy Tales and Reveries," while Sarah and Steve Delgado sponsored Marko Maetamm's "Happily Ever After."  Both pairs have been involved with the gallery for a long stretch, and we are grateful their friendship enabled both exhibits to come to the Charlottesville community.

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The SSG team sketched out a series of simple questions and here's what they had to say about their philanthropy:

Q - Why did you choose to get involved with SSG?  What's special about this organization?

Nick Duke: "I especially believe that Second Street Gallery and its support of living artists has the capacity to bring a broad range and strata of people together in Charlottesville for needed dialogue—the more socially conscious and confrontational the better! The diversity of contemporary art shown at Second Street inspires, stimulates and provokes us. It can help us understand ourselves better and connect us to the human spirit."

Steve Delgado: "SSG appeals to me because it represents an oasis of independent thinking in Charlottesville.  The shows I've contributed to and the initiatives I've stewarded with SSG are unique and represent a different mode of seeing, thinking, and creation.  I just believe it's really important to support  organizations that encourage that kind of growth."

Q - What appealed to you about this artist or this series of their work?

Nick Duke: "John Grant’s work is evolving in such glorious directions! I love his new work and its new, more metaphorical and dreamlike course that generates emotional contact. I am a big fan of photography and especially love the work of Walker Evans, Edward and Cole Weston, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Imogen Cunningham, Bruce Davidson, Stephen Shore, Emmet Gowin, Sally Mann, Duane Michaels, Peter Beard, Jerry Uelsmann, Nicholas Nixon, Joel Meyerowitz, Rogelio Lopez Marín (Gory), Gordon Parks and many others. John’s work simply resonates with me—and I’m sure it will with many others."

Steve Delgado: "Again, I chose to support this show because it's a new voice, a new perspective.  Maetamm's work is something most people wouldn't ordinarily discover, because of where he's from and where we live.  It's unique, which bolsters SSG's ability to be that metaphorical oasis."

Q - Why should the Cville community come to, get involved, and support SSG?

Nick Duke: "Second Street seeks to involve a diverse regional public in the rich and active language of contemporary visual art.  The Gallery can be a catalyst and an advocate for new ideas, discourses, and trends in contemporary art. The Gallery’s outreach in schools and in the community is critical to exposing our next generation to new ways of self-expression."

Steve Delgado: "A vital part of SSG's mission is to unite artists and the community.  If arts and culture are what make Charlottesville so wonderful, so energetic, and relevant then we need to make every effort to support the organizations that deliver quality programs.  Especially now, in tough economic times, arts are the first to suffer.  It's a valuable thing to have a high caliber gallery right around the corner."

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So there you have it, right from the sponsors' mouths.  Value is a very personal metric.  But judging from our attendance during the First Fridays' opening (nearly 600!), we know that you care about SSG.  Consider transferring that to volunteering your time, joining as a member at any level, or contributing a gift when you are able!  Every bit helps, and every bit protects Cville's contemporary  "oasis"!

Grant, Stinnett, Maetamm Install

Happy Thursday! Happy members'preview-almost-done-with-installation-Thursday! Cue exhale...

Here are a few shots of hanging yesterday.  AG and a trio of volunteers were champs to come in on Sunday to help Jason Brown remove the Mountaintop show. As a result, we hit the ground patching and painting on Monday.  John Grant's work arrived that afternoon, Georgianne Stinnett's arrived Tuesday morning, while, ironically, the work of our most far-flung artist Marko Maetamm, of Estonia, had arrived two weeks ago! Tonight we'll host the preview event which we hold for members of the gallery before every First Fridays opening.  The previews are special for both their intimacy and community.  The pace is slower, there's more elbow room, you get to see your SSG friends, and have wide access to the artists.  Sign up today and come on out tonight! We would love to have you with us as we celebrate a gorgeous October show.  Take a look....and see you on Friday if not this evening!

 art packaging, piles and hills of it

 

 laying out the show took a minute, or a day, but as of this picture two walls were hung!

 

 these are carpet squares. you put them under the art while you play arrangement tetris.

 

 the hanging  math. our invisible hand...

 

 AG writing the Maetamm piece with his quirky tilt.

 

Intern CC and AG with our other invisible hand, the level.

You didn't really think we'd show you the finished product did you? What fun would that be?

I'll leave it at this....don't miss this show!

John Grant, Georgianne Stinnett, and Marko Maetamm October 2-31