A Year in reVIEW

There are 16 days left in 2010.  16!

Since updating the blog and not procrastinating were two of our resolutions this year, we're going to recap 2010 early so there's time to remember, digest, and revel in all that SSG has accomplished in the last 349 days. Deeeeep breath & GO!
 
January marked our first member show in two years and featured over ninety works by local talent. We also headed up to the Glenstone Collection with Women for Art for little contemporary art field trip fun.

In February, Rebecca Scoenthal (SSG's curator) and guest curator Melissa Ragain wove together the work of nine artists who each uniquely addressed the pervasive imagery of war.  The 2010 Educator workshop prevailed against the Snowpocalpyse and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art's Jeffrey Allison led a session on Manuel Alvaro's powerful photography.

April was host to an original, site-specific, Charlottesville -inspired sound and light installation by Takafumi Ide, commissioned by SSG and sponsored by the David Greenewalt Trust. At the same time we showed a playfully jarring body of work by Geoffrey Chadsey.

Family Art Day returned in May 2010 after a one year hiatus, to big attendance and a smiling good time.  We partnered with Kid Pan Alley and made six music themed crafts with over 200 local kids and parents.

The Gallery's 36th Season ended with a fantastic installation by Hawaiian artist Margo Ray who also helped us build an impromptu water tower on the downtown mall for our Public Art Project. 

Next came summer camp! Our first ever summer art camp was a big hit with kid-cvillains who learned basic art principles by creating mini-me's. There was only time for a short exhale before we started on Season 37 prep and a roof-top-tapas-galore preview with our friends.

This fall SSG has hosted three incredible, challenging and memorable exhibitions with Luke DuBois& Corwin Levi, Dymph DeWyld&10x10x10, and Abby Kasonik&Mara Sprafkin.  Throughout almost every month of exhibition programming we are also continually providing outreach workshops to area public schools and the Boys and Girls Club. On top of all THAT, since January '10 we have hosted a brilliant slate of local creatives including Sonia Weber Gilkey, Dean Dass, Jon-Philip Sheridan, Sharon Shapiro, Bob Strini, and Sanda Iliescu at our members-only Artist Forums.

Four paragraphs later and loads of detail suspended, we realize that we have a lot to be proud of and even more to be grateful for.  Why? Because we are able to do all of these things thanks to this community and its belief that ART MATTERS.  Creativity is the root of all innovation, and as we find ourselves seeking solutions and reinvention, art is powerful example of how free expression can benefit us all. 

So bundle up and cozy down with friends and family until January 7 when we'll start a new year and another chapter of all things contemporary at SSG.  Cheers!

Ornament Workshop 2010

We've sent you invites, emails, and peppered our conversations telling you the great news....it's time for SSG's Holiday Ornament Workshop once again! Join us at McGuffey Art Center this Saturday, December 4&5 to make an original piece of art...out of glass.  Reservations are required so please call 977-7284 or email members@secondstreetgallery. org asap. You can also stop by the workshop during the day to check for availability.

 This a wonderful tradition we hope you will share with friends, family, and us.  

Give the gift of art!

Retweet Raffle!

SSG is excited to announce our first Retweet Raffle!

The Retweet Raffle is a fun and easy way to win a free month’s membership to SSG! First, follow us on Twitter @SSGCVILLE. Then, tomorrow, retweet our post to your followers! Once you’ve done that, your name will be entered into a raffle to win a free month of membership to SSG! Membership benefits include:
- early exhibition previews

- gallery mailings with updates and art happenings

- invites to our private events and discounts on tickets

- recognition on our website

The winner will be picked on Friday, November 26th, 2010. We will contact the winner via Twitter for more information about how to claim your prize!

We can’t wait for you to join SSG in an exciting Social Media event! Remember: look for our Twitter Post tomorrow (Tuesday, November, 23rd) and RT to win your prize!

Dymph de Wild workshop at CHS

We recently had the pleasure of hosting a printmaking workshop with October exhibiting artist Dymph de Wild at Charlottesville High School. Dymph demonstrated a Turkish marbleizing technique that was new and exciting for everyone. By dripping acrylic paint mixed with water into a special bath made of seaweed extract, the students could create unique color combinations and patterns. They could further manipulate these designs by swirling or raking the mixture with sticks, paintbrushes, and other utensils. Their designs could be transferred onto paper or cloth by carefully dipping it into the bath. Dymph was kind enough to provide all the baths, paints, paper, and tools needed for this workshop.





It took a few minutes for the students to get used to this new technique, but once they got the hang of it they had so much fun working together to create the most beautiful designs. It was great to see everyone enthusiastically trying out new color combinations and pattern-making techniques.











Dymph also showed how you could use those patterns once they dried on the paper. She passed around examples of Turkish marbleizing in book covers and explained how the prints the students made could be used for future projects like painting or collage.

By the end of their class, the students had made so many prints that the drying rack was almost overflowing with marbleized paper and cloth.



Thanks to Dymph de Wild for leading such a great workshop! And thanks to Jennifer Mildonian who graciously invited us to host our workshop in her classroom at Charlottesville High School.

Want to see your art at SSG? Read on....

find new artists....

Second Street Gallery strives to showcase the best of up and coming artists at the cusp of breaking into the art world.  In order to find these new talents we turn to our Artist Review Panel.  All submissions from artists are collected and anonymously critiqued by a panel of local artists, scholars and professionals.  The choices made by this panel affect the gallery’s future since artists that are selected by the panel are frequently shown in the following exhibition season.  At SSG it is our mission to showcase the newest arrivals in contemporary art.  So how does it work???  ARP meets throughout the fall to review artist’s submissions up until that date.  Each artist is presented to the panel anonymously, solely represented by their work and artist statement. The panel evaluates and ranks each artist.  The top scoring artists are then recommended to the director for consideration.

In order to display these new artistic finds we need your help in discovering them! If you know of any artists please urge them to submit or, if you have a portfolio of your own, feel free to submit. 

If you are interested in applying to ARP for consideration or know someone who is, we ask each artist to submit an all-inclusive packet about his or her proposed exhibit.

 In the packet we ask the artists to provide:

-10 images of works created in the past three years individually labeled with title, date and orientation (.jpeg format or in a PowerPoint slide show, please refrain from putting your name on the images) on a disk. If your proposed work is an installation and/or site-specific, please provide a brief description of how and what you would install and any other pertinent information

-An image list telling the name of each image as well as it’s dimensions and medium

-A current résumé including e-mail, address, and phone number

-An artist’s statement that also specifies as to whether you would prefer to be shown in our Main Gallery or the Dové Gallery

-A processing fee in the form of a $15 check made out to Second Street Gallery

-A self-addressed stamped envelope with adequate packaging and postage for your submission to be returned after use (optional)

 Please mail submissions to:
Second Street Gallery

115 Second Street SE

Charlottesville, VA 22902

Deadlines to submit packets in order for the ARP to review work. The remaining deadlines are: October 27^th & November 24^th 

Information on submissions to ARP can also be found on the gallery website at:

http://www.seondstreetgallery.org. For any further queries feel free to call us at

434-977-7284 or email manager@secondstreegallery.org

November artist Mara Sprafkin in H&M window contest!

Please take a moment to visit the link and vote for Mara Sprafkin's window design for H&M's flagship store in New York.  Sprafkin will be installing an original room installation of layered works in the Dove Gallery for our exhibition opening November 5-December 18. Good luck Mara!

An Intern's Point of View : Sharon Shapiro's Artist Forum

Earlier this month we opened our doors to local artist Sharon Shapiro during the September Artist Forum. Sharon’s presentation was a refreshing change of pace for me, a fourth year student at UVA. Tuesdays at school usually mean long lectures and pages upon pages of notes, but Sharon brought the afternoon to life. Thanks to the nature of the Artist Forums and my internship here at SSG, I was able to get to know Sharon Shapiro as both a person and an artist in an intimate setting.

Sharon’s bright smile and open personality mirrored her vivid artwork. The audience of visitors and members alike seemed to enjoy her endearing anecdotes, laughing along with her college crises and recent travails. Sharon allowed us a secret look into her life as well as her art. I was personally surprised to learn that Sharon’s childhood training shared much in common with other children’s experiences. She first began drawing at her father’s clothing store in West Virginia where she would sit and sketch mannequins all day. It was a simple compliment from a college professor, Sharon confided in us, that pushed her down the path of painting she pursues today. I took Sharon’s stories to heart. As my own college career nears its end, it is inspiring to see the lasting effects a single individual can make on the rest of our lives.

 Sharon’s art, old and new, plays with the idea of these hidden stories within captured moments. Each image and brush stroke, found or constructed, represents something significant: a camping trip, a dropped teddy bear, a stolen glance. One series of paintings even sprang from a secret excursion into McIntire Park where she was photographed, fully dressed, knee deep in the pool. Each painting had such strong personality that I found myself identifying with her subjects’ emotions by the end of her talk.

Sharon has become a master at “knitting fragments of personal experience” into every detail and we were so glad to have her with us. Check out her website to see more of her wonderful work: http://www.sharonshapiro.com.


AND look out for our next Artist Forum, coming up on Tuesday, October 12th, from 12 noon – 1 pm, when sculptor Bob Strini will be speaking and answering questions about his work.  Be sure to visit his website as well:  http://robertstrini.com/.

- Elizabeth Vargas, SSG Social Media Intern 

Corwin Levi workshop at Clark Elementary

On Wednesday, September 22nd, exhibiting artist Corwin Levi led two drawing workshops for students at Clark Elementary School. As an introduction to the workshop, Corwin talked about his own works of art and how you can use both words and drawing to make an image. Using examples from his exhibition and other artists, he showed the kids different ways to make art from text, words, and letters.





For the fourth grade workshop, Levi had the children pick out their favorite poem or lines from a poem to include in their project. After picking a poem, the kids wrote the lines on a sheet of paper, and then cut out the words to paste on a poster. It was exciting to see how creative the children could be with an ordinary task like writing. Many of the students chose to write the words in different colors, styles, or sizes, and rearranged the words in interesting ways. After rearranging their poem, they got a chance to decorate their posters with colored markers.







For the first grade and kindergarten workshop, Levi showed them how to make “Alphabeasties” by gluing letters onto a stenciled animal shape. The kids had a lot of fun tracing their animals and decorating it with letters and colored marker.





It was great seeing the kids having so much fun tracing and decorating their animals. Thanks again to Corwin Levi for leading the workshop, and art teacher Aaron Eichorst for having us in the classroom!

a little reading material...

We are in the last few weeks of the gallery's "dark month" where we inhale sharply and jump into all of the details for the coming season.  Our first exhibition, opening on September 3, will feature R. Luke du Bois and Corwin Levi.  Check out their compelling works online while you wait for the first First Fridays of our 37th Season!

In the meantime, here's an interesting piece we stumbled upon in internet land today.  It attempts to address the very real, dramatic, and polarizing argument of shaping a living history of contemporary art.

See you soon, SSG

p.s. this down time is a great opportunity to log onto www.secondstreetgallery.org and join or renew your membership to enjoy all that is to come AND to ensure that this year's programming can continually improve!

Call for Entries! 10x10x10

Second Street Gallery is currently accepting proposals

for 10/10: 10 x 10 x 10

Second Street is calling for artists and designers to address the topic of sustainability with the following challenge:

create work(s) using materials procured within a 10-mile radius, spending just $10, and taking no more than 10 days to complete the project.

• Ideally materials will be recycled, reused, repurposed, though donations of new materials will also be accepted in the spirit of philanthropy.


• Proposals will be accepted and SSG will provide each with $10 (receipts must be submitted along with final work).


• Work will be on display 10/1/10-10/30/10. Designers would be asked to be present for the First Fridays opening on 10/1/10.


• Proposals must include: Name(s) and bios or cvs of creators, 1 page typed proposal, & up to 5 sketches or other images.


• All pertinent contact info (email, telephone, address)


• Proposals are due on August 31, 2010. Winners will be notified by email by September 1^st.

The 10x10x10 project explores the issues of sustainability while promoting creativity, collaboration and inventiveness-- taking the concept of recycling one step further into resourcefulness. 10x10x10 highlights that recycling and sustainability are not solely about functionality but can also be about aesthetics, and about enriching ones life in a fully embraceable way, not just as an adjunct to daily life. Further, that good design is not the exclusive domain of the superstar designer, or a wealthy elite. Design can be inclusive in every sense. For this project the gallery will transform into a sort of community center, a place where we can encourage constructive dialogue and skill sharing under the umbrella of conscientious living and aesthetics.

Second Street Gallery is a non-profit contemporary art space whose mission is to enliven Central Virginia and Charlottesville with access to the best in contemporary art and artists. This year marks the gallery’s 37^th year of programming, making it one of the longest running non-profits in the country.

Summer Art Camp

This week, SSG had the pleasure of hosting its first Summer Art Camp.  Ten fantastic kids joined us in a week long project of making sculptural self portraits. Throughout the "mini-me" constructions, the children learned from our teacher Eliza Martin about facial proportion, mixing and making colors, and pattern making. The kids also built a rainbow with illustrations they worked on each day in different colors. Merrill Woodriff, of the upcoming Bend Yoga Studio, led energetic yoga sessions as a recess all week. Thanks to our volunteers, interns, and two great teachers for making this week such fun.

Today, July 16, we had an opening to show parents and friends all their hard and colorful work.  Enjoy the pictures and mark your calendars so your kids can join us next summer!

Bid on the Public Art Project H2O Tank!

 We sincerely hope that the patrons of the Cville downtown mall have enjoyed the water tank constructed by exhibiting Hawaiian artist Margo Ray, SSG, and area high school students.  It will remain on view through next week.

All week we've been dreaming up secondary uses for the tank.  Outdoor shower, tiki bar, darkroom, and doghouse all made the list.  What would you use it for??? Think hard....because it could be yours!

Make us an offer! Really and truly.  We want someone to keep enjoying this cheerful little structure.  Come by the gallery, call us at 977-7284, or email outreach@secondstreetgallery.org to place your bid.  The tank will go home with the highest bidder! Transportation is incumbent on the winner.

Remember, SSG is a 501(c)3 non-profit so your donation will go directly towards supporting our programming AND is tax-deductible!

Public Art Project 2010

If you were on the downtown mall last Friday, you may have seen a peculiar turquoise tank in production.  SSG was happy to welcome back exhibiting artist Margo Ray and her husband, an artist in his own right, Scott Yoell to lead our 2010 Public Art Project. Partnering with local high school students and community volunteers, Ray and Yoell led the two day project that yielded a water tank similar to those installed at the gallery through July 2.

Please look for the tank located at the 2nd Street intersection of the DT Mall. Take a fun picture and post it to Second Street Gallery's facebook page through Friday and you might win a free membership and a tote bag!

Margo Ray : Sublime Spaces, Forgotten Places

Our 36th season is closing to the lilting notes of a ukulele. Last Friday, SSG welcomed over 500 people to the opening of Margo Ray's exhibition Sublime Spaces, Forgotten Places. Margo's work crosses many mediums and we have the pleasure of presenting you with sculpture, collage, paintings, and animation from June 4-July 2.  Enjoy the pictures below!

And, if you are reading this on Friday, June 11 make sure to visit the recently paved patio area on Second Street at the Landmark Hotel construction site to see 2010 SSG's Public Art Project now being constructed...a Margo Ray water tank! It will be on display through June 23.

Margo Ray, Suspended Tank, 2010

Interior shot of Suspended Tank, 2010

Enjoying the Suspended Tank, 2010

La Pastora - The Sheperdess's Dreams, 2009

Margo Ray herself! Interior of La Pastora - The Sheperdess's Dream, 2009

Looking into the Dove at the Animation Tank, La Pastora - The Sheperdess's Dream, 2010

Watching the Animation,  Animation Tank, 2010

 To Sanctify the Feral sculptures; Bull and Boar, 2010

Containment Landscapes, 2009

Enjoying the Hawaiian cowboy "Paniolo", Containment Landscapes, 2010

Second Street Gallery is open Tuesday - Saturday 11-6 pm and can be found at the corner of Water and Second Street SE in the "Live Arts" Building. Call with questions 434-977-7284.

Come visit soon!

Family Art Day at SSG, May 22nd!

Summer Art Camp Registration Form

Print out this form and fax to Second Street Gallery at 434-979-9793 to sign up your child for a Summer Art Camp session today!

SUMMER ART CAMP!

Second Street Gallery is staging its first ever Summer Art Camp for kids this season.

Session I runs July 12-16 for kids ages 4-6

Session II runs July 19-23 for kids ages 5-7

Activities in each session are thematic and include independent work, as well as work on a collaborative art project. 

Classes are limited to 12 participants to ensure special attention. Camp runs from 9:30-11:30 am Monday - Friday at $150 per session including a healthy snack.  Scholarships are available. 

Please call the gallery at 977-7284 to sign up or ask questions!

Whitney Biennial - Curator's Picks

SSG's director, Rebecca Young Schoenthal, recently made the trip north to attend the 2010 Whitney Biennial.  Here are a short list of her favorites. Tell us what you think!

Jesse Aron Green

Dawn Clements

R. H. Quatyman

Aurel Schmidt

Storm Thap

Marianne Vitale

We're serious....log opinions; low, high and in between!

p.s. Don't forget that our friends at the Bridge PAI are hosting the second annual Revel fundraiser this Saturday. Come out and support the arts.

First Fridays Photography

Dové Gallery artist Takafumi Ide, with his son and assistant Kumpu Ide, at the April 2nd First Fridays opening for "decipher". Photographs courtesy of John Mitchell.



A young woman experiences Takafumi Ide's sound and light installation. The exhibition is on view through May 29th.



Two visitors to SSG study the details in Geoffrey Chadsey's "Couple".



First Friday gallery-goers closely examine one of artist Geoffrey Chadsey's works, titled "Flex 23".



New-York based artist Geoffrey Chadsey, during his artist talk at the gallery on Friday, April 2nd. His exhibition titled "Jam, Outing, Retreat" will be on display in the Main Gallery through May 29th.