Annual Educator Workshop at SSG, February 24th

Second Street Gallery and the Piedmont Council of the Arts, in collaboration with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Present:

Manuel Alvarez Bravo: Photographer of Mexico's Soul

Wednesday, February 24, 2010
4:30 - 7:00 pm at Second Street Gallery

For teachers, educators, and all those interested in photography!

This information-packed training session will explore the Mexican Renaissance in art that came about in the 1920-30's. Bravo's photographs were deeply rooted in the culture of the Mexican people, and his unique eye for the monumental, the mysterious, and the mundane revealed in the everyday made him a major international figure in the medium. Through the subtleties of human interaction, he made images of dreams, death, and transient life. This workshop utilizes images Manuel Alvarez Bravo created in his full century of life to explore the art, culture, and politics of Mexico during the 20th Century.

Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Collection Educator, VMFA, will lead this workshop that is applicable to all grade levels. Teachers will leave this session with resource guides, PowerPoint, and a CD of images from VMFA's exhibition.

FREE for PCA & SSG Members, $5 for non-members.
Advance registration required, payment can be made at the door.
Refreshments provided!

Please call (434)977-7284, or e-mail outreach@secondstreetgallery.org by February 22nd, 2010 to register!

February Artist Forum: Sonja Weber Gilkey

Sonja Weber Gilkey will readily agree that a circuitous path is always the best choice. In that tradition, her talk at SSG on snowy Tuesday did not move from point A to B. Rather it was a circular recollection of different episodes in her making, always returning to the belief that you cannot force anything; you should just allow it to be and to become.

Of course, some things are best conveyed by the artists so here is a statement Sonja shared with us:

"Rope Sculptures are each Kundalini manifestations of our own infinity of earth. From a childhood spent with ropes on bats along the lakes and canals of Holland to sailing out to islands in Maine in search of salt encrusted rops that had washed ashore, living and working with rope has been a life long experience. The sculptures can be handled and transformed as one's daily manifestations of change.

Rope sculpture is practical, sensual, meditative, and infinite. Rope and I serve each other in a natural evolvement to create.

Rope is universal and used in all aspects of life. It is essential for infinity, life, death, and rebirth. The interwoven pattern of rope is symbolic of DNA strands that make up all of life. The results of these patterns are rope sculptures that represent a unique universe. A universe that is full of life."

Sonja's other careers as an art therapist and Kundalini yoga practitioner have played a role in her sculptures. She feels the forms more than she thinks about them; allowing her knots and weaving to be guided by the material instead of her thoughts and, often, she melodically chants while she sculpts.

She ended her talk, after many questions, by encouraging Charlottesville to become an art place similar to coastal Maine's celebration of their local artists. Sonja knows that Charlottesville has so much talent that is undiscovered and uncelebrated and she wants to see and experience that potential in full color and at high volume. An index of all local artists was suggested and one attendee tapped our own local star John Grisham to get the job done...but if he doesn't take the bait it sounds like a worthy grant proposal to us!

Sonja Weber Gilkey is represented by Virginia Green, has received a prize from the National Museum of Folk Art, and has two upcoming exhibitions in the Netherlands. We thank her for participating in our Forum series and look forward to Dean Dass's talk on March 9. RSVP today!

Update: Member's Preview & First Fridays Postponed!

The Members' Preview and the First Fridays opening of Conflict/Interest has been canceled due to the expected snow tomorrow. We want to make sure everyone is safe, and that everyone attends this fantastic exhibition so all events have been moved to next week.

The new schedule is:

Thursday, February 11 5:30-7:30pm

catered by Greenwood Gourmet Grocery with wine by Gabriele Rausse

Friday, February 12 5:30-7:30pm

catered by the Local with wine by Gabriele Rausse

Conflict/Interest is a group exhibition fusing the work of nine artists whose work speaks to both the recent fascination with current conflicts as source material for art making, but also recognizes the ways in which, for artists working today, the imagery of war has been present and pervasive throughout their lives. 

Works by  Eyal Danieli, Naomi Falk, Mona Hatoum, Tim Hetherington, Richard Kraft, Eric Parnes, Steven Rubin, Mary Schepisi, and Suara Welitoff will be on show from February - March 27.

See you next week! The anticipation builds...