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!