Shots from January First Fridays - Josephine Taylor & Kevin Everson

 

reflection of Josephine Taylor's "Bomb Landscapes."

Josephine Taylor posing in front of her "Bomb Landscapes."

 First Friday patrons watching Kevin Everson's "The Equestrians."

"Bomb Landscape" dyptych admirers

Crowds swelling after the artist talk.

 Contemplating the end of "The Equestrians."

Second Street welcomed over 350 patrons to kick off 2011 with two new exhibitions. The Main Gallery features large scale drawings by Josephine Taylor and the Dove Gallery is showing a new film by local artist and professor Kevin Everson.  Please plan a visit soon. Josephine Taylor's, "Bomb Landscape + Monster Face," and Kevin Everson's "The Equestrians will be on view from January 7-February 26, 2011.  SSG is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11-6pm.

-photo credit to John Mitchell Photography-

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!