1708 Gallery

Tomorrow, Friday, October 1st, marks the first lantern making workshop for InLight Richmond 2010. The workshop, held in conjunction with First Friday’s Artwalk, will feature paper house lanterns and other artful lantern designs led by painter, sculptor and printmaker, Matt Lively. Stop by 1708 Gallery tomorrow night from 7 to 10 p.m. for your first opportunity to craft your InLight lantern!

Then, on October 22nd, the Community Lantern Parade will kick-off the InLight festivities. This parade will showcase the Richmond community’s creations, so bring your lantern to the historic Shockoe Slip neighborhood for a chance to participate in InLight!  We will meet at the James Center Atrium at 7:30 p.m. where we will distribute LED candles for the lanterns before setting out on the parade.

Throughout the month of October, there will be multiple other lantern workshops led by renowned artists, such as the vellum lantern workshop on October 3rd and the recycled light workshop on October 6th. For more information on these upcoming workshops, as well as information on InLight 2010  and other lantern making ideas, please visit the 1708 Gallery website by clicking here.

Here are some pictures from some of last year’s workshops:

The current countdown to Richmond’s InLight 2010 is 22 days!  We look forward to seeing you there.

This upcoming Friday marks another round of Richmond’s successful First Friday’s Artwalk at 1708 Gallery. 1708 will be one of the multiple galleries open to the public on October 1st from 7-10 PM.

On display currently is Mama Pajama Rolled Out of Bed by Marcie Paper. With paintings and stop-animations, this exhibition features a record of visual abstractions of the artist’s experiences in the current moment. As she layers images on paper, they become a collection of short-term memories that seek to explore the ideas of memory, experience, and nostalgia.  

Also, be sure to visit 1708’s newest satellite exhibition at Richmond’s historic Linden Row Inn, located at 100 East Franklin Street. Installed throughout the Inn’s lobby and dining rooms, this exhibition, Ironisence, examines the interplay of irony and sentimentality in the work of eight artists. Ironisence at Linden Row will be open to the public on Friday from 7-10 PM.

For more information, visit the First Fridays website by clicking here. We look forward to seeing you there!

talk20 returns to 1708 Gallery on Tuesday, September 28 for what is sure to be another evening full of open discussion on ideas in art and design. Working with C3: the Creative Change Art Center, 1708 has brought together seven artists who will respond to twenty pieces of their own work, given just twenty seconds for each image. These quick talks will offer insight into each artist’s individual visions and creative processes, as well as reflections on what influenced the direction of their art. As a forum for sharing ideas, talk20 seeks to ignite conversation and exchange between the arts community and a wider, Richmond audience.

The artists participating in this round of talk20 include nationally renowned story-teller, Slash Coleman; abstract artist and metal sculptor, Mike Keeling; Emilia Lanwehr, curator and manager of the Whitley Gallery; photographic artist, Phil Nesmith; Scott Putman, the artistic director for Amaranth Contemporary Dance; photographer and creative kindness worker, Patience Salgado; and artist Francis Thompson.

Please join us for talk20 on Tuesday, September 28 from 6 to 8 PM at 1708 Gallery. The event is free and open to the public and will feature food and a cash bar. To register for the event, please click here.

The first Monster Drawing Rally at 1708 Gallery was a hit! After five hours of live art-making by over seventy participating artists, fifty-six pieces of original art were sold to members of the Richmond community. The event, held on Saturday, August 28, received great feedback as a dynamic and exciting experience and also served as a successful fundraiser to help support 1708 and its future endeavors.

Many thanks to all the artists and volunteers who made this event possible. With their continued hard work, we hope we can do it again next year!

Be sure to check out this video made by one of 1708’s interns, Annapurna Kumar, of MDR in progress:

1708 Gallery – Monster Drawing Rally Timelapse from Annapurna Kumar on Vimeo.

A special thanks to Southern Exposure in San Francisco, the original creators of Monster Drawing Rally, for letting us give their idea a try!

1708 Gallery is hosting the first Monster Drawing Rally on Saturday, August 28 from 2-7pm. We are looking for artists to participate in the live art making event featuring a total of 100 artists. The event will consist of 5 one-hour shifts with 20 artists working simultaneously per hour.

MDR is a performance, a happening, a bonanza, a rollicking good time of art making, food, and beer! It’s also a fundraiser benefiting 1708 Gallery.  The Monster Drawing Rally will help raise much needed operating support for 1708 Gallery.

Audiences will have the rare opportunity to watch art come to life and purchase complete drawings for $65 each (drawings sold during the event are a full donation to 1708 Gallery and unsold drawings are the property of 1708 Gallery).

An artist-run, non-profit space for new art, 1708 has been providing exhibition opportunities to national and international emerging artists and innovative programs for our community for the last 32 years. As an artist yourself, you know how important organizations like 1708 Gallery are for artist’s careers and for the community at large.

1708 will provide participating artists with basic materials like paper, pens, pencils, and sharpies. However, you are welcome to bring any materials that you would prefer to use. Once complete, your drawings will be hung on the wall for viewing and purchasing. If you should choose to bring your own materials we ask that your finished work be on paper and light enough to be taped to the wall.

This is a great opportunity for exposure while supporting one of Richmond’s most dynamic arts organizations.  If you are interested in participating or would like more information, please email tbeylotte@1708gallery.org including 4 samples of your work (JPEGS) no later than July 5.

The event concept was originally developed by Southern Exposure in San Francisco http://soex.org/index.html. Thanks to them for letting us give their idea a try.

InLight Richmond is a temporary juried art show that displays works of art relating to the theme of light.  On the evening of Friday, October 22, 2010 Richmond will host the third annual InLight show, juried by Amanda McDonald Crowley of the Eyebeam in New York.  The show will take place in outdoor public venues in the historic Shockoe Slip.

Past InLight shows have included performance and visual art as well as interactive projects and large-scale projections.  Each year, the show also includes a Community Lantern Parade as well as an exhibition of Wearable Art.  1708 hosts a series of lantern making workshops that are open to the public during the summer.

Artists from around the world are encouraged to submit project proposals for new works that explore, include or are inspired by light.  The deadline for entries is June 21, 2010.

For more information about InLight Richmond click here.  If you are an artist wishing to submit a proposal, a direct link to the artist’s information page for 2010 is available here. If being involved interests you, but you do not wish to submit a proposal, don’t worry!  We are still looking for volunteers.  If you are interested in helping out, please contact us at: info@1708gallery.org

Rendering the North features photographs and sculpture by Thea Augustina Eck inspired by the concepts of exploration, myth and the unknown. This recent body of work reflects Eck’s own research into British explorations of the Arctic and Antarctic that took place from the 1800’s through the early 1900’s.   Eck uses both her artistic imagination and historical knowledge to present the viewer with a narrative that features the phenomena found within solitude and the tragedy of history. To learn more about this exhibition on view April 23 through May 29, click here. You can also visit the artist’s website: www.theaeck.com

This month the gallery is also featuring a collection of works created through 1708′s education and outreach program “Arts for All”.  1708 Gallery’s Arts for All outreach program engages individuals who are experiencing homelessness and those affected by physical and developmental disabilities in the creative process. The exhibition will feature the work created in a series of workshops over the past year led by sculptor Robert Walz and multimedia artist Mariam Eqbal.  This work is created by students at The Greater Richmond ARC and ARC’s Camp Baker and by individuals served by The Daily Planet and the Henrico County Community Services Board.

The exhibition will also feature documentaries of some of the workshop participants produced by students from the VCU Art School’s Kinetic Imaging program. You can find more information about this exhibition and the Arts for All program here.

The exhibition Reflecting and Collecting also opened May 1st at the Linden Row Inn. The show is curated by Amie Oliver, 1708 Gallery and Linden Row Inn Liaison and features works by 19 artists who live or have lived in Virginia.  Each of these artists created a work in response to a piece within the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This multi-media exhibition celebrates the reopening of the VMFA and the role it’s art collection can play as a muse in the creative process. This exhibition will be on view at the Linden Row Inn until August 25th. To learn more about this satellite exhibition click here.

You can also visit these links for more information:

www.lindenrowinn.com
www.vmfa.state.va.us

1708 Gallery’s current exhibition Forest for the Trees is an exploration in the effects of globalization, both personal and for the world at large. Chad Erpelding’s layered paintings map out global corporations and the connections they create between countries, while Dana Sperry’s videos question how contemporary environments effect our sense of belonging.

On Saturday, March 27th at 3:00 p.m., 1708 Gallery will feature a special expanded talk by Dana Sperry. An experimental video artist, many of Sperry’s pieces convey a sense of isolation and disconnect. Through careful film editing and composition, he erases the images of people in the videos, leaving only bits and pieces and thin shuddering lines.

In addition to speaking about his past and current video work, Dana Sperry will also discuss his Ugly Objects project. A departure from his usual work, Ugly Objects is a collaborative, interactive project with fellow artist Natalya Pinchuk. In December 2008, Sperry and Pinchuk relocated to de Wallen, the largest red light district in Amsterdam, staying for one month to start Ugly Objects: Amsterdam. With Ugly Objects, Sperry and Pinchuk explore concepts of aesthetics and renewal by asking the local residents to donate ugly objects for alterations. Through a process of interviews on the definitions of “ugly” and personal stories, Sperry and Pinchuk had one year to alter these objects and return them to their owners.

Please visit www.danasperry.com and www.uglyobjects.com for more information.

We hope to see you on Saturday, March 27th, for this special talk!

First Fridays have becone a bona fide tradition with the Richmond crowd — from the artists to the professionals, from the hipsters to the families, from the educators to the students. With thousands flocking to Broad Street on the first Friday of every month, it is no wonder Style Weekly has named the Galleries and Businesses of First Fridays Art Walk as Richmonders of the Year. 1708 Gallery is not only proud of our involvement with the event, we are honored to be a part of such an amazing group of organizations. Every First Friday, we open our doors at 6 p.m. to the welcome sounds of patrons greeting friends, discussing the latest exhibition and gossip of all sorts.

The next First Friday will be Friday, February 5 from 6 to 10 p.m. Painting (in part, and in pieces) by Barbara Campbell Thomas will be on display for your viewing pleasure. The exhibition comprises large pieced together paintings on paper, small highly layered paintings on canvas and a series of mid-sized collages made in tandem. All her works employ an intensely colorful and fragmentary abstract language of shape, line and texture.

In addition to the formal manipulation of her works, Campbell Thomas constructs her images by delving into the literal construct of painting – shattering the medium’s typically unblemished expanse.

Barbara Campbell Thomas will be giving a free artist talk on Saturday, February 13 at 1 p.m. at 1708 Gallery. Her show will also be closing this day as well.

We hope to see you all at the next First Friday on February 5, and every First Friday after that!

With the success of the first talk20, 1708 Gallery and C3: the Creative Change Center are hosting the second talk20 event on Wednesday, February 10 at 6 p.m. at 1708 Gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

talk20 is based on a series of short presentations of 20 slides each. Each presenter has 20 seconds per slide to express his or her very own artistic voice. The event will feature a hybrid of educators and professionals working in some branch of the creative field.

Participants for the upcoming event include artist and founder of the Real Small Art Tiffany Glass Ferreira; innovative and sustainable architecture Tamara Van Meter; painter Susan Singer (best known for her portraiture of naked women); LEGO artist Brian Korte; visionary architect Peter Fraser; artistic director for Amaranth Contemporary Dance Scott Puttman; visual artist Rosemary Jesionowski, and photographer Gordon Stettinius.

talk20 is not simply a lecture, but it focuses more along the lines of a gathering, an open forum for the dissemination of ideas in art, architecture and design.

Doors for the event open at 5:30 p.m. Complimentary light food will be provided by F.W. Sullivan’s, and a cash bar will also be available. To register for the event, please click HERE.