1708 Gallery

1708 Gallery is looking for enthusiastic individuals with a passion for the arts for its next round of interns this upcoming spring semester. If you wish to gain experience in many aspects of non-profit gallery administration, including the installation and de-installation of exhibitions, artists relations, fundraising, public relations, marketing, and event planning, please consider applying for a part-time or full-time non-paid position. For more information, visit our opportunities page on the 1708 website by clicking here.

To apply, please submit the application, cover letter, and resume to Jolene at jgiandomenico@1708gallery.org. We look forward to receiving your application!

1708 Gallery would like to congratulate all of its participants of InLight Richmond 2010, but especially the following award recipients…

The BEST IN SHOW AWARD, selected by Juror Amanda McDonald Crowley, was given to Michael Zick Doherty, David Bernstein, and Ian Collings, featuring the Starr Foster Dance Project, for their interactive performance piece (In)Visible. Using light as a way of challenging our perception of the body in space, the work questioned how both light and the absence of light can alter our experience of dance. Crowley awarded Michael Zick Doherty, David Bernstein and Ian Collings with Best in Show for, “their adventurous interpretation of light as a medium and for their capacity to rethink public performance by dynamically engaging the audience and exploring internal and external space in an intriguing way. By situating the audience and the performers in quite a vulnerable space – literally ‘in the dark’ – while simultaneously projecting this vulnerability onto the street was courageous. The dancers’ capacity to explore and indeed exploit the space was thoughtful: a challenging and inspired way to engage street level passer-bys.”

(In)Visible by Michael Zick Doherty, David Bernstein, and Ian Collings

Michael Pellis, AIA, LEED, chose Jeff Schmucki as the winner of the BEST IN GREEN AWARD. His installation, Incubator NX-1993167 with PNSP, served to enlighten the public of the consequences of inefficient and excessive consumption. Inspired by the devastation and personal loss after Hurricane Katrina, Schmuki’s hydroponic garden systems are illuminated at night after solar panels charge the system throughout the day. These portable gardens lack soil as a way to represent the loss of one’s home and the consequent nomadic lifestyle that requires constant response to new and ever-changing environments.

Incubator NX-1993167 with PNSP by Jeff Schmucki

As selected by the InLight Richmond audience, the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD was given to The Wave Coalition: Emily Herr, Kelley Lowe, Ellie Doughty, Jonathan Tune, and Ha Tran for their work Analog Audience. A collaborative, interactive sculpture, Analog Audience is based on a concept rooted in the positive result of human collaboration, represented by the emission of light and a concerted effort to produce a greater effect than any individual could create alone. This group of emerging artists, known as “The Wave Coalition,” is made up of current students at Virginia Commonwealth University who work together to integrate their various artistic skills and disciplines to create interactive experiences.

Analog Audience by The Wave Coalition: Emily Herr, Kelley Lowe, Ellie Doughty, Jonathan Tune, and Ha Tran

1708 Gallery would also like to congratulate the following Wearable Art Award Recipients. These awards were selected by a panel of judges including Heidi Story, Anne Hughes, Paul Trible, Elizabeth Frazier, and Libby Sykes.

THEO YOUNG BEST IN SHOW AWARD, given in memory of Theo Young, former chair of the VCU Fashion Design Department:  Emily Mitchell and Taylor Todd, Untitled

RUNNER UP: Paulette Pullen, Light Cage

HONORABLE MENTION: Alli Moore, Light of the Party

A special thanks goes out to all the participating artists, volunteers, generous sponsors, and the welcoming property owners of Shockoe Slip. Without their support, InLight Richmond would not have been possible, so thank you all for helping 1708 Gallery continue to inspire and engage the Richmond community with public art. InLight Richmond 2010 was a huge success and we could not have done it without you!

In just over 24 hours Richmond’s historic Shockoe Slip neighborhood will be transformed into a public exhibition of contemporary art inspired by light. Come out to InLight Richmond 2010, Friday, October 22nd, from 7:30 pm until midnight, to experience this showcase of 37 installations as they take over and literally light up the city. Mixing light with sound, performance, ceramics, video, electronics, photography, animation, sculpture, and surveillance technologies, these temporary installations will engage both the people of Richmond and their surroundings in innovative and dynamic ways, and allow for a re-imagination of our urban environment.

The evening will start off with a Community Lantern Parade at 7:30 pm at the James Center Atrium. Bring the lanterns you created at one of the many recent lantern-making workshops in order to participate in the kick-off event!

Later, at 9 pm, is the 12th annual Wearable Art InLight Fashion Show. Held in the Shockoe Plaza outside the Martin Agency, this show is a creative fusion of sculpture, fashion, media, and movement inspired by light. A panel of judges will be giving out awards, including Best in Show.

Please visit the InLight 2010 page at the 1708 Gallery website by clicking here for more information and event details. Can’t wait to see you there!

Come to the opening reception and gallery talk for the 13th Annual SECAC and MACAA Juried Exhibition tomorrow, October 15 from 6 to 8 pm at 1708 Gallery. Exhibition coordinator Andy Kozlowski will be speaking about the exhibition which consists of 59 works by 56 artists.

More information about the exhibition and the included works is to come, but for now, check out the exhibition’s page at the 1708 website by clicking here. We hope to see you here tomorrow night!

InLight Richmond 2010 is pleased to offer the next lantern making workshop that will be held tomorrow, October 6th, from 5:30 to 8:00 pm at 1708 Gallery. This recycled light workshop, led by designer Noah Scalin, is for participants ages 15 and up. Pre-registration is required and entry costs $25.

After the success of the first lantern making workshop last Friday night, this event is sure to be another great way to prepare for the Community Lantern Parade on October 22^nd!

For more information about the event and to pre-register, please click here.

Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more updates about upcoming InLight events and activities. Or, to stay in touch with us via mailings and email, please sign up for our mailing list by clicking here.

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.  

Untitled #95 by Marcie Paper

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.