| f e a t u r e |
|
Gallery Walk
by Kelty Garbee
Most large cities don't even have two galleries in such close proximity to one another, but within the past three years, Bozart, Gallery Neo, and Downtown Art Space have emerged on the Downtown Mall alongside Second Street Gallery and McGuffey Art Center. Old faithfuls such as The Young Men's Shop and the now extinct Woolworth's kept steady business that allowed for the arrival of a new movie theater, the Charlottesville Ice Park, and coffeehouses such as Higher Grounds and Mudhouse. This, in turn, created enough foot traffic to generate interest in a number of galleries. Rather than working against one another, the individual galleries began working collectively to attract people to the Downtown Mall to create and appreciate art. Marybeth Magyar, one of the founding members of Bozart, says that the galleries "consciously tried to stick together." Artists soon realized that when two galleries held openings on the same night, each gallery had a larger turnout. The unofficial agreement to hold openings on the same night soon became official, and First Fridays was born. Lydia Conder, owner of Gallery Neo, calls it, "an understood and cooperative relationship between galleries." Advertised each month in the C-Ville Weekly, First Fridays takes place on the first Friday of every month and marks the opening of each gallery's new show. Magyar points out that "if one gallery can get someone onto the Downtown Mall, all of the galleries can give them a lot of choices." So what does each of the galleries have to offer? I decided to find out -- my explorations led to some interesting discoveries about Charlottesville's art scene and its handful of patrons. I learned some general and not-so-general information about the galleries involved in First Fridays. And while I didn't make it to all of the First Fridays venues -- Higher Grounds, Mudhouse, Spencer's 206, and Michael's Bistro -- don't forget to check them out on your own.
McGuffey is an association of artists that has been in existence for over 20 years. The big daddy of galleries, it is a huge, old school building teeming with artists and their creations. McGuffey's artists specialize in everything from standard painting and sculpture to glass-blowing and paper-making. In addition to offering classes and tours, McGuffey is also home to a dance school. The newest show will be "Counterpoint: New York and Prague" by Marion Reynolds. If you're wondering what these two could possibly have in common, you're just going to have to go see for yourself.
Second Street could be called the favored child of McGuffey because it is located on the first floor of McGuffey Art Center. While the National Endowment for the Arts seems to be on the endangered species list, Second Street, which opened in 1973, is the only Downtown Mall gallery that receives NEA funding. This month Second Street will be showing a mixed media work by Blinn Jacobs. According to the C-Ville Weekly, Jacobs "paints and draws on octagons with black paint, creating depth, reminiscent of two things: stop signs and Maltese crosses."
Gallery Neo began in 1994 as a studio and gallery, but current owner Lydia Conder bought it and turned it into a full time Palace o' Pictures. Local artist Steve Keene seems to have become the King of the Palace by selling over two thousand of his paintings through Gallery Neo. November is National Native American Month, and in the spirit of The Virginia Film Festival's Caged! theme, Neo is showing paintings by Leonard Peltier, a Native American political prisoner.
Opened in 1996, Downtown Art Space was conceived and created by U.Va. graduate Jen Fariello who specializes in photography. Fariello wanted to "create an environment for young and emerging artists" who were somewhere in between graduation and working as full-time artists. English majors, pray there is a Jen Fariello in your future. Next time you are in the vicinity of the Jefferson Theater, look for the Art Space sign, go down those crazy silver stairs, and see what the Downtown Mall's youngest gallery has to offer. This month painter Nym Peterson and photographer Shannon Harris will be presenting a show that focuses on the face.
The "itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini" of galleries, Bozart opened in a small space in 1994 within Gallery Neo. Now located next to Baskin Robbins, Bozart is a co-op of 25 artists who volunteer not only their talent, but with their time by gallery-sitting. Bozart has recently achieved non-profit status which means that all of you art lovers can get a tax deduction for a donation of your monetary units. Bozart's newest show in commemoration of its three year anniversary will consist of photography, sculpture, and paintings from Jo Hannah Afton, Angie Cooper, and Marybeth Magyar, the founders of the gallery.
While individual artists are working very hard in their own galleries, what has emerged is a larger community of galleries and artists. Fariello describes her gallery as a place that "gives artists a chance to look at what other people are doing." In addition to learning from others in their own galleries, artists on the Downtown Mall are able to see what other galleries are doing. Thus, in terms of creating a learning environment for artists, the galleries on the Downtown Mall have had many positive effects. Although First Fridays has successfully brought the general public to the galleries on the Downtown Mall to look at artwork, there seems to be a feeling among gallery owners that First Fridays is just as negative as it is positive. First Fridays is well advertised and brings a number of new people to the Downtown Mall, but month after month one crowd of art connoisseurs tends to keep coming back. As a result, there is the feeling that First Fridays may be creating a social scene rather than an art scene. In the worst cases, people will visit a gallery, have some wine and cheese, catch up with friends, and move on to the next gallery for more wine, cheese, and conversation, rather than coming to First Fridays to look seriously at the work and meet the artists. While people do support First Fridays with their presence, they often do not support First Fridays with their money. As Lydia Conder says, "Charlottesville has an art scene but no art market." In other words, people in Charlottesville will come to gallery openings and appreciate art, but they don't buy it and take it home with them. Those people who do buy art are wealthy patrons or people visiting from out of town. Magyar said that "people buy a lot of art on vacation" and Bozart, which is located on the west end of the Downtown Mall near the Omni Hotel, makes a number of sales to people who are staying there. Nevertheless, it is the inhabitants of Charlottesville who must help keep the galleries open so that out of town visitors can buy art on their vacations. Afton reiterates Condor's point about the absence of an art market: "Charlottesville is not an art-buying town -- it is an art-loving town." As a result, gallery owners sometimes end up working very hard to keep galleries open so that people in Charlottesville can appreciate art. So what do the galleries do to support themselves when people aren't buying art? Most of the galleries, including Gallery Neo, McGuffey, Bozart, and Downtown Art Space are co-operatives. This means that the artists who work in the gallery pay membership fees which in turn support the galleries. In addition to paying membership fees, artists at Bozart must volunteer a number of hours each week in the gallery and join one of the gallery's many subcommittees. At McGuffey, which is the largest co-operative gallery, artists basically pay rent on the studios they occupy. Some of the galleries also receive private funding from members of the community, but this is rare. Second Street Gallery receives both private funding from patrons in Charlottesville and public funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Whether galleries receive money from the NEA, private donors, or the artists themselves, they all manage to make vast amounts of artwork available for public viewing. Because of its many galleries, theaters, and other venues for the arts, Charlottesville is well known for being a very arts-oriented and cultured place. And while many people here at the university would like to take direct credit for this image, it is the many painters, sculptors, and photographers living and working in Charlottesville who deserve the credit. Yet it is the creative and intelligent atmosphere fostered by the university that many artists find so attractive about Charlottesville. So while U.Va.'s connection to the local art scene is complex, it is worthwhile to step beyond the university's microcosm and see what Charlottesville has to offer.
|
back to Decweb main |
