This two-day program will feature panel discussions with Kamoinge artists and scholars to contextualize and address Kamoinge’s role in the history of 20th-century photography, and the Black Arts Movement, as well as address the social and professional challenges faced by black photographers working in the field.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, in partnership with VCU School of the Arts and ICA at VCU, is hosting a symposium in conjunction with the special exhibition, Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop.

Ebony G. Patterson . . . while the dew is still on the roses . . . presents the work of artist Ebony G. Patterson, born in Jamaica in 1981. This is the most significant exhibition of the artist’s work to date, presented within a new installation environment that evokes a night garden.

Patterson is known for drawings, tapestries, videos, sculptures and installations that involve surfaces layered with flowers, glitter, lace and beads. Her work investigates forms of embellishment as they relate to youth culture within disenfranchised communities. Her neo-baroque works address violence, masculinity, “bling,” visibility and invisibility within the post-colonial context of her native Kingston and within black youth culture globally. This exhibition focuses on the role that gardens have played in her practice, referenced as spaces of both beauty and burial, environments filled with fleeting aesthetics and mourning.

What does it mean to exist in a state of “becoming alien” or “becoming strange”? These questions power The Otolith Group: Xenogenesis. The exhibition presents a cross-section of artworks from 2011 to 2018 by The Otolith Group, established in 2002 by Anjalika Sagar (b. 1968 London) and Kodwo Eshun (b. 1966, London).

The term Xenogenesis alludes to influential African-American science fiction novelist Octavia Estelle Butler (1947–2006)’s classic Xenogenesis Trilogy, published from 1987 to 89 and later retitled Lilith’s Brood. Butler’s powerful novels investigated questions of human extinction, racial distinction, planetary transformation, enforced mutation, generative alienation, and altered kinship. Along with Butler, two other key figures are key to the conception of Xenogenesis. The towering musical achievements of the African-American avant-garde composer Julius Eastman (1940–1990) forms the object and the attitude of The Third Part of the Third Measure (2017), while the enduring experiments in art as pedagogy and psychology by the Indian polymath Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) shape the subject and the method of O Horizon (2018).

Vittorio Colaizzi holds an MFA in painting and a PhD in art history from VCU. He has held one-person exhibitions at the Eric Schindler Gallery in Richmond and Stump Town Gallery in Alma, Wisconsin, and has participated in group exhibitions in Richmond, Norfolk, Courtland, Minneapolis, and Brooklyn. He received a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship in 2006. His monograph on Robert Ryman was published by Phaidon in 2017, and he has also published essays on Trudy Benson, Joan Thorne, and Thornton Willis. Colaizzi is an associate professor of art history at Old Dominion University.

Inspired by the archive of Richmond native Louis Draper, VMFA has organized an unprecedented exhibition that chronicles the first twenty years of the Kamoinge Workshop, a group of African American photographers he helped to found in 1963. More than 180 photographs by fifteen of the early members—Anthony Barboza, Adger Cowans, Danny Dawson, Roy DeCarava, Louis Draper, Al Fennar, Ray Francis, Herman Howard, Jimmie Mannas Jr., Herb Randall, Herb Robinson, Beuford Smith, Ming Smith, Shawn Walker, and Calvin Wilson—reveal the vision and commitment of this remarkable group of artists.

Despite years of medical and social progress, misconceptions about HIV/AIDS persist today. The disease is viewed by many as a scourge of the past that is now easily treatable and primarily impacting gay white men. However, the numbers reveal a more complicated story—one in which gay African-American men have a 1 in 2 chance of acquiring HIV/AIDS.

Richmond’s rate of HIV infection, currently ranked 19th nationally, is exacerbated by high concentrations of poverty, lack of sex education in public schools and the continuing opioid epidemic. Featuring oral histories collected by Laura Browder and Patricia Herrera with accompanying photographic portraits by Michael Simon, Voices from Richmond’s Hidden Epidemic offers a nuanced look at the HIV/AIDS crisis through the stories of survivors, caregivers, activists and health care workers on the front lines.

OPENING RECEPTION: January 17, 6 - 8 PM

William Wylie’s meditations on Pompeii in The Possibility of Ruins liken the photographic medium to this ancient, yet evolving location, “The site of Pompeii functions much like a photograph, by freezing an instant from the past and carrying a representation of it into the present.” Wylie’s photo series documents the index of “physical traces of past experiences” in a place that has endured centuries of development, excavations and restorations–not to mention the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE. His photos acknowledge a spatial awareness of Historical means, as they recognize each stage of the multiple pasts and peoples that inhabited these areas.

OPENING RECEPTION: January 17, 6 - 8 PM

Page Bond Gallery presents View Find 9, a group exhibition comprised of works by fifteen women. Artists include Mary Ellen Bartley, Sally Mann, Elizabeth McGrady, Annielaurie Erickson, Kally Malcom, Cynthia Henebry, Emily Fisher, Zanele Muholi, Ricky Weaver, Angela Franks Wells, Elizabeth Mead, Willie Anne Wright, Maggie Flanagan, Amanda Means & Emily White.

Quirk’s Pink Gallery features the artwork of Charlotte-based artist and illustrator, Kristen Solecki.

Kristen Solecki has taken her love of story and imagery to a career as an artist and illustrator. She creates work that centers around narratives tinged with nostalgia and small, meaningful moments. She uses gouache, ink, and collage on paper to engage the viewer through the tactile, genuine quality of each piece. Solecki studied illustration at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts and creates work for a wide variety of projects including illustrations for books, magazines, products, and gallery shows.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, January 10, 6 - 8PM

Reynolds Gallery presents a series of prints by well-renowned artist Claes Oldenburg, opening Friday, January 10 from 6 – 8 pm. Through lithographs and etchings, the exhibition showcases Oldenburg’s iconic imagery inspired by architectural elements – often studies of his executed sculptures and installations – and everyday objects like an apple and perfume bottle. 

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, January 10, 6 - 8PM

Reynolds Gallery presents On Vacation, Katie Barrie’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. The recent VCUarts MFA graduate exhibits a series of highload acrylic paintings on canvas which incorporate vacation imagery and crisp, summery patterns grounded in architectural compositions reminiscent of travels abroad. In a statement detailing the exhibition, Barrie notes:

My work examines the aesthetics of leisure, the implications of good and bad taste, and what it means to live one’s best life. The idea of the beach or pool-side getaway is a relatively new concept, only practiced for a handful of generations. And yet, it is something most individuals fantasize about luxuriating in. We seek out experiences in particular locations because we are led to believe that we will be happier, more fulfilled people if we do so. My practice analyzes the visual cues and aspirational indulgences that Western society has routinely gravitated towards in pursuit of leisure.

OPENING RECEPTION: Friday, January 10, 6 - 8PM

In Some Portraits, David Freed exhibits a collection of portraits featuring the faces of people he has met and studied throughout his lifetime, including his family, friends, students and mentors. The exhibition presents work spanning myriad mediums, including printmaking applications such as woodblock and etching, and painterly elements like watercolor and pastel. Freed often layers these techniques in his portraits and self-portraits, building a body of both editioned and unique works on paper.

Glave Kocen Gallery's 14th annual SIZE DOESN'T MATTER exhibition includes artists represented by the gallery as well as invited artists in this month long exhibition  featuring works on the smaller size. Over 100 pieces will be available. Also on view: a special retrospective of the late Ted Turner.

Alanna Airitam: The Golden Age is a tribute to black culture and black histories. In an effort to reframe the narrative of western art history, Airitam reconstructs prominent imagery of power with black men and women. Dressed in vintage garments and adorned with lush fruit and flowers, Airitam’s majestic portraits confront and recontextualize the way African American’s have been perceived and recorded throughout art’s history.

The series is comprised of baroque-esque portraits of African Americans, influenced by iconography from 17th century Dutch Renaissance era, also known as the Golden Age of painting. In ‘The Queen’ a woman rests a key in her palm with a floral headdress illuminated by a Rembrant like light; and ‘Dapper Dan’ pays homage to iconic figures from the Harlem Renaissance who influenced Airitam, such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Through lighting and subject, Airitam’s images emanate pride and true grace while transporting the viewer to another time, preserving a history.

Since the mid-1990s, Patty Carroll has been examining female identity, both by way of and through domesticity. Anonymous Women is a series of portraits of shrouded women in exuberant drapery, manifested as homespun vignettes of mannequins, inundated with household objects. Carroll approaches the topic of domesticity through the lens of her own life and through other cultures. With a wry but lighthearted humor, the weight of the accouterments is couched comfortably between absolute suffocation and mere decoration.

Works from Carroll’s recent series, Flora and Fauxna will also be on view. Carroll creates ornate still-lifes, styled with ceramics birds camouflaged between colorful fabrics, artificial flowers, and household tchotchkes. The installations are gorgeous, filled with both vibrant color and subtle nuance. When peeled away, each layer recursively reveals excessive materiality, often all consuming.

Join Studio Two Three for a two-day print sale complete with art from scores of local makers, a grilled cheese & tomato soup bar, and holiday cheer! What more could you ask for?! Come to Studio Two Three’s Winter Print Fair for all your gift-giving needs!

Now in its 55th year, Craft + Design is a museum-quality show that has garnered a reputation for showcasing the finest in contemporary craft. Shoppers spend the weekend browsing the work of over artists from across the country. Awards are presented in ceramics, precious metals, glass, wood and recycled materials, contemporary design, innovative use of traditional craft materials and fiber.

TWO NIGHTS: InLight 2019 is November 15th and 16th, from 7 - 11PM

Organized by 1708 Gallery, InLight Richmond is a FREE, public exhibition of light-based art and performances. Each year, InLight features performances, sculpture, video, and interactive projects that illuminate pathways, walls, sidewalks, green spaces, and kicks off with the Community Lantern Parade. InLight was created in 2008 on the occasion of 1708 Gallery's 30th birthday. Thus was born this free, public art exhibition that offers Richmond the opportunity to engage with contemporary art outside the gallery walls and to experience the city in new and unexpected ways.

InLight 2019 will take place at Chimborazo Park in the Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond. Projects will focus on the social and geographic history of this park. Two key moments in the park's history include being the location of the largest Confederate military hospital during the Civil War and following Emancipation, hosting a Freedmen’s community for formerly enslaved African-Americans. 1708 seeks artists and projects that respond to, elaborate on, and propose new ways of understanding these complex histories.

InLight 2019 will include 20 projects, 4 community partners, 10 local food vendors, a local beer sponsor, and will kick off with the Community Lantern Parade.

A distinguished group of scholars will provide new insights into one of the most celebrated artists of the American Realist movement during this two-day symposium. Dr. Erika Doss, Professor of American Studies, University of Notre Dame, kicks off the event with a Friday night keynote, “Edward Hopper and the Meaning of Home.” Recounting his travels and his pictures of both occupied and abandoned places, this lecture considers how Hopper visually negotiated competing ideas about the meaning of home in modern times.

OPENING RECEPTION AND ARTISTS TALK: Friday, November 15, 5:30-8pm

VisArts presents "walking with," an exhibition of work by Lily Cox-Richard and Michael Jevon Demps. The art in this exhibition was made in response to, and with materials from, the artists’ walks in Richmond. As part of an ongoing project, the artists and their collaborators confront and honor place through walking, listening and making. Central to walking with is an interactive rock tumbler – an instrument and a time machine – that uses river water, silt and local clay to smooth and polish gravel and riprap.The exhibition grapples with questions of value, pace, attention and care. With urgency and wonder, this show considers what we can carry together, who we walk with and how.