Sarah Grace Cheek wants viewers to ponder the true nature of the objects she’s created out of wood, wheels, metal baskets, illuminated light bulbs, electrical cords and other common things for “Unmanned Surface Vehicles,” her show on view at The Garage this month. Are these objects functional? Are they furniture or art? Does this one call to mind a sweet Pixar robot? Or does it resemble a giraffe, perhaps a dog?
By using material objects as material to create objects, Cheek has brought the items into a more whimsical existence and given them a life that is at once odd and ordinary. “I continue to be intrigued by the mystery of these new purposes and behaviors that I have created,” Cheek says.
“My pieces lend themselves so easily to be personified in a figment of the viewer’s imagination,” she says. “It is left up to the viewer to decide the function and purpose of these ‘vehicles’ and their abilities.”
GALLERY EXHIBITIONS
Art on the Trax 5784 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “#fab4painters,” a group show featuring paintings by Priscilla Whitlock, Krista Townsend, Jesse Coles and Karen Blair.
Barracks Road Shopping Center 945 Emmet St. N. A pop-up exhibition featuring figurative and nude paintings, with a focus on women of color, by UVA studio art major Uzo Njoku. April 14 and 15.
FF The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative 209 Monticello Rd. “Shake Can Vigorously,” in which Louis Ackerman and Cody Brogan create graffiti art in real time. 5:30pm.
Carver Recreation Center 233 Fourth St. NW. VSA Charlottesville/Albemarle annual art exhibit, featuring work by artists of all ages and abilities.
FF Chroma Projects Gallery 112 W. Main St., Ste. 10. “Offerings,” featuring egg tempera paintings and a silk veiled sanctuary installation by Susan Jamison. 5-7pm.
CitySpace Art Gallery 100 Fifth St. NE, Market Street Garage. “I Love It Here,” featuring author Melody Warnick’s creative placemaking project assembled during the recent Virginia Festival of the Book. 5:30-7:30pm.
FF Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. A reception celebrating the depot’s new artists, Craig Kompelien, Dinah Bailey, Jennifer Knight and Susan Salomon.
FF C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St. “Taking heart, adding soul and ‘turning it’ into a dream,” featuring work from wood turner Mike Sorge. 6-8pm.
FF Fellini’s #9 200 Market St. “Ready for Spring,” featuring acrylic paintings on canvas by Jack Graves III. 5:30-7pm.
The Fralin Museum at UVA 155 Rugby Rd. “Rough and Unequal,” by Kevin Everson; “Collect, Care, Conserve, Curate: The Life of the Art Object”; “Grasping at the Ephemeral: Explorations on Change from the Permanent Collection”; “Imagining Antiquity: Italianate Prints from the Langhorne Collection”; and “Oriforme” by Jean Arp.
FF The Garage 100 E. Jefferson St. “Unmanned Surface Vehicles,” featuring personified, utilitarian objects by furniture designer Sarah Grace Cheek. 5-7pm.
FF Graves International Art 306 E. Jefferson St. “Roy Lichtenstein & Company: Post War and Contemporary Art,” featuring handmade limited edition prints and exhibition posters by notable artists such as Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly and others. 5-8pm.
Kluge-Ruhe Collection 400 Worrell Dr. “Body Ornaments,” objects by indigenous Australian ceramic artist Janet Fieldhouse; “Art and Country,” featuring works on canvas, paper and eucalyptus bark drawn from the museum’s permanent collection.
Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Water in the Desert,” featuring abstract expressionist oil paintings by Janet Bruce.
Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery 3340 Sutherland Rd., North Garden. “The Sky’s the Limit,” featuring paintings by Jeanette Cohen.
FF McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. “The Art of the Selfie,” paintings by Eileen French in the Sarah B. Smith Gallery; “I Stand With Her,” featuring work by Mary Michaela Murray in the Lower Hall North; “Cosmic,” featuring work by Etta Harmon Levin, and “Journey Enigma,” featuring work by Susan Patrick, in the Lower Hall South; “New Work” by Nathan Motley in the Upper Hall North; and work from the Sunday figure drawing group in the Upper Hall South. 5:30-7:30pm.
Mudhouse Coffee Roasters 213 W. Main St. “Two Paintings,” featuring oil paintings by Mae Read.
FF New Dominion Bookshop 404 E. Main St. “Together from Seed to Canvas,” featuring oil paintings by Lou Jordan. 5:30-7pm.
FF Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. “Ways of Seeing,” collaged photography by Stacey Evans; and “Navigation Series,” sculpture, mixed media and works on paper by Alonzo Davis. 5:30-7:30pm.
Shenandoah Valley Fine Art Center 26 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro. “Facets,” featuring layered watermedia work by Karen K. Rosasco.
FF Spring Street Boutique 107 W. Main St. “Italy in All Its Splendor,” featuring oil paintings on canvas by Anne Marshall Block. 6-8pm.
FF Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Terrain Theory,” featuring new works by narrative landscape painter Jameson Zimmer and pattern artist Katie Connor. 5-7pm.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church 717 Rugby Rd. An exhibit featuring quilts by Janice Walker.
FF VMDO Architects 200 E. Market St. “Pastoral Propaganda,” featuring Melissa Malone’s paintings based on the premise that visiting is different from residing. 5:30pm.
FF Welcome Gallery at New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. “Above Ground,” featuring paintings by Sharon Shapiro. 5-7:30pm.
Westminster Canterbury 250 Pantops Mountain Rd. “Abundant Spring,” featuring paintings, collage, photos and ceramics from the BozArt Fine Arts Collective.
Woodberry Forest School 898 Woodberry Forest Rd., Woodberry Forest. “Progression,” watercolor paintings by Matalie R. Deane.
FF WVTF & Radio IQ Studio Gallery 218 W. Water St. “Juried Show—Neighbors,” featuring work by Rosamond Casey, Zoe Cohen, Charlene Cross, Brittany Fan, Aaron Farrington, Kirsten Hemrich, Kim Kelley-Wagner, Lana Lambert and Joanna Mullen, Chicho Lorenzo and Aidyn Mills, Tim Michel, Sarah Miller, Tobiah Mundt, Charles Peale, Laura Snyder, Ryan Trott and Laura Wooten. 5-7pm.
FF Yellow Cardinal Gallery 301 E. Market St. “Where I’ve Been?,” featuring work from Jane Goodman; and “mask(s),” a series of drawings done by Andy Foster in charcoal and Conté crayon on paper. 5-7pm.
FF First Fridays is a monthly art event featuring exhibit openings at many downtown art galleries and additional exhibition venues. Several spaces offer receptions.
