First Fridays: July 7
Photographer Ashley Florence experiments with materials, situations, emotions, narratives and curiosity in her show “Body and Bread,” on view at Studio IX this month. From a chromogenic print of Florence herself sitting in a traditional Madonna pose and wearing a full-body suit sewn out of blue book linen, to 19 Polaroids of bread heads, baked in a terra cotta form made from a plaster bust cast of a young man, the pieces in the show together provoke a conversation on the human body.
“Embodiment is such a curious, pleasure-ridden, fantastically atrocious experience,” Florence says in her artist statement for the show. “The body, although our primary vehicle, can also be our greatest limitation.”
“Most of my work has portraiture qualities and often inclinations of a self-portrait, but I can only hope they transcend me and speak of our larger human narrative,” Florence says of the pieces that she hopes will stir “curiosity, empathy, sensuality, commonality and repulsion” in the viewer.—Erin O’Hare
Art on the Trax 5784 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Leaves and Pages: You Name It,” featuring watercolor paintings by Pam Roland. Opens July 8, 4-6pm.
FF Central Library 201 E. Market St. “Gone,” featuring photographs of businesses, buildings and local landmarks that were lost to disaster or development and now remain only in photographs and memories. 5-7pm.
FF Chroma Projects Gallery 112 W. Main St., Ste. 10. “Soft Steel,” an exhibit of sculpture by Lily Erb that considers the conjunction between the powerful industrial nature of steel and its ability to be manipulated into flowing, looping shapes. 5-7pm.
CityClay 700 Harris St. Ste. 104. New work by Wendy Wrenn, a former biology teacher whose love of scientific inquiry informs her ceramics work.
FF CitySpace Art Gallery 100 Fifth St. NE. An exhibit of VSA Charlottesville visual art in the gallery and a screening of Light House Studio student films in the gallery lobby. 5:30-7:30pm.
Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Adventure Art,” a celebration of the outdoors painted on trail maps by Kathryn Matthews. Opens June 10, 3-5pm.
FF C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St. “Horse of a Different Color,” featuring bold, expressive paintings and prints by Lori Jakubow. 6-8pm.
FF Fellini’s #9 200 Market St. “Spontaneous Arrangements,” a display of digital art by J. Perry Folly. 5:30-7pm.
FF The Garage 100 E. Jefferson St. “Land and Flight,” featuring oil on canvas by Christen Yates and gouache and ink on paper and board by Kendall Walser Cox. 5-7pm.
FF Graves International Art 306 E. Jefferson St. “Roy Lichtenstein & Company: Postwar and Contemporary Art,” featuring handmade, limited-edition prints and exhibition posters by artists such as Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly, Josef Albers and others. 5-8pm.
FF Java Java 421 E. Main St. “Exploring the Subconscious,” featuring paintings by Stephen Keach. 5-6pm.
FF Kardinal Hall 722 Preston Ave. “Throwback: Concert Photography from 2000-2010,” featuring photography from Jason Lappa. 5-7pm.
Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Summer Perspectives,” featuring work by Isabelle Abbot, Sarah Boyts Yoder and Cate West Zahl.
Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery 3340 Sutherland Rd., North Garden. “Looking Up at NOLA,” an exhibit of oil paintings on canvas by Tamara Murray.
FF McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. In the Sarah B. Smith Gallery, “Visions of Woven Color,” featuring the work of seven artists who employ color and diversity in their weaving; in the Lower Hall Galleries North and South and Upstairs South, a McGuffey members show featuring more than 50 artists working in a variety of media. 5:30-7:30pm.
FF New Dominion Bookshop 404 E. Main St. “For the Love of Carol” includes paintings, collage, photographs and ceramics from 20 artists honoring Carol Troxell, former owner of New Dominion Bookshop, who recently passed away. 5:30-7pm.
FF Piedmont Council for the Arts Gallery 112 W. Main St., Ste. 9. “Sfumato,” an exhibit of paintings on canvas by Felicia Brooks that depict biomorphic forms in a veiled realm where elements emerge and recede into a soft haze of paint. 5-7pm.
Shenandoah Valley Art Center 26 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro. “Local Landmarks and Landscapes,” an exhibition featuring depictions of the greater Waynesboro area; the SVAC annual members’ judged exhibit is also on view in the Cabell/Arehart Gallery.
FF Spring Street Boutique 107 W. Main St. “Spring Street is a Friend of Virginia Wildlife,” featuring oil on canvas wildlife paintings by Anne Marshall Block. 6-8pm.
FF Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Body and Bread,” featuring experimental portrait photography by Ashley Florence. 5-7pm.
Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church 717 Rugby Rd. “Femmes, Flora, Fauna: A Mixed Media Exploration in Fantasy,” featuring paintings by Kristin Rexter.
FF Top Knot Studio 103 Fifth St. SE.
“Integration Series,” a mixed media portrayal by Wolfgang Hermann of adjustment to a life-changing injury through creativity. 5:30-7pm.
FF VMDO Architects 200 E. Market St. A 20-year retrospective of John Tenney’s work, including paintings, drawings and ceramics. 5:30pm.
FF Welcome Gallery at New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. “Proceed, Jumble, Repeat,” a collection of Nina Thomas’ drawings and etchings that are a musing on being surrounded. 5-7:30pm.
Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge 250 Pantops Mountain Rd. An exhibit of oil and watercolor paintings of plants and flowers by Marcia Mitchell.
FF First Fridays is a monthly art event featuring exhibit openings at many downtown art galleries and additional exhibition venues. Several spaces offer receptions.