The first unit Francesca Grazioli’s American studies class tackled was one on the history of Confederate statues “and how they affect surrounding communities,” says the St. Anne’s-Belfield junior.
Impressed by how her classmates engaged in these difficult conversations, “especially in the context of August 11 and 12 [2017]…I thought that their voices, along with all the teenagers in Charlottesville and Albemarle [County], needed to be heard,” says Grazioli, who gathered those voices together for an exhibition. Throughout the month of March, the mixed-arts gallery show and juried competition, “Through Our Eyes: Teens Respond to August 12th and its Aftermath,” is on view at The Bridge PAI.
More than two dozen students submitted work that, among other things, confronts racism, examines inequality and diversity, and addresses “feelings of fear, disgust, and confusion,” says Grazioli–as well as what it’s like to live in a city whose image has been so altered.
Charlottesville High School student Sahara Clemons will show a mixed-media piece that is “an homage to the American flag, jagged, and layered” with strips of Dutch-wax (Ankara) print fabric upon which Clemons has written phrases from signs held up August 11 and 12, 2017. She chose to reference the flag, she says, because “in the past few years under the Trump administration, there has been a change in my perception of patriotism as a force that means to shut me out as a black woman.”
Maryam Alwan, whose poem “charl-loves-ville” is featured in the show, wants those who read her poem to “feel compelled to spread love…no matter how cliché it sounds, and to learn and grow from the infamous date rather than brush over it and pretend it never happened. Ignorance and attempts to minimize or forget warning signs helped to cause it in the first place.”
Teen artists in the show also want adults to know that young people should be part of the bigger conversations, too. “We know what’s happening, and we want change,” says Grazioli. “But we lack credibility and social power, for no good reason.” Says Alwan: “We’re anxious to be heard.”
Openings
The Bridge PAI 209 Monticello Rd. “Through Our Eyes: Teens Respond to August 12th and its Aftermath,” a mixed-arts exhibition that highlights the voices of teens, who are often excluded from the conversation. 5:30-9:30pm.
CitySpace 100 Fifth St. NE. An exhibition of student artwork from Albemarle County Public Schools. 5:30-7:30pm.
C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Spectra,” featuring works by Diana Branscome that explore the inspiring and magical aspects of glass. 6-8pm.
C’ville Coffee 1301 Harris St. Various original works by Kris Bowmaster.
Dovetail Design & Cabinetry 309 E. Water St. “Blue Ridge Watercolors,” featuring work by Ryan Arnold. 5-7pm.
Fellini’s 200 Market St. “Owned,” an exhibition of pastels by Cat Denby. 5:30-7pm.
McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. In the Sarah B. Smith Gallery, “Local Impressions: Plants, Pigments, and Place,” Lotta Helleberg’s botanical works on textile and paper, using prints and dyes derived from local plants; in the Downstairs North Hall Gallery, “Moments,” a show of works in ink, acrylic, and oil; in the Downstairs South Hall Gallery, “Woman: Self & Other,” a selection of paintings by Lindsay Heider Diamond that explores women’s quiet
moments; in the Upstairs North and South Hall Gallery, “The Process of Creating Art for Books,” an exhibition of art created for books from a variety of artists, as part of the annual Virginia Festival of the Book 5:30-7:30pm.
Milli Coffee Roasters 400 Preston Ave. “Winter Light,” an exhibition of works in oil on canvas by Lauchlan Davis. 7-10pm.
New Dominion Bookshop 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Debris,” featuring multi- media drawings and watercolor by Susan Patrick. 5-7pm.
Roy Wheeler Realty Co. 404 Eighth St. NE. “Ashley Sauder Miller’s Heirloom-Inspired Mixed Media,” a show of works that explore, among other things, interior spaces. 5-7pm.
Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. In the main gallery, “Inside the Artists’ Studio,” a group exhibition featuring the work of local artists; and in the Dové Gallery, Jessica Burnam’s artist-in-residence exhibition. 5:30-7:30pm.
Spring Street Boutique 107 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Spring Whispers,” featuring oil paintings by Jane Goodman. 6-8pm.
Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Flow + Nature,” featuring works inspired by nature and movements of groups and individuals, by Juan Manuel Granados. 5:30-7:30pm.
Top Knot Studio 103 Fifth St. SE. “Northern Neck Nature,” a show of works in acrylic by Pete Morris. 5:30-7:30pm.
VMDO Architects 200 E. Market St. “Flow,” an exhibition of fluid works in acrylic, resin, and alcohol by Cassie Clawson. 5:30-7:30pm.
Welcome Gallery 114 Third St. NE. “Titania’s Fairies,” featuring oil paintings by Mineko Yoshida. 5-7:30pm.
WriterHouse 508 Dale Ave. “Reflecting,” an exhibition of oil paintings by Lee Christmas Halstead. 5-7pm.
WVTF RadioIQ 216 W. Water St. “Poetry of the Landscape,” featuring works in oil by Meg West. 5-7pm.
Other March shows
Annie Gould Gallery 121B S. Main St., Gordonsville. A show of acrylic and collage works by Judith Ely, and watercolors by Chee Ricketts. Through March 11.
The Batten Institute at the Darden School of Business 100 Darden Boulevard. “Celebrating Creativity: Works by Local Women Artists,” featuring work from 27 women in Charlottesville and the surrounding areas.
Buck Mountain Episcopal Church 4133 Earlysville Rd., Earlysville. An exhibition of multi-media artwork by Philip Jay Marlin. Opens March 3.
Commonwealth Restaurant 422 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Linear Motion,” featuring illustrations by Martin Phillips.
Crozet Artisan Depot 571 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. A collection of leather work by artisan Penny Sipple. Opens March 9.
Firefly 1304 E. Market St. An exhibition of work full of hidden images by Flame Bilyue.
The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA 155 Rugby Rd. “Pompeii Archive: Recent Photographs by William Wylie”; Vanessa German’s installation, “sometimes.we.cannot.be.with.our.bodies”; “The Print Series in Bruegel’s Netherlands: Dutch and Flemish Works from the Permanent Collection”; and “Oriforme” by Jean Arp.
Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 233 Fourth St. NW “Deborah Willis: In Pursuit of Beauty” examines how beauty is posed, imagined, critiqued, and contested.
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection 400 Worrell Dr. “Kent Morris: Unvanished,” a series of digitally constructed photographs that explores the relationship between contemporary Indigenous Australian identity and the modern built environment; “Beyond Dreamings: The Rise of Indigenous Australian Art in the United States.”
Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “Surrealities: The Art of Ed Haddaway and Russ Warren,” a show of sculpture and paintings that coincides with Second Street Gallery’s “Inside the Artists’ Studio” exhibition, through March 10; and “Picasso, Lydia and Friends, Vol. IV,” opening March 16.
Martha Jefferson Hospital 500 Martha Jefferson Dr. “Calm Reflections,” featuring the work of the BozART Fine Art Collective.
McIntire School of Commerce Connaughton Gallery UVA Central Grounds. “Seasons of Color and Light,” featuring work by Chuck Morse and Steve Deupree, through March 12.
Piedmont Virginia Community College V. Earl Dickinson Building 501 College Dr. “Look Out: A Collection of Community Portraits,” featuring images of Charlottesville residents by artists Eze Amos, Aaron Farrington, Jae Johnson, Greg Antrim Kelly, Jesús Pino, Sanjay Suchak, and Guillermo Ubilla, curated by Stacey Evans; and “Skyward,” featuring botanical works by John Grant.
Shenandoah Valley Art Center 122 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro. “40Under40,” featuring work by contemporary Virginia artists. Opens March 2.
UVA Medical Center Main Lobby 1215 Lee St. “Plant Life Up Close,” featuring 36 of Seth Silverstein’s close-up photographs of plant life, seeds, flowers, and more. Through March 8.
Vitae Spirits Distillery 715 Henry Ave. “Inspired Art,” a show of multi-media works in crayon and fabric paint by Sara Gondwe.