Artist Dana Frostic (above center) and members of Artspace at their new location in Stratford Hills Shopping Center, in the former home of BK Music (Photo by Ash Daniel)
Among recent shifts in the Richmond arts community is the move of Artspace from apartment-building-bristling Manchester to the Stratford Hills Shopping Center.
The inaugural exhibition for the new space is scheduled to open on Fourth Friday, Oct. 22.
Artist Dana Frostick, an Artspace member for more than 20 years, chaired the committee searching for a new home, which was empowered by a $10,000 matching grant from an anonymous benefactor.
“This new space is giving us the opportunity to pursue programming and events that had been severely restricted by the facility’s limitations at Plant Zero,” Frostick says.
The member-run exhibition space began 33 years ago in pre-Floodwall Shockoe Bottom. The gallery climbed uphill to 6 W. Broad St. in 1992 to get above rising rents, settling in a venue spacious enough for literary gatherings, theater, music and dance performances. There, too, is where First Fridays, under then-executive director Christina Newton, inaugurated the monthly program that assisted in connecting Richmond’s galleries and bolstered downtown revitalization.
Arts organizations are often the first to arrive in parts of town that others may view as risky. Their established presence can provide a catalyst for residential and retail activity. Arts groups, however, aren’t always able to own their once-inexpensive spaces. Thus arise the challenges of “Should I stay or should I go?”
Artspace in 2004 made a cross-river migration to Manchester’s Plant Zero. (Some members formed Art6 and remained on Broad Street for several years.) During Artspace’s 16 years at Plant Zero, the gallery initiated such programs as the Radius 250 biennial, a curated invitational for artists working around Richmond, and the Think Small biennial, which brings together numerous artists presenting gift-sized work during the holiday season.
Patrons found free and abundant adjacent parking, and Plant Zero entered into a period of catalytic dynamism, with studios and arts-related activities, an event space and a cafe.
Then the parking turned to paid, and later it vanished under construction. Former art-related spaces became dedicated to other enterprises.
Artspace developed an exit strategy. After a long hunt, the Stratford Hills location offered what the gallery needed.
“The parking lot at Stratford Hills Shopping Center will better accommodate patrons,” Frostick explains, “and we're looking forward to offering a wider range of performances, as well as some evening viewing hours.”
The front of the building is a large gallery space fitted with movable walls for accommodating multiple exhibitions of varying sizes. The rear spaces offer a kitchenette for receptions and a multipurpose room for classes, workshops, lectures and screenings.
Open calls for the 2022 season are out, and the 11th ThinkSmall presentation is slated for Thursday, Oct. 1, to run through mid-December.
The will for art goes on.
Collaborative Effort
The artist-run 1708 Gallery, which formed in 1978 and was an early adopter for Shockoe Bottom and then Broad Street, remains a vigorous nonprofit space for contemporary art. Up the street, the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University opened its origami-bent Stephen Holl-designed building in 2018 as a multiplatform presentational center for what’s happening now.
For the first time, the two are teaming up for a joint exhibition, showcasing the work of Brooklyn-based artist, composer and performer Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste from Oct. 29-Jan. 22. The exhibition is an extension of his “Get Low (Black Square),” a project that uses as a starting point Kazimir Malevich’s 1915 painting “Black Square.” For the 1708-ICA show, you’ll experience an immersive sound installation that involves inaudible tones felt within your body through the use of ultra-low-frequency subwoofers and darkness.
"Cactus #40," by Joseph Scheer at Reynolds Gallery, starting Sept. 10 (Photo courtesy Reynolds Gallery)
Expansive Qualities
When the Reynolds Gallery last undertook an expansion, Bev Reynolds, the namesake founder, did so amid the 2008 economic crisis. The West Main Street blue-chip art exhibition space doubled in size by joining together with its next-door neighbor. During the gallery’s 43rd year in 2020, the next generation opened a satellite space on Libbie Avenue. After all, art’s made to be seen in person, not distant and on a screen.
Opening Sept. 10 at the 1514 W. Main St. location is the appropriately titled “To Balance a Stone,” works on paper and acrylic on canvas paintings, all undertaken during the past year.
Ongoing at 401 Libbie is a group show of 14 artists with varying approaches, including Carolyn Case, Isabell Bigelow, Louisiana Bendolph, Ron Johnson and Gabriel Teschner. They’ll clear out for the meticulous combinations of craft, painting and sculpture by Leigh Suggs, an exhibition opening Sept. 24 and running through early November.
Now go out and see some art.
Artist Gallery
9/15
Artspace virtual auction, 7-8 p.m., Sept. 15: Works from Richmond artists for live bidding; a silent auction continues through Sept. 22. Proceeds go toward Artspace’s completion of its new home. artspacegallery.org
9/23-11/14
Quirk Gallery, Diego Sanchez (Main Gallery), Rebecca Huber (Pink Gallery), Sept. 23–Nov. 14: New work by these painters; Sanchez with variegated abstractions that seem paused in movement, and Huber’s “historical fiction” figuration of rural life rendered in a neo-folk style. quirkgallery.com
10/23
Candela Gallery, “with, all, & in-between,” through Oct. 23: Photographs, sculptures and video works conducted in partnership between Candela and the Afrikana Film Festival. candelagallery.com, afrikanafilmfestival.org
11/12-13
1708 Gallery’s InLight: The 14th annual curated InLight exhibition illuminates the natural and human histories at Great Shiplock Park, Chapel Island and nearby sites. 1708gallery.org
11/19-21
Visual Arts Center of Richmond Craft + Design Show, Nov. 19-21: The 57th iteration of this anticipated arts occasion returns to Main Street Station. A weekend full of artists from across the country, food, drink and appreciation for the well-made and whimsical. visarts.org
