First, it's not about him. OK, it's a little bit about him. Though the exhibit at the Artspace gallery in Plant Zero is titled "Chuck Scalin Looking Back: 30 Years of Collage," the artist says it concerns his students.
The influential longtime Virginia Commonwealth University professor, artist and designer sought to mark his decade of teaching at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School. "In fact, I never intended to show my own work with these students," he says. "I wanted their wonderful work to be the focus of this exhibition." But, they asked him to show with them. Scalin, humbled by the request, accepted. He chose the work of 10 students from the past decade, based on their creative spirit and the inventive personal artistic directions that they developed in the classes.
A side component of the exhibition, in the SmallSpace Gallery from Feb. 28 to March 23, includes 15 small collage/assemblage works representing the various artistic directions Scalin has explored during the past 30 years. And that's a big achievement. 232-6464 or artspacegallery.org
