Category Archives: Art

Roman Sirotin: Abandoned Beauty…


 

  Roman Sirotin, a native of Saint Petersburg, Russia is a multi-media artist drawn to beauty in many realms. A dancer, painter and photographer now living in Columbus, Ohio, Roman moved to America over a decade ago. In 2010, he began a creative collaboration with Columbus artist and dancer Jennifer Gordon. Together, they dance, paint and photograph dramatic images, many of abandoned buildings and stark spaces in the U.S. and abroad. “Abandoned places appeal to me due to the beauty of its decay and the atmosphere it gives off. They allow for moments of transcendence … Continue reading Roman Sirotin: Abandoned Beauty…

Subject to Change: Paintings by Richard Crozier

painting of Woolen Mills dam
 

  Artist Richard Crozier’s works are subjects of change…change of seasons, change of light, change of landscape and skyline. Over the past four decades, he has produced more than 3000 “portraits” of the Charlottesville area in transition. In 2011, Crozier retired as professor of studio art from UVa’s McIntire Department of Art, where since 1974, he’d taught beginning drawing and advanced painting and became known for his encouraging and engaging style. He continues to paint daily, producing up to five scenes a week. “The thing that interests me a lot are landscapes that are in … Continue reading Subject to Change: Paintings by Richard Crozier

Mixing It Up… Art of Julia Aurora Travers


 

Julia Aurora Travers likes to mix it up. Her creative talent and social concerns combine in various venues—as artist, designer, writer and teacher. A native of Hampton, Virginia, Travers now lives in Charlottesville where she teaches preK classes and designs locally as well as a volunteer for CitySquare, an anti-poverty, non-profit in Dallas, Texas. She recently completed a graphic design internship with The Atlantic Post, an international online news journal. She and her husband, Jeff, have co-written and illustrated a new children’s book, Sylvie and Foster. Travers’ community art efforts span from an elementary school … Continue reading Mixing It Up… Art of Julia Aurora Travers

Mystery Revealed at Morven Farm


 

The mystery will be solved on Saturday at six. The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) will unveil “The Commission” at Morven Farm in Charlottesville on Saturday May 10th. This year’s Commission — “Coming to Know What We’ve Always Known” — showcases a collaborative art installation created for one night only. Proceeds from the gala fund-raiser will afford future artists time at the VCCA working retreat in Amherst County. The 2014 winning Commission combines the imaginative work of VCCA Fellows, poet Sally Dawidoff and visual artist Georgia June Goldberg. Dawidoff’s poems have been published … Continue reading Mystery Revealed at Morven Farm

Elevating the Unexpected: Paintings by Michael Fitts


 

Water pistols. Animal crackers. Twinkies. Paper airplanes. Dollar bills, paddle ball toys and boxes of popcorn. Fun and games, but maybe not the stuff of fine art. Unless you’re Virginia artist Michael Fitts. Fitts’s art not only elevates the unexpected, he does so using untraditional materials – scraps of sheet tin, copper and aluminum. Old metal—with all its worn and surprising surfaces—began to interest Fitts in 1989 after he’d graduated in graphic design from Virginia Commonwealth University. “I was in Richmond, and it was my first time living in the city. I began collecting things … Continue reading Elevating the Unexpected: Paintings by Michael Fitts

On the Move: Art by Stacey Evans

Skyline, New York, Fall 2011
 

  Growing up in Waynesboro, Virginia, a small town which photographer Stacey Evans describes as a mix of rural, urban, industrial and suburban landscapes, she remembers watching trains speed by and wondering, “’Where are they going?’ I wanted to go there too. Even now whenever I hear the train, there’s the mystery and romance of going somewhere.” In her late 20s, Evans started riding trains South and North to visit family and friends, and en route, noticed with increasing interest, the variation in the land. “I was really mesmerized by the changing landscape — the … Continue reading On the Move: Art by Stacey Evans

Breathing Room by Deborah McLeod


 

After four years on Charlottesville’s downtown mall, Chroma Projects is vacating our beautiful space. We are sadly closing our heavy glass doors at the end of January, and for the foreseeable future the gallery will take refuge in cyberspace, waiting until it becomes clear how to continue to work on behalf of the area art scene. In starting up the gallery, I hoped to illustrate through curation and thoughtful installation, my belief that art needs breathing room to be fully enjoyed, and everyone needs art to breathe and enjoy. It’s such a weary old chestnut … Continue reading Breathing Room by Deborah McLeod

Nature Revealed: Art by Fred Nichols

Rapidan Summer by Fred Nichols
 

Virginia landscape artist Frederick Nichols remembers photographing the moon from a Brooklyn rooftop years ago, surprised with the photos’ good quality. It was 1970 and Nichols was a graduate MFA student at the Pratt Institute. The year before he’d graduated from UVA, majoring in studio art under the tutelage of realist painter Robert Barbee, an academic traditionalist wary of photography. “I didn’t want to be a photographer,” says Nichols, “but I began experimenting with photography as a way to capture something to work with in my paintings.”     For starters, Nichols decided for his … Continue reading Nature Revealed: Art by Fred Nichols

Flowers, Fruits and Frames: Art of Bob Kulicke


 

New York artist Bob Kulicke always said he didn’t want to be the biggest collector of his own work. Whether as a direct result of this attitude or not, he painted the most refined, nuanced, exquisite pictures, kept the prices tantalizingly low and sold at least 95% of everything he painted. An absurdly generous man, he gave most of the rest away. He was in no danger of becoming his own biggest collector. Owning a painting of his routinely led buyers to become obsessed with owning more, and many of his collectors owned 20, 30 … Continue reading Flowers, Fruits and Frames: Art of Bob Kulicke

Earth, Sky and Sea by Gray Dodson


 

Artist Gray S. Dodson, Tidewater born and bred, moved to the meadows and mountains of Nelson County in 1995. Dodson’s wide array of “en plein air” oil paintings now reflect her Virginia journey as well as scenes painted onsite throughout the U.S., Canada, Curacao, France, Italy and Mexico. Fifteen of her works illustrate SUNDAY DRIVES, Cruising the Back Road of Amherst and Nelson Counties by Margaret Myers and Ann Rucker. “Nature captured me from the moment I stood before it with easel and paints and wondered how in the world I could do it justice,” … Continue reading Earth, Sky and Sea by Gray Dodson