December Shows

I'm happy to see that Chris Norris will be having a show at Randolph-Macon College's Flippo Gallery, here for info. He was included in the last Mid-Atlantic edition of New American Paintings - along with Mike - and I later saw one of the drawings at ADA Gallery this summer. I know from a mutual friend that Chris has made some very freaky drawings he hasn't shown yet, hope some are included in the show.

On Main Street you can visit Reynolds Gallery, their shows are continuing through December. Shirley Kaneda and Carlton Newton are downstairs and I especially recommend the works by Don Crow on the second floor. I just found out today that they were all made in and shipped from Qatar(!), where he is currently living and working. Ron Johnson has a nice small painting worth asking to take a look at - not sure if it will be up because it's in the "rotating" area. Ron had a disappointing (for me) second floor show recently, the only piece I liked was the one right at the top of the stairs in that sort of hall space, but when he's good he's the real deal.

Rentz Gallery , right down the street from Reynolds, also looks to be showing some interesting work this month by Pam Longobardi and Mimi Herbert. Rentz has a nice space, one big room with a wall in the center, creating two generous exhibition areas. The Longobardi's I saw being hung looked much better than what is reproduced on the card and the gallery's website, and the work by Mimi Herbert looks really weird and exciting. Rentz also shows Fiona Ross, and Fiona Ross is fantastic.

VCU has two MFA student shows to see, one in the Fine Arts Building on Broad Street's Fab Gallery and the other in a building down on the Slip. The Fab Gallery show is a group show of all the first year Painting grads, including Eric Sall, who just won a $20,000 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. Not the MFA grant, the professional grant! Wow. I don't even think its something you can apply for, you have to be nominated. Congratulations Eric, now buy me a drink! The other show has been curated from all the MFA students, and I especially liked the pieces by Tim Devoe, Diana Al-Hadid, Mike Martin, and Jason Hackett. Danielle Riede has another paint chip piece, this time with a really good title - VCU Rainbow #2, and Emily Hall is represented by her first painting ever, something made after she won a $5,000 Virginia Commission for the Arts Painting Fellowship! How the hell do you do that?