Coming SOON

   April 4 Noon

   @ Perspective Gallery

 reception 5 - 7

 

More art from Appalachia

Art Exhibit: February 21 – March 29, 2014

Working Class Portraits by Jonathan Murrill

 Reception Friday February 21 5 – 7 p.m. Free and Open to the Public

Redeemed                           Charcoal
 

                          Please come and enjoy Great Art and  

                              Great Live Music by Eric Lanoue

                                                                                                                                    

 

Perspective Gallery  continues its focus on Appalachian artists and subject with Jonathan Murrill’s “Working Class Portraits.”   Jonathan, a Roanoke Valley native and emerging artist, graduated with an M.F.A. from Radford University and currently teaches art at Craig County High School and Virginia Western Community College.

 

Cammo-Man                                                     Oil on Canvas

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“In my concentration of oil painting I focus primarily on the human expression and personalities of many Southwest Virginia workers I have worked alongside.  Through my co -workers I have gained a deeper understanding of the lifestyle, struggles, and the human spirit that each of these workers embodies.  My intention in my own work is to rediscover the human spirit of the working class through the use of expression.

In my own work I have found that the techniques of scraping the paint into and out of the canvas allow for the rugged and tattered feel that these workers possess.  I work completely without a brush using palette knives or any other tool capable of scraping and degrading the canvas surface.  Overall, my work does not represent an idealistic beauty, but rather, it represents the emotional kaleidoscope of each individual.”

Jonathan Murrill

http://www.murrillart.com/

 

New Exhibit

MLK Poster Entry 2014

 The Time is Always Right to do what is Right

 

9th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. K-12 Poster and Essay Contest Winners on Display at Perspective Gallery 2nd Floor Squires Student Center, Virginia Tech

The theme for this year’s contest, “The Time is Always Right to do what is Right” is a quote taken from Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech titled “The Future of Integration”  which was given at Oberlin College on October 22, 1964 and heard by an estimated 2,500 students, faculty, and visitors. To see the entire speech go to The King Center.


As part of the 9th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Celebration The Office of Diversity and Inclusion  at Virginia Tech, in partnership with the Montgomery County-Radford City-Floyd County branch of the NAACP sponsored a poster and essay contest. The contest was open to all students in Montgomery, Floyd, Giles, Pulaski, and Roanoke counties, Radford and Roanoke cities, as well as independent/private schools in the surrounding area. Students in grades K-8 only were eligible for the poster contest. Students in grades 6-12 were eligible for the essay contest.

The exhibit runs through February 15 and a RESCHEDULED opening reception will be held on Tuesday January 28 from 4 - 6 p.m.

Pop Up Art Report Artist as Activist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beehive Collective visits Squires with their Mural

                                 

               Erin McKelvy, one of the artists, explains the narrative of the piece titled     

                                                     The True Cost of Coal

 

 

This event will be at Squires in the 2nd Floor Atrium Monday December 2 and Tuesday December 3

from 11 - 2 p.m.

                              For more information about the Beehive Collective visit
                           http://beehivecollective.org/beehive_poster/the-true-cost-of-coal/


A Pop-Up art exhibit is designed to pique the curiosity of passers-by and to provide quality art experiences outside of the gallery in a "surprise" setting .

Disclaimer: The links of the organization represented in this exhibit are provided  as a courtesy. They should not be construed as an endorsement by Virginia Tech.

Being Thankful

Ocracoke Island, North Carolina                                                                                                                Sunset and Wind


On this week of Thanksgiving 2013 I take a moment to be thankful for the beauty around.  It just takes a moment, any moment, to stop, feel and see where you are. 

  Sometimes you can't see it, but you know it is there.

That is what an artist does.

Brings a vision to the surface.

Sometimes we connect to their vision.

Sometimes we don't.

But every time we explore another's vision,

we connect to humanity a little more;

creating a web of questioning, empathy, and understanding.

All one day, perhaps, helping to solve the next problem.



Robin Scully Boucher

 

  

Appalachian Photography Exhibit

                                           Portrait of Newton Hylton by Earl Palmer

Earl Palmer’s Photographs of Appalachia on Display at Perspective Gallery

 

My Friend Earl, an exhibit of Earl Palmer’s twentieth century photographs of Appalachia will be on display at the Perspective Gallery  November 14, 2013 through January 3, 2014. There will be an opening reception at the gallery on Friday, November 15, from 5 to 7 p.m.   Music will be provided by Old Man Kelly http://www.oldmankelly.com/  Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public. The Perspective Gallery is located on the second floor in Squires Student Center. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. through December 12.  The gallery is closed on Mondays and during Thanksgiving week.  Gallery is open by appointment only after December 12.

Earl Palmer (1905 – 1996) was mountain born and became a local legend after moving to Cambria, Virginia and becoming the “Mayor of Cambria” and the owner of Palmer Grocery. In 1990 Jean Haskell a former Virginia Tech Professor in the Appalachian Studies program published a critical and biographical commentary based on extensive interviews with Earl Palmer.  The book titled The Appalachian Photographs of Earl Palmer included 120 of Palmer’s best photos.  Dialogue from this text is included in the exhibit.  Also supporting the photos are artifacts on loan from the Appalachian Studies Program at Virginia Tech.

 

The photos in My Friend Earl are on loan from the John Kline collection and spans more than 50 years of images gleaned from Earl Palmer’s travels through the rural Appalachian landscape of the southern mountains of Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina and Kentucky.  Through his photo narratives, Earl captures the strength of character and the self-sufficient lifestyles of the mountain people he encounters along the way.  The exhibit of black and white photographs is an important documentation of Earl’s vision of a culture on the edge of transition.

 

Robin Scully Boucher

New River Art Biennial 2013

Dave Wertz's recycled object sculpture

 

                

The artists chosen for this exhibit had to pass muster from three very competent jurors:  Michael Haga, Associate Dean at the College of Charleston School of the Arts, Charleston, South Carolina; Jeffery Allison; Paul Mellon Collection Educator and Manager of Statewide Programs and Exhibitions Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Robin Boucher; Art Programs Director Virginia Tech Student Centers and Activities.

The challenge in choosing work for this exhibit was recognizing that mixing high craft with fine art is ok.  The breadth of technique and media expertise is a true representation of the art work being produced in our region.  Because of the wide geographic distribution of the artists-all within a 150 mile radius of Blacksburg- you are getting a snapshot of how the mountains, valleys, hills, and streams create nooks and crannies that influence creativity.  Although one could think the artists are isolated in this environment the opposite is true.  Within each niche is a rich influence of culture, travel, and the forms created by both man and nature. 

Darcy Meeker                                           Mineral Spirit                                                     Italian Alabaster

 

Artists represented in this exhibit include professors (not all in art), former Fed Ex Drivers, Virginia Tech graduates (also not all in art), world travelers, mothers, and fathers.  But over and over as the bios and statements are read from each artist a common theme emerges, and that is their mention of their sense of place within the region.   

The work of the artist involves helping us to see something new.  No matter how familiar the subject may be to us, the artist’s hand challenges our perceptions at some level.  A realistic portrait offers us the chance to see more than a face, but also to ponder the emotion caught at a fleeting moment.  Or seeing an abstract work may trigger a response unexpectedly because we don’t always understand what we are looking at in a logical manner. 

                Nick Vitelli                           Colored Pencil on Paper

My challenge while designing the exhibit was finding a commonality in work so that the viewer could “read” the show as they walked through it.  You may choose to see each piece as a separate or individual work, or you may walk through and dare yourself to see the collective response of artists living within the unique geographic region of the East Coast Mountains, rivers, and piedmont.  See if you can discern commonalities in form or color as you move from piece to piece. Perhaps the same idea is being explored by different artists using different media.  Possibly there is an overall “sentiment” that is pervasive in the art represented and maybe this is reflective of a global “sense of place or time.” 

It is ultimately the viewer who puts the show together.  The artists make the work and the curator connects it into a holistic statement.  You, the audience, like the person who reads the words in a book, make the ideas come to life.  Otherwise what is on the walls of a gallery are really just things to look at.

Robin Scully Boucher-curator