Matt Lively Opening (Red Door Gallery)

Last weekend, I attended Matt Lively's opening at the Red Door Gallery for his series of new work, "Home." I was familiar with Matt's work since last year, when he was my Surface Research teacher in Art Foundations. However, I had never seen it before in a gallery setting. His paintings were very well presented by the Red Door Gallery, which is much smaller than I expected, having never been there. You would think large-scale paintings in a small-scale space would maybe be claustrophobic, however, the presentation in my opinion was very easy to view.
It was also nice to view the work on the opening night because it gives it a friendlier atmosphere, especially because I was familiar with his previous work and style anyway. However, had it been an unknown artist, I would probably not have enjoyed the experience of a crowded gallery on opening night.
In addition to Matt's paintings, he is working on a short film, called The Windchill Factory, in which he is building a group of small glass globes surrounding houses. These constructions where also on display and pleasantly offset his paintings, (many of which feature the same style house.)
It was great to see an artist/past teacher/friend's work in a gallery setting. To me, it made the experience of going to a new gallery space much more familiar than it would have been otherwise.

Anderson Gallery Juried Undergraduate Show (Submission and Response)

I entered the Anderson Gallery's Undergraduate juried art show earlier this month. My work was not accepted. This work is above. (It is a study of Francesca Woodman's work.) Last week I went to the exhibition of the chosen pieces and was extremely impressed with what I saw. It seemed as though the Sophomore class was a bit underrepresented, but otherwise, there were masses of pieces by the Art Foundation Freshmen, Juniors and Seniors. I was very struck by the time-based pieces presented by the Art Foundation students in Time Studio classes. I don't remember honestly having ever done a project in my time class last year anywhere close the the bar these students just set. I thought they were junior or senior kinetic imaging students when I watched them, and then saw they were actually Freshmen.
I was also very impressed by the sculptures featured in the Anderson Gallery show. The one that interested me the most was the five stuffed dogs hanging from the wall in the downstairs room of the gallery. This sculpture was a bit ambiguous and definitely haunting. On the one hand, these dogs looked like cute stuffed animals you used to have as a kid. On the other hand, however, the way they were hanging made them look as though they were skinned and hung in a line. To me, this sculpture was a strong comment on the bridge between cute and disturbing, childhood and something much heavier. Also, the mere number of the dogs/skinned dogs made their darker skinned look much more deliberate and almost sociopathic. This sculpture definitely started to do something to me as the viewer.
In general, the Anderson Gallery show made a huge impression on me, because it was really the first time I got to see amazing juried work from the other media.

First Friday (April)

I attended this month's First Friday last week in Downtown Richmond. I found this month's much more enjoyable than lasts from the standpoint of the weather, first of all. However, I seemed to enjoy the art that I saw this month more as well. My favorite piece was at the Metro Gallery, where the VCU Craft and Material Studies students were showing their work. I was very taken by the work of Andrea Donnelly, which was obviously, at first, due to the massive dimensions of her hand woven tapestry. She had painted some of the cotton stitching to portray a silhouette of a woman in the huge tapestry. It was almost as though the woman, although giant, was actually sitting behind the cloth backlit. The portrayal of the human body was done amazingly, given the material. Above that, Donnelly managed to make the two dimensional woven woman have multi-dimensional feelings, which the viewer could easily grasp. I was blown away by this piece for many reasons. I didn't understand the medium, the sheer dimensions were not typical of art I usually see, and the emotion was so clear it was overpowering. I think this work should have had its own room, however, because it took over the other pieces, which may have been interesting, but I never quite got to them.
There was one other piece in the Metro Gallery which struck me because of the interesting installation. It was another Craft and Material Studies piece in a little closet nook in the back of the gallery. It was pencil sketches of a family with the daughter's face blank in every portrayal of her. It was very moving to me because of the nook which housed it. I could almost imagine the daughter locked in there sketching on the walls with coal or dirt she found. It was very dark, but very moving.
Finally, there was a photographer showing with a 360 camera, which he brought and displayed at the gallery. It was interesting to eavesdrop on his discussions with the line of viewers about the mechanics of the camera.

Artist Statement

Photography is a therapy for me. Taking pictures, for me, gives me a release from the things I don't talk about. In terms of society, I am probably an introvert. However, I strive to create very extroverted imagery for myself and for the viewer. My main goal is to create art that makes the viewer feel, whether or not the subject is obvious or not. Of course, I have my own intentions for the photographs; my own inspirations and feelings. However, I don't feel its important for the viewer to get the exact same feelings. I don't want my art to tell a story. I would rather have it allow the viewer to imagine a place the imagery puts them, and how they can relate to these places.

CV

Kathleen Jones CV

Education:
B.F.A. in Photography and Film, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Richmond, VA, May, 2011
• GPA: 3.67 (Includes Art Foundations)
• GPA: 4.0 (Only Photography courses)
B.S. in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, VCU, Richmond, VA, May, 2011
• GPA: 3.75 (Transfer credits)

Teaching Experience:
Teaching Assistant, Arabic Film and Culture, VCU, Richmond, VA, January 2009-present
• Tutor general film study and cultural knowledge
• Perform general TA duties (grading, emailing students, posting assignments, etc)

Group Exhibition:
2nd Place Award Recipient, ArtWorks All Media Show, Richmond, VA, February 2009
• Juried by Matt Lively

Artist Resume

Kathleen Jones Resume

Education:
B.F.A. in Photography and Film, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Richmond, VA, May, 2011
• GPA: 3.67 (Includes Art Foundations)
• GPA: 4.0 (Only Photography courses)

Photography and Film Experience:
Freelance Photographer, Richmond, VA, October 2008-present
• Assist models with portfolio building
• Specialize in Film and Digital

2nd Place Award Recipient, ArtWorks All Media Show, Richmond, VA, February 2009
• Juried by Matt Lively

Teaching Assistant, Arabic Film and Culture, VCU, Richmond, VA, January 2009-present
• Tutor general film study and cultural knowledge
• Perform general TA duties (grading, emailing students, posting assignments, etc)

Relevant Coursework and Interests
Intermediate Photography, VCU, Richmond, VA, Spring 2009 (course in progress)
• Independently studied and was supervised in applying the photographic skills of a renowned film photographer
• Intensively studied the photographic techniques and style, as well as artistic concepts of Francesca Woodman
• Researched gallery ownership of Woodman’s collections

Organizations and Awards:
Recipient, Dean’s List recognition, VCU, Richmond, VA, Fall 2007 and Fall 2008 semesters
Member, College Art Association (CAA), VCU Chapter, Richmond, VA, March, 2009-present
Member, Beta Gamma Sigma (International Business Honor society) VCU Chapter, Richmond, VA, March, 2009-present
Recipient, VCU Emerging Leaders Scholarship, Richmond, VA, August, 2007

Skills:
Software proficiency
• Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, Photomatix, iMovie, Microsoft Office Suite
Artistic Techniques
• Darkroom (Film and negative processing)
• Selected alternative processes (cyanotyping, toning, sabattier printing)