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.