OCT 21, 2007–FEB 24, 2008
Museum of Contemporary Art Pacific Design Center

Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas traces the graphic art made by Emory Douglas while he worked as minister of culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until its discontinuation in the early 1980s. Douglas’s powerful visuals helped define the trademark visual style of the group’s newspapers, posters, and pamphlets. Douglas’s substantial body of work exists as a powerful graphic record of the Black Panthers’ legacy, reflecting their development and evolving mission to improve the lives of African Americans by calling for resistance and change, as well providing social services to their communities. With a firm understanding of the need to disseminate information and communicate the party’s agenda visually, Douglas’s bold illustrations and striking images spoke forcefully to a community ravaged by poverty, police brutality, and poor living conditions. With unmistakable humanism, Douglas portrayed a populace that was emerging from segregation and proudly fighting to assert their rights to equality. Organized by MOCA Ahmanson Curatorial Fellow Sam Durant, the exhibition includes approximately 150 of Douglas’s most influential works, which serve as a testament to the efficacy of visual art to communicate a political position.

www.moca.org

The Commonwealth Bricoleurs and Area Lugar de Proyectos present Four Play, new work by MFA students from the Department of Sculpture + Extended Media.

The Commonwealth Bricoleurs work in a range of new and traditional sculptural media that are not focused on creating objects but on making and exploring environments. They take their name from the French word bricoleur — a resourceful person who collects things and information and puts them together in a way that they were not originally designed to do.

Lily Cox-Richard
David Grainger
Jesse Robinson
James Sham

Reception: January 10th

Salida #18
Villa Blanca Industrial Park Plaza Angora
Caguas, Puerto Rico

VIRGINIA Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUQ) will host its annual faculty exhibition 2007-2008 beginning December 17 and runs till January 26th.

The work of 12 teaching faculty members of three academic departments, Art Foundation, Graphic Design and Fashion Design, are to be featured. The works present the diversity of the cultural backgrounds, artistic creativity and research interests of Sherry Blankenship, Halim Choueiry, Don Crowe, Kathleen Ferguson-Huntington, Muqeem Khan, Peter Martin, Lauren O’Brien, Dwight Rose, Muneera Spence and Timothy Wilkerson.

The scope of their works spans from graphic design, calligraphy, painting, collage, ceramic, mixed-media, sculpture to film, and in most cases comprise works that have been created in response to the cultural environment in which all of them live at present.

This exhibition is a window into the creativity and ingenuity of the art and design teaching faculty at VCUQatar,” noted Gallery director and assistant professor in Art History, Jochen Sokoly.

The VCUQ Gallery is open Sundays-Thursdays, 10am to 5pm. More information can be had from VCUQ (4927200), Sokoly (4826786) or email jsokoly@qatar.vcu.edu

Image: Kathleen Ferguson-Huntington

Noise/Video Show

Sunday December 16, 2007 at Ghostprint Gallery

220 West Broad St.

Richmond, VA 23220

7:00pm

$3 – $5 [suggested donation]

::::Bernhard Gal (Austria)
[ http://www.bernhardgal.com/ ]

::::Jesse Kudler (philly) + Jason Talbot (richmond)
[ http://www.myspace.com/jessekudler ]
[ http://www.myspace.com/jasontalbot ]

::::Scott Allison (washington, d.c.) + Caustic Castle (richmond) + Andy Hayleck (Baltimore)
[ http://zeromoon.com ]
[ http://myspace.com/causticcastle ]
[ http://www.rasbliutto.net/artists/andrewhayleck.html ]

:::: Stephen Vitiello (Richmond, Va)
[ http://stephenvitiello.com ]
image: http://www.bernhardgal.com/

Sanford Biggers, assistant professor in Sculpture + Extended Media will be exhibiting some of his latest work this month in the Tate Modern. Sanford’s work is part of the exhibit Illuminations  on the level 2 gallery. The exhibit  is open December 14th to February 24, 2008.

image: esthero & shae fiol: lift ev’ry voice and sing from Somthin’ Suite

“…the standout of the show is Angela White’s mesmerizing three turntables and Michael Jackson. Her sculpture in a group show at Kim Foster Gallery earlier this year was a revelation, and the piece in Ensemble is even more complex and beautiful in its construction and music. Plus, the Michael Jackson turntable is hilarious, and more than a little scary.”

Artcal.net had this to say about Angela White’s recent work in the Ensemble at the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. You can read the full article here on Artcal’s zine.

Angela is a Sculpture + Extended Media MFA student.

Interior Design presents Susan Szenasy
March 3, 5:30pm
Commonwealth Ballroom B
Student Commons
907 Floyd Avenue Richmond, VA 23220

Department visit March 3rd and 4th

In 1986 Susan Szenasy was named chief editor of Metropolis, the New York City-based magazine of architecture, culture, and design. During her 17 years as Editor-inChief, the magazine has gained International recognition and has won numerous awards. Susan’s training in design journalism was on the job. Beginning with Interiors magazine, she rose from a junior position of editorial assistant to senior editor; then se was named chief editor of Residential Interiors, the short-lived offspring of Interiors. Susan is the author of several books on design, including The Home and Light. She holds an MA degree in Modern European History from Rutgers University and teaches design history and design ethics at New York’s Parsons School of Design. She is a frequent lecturer and panel moderator on broad-ranging design topics, and the guiding light behind Metropolis’s Conferences (which she also facilitates), including Wonderbrands, Wonderbrands West, Net@work, Business UnUsual, Teaching Green and DEsign Entrepreneurs. She is the cofounder of R.Dot (Rebuild Downtown Our Town), a coalition of New Yorkers who came together after the 9/11 tragedies to contribute their expertise to building the 21st century metropolis at the site of the former World Trade Center.

Anderson Gallery Exhibition
January 18 through March 2, 2008

One of the most innovative artists working in North America today happens to be a woodworker. Toronto’s Gord Peteran has launched a boundary-crossing career, opening up the category of furniture to an unprecedented range of psychological and conceptual content. Sometimes his means are disarmingly simple: his work “A Table Made of Wood” is cobbled together, seemingly at random, from scraps lying on his workshop floor. At other times, he employs craftsmanship of the highest order, as in “100”, a precisely machined occasional table that disassembles into a carrying case like that used for a rifle.

Other works suggest specimen cabinets, seesaws and game tables, all twisted into new relevance through subtle manipulation. In all cases, Peteran’s work addresses the specific conditions of furniture even as it subverts those conditions.

Gord Peteran: Furniture Meets its Maker is organized by the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Chipstone Foundation with generous support from the Windgate Charitable Foundation. It includes a national tour and is guest curated by Glenn Adamson, head of Graduate Studies, Victoria and Albert Museum.

Dec. 6, 3-4:30pm

You’re invited to view thesis presentations from Interior Environments candidates.

Jennifer Fell presents an investigation of liminality in correctional institutes using the VCU Pollak Building as her structure.

Elaina Theobald looks at the synergy between art and science as demonstrated in alternative education at the Patrick Henry school on Richmond’s Southside.

VCUart Pollak lobby, 325 N. Harrison Street

More than 700 of the country’s leading craft artists will gather under one roof to present their latest hiqh-quality, handmade work to the public - at the American Craft Baltimore Show - the largest juried, indoor craft show in the nation. The highest quality of handmade jewelry, furniture, clothing, home décor, and more, will be available for purchase at the Baltimore Convention Center, February 22-24, 2008.

Look for the VCU booth!

Image: Christina Boy
Peg Bench, soft maple, milk paint
H 17” x W 48” x D 24”