The Elephant Man
Written by Bernard Pomerance | Directed by Casey Biggs

Raymond Hodges Theatre
W.E. Singleton Performing Arts Center
922 Park Avenue, Richmond

February 10, 2012 | 7:30 PM (Opening Night)
February 11 | 7:30 PM
February 12 | 3:00 PM
February 14–15 | 10:00 AM (High School Matinees)
February 16–18 | 7:30 PM
February 19 | 3:00 PM

Tickets are available through the Theatre VCU Box Office at (804) 828-6026, vcutheatre.showclix.com, or via email at theatretix@vcu.edu.

John Merrick looks different. So grotesquely deformed that women faint in horror at the sight of him. In the world of 1880’s Victorian England’s freak shows Dr. Federick Treves rescues John Merrick, the Elephant Man. Brought to a hospital for analysis, Merrick is discovered to be a highly intelligent, sensitive and artistic man. Forever a prisoner of his malformed body, his horrific appearance in fact opens a door to a society he could only dream of. Based on fact, this Tony award-winning play, explores the notion of what and who is normal and how in a world of hypocrisy we may be persuaded to question our own quality of mercy.

Art Works features work by Myron Helfgott, Professor Emeritus. He received his MFA at Southern Illinois University in sculpture and his BFA in architecture from Southern Illinois University.

Myron is a native Chicagoan. After undergraduate training in architecture and studying with Buckminster Fuller, he switched to sculpture, getting his MFA from Southern Illinois. He has exhibited at the Whitney in New York City, the Philadelphia Arts Alliance, Usdan Gallery in Bennington, VT and Peninsula Arts Center in Norfolk, VA and the prestigious “un/Common Ground” show at the Virginian Museum of Fine Art, as well as Tokyo, Lima, and Glasgow.

He received the Virginia Commission for the Arts Distinguished Artist award. His sculptures incorporate audio, kinetics, photography, and assemblage.

When the Richmond Arts community embraced Click in 2010, it was only natural to bring it back. This time the scope has gotten even greater. Scott Elmquist (photo editor/photographer of Style Weekly) and BJ Kocen (Glave Kocen Gallery Director) are back to curate this exhibit, but new to Click’s curatorial duties is Travis Fullerton (Museum Photographer VMFA).

This exhibit features over twenty photographers, five of which have received VMFA fellowships, whose work covers ground from Photo Journalism to the Fine Arts. There are some returning photographers such as Jamie Betts and Cyane Lowden, but mostly it’s a brand new batch featuring folks such as Michael Lease (2005 Photography & Film MFA), Jon-Phillip Sheridan (2011 Photography & Film MFA), Logan Crable, and Rick Kidd. The thrust of this exhibit is to celebrate what most patrons know about the power of photography and to educate those who still remain skeptical about photography as an art form.

To further bolster this massive exhibit, title cards will include artist statements and camera gear used, photo books will be on display and Scott & Travis will lead off a Q&Q on February 18, 2012 called “Point and Shoot.”

Constructs is an ongoing ever changing exhibition that features artists from Virginia. Working in abstraction, the artists create singular works of art through the combination of many elements. While some echo traditional easel painting, others are multi-part assemblages that extend painting’s reach into the realm of installation. With comparable sensibilities toward color, shape, and gesture, these artists explore painting through the inventive use of collage, innovative construction techniques, or conceptually layered frameworks.

As a living, breathing exhibition, each installation is a “construct” in itself that reflects the evolving nature of the creative process. By featuring new works at each venue the exhibition is continually reinvented. Since 2005, the exhibition has traveled to eleven venues. Constructs was co-organized by Sally Bowring, Chris Gregson, and VCU Painting + Printmaking Professor Reni Gower.

Featured Image:
Reni Gower, Pivot.10
2010

Research, Design and Proven Outcomes
A lecture by Dak Kopec
Wednesday, January 25 | 6:00 PM
Atrium, VCUQatar 

Design is often regarded as satisfying only aesthetics and social trends. However, the past few decades have given rise to numerous research studies that demonstrate the social, psychological and physical effects of the environment on the human condition. Today designers are being asked to perform comprehensive pre-design research to justify costs and to prevent probable accidents and illnesses. Dr. Kopec’s presentation will take the mystery out of pre-design research and show how it can be easily incorporated into a normal design process to enhance the environment for the human condition.

Dak (David Allen Kopec) Kopec, Ph.D. is an assistant professor at Radford University in Virginia.  He holds a doctoral degree in Environmental Psychology with a concentration in perception and design and two master’s degrees, one in Architecture and another in Community Psychology. Among Dak’s most notable accomplishments is the completion of three books: Environmental Psychology for Design; Health, Sustainability and The Built Environment; and Evidence Based Design: A Process for Research and Writing, and he has authored two monographs: Americans with Disabilities Act and The Elderly Population and Designs that Protect: Incorporating Culturally Diverse Perspectives in Long-Term Care Facilities. He was a host of a television pilot for TLC (The Learning Chanel) and hosted a second television pilot produced by Baja Posse Movies.

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship Program is a vital source of funding for the visual arts and art history in Virginia. The VMFA is committed to supporting professional artists as well as art students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline and has awarded more than $4 million in fellowships to Virginians.

The Fellowship Program was established in 1940 through a generous contribution made by the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg. Offered through the VMFA Art and Education Division, fellowships are still largely funded through the Pratt endowment, supplemented by annual gifts from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation and the J. Warwick McClintic Jr. Scholarship Fund.

Undergraduate Awards:
Christina Costello, film/video (Kinetic Imaging)
Elizabeth Crawford, photography (Photography & Film)
Alexander Curley, drawing (Art Education)
Sean Donlon, crafts (Craft/Material Studies)
Natalie Kaminski, sculpture (Sculpture + Extended Media)
Gabriel Kendra, photography (Photography & Film)
Hunter Mayton, mixed media (Art Foundation)
David Reinhold, film/video (Kinetic Imaging)

Graduate & Professional Awards:
Katie Baines, painting (Painting & Printmaking BFA, 1998 alumna)
Corin Hewitt, mixed media (Assistant Professor, Sculpture)
Matt King, sculpture (Assistant Professor, Sculpture and Art Foundation)
Melanie MacLain, mixed media (Sculpture + Extended Media MFA)
Dana Ollestad, mixed media (Photography & Film MFA)
Richard Robinson, film/video (Photography & Film MFA, 2008 alumnus)
Edward M. Schenk, mixed media (Painting & Printmaking BFA, 2009 alumnus)

Featured Image:
Sean Donlon, Department of Craft/Material Studies

Travis Townsend (MFA 2000, VCU Craft/Material Studies) has had solo exhibitions at the Weston Gallery (Cincinnati) and the New Arts Program (Kutztown, PA) and has been included in group exhibitions at Rosenfeld Gallery (Philadelphia); Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati); Kendall College (Grand Rapids, MI); Spaces Gallery (Cleveland); Lehigh University (PA); and Zone: Chelsea (New York).

He is a recipient of an American Craft Council Emerging Artist Grant, a Kentucky Arts Council Fellowship, a Virginia A. Groot Foundation Grant, and a Young Sculptors Award from Miami University. Townsend lives in Lexington, KY and teaches drawing and design at Eastern Kentucky University.

VIEW FIND, an exhibition of photography at the Page Bond Gallery in Richmond, features many participants which include Holly Morrison, chair of Painting and Printmaking; Brian Ulrich, assistant professor in Photography and Film; and Gordon Stettinius, adjunct professor in Photography and Film.

Featured Image:
Holly Morrison
Red Stick, Blue Stone, 2012
Archival pigment print
40″ x 60″

Defeat the Future
On View: February 1–March 10, 2012
Artist Talk: February 1 | 7 PM
Opening Reception: February 2 | 6–8 PM
The Contemporary Art Center
Las Vegas, NV

The project “Happy Birthday” is derived from an assignment Naoko Wowsugi gave to sophomore photography students and freshmen Art Foundation students. Each photography student was required to create a portrait as birthday gift. The Art Foundation students were instructed to explore performance art by creating a celebratory performance.

As the years pass, birthdays have become increasingly uncomfortable for Wowsugi. Thanks to her students, she was able to look forward to her birthday and celebrate with these young artists.

Participants from Photography & Film:
Christopher Conway 
Caitlin Crow 
Rachel Day 
Seea Earl 
Jose Henriquez 
Gabriel Kendra
Kelsay Krest
Hannah Levy 
Noelani Martin
Emmett Methven
Evana Roman
Inga Schunn
Ashleen Strei 
Alison Thompson 
Yamariah Walters
Heather West

Participants from Art Foundation:
Soo Jin Choi
Samantha Dingfeld
Lu He
Jaejin Lee 
Sydney Leighton
Zev Lowman 
Andrea Moore
Bonnie Morgan
Sadie Morrison 
Mary Perrin-Key 
Lora Price
Jessica Royce
Mary Sanford
Jessica Shelden
Nora Sweeney
Kelly Teboe
Zoe Williamson

Yuri Kobayashi
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 | 5:00 PM
609 Bowe Street, Room 535

Born and raised in Japan, Yuri Kobayashi received her BA degree in architecture design at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo. After training in traditional Japanese woodworking, she moved to the U.S. to pursue an MFA degree in woodworking and furniture design at San Diego State University. Currently she divides her time between teaching in Furniture Design Department at RISD and producing her own work. She exhibits her work nationally and has been awarded several grants, including Windgate Artist-in Residency Program at SUNY Purchase College in 2010 and University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2011. Being influenced by her origin, her work is a reflection of her identity, experience and empathy. Utilizing predominantly wood, she employs repetitive manners to create concept-based objects with an emphasis on the sculptural form.