Maurice Bonds, Untitled

Students, faculty and alumni of VCU School of the Arts took 24 of the 35 fellowships awarded by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. At 68%, this is the highest percentage of VMFA fellowships to VCU artists in recent years as they claimed 50% in 2004.

"VMFA Fellowships provide essential support for artists who wish to advance their careers or further their education," says Dr. Michael Brand, director of the museum. The highly competitive Fellowship Program supports Virginia's outstanding professional artists and art students by offering financial aid to pursue education or advance careers in the visual arts.

Professional awards of $8,000 went to VCU artists Judith Baumann, printmaking, MFA 2005; Vittorio Colaizzi, painting, MFA 2000; Matthew Gamble, painting, MFA 2005; Emily Hall, mixed media, MFA 2005; Joel Holmberg, film/video, BFA 2005; Ward Howarth, film/video, PhD candidate; Danielle Riede, mixed media, MFA candidate; Fiona Ross, drawing, MFA 2001; David Williams, film/video, MFA 1985; and Melissa Worthington, photography, MFA 2003.

The juror for this category was Ingrid Schaffner, Senior Curator, ICA, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

VCU students and recent graduates won 5 of the 8 graduate awards of $6,000. They include Saul Becker, painting; Benjamin Jones, crafts; Colleen Ostrander, sculpture; Charles Roberts, sculpture, BFA 2005 ; and Deniz Tirpanci, crafts, BFA 2004.

Undergraduate awards of $4,000 went to Jordan Bruner, film/video; Laurel Dankos, photography; Nic DeSantis, film/video; Michael Ellyson, sculpture; Emilie Ferran, photography; and Kendall Wylie, photography. Undergraduate awards of $2,000 went to Phil Bowne, photography; Crystal Lyle, crafts; and Michael Seal, photography.

Jurors for these categories were Sheila Giolitti, artist, Norfolk; Jay Phyfer, Professor of Photography & Digital Imaging, Virginia Intermont College, Bristol; Paul Ryan, Associate Professor of Art, Mary Baldwin College, Staunton; and Evie Terrono, Assistant Professor of Art History, Randolph-Macon College, Ashland.

James Davis, Core (detail)

Selected works from VCUarts Anderson Gallery’s Permanent Collection take center stage this summer in two exhibitions with uniquely different concepts. The Bad Boys of Photography, which presents a wide scope of photographic work within a provocative thematic context, and Relativity, an exhibit that aims to create an eccentric and freewheeling dialogue, will be on view at the Anderson Gallery from June 17 until August 6, 2005. The exhibits will open with a reception on June 17 from 7 to 9 p.m. The Gallery’s summer hours are Monday through Saturday, 12 to 5 p.m.

The Bad Boys of Photography is curated by Anderson Gallery Assistant Director and Curator of Collections, Amy Moorefield. The exhibition features 34 images by 14 photographers culled from the Gallery’s extensive photography collection. Bad Boys will showcase the rebellious nature of some of the most famous photographers with a focus on extreme methods of process, subject matter and persona. The exhibition roster includes such 20-21st century luminaries as: Robert Beckmann, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Harry Callahan, Larry Clark, Thomas A. Daniel, Bruce Davidson, Elliot Erwitt, Robert Frank, Thomas Florschuetz, Danny Lyon, Roger Mertin, John Pfahl, Stephen Shore, Aaron Siskind, and Garry Winogrand.

Bad Boys features some of the best examples of artists breaking the traditional rules of photography. “Each of these photographers made an impressive leap for the history of the medium by extraordinary methods, sometimes illegally, to push the boundaries for future generations of photographers to challenge,” states Amy Moorefield. “This group is considered ‘bad boys’ in that they circumvented the traditional norm and took real risks with capturing the moment or subject, sometimes participating in culturally unacceptable situations, pushed the technical aspects of the camera and the darkroom to the limit and put their careers and physical well being at risk for the camera.”

Relativity, an exhibit organized by Amy Hauft, guest curator and Chair of the Department of Sculpture + Extended Media, will feature work from original and complex emerging artists of Richmond. All four of the featured artists earned their undergraduate degrees in Sculpture at VCU: Jeannine Harkleroad, Chris Norris, SunTek Chung and James Davis. All four went on to equally prominent graduate programs in sculpture: UCLA, Tyler, Yale and Ohio State, respectively. All four are also currently back in Richmond teaching for VCU.

Although her usual role in a gallery setting is on the other side of the curatorial divide, for this exhibition Amy Hauft has created four curious equations. After visiting the young artists in their studios, Hauft culled through the permanent collection of the Anderson Gallery. She selected particular works from the collection to act as instigators for each artist, to highlight unexpected relationships between the historical and the contemporary in each of the artists’ projects. Hauft takes an artist’s - rather than curator’s - prerogative in her eccentric presentation of the historical work in relation to the new projects.

VCUarts Anderson Gallery is free and open to the public, Monday through Saturday from 12 to 5 p.m.

VCU Jazz

For 13 years, VCU Music has presented a nationally acclaimed guitar series to the Richmond community. The Guitar and Other Strings Series, held every July, features all styles of music — jazz, bluegrass, folk, Celtic, flamenco, classical and blues. Artists of international and national prominence conduct concerts and workshops for students and aspiring musicians of all ages. Artists who have previously performed include Leo Kottke, Mark O'Connor, John Hartford, John Jackson, the Washington Guitar Quintet, Charlie Byrd, the Tony Rice Unit, the Del McCoury Band, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Pierre Bensusan, and Stephen Bennett. The VCU Community Guitar Ensemble performs annually on this series. This year another stellar series will be presented.

Al Petteway and Amy White, award-winning acoustic instrumental duo
Friday, July 8, 8 p.m.
Web site: www.alandamy.com

John Renbourn, legendary British acoustic guitarist
Friday, July 15, 8 p.m.
Web site: www.john-renbourn.com

Stephen Bennett, master of the guitar, harp guitar, and steel guitar
Friday, July 22, 8 p.m.
Web site: www.harpguitar.com

The VCU Community Guitar Ensemble, 20-member guitar orchestra directed by John Patykula
Sunday, July 24, 4 p.m.

All concerts will take place in the Sonia Vlahcevic Concert Hall in the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Avenue. Tickets go on sale June 27. General admission is $10 for the first three performances. The VCU Community Guitar Ensemble performance is free. For ticket information, please call the VCU Department of Music at (804)828-1166.