THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504280072
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: TERESA ANNAS
LENGTH: Long : 117 lines
ON A CORNER in Olde Towne Portsmouth, where 19th century homes line the pebbled streets, a postmodern facade with red columns marks the entrance to the Visual Arts Center.
It's an urban jolt of energy. Opened in January, the handsome regional center is where most of Tidewater Community College's art courses are taught.
The grand opening for the 33,000-square-foot facility is set for Thursday: ribbon-cutting at 6:30 p.m., guided tours and reception from 7 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Previously, TCC's art shows were staged at the Pungo Gallery on the Virginia Beach Campus. That space was small and ill-equipped.
The new gallery is larger and has clean white walls and gorgeous new hardwood floors. Art gets a fair break in this room, which features uninterrupted wall space and adequate track lighting.
The gallery's premiere exhibit opened earlier this month. The 24th annual Student Art Show features 215 pieces by 122 students. Today at 2 p.m., award winners will be announced at the center. It's free and the public may attend.
The juror - Dr. Joyce Howell, assistant professor of art history at Virginia Wesleyan College - will give out 41 awards, including $2,000 in prizes. Howell will be choosing from a wide range of works, hung by student volunteers.
Painting is one of the strongest categories, and figurative work often stood out. Kay Smalkowski's ``My Instructor'' is a powerful, larger-than-life scale portrait of the head of drawing teacher Rob Hawkes.
Cathy L. Payne's triptych self-portrait gives off a convincing aura of theatricality. She presents herself nearly life-scale, seated in the lotus position, in each pastel rendering. From left to right, hands emerge from the ether to illustrate seeing, hearing and speaking no evil.
Many of the works were class assignments, including copies of master works by Renoir or Michelangelo, rendered with varying degrees of skill - and sometimes with high humor.
Ada Johnson's pastel illustration of the goddess Diana is a delightful fantasy. Johnson has Diana wearing a tiger costume, dreamily swinging on a rope swing from a Swiss cheese quarter moon.
Among photographs, Lisa Lazatin's series of black-and-white pictures of fire hydrants is amusing. It could be the product of a sideshow photo booth, each hydrant a personality.
Also notable were Rose M. Nowak's sensitive drawing of an ancient black woman's face and hands, and a black-and-white photograph by Christine Walley that features a found cubist composition.
Michael Dudnick's composite color photograph of an androgynous nude caught in a gilt frame came from an assignment to create one work from various photos.
Dudnick, a 22-year-old student and a former shipyard worker, popped into the gallery Tuesday afternoon. He noted that he had put ``untitled'' on the label.
But there's really a title, he admitted: ``Escape from Oppression.''
The figure is blurred - via a ``dodging'' technique he used in the darkroom - to make the figure's gender unclear. The reason, he said, is that ``both men and women can be oppressed.''
Previously, the gallery had no budget, said Ann Iott, the center's director. Small grants and volunteer effort kept the operation afloat.
Now some funds will be available for exhibits and related expenses. And an exhibits coordinator has been hired - Shelley Brooks, formerly assistant curator of The Arts Center at the Portsmouth Museums, who began in March.
Besides mounting shows of work by local and regional professional artists, Iott hopes to rent traveling exhibits from The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and other sources. Now that TCC's gallery meets standards for security and environmental controls, such loans are possible, she said.
The focus will be on education. ``This is an educational institution,'' Iott said, ``so the gallery is a classroom. Students need to be exposed to original work of as wide a variety as we can find. We will lean toward diversity.''
Future exhibits have not yet been scheduled. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. Free. Call 396-6999. A FIELD DAY
. . . for art lovers. About 50 of the area's best artists will have work for sale at the Norfolk Academy Field Day Art Show, which opens today with a public reception from 2 to 5 p.m.
The exhibit continues from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday at the school, 1585 Wesleyan Drive in Norfolk.
Award-winning Virginia Beach watercolorist Vonnie Whitworth produced several works especially for the show. In one painting, she used a Norfolk Academy student as a model, and placed her in vintage clothes and on a Victorian sofa that are being sold to benefit the school.
The art show and sale benefits the school's scholarship fund. Call 481-6236 for more information. SHOOTING STARS
Shooting Star Studio in Norfolk is hosting another of its occasional exhibits, this one featuring art by seven women who work in various media.
The artists will be on hand during the two-day showing, from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Fine art photographer Brenda C. Wright has pulled together a show featuring well-known veterans, like Ragan Freeman, Anne Bousquet and herself, along with newcomers.
First-time exhibitors are ceramicist Kathy Clarke, whose hand-built forms and vessels have burnished or glazed surfaces, and Carol Condos, who makes whimsical jewelry, often with animal shapes.
Also showing are sumi-e artist Amy Fleming, who will demonstrate the Japanese style of brush painting from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, and Suzanne Flacy, whose delicate collages have a primitive, sacramental feel.
With the showing, Wright also kicks off her framing service. The studio is at 957 W. 21st St. Call 934-0678 or 623-1309 for more information. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Ada Johnson's pastel illustration of the goddess Diana is a
delightful fantasy.
``My Instructor'' is a portrait of drawing teacher Rob Hawkes.
Cathy L. Payne's self-portrait gives off an aura of theatricality.
by CNB