Details of artwork by (Top, L-R) Mateo Galvano, Mary Swezey, Janly Jaggard. (Bottom L-R) Renee Browne, Julia E. Pfaff, Sydnee Schorr.
Opening Reception for May/June 2023 Exhibitions
Artspace presents new exhibitions by artists whose work is inspired by topography from May 26 - June 17, 2023. The opening reception, scheduled for Friday, May 26, 2023, 6-9 p.m., features artwork by solo artists Mateo Galvano and Janly Jaggard, along with a joint exhibition by Julia E. Pfaff & Mary Swezey. An artist talk by our featured artists will take place on Saturday, May 27, 2023 beginning at 2 p.m. Also on view will be a group exhibition by Artspace Artist Members and in the Elisabeth Flynn-Chapman Gallery, fashion creations by Renee S. Browne and photography by Sydnee Schorr.
Mateo Galvano presents cement drawings and works on paper and linen. His show title, "Acequia," refers to the flow of water through acequias as a metaphor for the creative process. Galvano’s approach to abstract painting is “the substantiation of thought experiments. The practice is a means for the mind to move in a direction away from what is known. By initiating and responding to marks, shapes, lines, and colors, Galvano enjoys the unfolding of unplanned images.”
A multi-media artist working with painting, drawing, digital arts and installation, Mateo Galvano’s recent awards include residency fellowships at Ucross Foundation, Willapa Bay AiR, and Jentel Foundation. His work has been exhibited in solo shows nationally, including the Kennedy Museum of Art at Ohio University in Athens, OH; Box Gallery and Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, NM; Mainsite Contemporary in Norman, OK; Muse Gallery in Columbus, OH; and Aumonerie Saint Jacques in Gordes, France. He has participated in numerous group shows. The recipient of an MFA in Studio Art from Ohio University, Galvano is a lecturer and administrator at Ohio University School of Art + Design.
Janly Jaggard’s "Finding A Way" is a series of paintings and vitreous enamels that evolved as the primary wave of the pandemic overwhelmed the artist and she struggled to find a reason to work in her studio while the world appeared to lose all reason and structure around us. Jaggard starts her work with some basic compositional divides using a loose reference to the landscape.
Janly Jaggard is British but has lived in Virginia since the early 90’s. She earned her undergraduate degree in Ceramics from West of England College of Art in 1971 and a Master’s Degree in Fine Art: Painting from Norwich University of the Arts, England in 2015. She has been an art teacher, lecturer, and instructor for most of her adult life, simultaneous with her practice as an artist. She has taught drawing, painting, sculptural ceramics and vitreous enameling at Beverley Street Studio School in Staunton, Virginia since 2001. Janly has exhibited her painting and enamel work both nationally and internationally as well being included in several private collections.
"In Pattern and Place," Julia E. Pfaff & Mary Swezey show their textile works in a joint exhibition. Friends since the early 90s, the two artists met at VCU. While their textile work has taken different paths and has dealt with different subject matter, the artists have always shared an interest in the combination of printing and stitching. They recently realized they were working in very similar ways focusing on an intimate scale and hand embroidery and felt Artspace would be a perfect venue for their work. Pfaff’s goal is the creation of a contemplative object, both beautiful and evocative, both well-crafted and spontaneous in design. Swezey’s series of embroideries are inspired by topographic maps, shifting coastlines and rivers, reflecting her longstanding interest in the growth of cities over and into fields and rural areas.
Julia E Pfaff has been pushing the limits of contemporary quilting for over 35 years. With an undergraduate degree in Art History and Printmaking from the University of Toronto and a Masters of Fine Art degree from Virginia Commonwealth University she divides her time between being an educator and studio artist. For over twenty-five years she worked as an archaeological technical artist in Greece, Egypt and Jordan. Her quilted constructions have been exhibited at the American Craft Museum in New York, the Textile Museum in Washington DC, and at several international locations. A recent recipient of a 2019-2020 Professional Artist Fellowship from the Virginian Museum of Fine art she was also a recipient of an Individual Artist’s Fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Art in 2000 and again in 2019. She teaches at both the community and college level. Her quilts have been exhibited extensively and can be found in numerous national collections and publications.
Mary Swezey has a BFA in art history from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA in fibers from Arizona State University. She received a travel grant to research and photograph Industrial Archaeology in the English Midlands. She has also studied textile techniques at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. She has taught for more than 20 years at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts through the Studio School, Youth and Family Programs and the Statewide Programs, as well as at Arizona State University, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Art Foundations Program and Longwood College. She has taught fiber-related workshops at the Visual Arts Center, the Currie Craft Center in Montreat (NC), St. Catherine’s Upper School, and Appomattox Regional Governor’s School. Recent exhibitions include the Faculty Show at VMFA Studio School, Youth and Teen Studio Staff and Faculty Show at VMFA, a solo exhibit at Pine Street Barber, and Think Small at Artspace Gallery.
Rounding out our May-June shows in the Main gallery, Artspace Artist Members will present an exhibition of artwork in a variety of styles and mediums.
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Also on view during the May-June exhibition period, Artspace presents fabric, clothing, and beadwork with a fashion show by Renee S. Browne (AnimeBlaque) and photography by Sydnee Schorr, curated by Ed Holten, in the Elisabeth Flynn-Chapman Gallery.
Fashion Borne of Love, Loss & Light is an exhibition and fashion show of fabric, clothing, and beadwork, by Renee S. Browne (AnimeBlaque). AnimeBlaque feels that “Fashion like art should be felt and be able to be experienced by everyone.” They continue, “Every person regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual orientation should be able to be comfortable in their skin.” AnimeBlaque is currently working on developing an entire fashion line of clothing dedicated to people with different types of bodies and figures.
They are a Virginia born non-binary artist with a passion for helping others. Their parents, who emigrated from Trinidad and Tobago were the first to inspire them to grasp at the arts. Their father used to draw in small work notepads and their mother was the weaver of their very first stories.
From there, art became a way to speak, crafting their own stories using any art medium they could find, paint, clay, fabric, words, it simply didn’t matter.
It became how they coped with loss of family members, how they expressed feelings of vulnerability, and fought back against bullies, disease and abuse. AnimeBlaque found their calling in poetry and fashion one after the other. Poetry found them one night at the pharmacy when they were asked to attend an event, an event they didn’t know would eventually enfold into their way of life and whom they have tied their roots to. Poetry helped (her) find (her) partner, a Filipino poet and non-profit open mic host, Cel Landicho. Between the two of them and their steadfast team they were able to keep their community at Slam Richmond growing and alive for almost ten years. This venue, housing poets from every walk of life, has been home to those who have needed a voice in the DMV area.
Renee is in the midst of working on their book Sand in the Skin, a book of poems documenting life as a non-binary black individual living life within America as a first generation citizen, as someone with an autoimmune disorder and as someone who has had to fight to speak their truth.
Sydnee Schorr’s exhibition of photography, In Between is a vehicle for the artist to process the world around her. The process provides her with moments to feel free to let her mind wander, and activate parts of herself that she often feels disconnected to in day-to-day life. She says, “There is opportunity to explore and connect with myself and others without fear of failure; to try new things with a fully engaged mind and body, focused solely on the task at hand.”
Schorr is drawn to the kinetic and purposeful experience of observing people and spaces through photography. Her desire to see below the surface inspires her to capture the human form and gender expression through abstraction and anonymity.
Sydnee Schorr (she/her) is a Richmond based artist and photographer. Originally from the eastern shore of Maryland— home of her alma mater Washington College in Chestertown, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Art and Art History in 2016 — Sydnee has been practicing digital photography since 2010. Although she primarily focuses on portraiture, often using herself as a subject, she also explores other mediums, such as film and instant photography, cyanotypes, scanner photography, creative writing, and poetry. Sydnee’s photography celebrates the small, joyous, moments in solitude. Themes such as femininity, abstraction, and movement, as well as the juxtaposition between performance and anonymity, are all present in her work. This show will be Sydnee’s first time being featured in a gallery in Richmond. Her previous notable works include her piece Kingstown (2016), a video installation featured in the exhibit Crying in Bars and Lying to Moms (Kohl Gallery, Chestertown, Maryland), for which she was awarded the Lynette Nielsen Juror’s Choice Award. Sydnee currently resides in Richmond, Virginia, where she lives with her two beloved chihuahuas.
Exhibition Dates: May 26 - June 17, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday, May 26, 6-9pm
Renee Browne Fashion Show/After Party: Friday, May 26, 9-11pm
Artist Talks: Saturday, May 27, 2pm
Exhibition webpages:
Janly Jaggard / Finding A Way
Julia E. Pfaff & Mary Swezey / Pattern and Place
Artspace Artist Members / May-June Group Exhibition