Anderson Gallery to feature internationally known artist

By Lissette Linares

RICHMOND, Va. – Works by internationally known artist Jacqueline Bishop and new additions to the Anderson Gallery’s permanent collection are among items to be featured in this year’s Summer/Fall Exhibition at the Virginia Commonwealth University gallery, located at 907 ½ W. Franklin St. Other shows in the exhibition will include acrylic paintings by a local artist and a traveling collection of photographs of Mexican Jesus icons. The shows will run from July 14-Oct. 1.

"Terra," an installation by Bishop, combines more than 200 small bird portraits and natural objects from the Brazilian rainforest. The piece memorializes the creatures and plant life that are now extinct or endangered because of the burning of Brazilian rainforests to make way for cattle ranches.

"Bishop brings an artist’s aesthetic to a very devastating problem," said Ted Potter, Anderson Gallery director. Potter said Bishop uses sight and sound to transport the viewer to the rainforest to experience it as she does. "The viewer is amazed by the beauty of these birds and feels a sense of remorse when he learns that they now are extinct."

A New Orleans artist, Bishop travels to North, South and Central American rainforests with scientists to document bird and plant life.

Bishop’s "The Insect Corridor" also will be featured in the Anderson Gallery exhibition. Viewers enter "Terra" through "The Insect Corridor," an installation piece consisting of butterflies made from Brazilian newsprint – a product of rainforest cuttings. Attached to long strips

of seemingly wind-blown gauze, the butterflies appear to flutter around the viewer. A continuous soundscape created by composer Chris Becker plays in the background, combining Brazilian instruments, guitar and vocals to create sounds of the rainforest.

"New Gifts" will feature additions to the Anderson Gallery’s permanent collection. This year’s focus will be on a special gift from Richmond’s Hand Workshop Art Center, featuring more than 80 selections from the Richmond Printmaking Workshop. The show was organized by Amy Moorefield, assistant director for the Anderson Gallery.

"We felt that the Anderson Gallery was the most appropriate repository, given the recent growth of its permanent collection and its focus on regional representation," said Ashley Kistler, curator of the Hand Workshop. "Also, many of the artists represented in the print collection have been, or currently are, associated with VCU."

Founded in 1978 by Nancy David and her husband John, the Richmond Printmaking Workshop provided a place for artists to share printmaking techniques and for the public to learn about printmaking as art. The workshop has sponsored well-known artists for visiting residencies as well as local talent, many of whom now are nationally and internationally respected artists.

"Brett Busang: The State of Broad" will feature a collection of paintings by local artist Brett Busang. The acrylic works painted on site document the ever-changing landscape along Richmond’s Broad Street corridor, an area of VCU expansion. Busang’s works, created in the en plein airé painting tradition of the French impressionists, have been shown throughout the country.

"Divine Humility: Jesus Icons in Contemporary Mexico" is a traveling collection of 60 photographs by Robert E. Lewis, an art history professor at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. Lewis began photographing in Mexico about 15 years ago and soon was drawn to the number and beauty of Jesus icons and to the integration of Christ and death in everyday life in Mexico. The resulting collection, photographed in churches, cemeteries, stores and the pueblos, is one Lewis said preserves a view of the exuberance and sensitivity of Mexican spiritual life in the late 20th century. This show will close on Sept. 3.

The Summer/Fall Exhibition will open with a reception at 7 p.m. on July 14. A fall opening will be held Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. Summer hours at the gallery are 1 p.m-5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call the gallery at (804) 828-1522.