Art Museum of Western Virginia
Nashville Portraits: Photographs by Jim McGuire
January 17 through March 23, 2008
Nashville Portraits: Photographs by Jim McGuire pays homage to Nashville’s country music heritage through 60 black and white photographs of beloved artists such as Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, and Bill Monroe.

Nashville Portraits: Photographs by Jim McGuire will remain on view at the Art Museum through March 23. The exhibition is organized by the Morris Museum of Art, with tour development by Smith Kramer Fine Art Services, and presented by 104.9 The Bull. For more information on the exhibition and related programs, visit www.artmuseumroanoke.org.

Jim McGuire has been the preeminent photographer in Nashville, Tennessee for more than thirty years – as renowned for his love of music and musicians, wry wit and 1947 Ford station wagon as he is for his skill with a camera. He is the photographer of choice for most of the major record labels and their recording artists, and the result is hundreds and hundreds of cover portraits. A native of New Jersey – an unlikely breeding ground for a fan of hillbilly music – McGuire moved to Nashville to pursue his passionate interest in the music and the people who made it. Inspired by photographer Irving Penn’s portraits of tradesmen in their work clothes, he began what has become his acclaimed series of “Nashville Portraits” in 1974 with a photograph of singer/songwriter John Hartford. The series now includes more than a thousand images of America’s most influential singers, songwriters and musicians, often depicted with the instruments that are the tools of their trade.

Over the years, he has defined the public’s perception of artists as disparate as Carole King and Doc Watson, Townes Van Zant and Reba McEntire, and Tracy Nelson and Dolly Parton.

“Most of us have a drawer full of snapshots that remind us of the good times. These are some of mine,” said Jim McGuire.

Roanoke College – Olin Gallery
Trays and Tondos: Ray Kass, Artist
January 25 through February 29
Written by Brian Counihan
Olin Gallery at Roanoke College will be the site for a terrific exhibition of work by Ray Kass in January. The exhibition, titled “Trays and Tondos,” was shown at Zone Gallery in Chelsea to excellent review almost two years ago but Kass has made changes and additions to the show since then. His “Tondos” are multi-paneled circular images that fit together like a jigsaw. To make the Tondos, Kass applies watercolor with stencils and fabric scrims to a prepared and often smoked paper. The finished paintings are stretched on supports and waxed to a fine luster. Kass says, “Although I feel that my painting directly responds to the environments that I work in, I usually do not paint from the landscape.” There is a quiet and meditative feel to his work that is very Japanese and Kass has, in fact, made several trips to Kyoto where he studied the ancient techniques.

The “Trays” of the exhibition title are steel baking trays that Kass may have originally used for mixing his watercolors. The trays hang in a row on the opposing wall and act sort of like a map legend. We are tempted to locate a color in the Tondos and then trace their origin back to a particular tray. But the trays are interesting with their dried out watercolors in various hues and accidental forms are beautiful and enigmatic in their own right and offer a polar opposition to the discipline and fine technique of the Tondos.

During his many years teaching at Virginia Tech, Ray Kass nurtured countless students into impressive positions in the art world. He founded and directed the Mountain Lake Workshop where he participated on projects with John Cage and Jackie Matisse. He is represented in New York by Zone: Chelsea and in Richmond by the top flight Reynolds Gallery. He has had two solo shows at the Virginia Museum more recently at the Burroughs-Chapman Museum in South Carolina.

Pamela Jean Gallery
“The Art of Dr. Seuss”
January 19 through February 29, 2008
Rediscover “The Art of Dr. Seuss” at our opening reception Saturday, January 19, 2008 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. This very special exhibit will feature fine art graphic from both The Secret Art Collection and The Book Illustration Art Collection of Theodor Seuss Geisel. (American, 1904-1991) Concerned with widespread illiteracy among school children in America, Dr. Seuss revolutionized the process that children use to learn and read. Cat In the Hat will be reading from Dr. Seuss books at 11:00 am, 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm. Bring your child’s artwork that is 8 x 10 or smaller and have it framed in a primary color for $25 that day.

Located at 115 Salem Ave in downtown Roanoke (across from the new Art Museum of Western Virginia.) (540) 904-7797 www.pamelajeangallery.

Hollins - Wetherill Wilson Gallery
Hidden Treasures: Selections from the Permanent Collection
January 7 through February 16, 2008
The Wilson Museum actively collects art in support of our core mission as a teaching museum. Since opening in 2004, we have added hundreds of items to our collection and only a fraction has been on public view. Hidden Treasures features works in a variety of media including work by Carrie Mae Weems, Ron Kleeman, Lizzie Nungarday, and Kay Ross.

Hollins – Main Gallery
Photographer: Frederick Sommer
January 22 through April 12, 2008
Frederick Sommer (1905 – 1999) was a master artist whose work influenced generations of photographers. Often recognized for his elegant black-and-white photographs with distinctive images of surrealist collages, horizonless landscapes, out-of-focus nudes and cameraless abstractions, Sommer also maintained lifelong interests in drawing, painting, collage, poetry, and prose. Using a variety of media to experiment with figure and shape, he created an unusually diverse body of work, a portion of which will be on view in this exhibition that examines more than fifty years of his work organized collaboratively by the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum and the Frederick and Frances Sommer Foundation.

Piedmont Arts Association
“Diamonds in the Rough” – Featuring works by artists from Richmond VA
January 11 through February 24, 2008
Opening Reception and Gallery Talk: Friday, January 11, 2008 • 5:30 PM • Piedmont Arts

William King Regional Arts Center - The Glenn C. Price & Strongwell Cultural Heritage Galleries
Shaping the Earth: Iron Mountain Stoneware of Laurel Bloomery, TN
January 25 through July 6, 2008
Shaping the Earth will feature Iron Mountain Stoneware made between 1965 and 1992.
Opening Shaping the Earth: Iron Mountain Stoneware of Laurel Bloomery, TN
Iron Mountain Stoneware operated from 1965 to 1992 in Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee. Workers formed the stoneware by hand, applying the glazes and decorations created by owner Nancy Patterson Lamb. In addition to a series of patterns Iron Mountain Stoneware produced, Sally Patterson and Jim Kaneko painted one-of-a kind glaze decorations onto plates, vases, and cups. Jim Kaneko also created unique sculptures. Employee-training sessions encouraged workers to create sculptures and other forms to practice working with the clays and glazes. Reception - Jan. 27, 2008, 2-4 pm

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection
Our Way: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Lockhart River
January 15 – March 15, 2008
Our Way surveys the work of the Lockhart River Art Gang, celebrating a remarkable story of this young group of artists from a remote community in Queensland’s Cape York. Rosella Namok, Samantha Hobson and Fiona Omeenyo spearheaded the movement with spectacular and diverse insights into country, culture and history. The exhibition features the art printmaking from the Art Gang’s early years, along with major paintings.
Opening reception: Friday, January 18, 2008, 5:30 – 7:30 pm

Virginia Tech - Perspective Gallery
Distant Echoes: Black Farmers: Photographs by John Ficara
Opens January 23, 2008 Representing the disappearing population of black farmers in American Lecture by the artists January 22 3pm with reception to follow 4-6pm at Perspective Gallery 2nd floor Squires Student Center Virginia Tech call gallery director Mary Tartaro for info 540 231 4053

Posted: January 1st, 2008 under Visions.
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