Art Notes

Second Street Gallery selects new director

Rebecca Schoenthal has been named the the new director at Second Street Gallery.

Second Street’s Board of Directors noted that it was pleased to welcome Schoenthal as the gallery celebrates its 35th anniversary.

Schoenthal graduated from Connecticut College in 1994 with a BA in art history. In 1998, she received an MA at the University of Virginia, where she completed her doctorate in art history.

She has taught at San Francisco MoMA, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and the University of Virginia. Since 2004, she has been a member of Second Street Gallery’s Artist Review Panel and serves on the Board of Architectural Review for Charlottesville.

Locals receive 21 governor’s award nominees

Nominees for the Governor’s Arts Awards include 21 artists, performers and organizations from Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Greene and Louisa.

The awards have been presented only four times since 1979 to recognize outstanding lifetime achievement by Virginia artists, arts organizations and those who support and encourage the arts. The local nominees include the following:

Aaron Fein, Anne Maxwell Megibow, Ash Lawn Opera Festival, Bree Luck, Catherine Maguire, Charles Wright, Chris Wharam, Eleanor Ross Taylor, First Night Virginia, Hantzmon Wiebel LLP,  Ibby Roberts, John Casey, Judith Walker, Live Arts, Ludwig Kuttner, Mildred Spicer, Music Resource Center, Second Street Gallery, Tuesday Evening Concert Series, Vietnam Graffiti Project and the Virginia Film Festival.

An exhibition honoring the nominees will be in the window of Virginia National Bank on the Downtown Mall throughout October. For information, call 971-2787.

Parsons school faculty member speaks at UVa

Jean Gardner of Parsons the New School for Design will give the University of Virginia’s HOK Sustainability Lecture at 5 p.m. today in Campbell Hall, Room 153.

Gardner, whose talk is “The Insightful Hand: Designing for Resilience,” is an activist, writer, consultant and teacher who has worked for several decades to educate designers and the public on ecological design practices. She is the founder-director of Earth Environmental Group, an organization that produces publications, videos and photographs on environmental issues, and the co-founder of Environment ’90s, a coalition of more than 250 organizations in greater New York City.

Gardner, a senior faculty member in the Department of Product, Lighting, Architecture and Interior Design at Parsons, co-authored “Cinemetrics: Architectural Drawing Today” with Brian McGrath, and she is the author of “Urban Wilderness: Nature in New York City.”

For more information, call 982-2921.

Final Friday’s brings new reception to UVa

“El Lissitzky: Futurist Portfolios” opens today at the University of Virginia Art Museum.

The exhibition features two complete sets of the influential Russian abstract artist Lazar Markovich (El) Lissitzky’s futuristic portfolios, commissioned by the Kestner Society in 1923. Twenty prints in all are highlighted; eight from his “Proun” portfolio, which he intended as a prototype for future mechanical and architectural designs, and 12 from his “Victory Over the Sun” portfolio, created to commemorate Kasimir Malevich’s 1913 futurist opera.

In the U.Va. exhibit, contemporary artist Hideyo Okamura will recreate Lissitzky’s 1923 Berlin “Proun” room by considering the architectural elements of the museum’s White Room , where the prints will be displayed.

Okamura will give a public lecture on at 5 p.m. today, preceding the museum’s Final Friday reception in the museum. For more information, call 924-3592.

Artful Escapes on tap Sunday in Orange County

The third annual Artful Escapes Evening to benefit the Arts Center in Orange will be from 4:30 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Far Hills.  This event a pig roast, live music and a kids corral.

Artful Escapes Events and other items will be available by silent auction.

Cost for the pig roast is $30, $10 for children younger than 16.

RSVPs are encouraged by calling the Center at (540) 672-7311.

Proceeds will go to support the programs at the Arts Center in Orange.

Charlottesville artists featured in EMU exhibit

The first public art exhibit at Eastern Mennonite University features “Plan b,” paintings by Julie and Scott Keen, collaborative artists from Charlottesville.

Scott Keen is an assistant professor in the visual and communication arts department at EMU for the 2008-2009 academic year, and Julie Keen is director of the Harrisonburg League of Therapists. Both did their undergraduate studies at James Madison University.

Their exhibit in the art gallery on third floor of EMU’s Hartzler Library can be viewed daily through Oct. 4. “Plan b” consists of a variety of paintings and works on paper incorporating a wide range of materials. For more information, call (540) 432-4211.

From staff reports