March 7- March 30
Kelly Lonergan: Hothouse Phoenix
Opening Reception 5–7 PM
Friday, March 7
Kelly Lonergan was born in Charlottesville, VA in 1954, and grew up in the nearby town of Orange. He attended Randolph-Macon College where he earned a BA in English in 1976, then continued his studies at the University of Virginia, earning an MA in English in 1978.
In the early 1980s, he became interested in art history and the visual arts; he began to paint seriously in the mid-1980s, while also working in the studio of jewelry designer Linda van der Linde in Charlottesville, hand painting the sculpted porcelain pieces used in her necklace and earring designs.
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From 1989 through 1991, Lonergan attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, where he earned an MFA in Painting and Printmaking. In the early 1990s, he worked out of a studio in the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville, VA and exhibited his work throughout the state of Virginia.
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He began to teach art history and design classes at Germanna Community College and Piedmont Virginia Community College in 1994. The next year, Lonergan became an instructor at Woodberry Forest School, an all-boys boarding school near Orange, VA. He taught art history and studio art at the school and served as the chair of the art department until his retirement in June of 2019. He continues to schedule and install exhibitions in the Baker Gallery of the Walker Fine Arts Center at the school. He currently lives with his wife Liz in Charlottesville, VA.
January 3 – March 25, 2025
Ted Hardin: Kinship
Ted Hardin (1938 - 2007) was born in Washington DC and spent his professional career as a photographer in New York City. Starting out in fashion, his photos appeared in Glamour, Essence and numerous other publications. In the 80s and 90s he transitioned to more editorial
work and shot over 30 covers for New York Magazine. He was a master at lighting and making his subjects feel at ease in front of the lens.
His daughter, Haley Hardin, recently began the process of digitizing his extensive archive, in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, digitizing photos taken at The March on Washington in 1963 and selling prints as part of a fundraiser. The archiving continued with images that she felt connected to that helped her feel connected to her father in a new way. As questions about the photos arose, Hardin contacted colleagues of her dad and used Instagram as a way of identifying individuals in the images.
Kinship is an exhibition that serves to remind us that there is more to link us than divide us. In images spanning decades and subject matter, it is a glimpse into the world of a photographer who used his ability to connect with his subjects - whether people or the city he loved - to make
the viewer feel deeply. The exhibit will include photos from The March on Washington, stylized portraits and images from New York City in the 80s and 90s.
April 6 – April 25, 2025
Blake Hurt: Near and Farther Places
Opening Reception
4 - 6 PM Sunday, April 6
This selection of still lifes represent an ongoing record of the small collection of flowers, fruit and objects around the house that engage me when I paint day-to-day. The selection evolves over the seasons as the flowers come and go, and the selection of fruit changes. They constitute a visual record of both what I am examining, and the sensitivity of my examination.
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Views of Portugal
These paintings are of my spring trip to the southern shore of Portugal. Its dramatic coastline reflects the unstoppable force of the Atlantic pounding the unmovable coast of Europe. It is a rugged country where the warming days of May have brought out the color of the countryside and created a contrast of the strong colors of the sky and ocean with the warm colors of the landscape. I intended to memorialize the visual sense of our walks there with the pictorial language that I use in Charlottesville.