Banking on a brewing boom
By Casey Gillis on Oct. 04, 2007
Kelly Mattox can feel it coming.
The Richmond transplant, who is gearing up to open the Avenue Arts Studio Gallery on Rivermont Avenue, says there’s a cultural boom brewing in Lynchburg.
She and John Morgan, who owns the space next door to her and plans to open a studio/gallery in the spring, say they saw a similar cultural awakening years ago in Richmond. It came after the 1708 Gallery opened and changed the face of the city’s art community.
“It’s happening here,” Mattox says. “We saw it, we lived it, and we’re seeing it happen again. … There’s no telling what (will be going on) five years from now. But I think we’re setting something (up). Something’s happening.”
And they’re in on the ground floor.
Mattox bought her space, the old Bibee Grocery Store at 1206 Rivermont Ave., in June 2006, but didn’t actually start renovating it until this past April.
The building’s front room is where she’ll put up exhibits, and the back room will be her own studio space.
“I paint boldly,” she says. “I need distance … I need to be back from (the paintings) to analyze them.
“It’s every artist’s dream to have a space like this.”
Both Mattox and Morgan say they’re committed to showing the work of serious artists who are doing something different.
“I think Lynchburg is ready for this sort of thing, especially (the) showing of more contemporary art,” Morgan says. “We’re really interested in showing avant-garde work, and (things) people don’t necessarily see all the time.”
The Avenue Arts Studio Gallery’s first exhibit, “It’s About Time,” certainly does that.
The exhibit will debut at the gallery’s grand opening reception, scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday in conjunction with First Fridays. (It will be included on the GLTC Art Trolley run).
It features the work of Morgan, a Sweet Briar College drawing and painting professor, and Aggie Zed, an artist who lives in Louisa.
Morgan works primarily with elaborate shadow boxes full of random items he’s collected at flea markets and yard sales over the years.
“You find (them) anywhere,” he says. “I can go into the Dollar Store and find something I like.”
Morgan says he has thousands of items stockpiled, just waiting to be used. He usually makes between 12 and 15 boxes a year.
The boxes are something he started doing in the 1970’s. Before that, he created a lot of large paintings and collages, which eventually evolved into the boxes.
In all of his work, Morgan says he tries to create surreal pieces by taking images out of their original context.
“It triggers different kinds of emotions or ideas from the viewer,” he says.
When Mattox and Morgan decided to show his work at the gallery, Morgan immediately knew he wanted Zed to show with him.
“She’s unbelievable,” he says. “Everything she does is right out of her head.”
Zed, whose work is a mix of pastel paintings and small ceramic and copper sculptures, agrees.
“I think our work is really beautiful together,” she says, “and I think our way of thinking about our work … is the same.”
Growing up, Zed says she was always drawing, but she didn’t start experimenting with the sculptures until after college.
“You know how it is with artists,” she says. “If you are an artist, anything you have at hand, you start figuring out how to use it.”
She started making ceramic sculptures, but soon became intrigued with combining the ceramic with other materials.
“The big problem is trying to get the materials to integrate,” she says.
It’s also rough on her hands.
“I end up building up calluses pretty quickly,” she says.
The painting and drawing come with less injury — and very little planning.
“I just put a piece of paper up,” Zed says. “I rarely have an idea when I go to draw. For the most part, these drawings just make themselves.”
Both Zed and Morgan say they’re happy to be included in the gallery’s first exhibit.
“Kelly’s space is beautiful,” Zed says. “She’s done a great job of making it very elegant and simple. It’s very exciting to break in a new space like that.”
It also helps that Mattox is an artist too, Morgan says.
“Working with someone like Kelly is really refreshing,” he says. “She was right in there, making suggestions. I think that artists (who) would show here would be very lucky.”
IF YOU’RE GOING
WHAT: Avenue Arts Studio Gallery’s Open House
WHEN: 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday (The first exhibit, “It’s About Time,” runs through Oct. 30)
WHERE: 1206 Rivermont Ave.
INFO: (434) 841-6831 or http://www.kellymattox.com
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