To kick off the 2020 exhibition season at artspace Gallery in Manchester, we chose four Virginia artists to show their work: painters, Duane Cregger (Marion, VA) and Sean McClain (Richmond, VA), ceramicist, Anna Freeman (Virginia Beach, VA), and installation artist, Lou Haney (Charlottesville, VA). A group exhibition of work by Artspace Artist Members will also be on view. Work will be on display until February 23, 2020. A closing talk by the artists will take place on Sunday, February 23, 2020 beginning at 2:00 p.m.

All four featured artists, though exploring different topics, respond to a particular challenge emanating from within or infiltrating from outside themselves. Duane Cregger, (Work2020), searches for tranquility represented by his heavily layered painting process. Anna Freeman’s (Drought and Deluge), presents environmental crisis in the structure and imagery of her ceramic vases and satellite like views of drought on parched tiles. Sean McClain (Peggy Sue Ate Mushrooms) steps up to the plate in defiance of deferred ambition, and Lou Haney’s installation (Little Wonders) attends to the manipulation of perception. In each gallery the viewer is provided with much to consider and perhaps much to ponder on our own attempts at resolution of life’s challenges.

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Duane Cregger – Work2020, Main Gallery
Features 14 paintings, large and small, in oil and mixed media. Cregger describes these works as a “moody search for tranquility” where hints can be found of gestural marks and busy compositions layered beneath atmospheric, color subdued surfaces.

Anna Freeman – Drought and Deluge, Helena Davis Gallery
Presenting sculptural vessels and tiles in porcelain and stoneware, Freeman’s work, based on micro and macro imagery, “explores ecological concepts in cycles of drought and excess” and the significance of their impact.

Sean McClain – Peggy Sue Ate Mushrooms, Frable Gallery
Portraying the antithesis of “scenic” Richmond, McClain’s acrylic paintings are close observations of color and the effects of light on humble subjects and their environs. These snippets: an overgrown alley, rusting VW, a dumpster, unmanicured lots, vintage signage and time stamped houses, have acquired the stylistic description of “realist Americana but kind of trippy”.

Lou Haney – Little Wonder, smallspace Gallery
Showing a site specific, mixed media installation inspired by nostalgia for vintage fabric and a 1970’s color palette. Haney uses traditional painting techniques and a variety of other found and fabricated elements to transform the texture, form and surface of this small interior space.