Heide Trepanier says that the new Universal Arts Teaching Gallery will be more than just a much-needed new visual art space. “The sky’s the limit right now,” says the nationally-shown abstract painter and educator. “I’m looking to see what I can get away with.”
Trepanier is spearheading this new 700-square-foot Shockoe Bottom space with two other prominent Richmond artists, muralist and painter Ed Trask, co-founder of the RVA Street Art Festival, and sculptor and plein air specialist Matt Lively, also a muralist. The gallery’s inaugural exhibition is slated for May 23, with a group show of up-and-coming artists alongside familiar names such as Sally Bowring, Joan Gaustad, Sharon Shapiro and Bonnie Collura.
According to a press release, “these works reflect the gallery’s founding commitment to honoring both emerging voices and established practitioners, placing early and late-career artists and artists with different media/backgrounds in meaningful conversation with one another.”
But the exhibit isn’t really indicative of what patrons should expect, says Lively. “This first show is to alert Richmond to what we’re doing. These are artists who are supportive of this, established people who don’t have exclusives to another gallery.”
What will be the normal fare at UATG?
“I think it’ll be shows that are more challenging than what you would normally see at a retail gallery,” he says. “We’re not a retail gallery. The motivating factor is to help young artists that don’t get to have shows and also to provide opportunities for skilled people to teach other people how to do stuff.”
At present, the nonprofit gallery is slated to present ten exhibits a year (details to come) and Trask, Lively and Trepanier will be among a group of teachers overseeing small, intimate classes — on everything from painting to sculpting to mural design to topics outside an easel, like philosophy (Trepanier has a Ph.D in the field). According to the press release, the new space “also intends to serve as an active civic voice, advocating for increased arts funding in Richmond and working alongside city leaders and community stakeholders to ensure that the arts remain a funded and protected priority in the life of this city.”
Beyond its ambitious scope, this venture is noteworthy for the name value of its founding trio, each with work held by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, who are actively seeking other artists to sit on the new gallery board with them. While each artist is known for their own specialties, Trepanier says, “we all entered into the art world through our paintings.”
“Ed’s a musician, too [known for drumming in Kepone, Avail and the recently reunited Dischord band, Holy Rollers]. But he makes paintings, you know, and then Matt is kind of known for his murals but he is also a studio artist, and I am a studio artist and an educator and community activist. So we all have this studio art component in common, but we’re known for different things.”
It was while Lively and Trask were working on a large mural for Shockoe’s Bakery Building, a 12-story apartment tower at the former Weiman’s Bakery, that they discovered the property, built as an office space for construction workers. “We asked about it and what was going to happen to it after the building was done, and they didn’t really know,” Lively remembers. “We said it ought to be a gallery and they agreed. The developer [Daniel Salomonsky] offered to finish out the space and make it usable for what we wanted to do with it.”
Funding for the gallery, as well as teacher compensation, will come through a mixture of private fundraising and class fees, but the project is being aided considerably by a sweetheart rental deal from developer Salomonsky, of SWA Construction and Historic Housing LLC. “He is kind of sponsoring us,” says Trepanier. “As you know, overhead is one of the major expenses in a gallery, and that’s kind of covered for right now.” The rents, she adds, will be increased after five years.
On the eve of the gallery’s first show, Lively is thrilled about the future art that will be showcased inside UATG. “We’re excited about finding out what that’ll be, because we don’t know. We don’t know what these young artists will come up with.”
“Richmond’s a great city for the arts, but artists need support, ” Trepanier adds. “I want to see how we can reinvent the gallery in a way where it can be successful without following the [standard] template that arts nonprofits have used in the past. If I fail miserably, that’s fine. But it’s worth trying because there’re so many deserving artists in this region who don’t have a resume and just need a little bit of professional development.”
Universal Arts Teaching Gallery is at 120 North 18th St. Its opening reception and inaugural exhibit will be held on May 23rd from 4-7 p.m. The event is free. Regular gallery hours will be Thursday through Saturday, noon to 4 p.m.
