An exhibit of innovative glass art by our talented Diana Branscome. This locally popular  artist will be C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery’s featured artist during the month of May.  She will be at the gallery on May 3rd from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., during the Historic Downtown Mall’s First Friday event.  

Branscome Glass came to life in 2005.  Diana Branscome began by using art glass to create pieces that ranged from mirrors to sun catchers to tableware.  In the spring of 2008, she became inspired to use recycled glass as her raw material.  Diana now works with local restaurants to find and salvage the most unusual and beautiful colors of bottles so that she can give them new lives.

Diana looks to the natural world for much of her inspiration. The colors, shapes and textures in her work are reminiscent of everything from the night sky to flowing water. In this exhibit, Branscome has chosen photographic images that serve as specific focal points for her creative process. These images are the two-dimensional sparks for her three dimensional pieces, teasing her to find inventive yet organic patterns that reflect her thoughts.

“Sometimes it’s a straightforward case of the color or the lines of something that can inspire me,” said Branscome recently, as she described her upcoming show. “Other times, it’s the play of light or shadow that flips the creative switch.”

In addition to her decorative or functional lines of bowls and plates, Branscome builds glass lamp shades (www.shadesoflight.com). She also creates glass gems out of recycled glass which she incorporates into her jewelry designs, giving an overall impression of beach glass. For more background, visit her website www.branscomeglass.com.

Milenko Katic, "City Pool"

C’ville Arts Features – “Lines and Colors” - During April

The Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Lines and Colors”, new work by award winning painter, Milenko Katic. This highly popular and talented artist will be C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery’s featured artist during the month of April.  He will be at the gallery on April 6th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., during the Historic Downtown Mall’s First Friday event.

Milenko’s new work is in mixed media. Just exploration of technique in painting is no longer a challenge for him. Now his search is for art nouveau. The end of traditional painting is a new beginning for this artist. Truly new work implies denial of what has come before. By immersing himself in different media, he finds more opportunity to explore new dimensions of art. 

Milenko Katic, "Beach"

He begins his work in collage, acrylic, charcoal and crayon. Combining abstract and representational forms, Katic is walking a fine line between these two styles. When finished painting, he lets time pass to age the work before reconsidering it. Then he confronts the work, reworks it, finishes it and lets it age again. Through this process the work stays alive, as an integral part of the artist’s life as long as it remains with the artist. Being alive here continues the evolutionary process of aging and changing, developing with the chance of becoming increasingly original, and different.

“Working in this rhythmic cycle,” Katic said describing his process, “work-finish-age-confront, work-finish-age-confront, I find excitement with each project, because each work leads me to the possibility of creating a different and important piece of art.”

Milenko Katic is truly rethinking art and redefining its meaning with each passing day. For more information about this gifted artist and painter visit his web site www.milenkoartstudio.com.

There is a whole movement afoot, from Cleveland to Sydney to Charlottesville and beyond!  You can read all about it HERE.

Yesterday, March 24th, was designated as NATIONAL CASH MOB DAY, and Charlottesville own C’ville Arts was selected as the inaugural mob spot from an initial list of 30 or more businesses.  Each mobster brought $20 to spend at the secret site (the site was announced as everyone gathered at the Pavilion), and Gallery artists took in a crazy $1700 in the 45 minutes of frenzied shopping spree.

Thank you, Cash Mob Charlottesville!  (See the video below!)

Tanya Tyree

Turning a Meal into a Feast – New Work by C’ville Arts Potters

C’ville Arts Gallery is proud to bring in the spring with a focus on our talented members who love to play with clay! Their devotion to this medium and commitment to the creative process is certain.

Roger Rood

Five co-op members will stage an exhibitin which focuses on “setting your table with flair”.  If you love accenting your home, kitchen or dining rooms with special and unique pieces, this is a show you don’t want to miss!

Jan Crowther

Please join us for an Opening Reception and a chance to meet the artists will be held on Friday March 2nd from 6 – 8 pm during the Historic Downtown Mall’s First Friday events.

The ceramic artists included in the exhibit are: Barbara Albert, who has provided gorgeous hand thrown pottery to Central Virginia for over two decades; Tanya Tyree, a clay artist mastering the fine art of Raku with extraordinary results; Trina Player,  bringing dynamic glazing to her functional work with a sparkling presence; Jan Crowther, with her peaceful spirit that shines throughout her work and a playful element that carries a smile; and last but not least, Roger Rood is welcomed as the newest member with his unique and vibrant yet functional approach to clay.

This outstanding group of artists presents an expansive range of decorative and functional works to satisfy your needs and any budget. From the most austere to the absolute decadent these artists will help you set a mood and the table with pride. You too can turn any meal into a feast and any house into a home with style.

Leslie Allyn paints whimsical designs in rich colors and organic line, using unique techniques in watercolor and black ink pen. The paintings and their distinctive style are a clever combination of the ethereal and the mundane, inspired by dreams, nature, contemplation, and fleeting moments.

Mingqiu Chen is a Chinese paper cutting artist who has mastered the technique with exquisite details. Viewers often find her compositions astonishing when they realize all are painstakingly made from hand cut paper.

C’ville Arts will miss both of these popular artists and their generous spirit, as they individually move away from Charlottesville to seek new passions. We wish them both a wonderful future filled with vision, creativity and prosperity. This is a rare opportunity to show your appreciation by giving them a strong farewell celebration.

Don’t miss this chance to take advantage of the best deals around! Buy great art and crafts at the studio sale prices! January is a great time to support and help advance your local creative economy. We’re here to help you, stop by and let our friendly membership staff brighten your day in the most imaginative way.

C’ville Arts Gallery opens it’s holiday season

C’ville Arts is a local Charlottesville business, supporting local artists and craftspeople.  As a result, the Gallery has chosen our Holiday Gift Show  to focus on “Localism”.   Our annual group show will feature affordable works created by local artists, produced, and sold locally for holidays shoppers.

What is “localism” you ask? C’ville Arts Cooperative is an excellent example.  In an increasingly homogenized world, communities that preserve their one-of-a-kind businesses and distinctive character have an economic advantage.  Compared to chain stores, locally owned businesses recycle a much larger share of their revenue back into the local economy, enriching the whole community.

We’re about something more than just local economic advantages. We provide local smiles with each purchase, local gratitude, local hope, and local answers for your gift giving needs!  We are proud to promote local creativity that supports local jobs and we contribute to local causes. We will welcome you with “local open arms” as you search our endless supply of local arts and crafts. We are here to help keep your local spending dollars LOCAL!

In return for your local support, we offer a “local thank-you” and “local wishes” for a Happy Holiday season from the entire local membership at C’ville Arts!!!

C’ville Arts Features – “A Cornucopia of Art” – During November

C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery is proud to support the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank during the month of November. This group show will feature work that is related to food. Meet participating members from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on November 4th, during the Historic Downtown Mall’s First Friday event.

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank exists for a few very simple reasons: Food sustains life. It restores options. It provides hope. Many of those who receive food from the Food Bank are the most vulnerable in our community. Four in 10 are children.

This is an opportunity you won’t want to miss. Satisfy your hunger to support 2 terrific, local organizations during one event! The gallery will donate a percentage of our First Friday sales directly to the local Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. But that’s not all; bring your canned goods and generous spirit because we will provide collection bins for the entire month of November! For more information about the Food Bank visit their web site www.brafb.org.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a phone call out of the blue from one of my fellow artist members, Mary Ellen Larkins.  Mary Ellen works in fused glass; she produces unique and beautiful jewelry, as well as some very interesting sculptural pieces and even some items for the home.  So, anyway, Mary Ellen left a message on my voice mail that she had a friend who has a gift shop, and he had received a shipment of depression glass that arrived in pieces.  Pieces?  Well, as an artist who works in mosaic, the word “pieces” makes my heart race!  Mary Ellen had convinced her friend that she knew someone who could put his shards of Depression-era glass to good use, and her message to me was simply “come and get it!”.  And get it I did; what a beautiful haul of broken glass it is!

This sort of thing happens all the time at the Gallery.  One artist will have something they no longer need, and they’ll call one of their fellow artists.  We’re always thinking about each other; we’re there for each other; we’re there for our cooperative, too.

I probably don’t have to tell you that times have been tough, and when people cut back on their buying, often the handmade arts and crafts are considered less essential.  So far, though, we’ve made it; and, we’ve made it because we’ve pulled together, tightened our belts, increased the percentage of sales that goes to the co-op, and generally just focused on providing quality handmade objects, whether traditional crafts or decorative art or fine art, that is well-made and affordable.

We do it together.  We love our Gallery’s location near the Central Place on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall, and there’s a true sense of cooperation among our group of artists.  We love our Gallery, and we really love the relationships that we develop with other artists.  There’s a certain camaraderie among our members, and though we each focus on our individual art, the Gallery provides us with a higher purpose for which to work.  It’s a very good thing.

- This article was written by Virginia Gardner, our resident mosaic artist.

Welcome to our C’ville Arts blog; we look forward to welcoming you into our Gallery as well!

C’ville Arts is an artists cooperative.

Our co-op began in 1997 with the vision of a handful of craftspeople who sought a seasonal venue from which to sell their art. We moved from space to space for each of several holiday seasons and we called ourselves “Transient Crafters” . In 2000, with our membership growing, we secured our current, permanent location near the Central Place on the pedestrian mall Downtown.

As the 10-year anniversary of the first seasonal shop approached in 2007, we decided it was time for a new name that better reflected the focus of the gallery and our place in the community.  And so we became C’ville Arts: A Cooperative Gallery.

Our Gallery of Crafts and Art is Managed Solely by Artist Members

The cooperative is composed of 50-60 artists.  There are several levels of membership, each with designated benefits and responsibilities, both financial and managerial.  We are governed by an elected Board of Directors; each Director serves a minimum 3-year term.  The Co-op employs one part-time administrator, who is also an artist member.  Staffing of the Gallery during business hours is provided only by Artist Members.

Our Artist Members are Selected through a Jury Process.

Our full membership meets four times each year, during which we review submissions of work by prospective artist members.  We maintain a wide variety of fine art and crafts at C’ville Arts; we are both gallery, boutique and gift shop.  Our purpose is to provide a venue for our artist members to make a living from their art, and so we maintain flexible control over our artists’ (our peers’) exhibited work.  We wish to provide the viewing and buying public with access to hand-made work by Virginia artists that is both well-crafted and affordable.  For information about applying for membership at C’ville Arts, please visit our Join Us! page.

Meet our Artists Every Day!

The Gallery is staffed solely by working artists; members of our cooperative share the responsibility of keeping the doors open for our customers.    If you would like to meet a specific artist, you can always call the Gallery and find out when they will be working their next shift in the shop.  Also, our monthly Featured Artists will always be on hand from 6:00 – 8:00 pm on the First Friday Opening of their show.

Let us say, once again, Welcome!