Sarah Sargent, Author at C-VILLE Weekly

Tim Michel takes inspiration from water’s transitions in Chroma show

Tim Michel became interested in deltas after a friend, a follower of Carl Jung, suggested it would be useful to have a personal symbol or archetype that could carry you to the next stage of your life. “This was interesting to me,” says Michel, whose “Delta” show at Chroma Projects considers these alluvial phenomena through […]

Sarah Sargent | August 6, 2025

Arts Culture

Vibha Vijay transforms one precious object into another at New City Arts

In “one hand washes the other” at New City Arts, Vibha Vijay endows art with emotional import, incorporating secondhand fabric and materials belonging to family members—a practice that allows her to explore the associations these items hold. Vijay says a recent visit to India “really sparked a lot of the thought behind this work.” Evident […]

Sarah Sargent | May 21, 2025

Arts Culture

A dual show at Phaeton Gallery interprets beauty in layers

Currently on exhibition at Phaeton Gallery, “Understory” features works by Charlottesville resident Krista Townsend and Nikki Hare of Tewkesbury, U.K., in a dynamic artistic dialogue about nature. The title refers to the zone of vegetation that exists between the forest floor and the forest canopy. Townsend approaches this directly, producing work developed and centered on […]

Sarah Sargent | March 26, 2025

Arts Culture

Ruffin Gallery group show brings art alums together

The work of former University of Virginia students comes together in “A Continuous Storyline: Four Decades of UVA Painters” at the school’s Ruffin Gallery. In curating the show, UVA Professor of Studio Art Megan Marlatt chose artists with an active creative life who are developing, working, and making art. Tori Cherry (’20), whose stunning self-portrait […]

Sarah Sargent | January 29, 2025

Arts Culture

Ten artists share repetition across mediums at Second Street Gallery

“That Feels Good! Labor as Pleasure” at Second Street Gallery brings together 10 artists working in a variety of media and styles whose work shares a labor-intensive, often repetitive, approach. For curator Francisco Donoso, the repetitions and effort yield not just interesting artwork, but also pleasure for the artist creating it. Donoso cites as inspiration […]

Sarah Sargent | January 8, 2025

Arts Culture

JSAAHC adds highly detailed Black spaces exhibition to its permanent collection

“Toward a Lineage of Self” is the latest addition to the “Pride Overcomes Prejudice” permanent exhibition at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Featuring an interactive digital map, the exhibition uses deed records, oral histories, documents, and photographs to show how Charlottesville’s historically Black neighborhoods came to be, the struggles they faced when confronted […]

Sarah Sargent | October 9, 2024

Arts Culture

Jefferson School spotlights sculptor who carved out a remarkable legacy

The story of sculptor Alice Ivory is a story of triumph against adversity, and the power of the creative drive. It is also an American tragedy of sorts, highlighting the dearth of opportunities afforded people outside the white, predominantly male, status quo. In “Beyond Boundaries: The Sculpture of Alice Wesley Ivory,” the Jefferson School African […]

Sarah Sargent | September 25, 2024

Arts Culture

Artist Nym Pedersen’s small-scale works leave a big impact

In the years leading up to the pandemic, artist Nym Pedersen could often be found on the Downtown Mall, peddling his small paintings, drawings, and collages, which he dubbed “art snacks.” Much like Steve Keene, Nym felt that art should be within everyone’s reach and priced his work accordingly. Nym died on March 9 at […]

Sarah Sargent | August 14, 2024

Arts Culture

Mentor and student unite in artistic dialogue at Les Yeux du Monde

Artists Isabelle Abbot and Barbara Campbell Thomas met when Abbot was a student in the MFA program at UNC Greensboro where Thomas was a professor. Thomas became an important mentor to Abbot, helping her achieve a looser, freer painting style and chairing her thesis committee. “Influence + Conversation” at Les Yeux du Monde reunites the […]

Sarah Sargent | August 7, 2024

Arts Culture

Essential to the soul

“They’re more than art—they’re like the Bible, Google Maps, and ancestry.com all rolled into one,” says Henry Skerritt, curator of the Indigenous Arts of Australia at University of Virginia’s Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. Skerritt is describing what bark paintings represent to the Yolŋu people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It’s an […]

Sarah Sargent | May 29, 2024