Art gallery hosts monthly showing of new exhibitions in downtown Richmond

CHLOE HAWKINS Contributing Writer

Art Works, a full-service art center located in the Manchester District, opened three new exhibitions Friday night, displaying the art of different stories and backgrounds.

The main exhibition features VCUarts painting and printmaking alum Michael O’Neal’s “New Work” located in the Jane Sandelin Gallery, the concept of which came about after an accidental water spill on his canvas.

“While cleaning up the water I noticed the defined streak of smeared paint,” O’Neal said. “I then dived even deeper and used milk to create more canvas art.”

O’Neal said he gets his ideas organically and practices experimental methods of making abstract paintings — there are mixes of many colors in his paintings including blues and greens, reds and browns and incorporations of splatter paint.

“The inspiration behind my exhibition name actually comes from one of my favorite jazz albums,” O’Neal said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve done this.”

Art Works owner Glenda Kotchish said the creation of the gallery was to originally provide open spaces for artists, but its current goal is to also be accessible to the entire public — both locally and internationally.

Another main priority for Art Works, with 80 artist studios and four galleries, is the artists themselves, according to Kotchish.

“We want people to be happy, if they have problems we want to hear about, fix it and also hear their ideas as a whole,” Kotchish said.

Along with Kotchish, the responsibilities of the gallery are also given to VCUarts alum and gallery director Jessie Boyland, who started at Art Works in 2004.

Boyland said part of her job is to seek out new artists, act as jury during open call for artists, install exhibitions and ultimately choose what will be displayed in the gallery, as well as staying up to date with what people want to see.

“Recently I’ve had to bring in new contemporary art to match what people want,” Boyland said. “In general we try to respond to customers and so I’ve had to focus on finding colorful, abstract pieces.”

Boyland said she prides herself on being “artist-focused.” Artists often have their first shows at Art Works and the staff loves to help them set up their exhibitions, according to Boyland.

Art Works has been offering free admission since it opened and will continue to, according to Boyland.

“We’re open free to the public to make art accessible to not only purchase, but, see,” Boyland said. “We don’t want that barrier to be there in the community.”

Artist Corinne Schofield’s “Fold: Small Images” is also on display at Art Works. Schofield said she got back into the creative process after seeing her friend display their art at Art Works a few years ago. She said it’s “wonderful” to have her artwork be seen for the first time, and it is a “life-long dream.”

“I feel validated as an artist because it’s never been shown to anybody,” Schofield said. “I’ve given away art as gifts, but, you know, it’s not the same.”

The inspiration for the detailed drawings in “Fold: Small Images” come from the idea of feng shui, the balancing of energies within a structure, according to Schofield.

“Where your intention goes, that’s where the energy flows,” Schofield said. “The art that I’m creating is very specific to bagua.”

Bagua, a Chinese principle, relates to five elements of feng shui: water, wood, fire, earth and metal, according to the National Geographic.

Sicchio and Martin have future ideas that include furthering the technology. This includes adding senses, such as seeing, hearing and feeling, to the robot’s design with wearable devices for dancers to create a bridge of communication with the robots and developing more predisposed algorithms so the robots can respond to improvisation, according to Sicchio.

“There’s movement to be learned, whether it’s a choreographer learning new movement possibilities on a robot arm or a robot learning from a dancer,” Sicchio said. “There’s all this stuff that we haven’t figured out yet. And our project is just scratching the surface.”

One of Schofield’s paintings incorporates two areas of bagua by mixing sunsets with trees. The sunset represents the fire element and the trees represent the water element, according to Schofield.

Carolyn Pitts, a former VCUarts art history student, said she has been involved with Art Works for approximately four years.

Her exhibition “The End in Mind” examines death and living life to the fullest every day. It focuses on “memento mori,” which means “remember your death” in Latin, according to Pitts.

“I’ve been trying to show that death is inevitable, but it can also be beautiful,” Pitts said. “It’s not something to be scared of.”

Pitts said inspiration for her art stems from the death loss of her mother. In the last weeks Pitts was caring for her, she said she realized the beauty in the dead flowers given to her mother.

The flowers are displayed with colorful, vibrant backgrounds in her art. Pitts said the vibrant colors and spots represent different people’s energies.

“Being with my mom the moment she took her last breath I realized that death isn’t the scariest thing, it’s a transition of energy,” Pitts said. “I’m a big believer in energy and that we all are energetic beings.”

The exhibitions opened on Feb. 25 and are available until March 19.

NICHOLAS BARAHONA Contributing Writer

RAM CITY MARKET — HAVE YOU HEARD of it? In case you haven’t, let me introduce you to what is set to be the new place for all foods and essentials on campus. Located between Panda Express and Insomnia Cookies on West Grace Street, this market will be open to students and people across the Richmond and VCU community — if it ever opens, that is.

Currently, the space between these two food establishments on West Grace Street is unoccupied, and it has been for some time.

From April 2015 to July 2019, a “Walmart on Campus” mini-grocery store occupied this spot. Walmart opened as a pilot program, and after gathering data taken from its four years inside the VCU community, it closed shop.

Those of you who were here when the campus Walmart was open definitely remember how easy it was to get anything you needed without making a hike to the closest grocery store. Even with the occasional long lines, its centralized location and proximity to students made it highly convenient.

Senior business information systems student Carlos Farias said that Walmart was a “crucial spot” that students used to pick up “everyday eating essentials” without traveling too far.

“Being a freshman and in dorms with no kitchen available, it is hard to find a good meal that isn’t the same old options that you settle for at VCU,” Farias said.

Evidently, an on-campus grocery store is needed for VCU students. In August 2021, VCU News reported that Ram City Market would replace the Walmart, with an expected opening date in “late fall or early spring.” There have been no public updates since then.

We cannot understate how rampant food insecurity is among college students, which is why it’s so important for the university to take immediate action to address these concerns. Youngmi Kim, associate professor in the VCU School of Social Work, found that about 35% of VCU students experience food insecurity, with barriers including transportation and limited funds.

Transportation in particular is a huge problem. The Kroger and Whole Foods on Broad Street are the closest grocery stores to VCU. Kroger is approximately a 20 minute walk from VCU; Whole Foods is a 26 minute walk. The GRTC Pulse is an option, though it comes with its own challenges such as carrying all your groceries on the bus.

If you do not have a car on campus, how are you expected to make the journey to get everything you really need? It is unrealistic to assume many can and will make this trek.

Having been a VCU student for a while now, I’ve grown accustomed to the

MYA HARRISON Contributing Writer

“The only difference I see is I’m a Black young lady,” 21-year-old track star Sha’Carri Richardson tweeted out to her 500k followers on Twitter after finding out Russian Olympic figure skater Kamila Valieva was still allowed to compete despite failing a routine drug test just prior to the 2022 Winter Olympics.

After reaching the sixth fastest time in history in the women’s 100 meter race in April 2021 and winning the United States Olympic Qualifiers, Sha’Carri Richardson seemed to be an unstoppable force and destined for greatness at the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

Unfortunately, after becoming eligible to compete, Richardson tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, which is the main psychoactive compound found in marijuana, according to the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

The agency recognizes THC as a “substance of abuse,” and immediately suspended Richardson for one month, forcing her to forfeit her spot at the Summer Olympics.

In December 2021, just months after Richardson’s suspension, 15-year-old Russian olympic gold medalist Kamila Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, which is another banned substance listed as a “metabolic modulator.”

Trimetazidine is a medication typically given to older patients to help with heart problems, or can be used as a performance-enhancing drug, according to Chemical and Engineering News. Physiologically, trimetazidine increases blood flow to the heart and allows for more efficient production of ATP, the body’s source of energy.

On the other hand, marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug. According to a study in “Sports Medicine,” cannabinoids negatively affect information processing and reaction time, which actually worsens sports performance.

Let me say it again.

Quote of the week

empty space on West Grace Street. However, Walmart closed almost three years ago. We waited two years, and nothing. Despite Ram City Market being named as the replacement early last semester, the details seem to be shrouded in secrecy, and there is nothing to show for. The date for the grand opening? I couldn’t tell you.

Walking past the unit where the market is set to be, you will find a “Coming Soon” sign and the handle @vcu_dining on Instagram for anyone interested in updates about the market. I can save you the trouble in doing so and tell you what I found after scouring the account — nothing. Not one update has been given since the initial announcement.

Alas, all we have to go off of is the initial article released six months ago by VCU News that stated the market would be opening in late fall or early spring. Well,

THC does not enhance athletic performance, but trimetazidine can.

On top of this, in an interview with the Today Show, Richardson said that she used marijuana to cope with the death of her mother, which happened right before Olympic trials were scheduled to start.

Valieva gave a urine sample on Dec. 25, and her positive drug test was returned on Feb. 8 — just one day after her team won gold for the figure ice skating event, according to NPR.

Upon investigation, Valieva was suspended, but shortly after was cleared to skate just before the singles events. Indeed, the Court of Arbitration for Sport disputed the claim and allowed her to skate even though she had tested positive for a banned substance in her system.

The confusion I have had over this is beyond me, but I’ve come to realize the only significant difference between these two situations: Sha’Carri Richardson is Black.

The term “irreparable harm,” was used to describe what would happen if the committee had gone through with suspending Valieva from competing in the Olympics because of how young she was — but what about Sha’Carri Richardson?

That term never came to mind when they immediately suspended Richardson, despite her having experienced the tragedy of losing her mother.

I can understand why they didn’t let Richardson compete because of the decision to suspend her for one month. Her suspension started on June 28 and the Tokyo Olympics started on July 23, so there wouldn’t be enough time for her to complete her suspension before the commencement of the games in between. The unfortunate thing about this situation is that the committee let Valieva compete even after testing positive. This definitely uncovered a double standard that may or may not have been there already.

If you are going to have specific rules, you should make sure you are implementing fall was last semester and spring break is next week — am I missing something here? them across the board, no matter the age of a person. On top of Richardson expressing her concerns, other Olympic medalists have also publicly disagreed with the Russian Olympic Committee for allowing Valieva to still compete.

While the lack of progress and updates about Ram City Market has been disappointing, I’m inspired by what VCU has done with Ram Pantry and Little Ram Pantries, projects to address food insecurity within the RVA community. These have been great undertakings, but we can’t stop there. Finalizing Ram City Market is the next step to addressing this long-standing problem at our university.

As a student at VCU, I call on the university to supply updates to its community regarding the market. The lack of transparency has led me to believe this is not a priority in VCU’s eyes. The longer it’s not up, the longer the ongoing issue stands with students not having a convenient and accessible place to buy food, leading to greater food insecurity within our community.

“This is a slap in the face to the Olympic Games, to our sport, and to every athlete that’s ever competed at the Olympics clean,” former olympic figure skater Johnny Weir said in a recent interview with The Recount.

The only real concrete punishment Valieva got was the fact that the International Olympic Committee would withhold the medals from her team and herself until the investigation was completed, according to The New York Times.

Sha’Carri Richardson never even got the chance to show off her proven skills on the track. She was immediately barred from even competing, let alone having her medals withheld.

The double standard is the fact that no one tried to understand why Richardson did what she did because of her skin color. People immediately judged her. No one gave her a chance to redeem herself.

She was judged harder than Valieva even though she tested positive for something that is way less performance-enhancing than trimetazidine.

I don’t fault Kamila Valieva — I fault The Court of Arbitration for Sport and our society, which tend to overlook what Black people do and immediately paint them out to be bad people.

Kamila Valieva and Sha’Carri Richardson are two very talented athletes who went through the same situation, but one was given the short end of the stick. Unfortunately, it was the young Black girl.

There is a double standard in the sports world and it needs to be fixed, especially now that this has happened. We must hold those in power accountable to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Fritz