University of Virginia Library

Second Street Gallery:Just What This Town Needs

Paint And Champagne

By FEN MONTAIGNE

CD/Lloyd Tanada

Champagne In Front Of Linda Kennard's Provocative "Downspout".

There was that
unmistakable smell of fresh
paint, soon followed by a whiff
of the catered Swedish meat
balls, and then it was the top
of the stairs, and a look around
to see the paintings, and the
people, and to feel the
excitement in every room of
the Second Street Gallery.

The artists had waited
months for last night, the
opening of their
showroom-classroom. Giving
birth to the Gallery hadn't
been easy; yet all the work, all
the time, all the trouble wasn't
evident in their expressions.
The place was packed with
glowing guests, the champagne
was flowing, and the faces of
the eleven artists were graced
with smiles.

Over a thousand invitations
had been sent to all types of
Charlottesvillians , and judging
from the hordes of happy
guests it seemed as if all invited
had decided to come. There
were the familiar faces of
University professors, and
students. There were the faces
of what appeared to be
Charlottesville's most elegant
and wealthy citizens. There
were beautiful young faces
wearing blue jeans and boots,
tuxedos and patent leather
shoes. There were old men
with canes, there were young
kids in carriages. It was a
wonderful mixture.

It was a mixture almost as
wonderful as the diverse
assortment of art. Oil
paintings, tapestries, sculptures
of wood, sculptures of glorious
gutter spouts, Andy Warhol
style "pop art",photographs –
an assortment so diverse that
one of the guests was
prompted to say, "It has the
variety of the Corcoran
Gallery."

The creativity was spread
throughout nearly a dozen
rooms, everyone of which was
crowded with enthusiastic
onlookers. Yet there still
wasn't enough room for all the
artist's works. Some of the
finest paintings, those of
second year student
Christopher Morris, were
relegated to an unfortunate
place in the Gallery's cloak
room. There was just too much
good art.

In one of the larger rooms,
a couple of guitarists played
Simon and Garfunkle. In
another, Tom Morris, the
director of the Gallery, stood
among a host of magnificent
art books. He was looking
quite happy. "It's great. I'm
really excited. It's a good
show, they have good works,
and there are good people
involved. I don't see how the
gallery n miss."

The moving force behind
the art gallery, Eugene
Markowski, was equally
optimistic. "I'm positive it's
going to be successful. I was
skeptical until 4 p.m. today...
then seeing everybody at the
reception made me
enthusiastic."

Except for that slight smell
of paint, no one would have
known of the hectic, last
minute work. The place looked
great, full of an exotic and
refreshing mixture of art, the
likes of which Virginia has
never seen. There were
difficulties ahead for the
Second Street Gallery. But
there was a strong feeling in
every one of those dozen
rooms that the Gallery would
survive to give Charlottesville
something it has needed for a
long, long time.