Couldn’t We Ride, an exhibit spotlighting the art and craft of the bicycle, opens July 1st, 2010, at Quirk in Richmond, Va. From a child's eyes, a bicycle is the ultimate gateway to freedom. They can go wherever they want, however fast they choose. Perhaps it is the feeling of freedom one gets when riding a bicycle that makes them such a nostalgic symbol. Perhaps it is because of the endless possibilities bicycles allow us.

Couldn't We Ride explores frame building and the making of bicycle components as an artistic act. From functional items such as saddles, ceramics, and chain guards to bicycle paintings and photographs, this show will touch many facets of bicycle culture. Couldn't We Ride combines the craft of creating a bicycle as well as artwork inspired by bicycles and the act of riding a bike. We have gathered a group of artists that we believe have combined creativity and problem solving with beauty and functionality to produce bicycles and accessories that reach the highest level of craft and design. The exhibition will showcase work that demonstrates the elegance and importance of handmade items in everyday life.

November 4th to December 24th- Sparkle Plenty 6  

Todd Reed's medium is the raw diamond. He became interested in raw diamonds as "a way to question the fascination with diamonds used as a status symbol in our current society. I maintain still today that the 'most perfect cut' is still an uncut. It became a fascination for me to use and make aware the beauty and raw elegance of the diamond in its most pure form." His work has been recognized by the American Craft Council, Society of North American Goldsmiths, American Jewelry Design Council, Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America, and been selected as winner of Saul Bell Design award, Niche awards, American Vision Awards, Rising Star, Passion award, Designer jewelry arts award and Cheongju International Craft Biennale.

Miel-Margarita Paredes' "Gnaw" series grew out of earlier work that was originally inspired by the practice of decorating one's home with hunting trophies, "the use of the animal as ornamentation for interior spaces." But Paredes embraces a unique animal in her architectural ornamentation: rodents. With designs based on traditional rosettes, she incorporates the noses and mouths of rodents. "Rodents are by turns considered disease-ridden vermin, culinary delicacies, and cuddly pets." Here they are also art.  

Two Views In Metal Art Ornaments & Objects explores the work of two Korean Born metal artists. 

Mi-Sook Hur is enamored by nature and draws inspiration from the changes inherent in it. The work elicits a sense of movement with a nod to the cycles of life. Hur is an associate professor in the School of Art and Design at East Carolina University with an extensive national and international exhibition record. She is a former artist-in-residence at John Michael Kohler Arts Center and has taught workshops at Penn School of Crafts, Newark Museum and Pullen Art Center.

Komelia Hongja Okim is a Korean-American artist and educator who depicts the dynamic interchanges between different cultures and ethnic origins.The work reflects the YING YANG Principle and the harmonies and conflicts marked by different cultures coming together. Okim has exhibited and given mental technique workshops in Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, France, Germany, Norway, Canada and the United States.  

SMBW Architects, the Manchester Design Collective, and StocktonCLAY Architects will be hosting Assemblage 5- Enter the Vault on Friday March 5th at Quirk Gallery on Broad Street. SMBW and the MDC will be featuring recently completed works and StocktonCLAY Architects will be made public.

SMBW Architects is one of the region’s leading interdisciplinary design studio’s for thoughtful, cutting-edge, contemporary architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban planning in the region. Integrating rigorous technical expertise with stewardship of the urban and natural landscape, we partner with clients to produce timeless, identity-rich, and mission-driven environments.

StocktonClay Architects is a partnering of Richmond’s most forward-looking design firms. In 2008 SMBW Architects and BAM Architects formed a new joint venture in order to pursue and win cultural and civic design commissions throughout the Mid-Atlantic. In collaboration with the Slave Trail Commission, StocktonCLAY Architects will unveil their vision for the African American Heritage Sites including the Slave Trail Markers and National Slavery Museum Complex in Shockoe Bottom.

The design + fabrication delivery process is the foundation for the Manchester Design Collective- a regional interdisciplinary guild comprised of skilled artisans, craftsmen, and designers. The MDC was founded in order to bring designers and craftsmen together under one roof to encourage collaboration among the allied arts and offer an alternative approach to the conventional design delivery process. 

A collection of framed photographs by Ann Bradshaw

• Artist Reception: Jan. 7, 5-7pm
• Artist Talk: Jan. 20, 12-2pm and Feb. 16, 5-7pm

The work of Ann Bradshaw is anything but simplistic. Her collection of works for ‘Sane Enough’, pull from her careers as both a psychotherapist and studio artist to explore the paradox and ambiguity inherent in the complex journey of life.

Each piece is suffused with color and a sense of intensity that speaks to the underlying web of emotional circumstances that are at the core of their conception.

Ann believes that there should always be a synchrony between the artist and her art. She explores that interface through the creation of work that is photography with a painterly aspect, formed through her imagination and mastery of technique.

A unique collection of bespoke pieces of wearable art created by 9 National and International art jewelers.In recognition of the personal and intimate associations that are invested in jewelry, we asked each artist to invite another to exhibit alongside them, someone who had inspired and motivated them to create.
 
The result: a cornucopia of delights ranging from simple modern forms to visually complex compositions.

Artists featured in this fifth year of a Quirk jewelry show tradition include:

Sandra Enterline

Joanna Gollberg

Sharon Massey

Biba Schutz

Caitie Sellers

Blanka Sperkova

Lori Talcott

Amy Tavern

Marlene True

Benjamin Jones is an internationally acclaimed artist whose small drawings are full of deep emotion and intricate, yet ambiguous, story lines. The images walk a line between humor and horror, seducing the viewer as he sees bits of themselves, the artist, and the fictional collide.

This unique presentation of small graphite drawings invite you to step inside the sketched lines and meet Jones' characters. Anthropomorphic figures dance throughout complex webs of lines, scribbles, and psychologically loaded etchings. Often eliciting references to children's art, outsider art, and art brut, Jone's work is distinctly recognizable as his own.

Jones' drawings are included in prominent museum collections including the Whitney Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, Morris Museum of Art, as well as significant corporate and private collections. He is represented by the Barbara Archer Gallery in Atlanta.

Beginning on June 4, 2007, Noah Scalin made a skull a day for a year. The project is at once humorous and serious, with kitschy undertones and real meditations on life. Noah took the ordinary and turned it extraordinary making skulls out of rice, vegetables, acorns, shoes, keyboard keys, bubble wrap, condoms, band-aids, and more. His website skulladay.com; won numerous awards, garnering international attention, and in 2008, he published a book of the fabulous creations, Skulls. Each one incredibly well executed, innovative and original, this exhibition features a selection of the original 365.25 skulls (both small & large), as well as several new pieces made specifically for the show (and offered for sale for the first time). The show promises to leave you seeing skulls everywhere you go.