A project 10 years in the making, the Ruffin Hall studio art gallery was completed Sept. 22. The new art gallery opened its inaugural exhibition, “The Indefinite Edge,” displaying the works of two printmakers, Annu Vertanen and Karen Kunc. The formal opening for the show will take place Sept. 26, when a Final Friday Reception jumpstarts the show and the new gallery space.
For years the studio art faculty have gathered and discussed the building they wanted for their department, one that would inspire students and visiting artists. It was a collaborative project in which faculty spoke with architects and had a real say in the space they wanted to create.
All of the studios are new, but particularly notable for the public is the new gallery. The high-ceilinged space was built to capture as much light as possible while retaining as much space as possible for displaying art. It achieves this goal by devoting nearly all four walls of the room to art, excluding a corner window, and incorporating a skylight for extra sunlight.
“All art departments have or should have a real classy gallery,” Studio Art Prof. Dean Dass said. “We now have a studio worthy for visiting artists.”
Both exhibiting artists, Kunc and Vertanen, use the oldest form of printmaking: the woodcut. Today they are “among the most important artists in the world working with woodcuts,” Dass said. Both artists will work with students and seek to inspire and instruct those who are working directly with them or in the same space as them.
Kunc travels to U.Va. from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Kunc’s work uses a mélange of tools from various countries including European oil-based ink and Asian paper. Fourth-year studio art major Rachel Singel, who has been working with Kunc, describes Kunc’s technique as making “a two-dimensional surface, enriched and lively.” She also uses a reduction approach in which “she cuts as she produces ... so it’s difficult to go backwards,” Singel said. This process therefore influences her methodical and exacting manner of operating.
“She [Kunc] has dedicated her life to printmaking,” Singel said, and has accordingly promoted it to a more “prominent” place in the art world.
The second artist, Annu Vertanen, comes to the University from Finland and was greatly inspired by Kunc when she took a workshop of hers. Kunc’s workshop caused Vertanen to stop much of her other modes of art and take up printmaking. Vertanen’s technique uses considerably large installations along with videos. The title of her work is roughly translated as “The Day of Absence” and it explores the “something which one can no longer depict,” the artist stated in an exhibit brochure.
Even though the first exhibit in the new Ruffin Gallery is printmaking, the space will eventually house a variety of modes of art. The next exhibit will be photography from a new faculty member and at the end of the year, studio art majors will display their senior theses.
Content with the new building and gallery, Dass said “[This building was] a real commitment on the part of U.Va.”
Singel shared this sentiment. This space, she said, is “a testament to the fact that the University of Virginia is a growing art program. Having this facility shows that the University of Virginia values the studio art program.”
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