Students build art business, promote local talent
Alexandra Figueroa
Contributing Writer
Four VCU students are providing local artists with the opportunity to showcase their work out of the classroom in their personally owned and operated gallery. From sculptures to photography, poems to music, the types of art the student-run gallery showcases is not limited to a certain genre, said gallery owner Conor Backman.
Backman, a 21-year-old junior, said he and friends James Shaeffer, Edward Shenk and Ross Iannatti opened REFERENCE Art Gallery in October, 2009.
As a double major in sculpture and painting, Backman said he wanted to display art that other galleries in Richmond were not necessarily showing.
Although none of the members display their own art work in the gallery, Backman said they give up-and-coming artists the opportunity to have a space where they can showcase their work.
The Commonwealth Times: What made you want to open an art gallery?
Backman: I felt as an artist that there weren’t enough spaces in Richmond representing the work that I was excited about and the kind of work that I was making.
It also just seemed like … a good opportunity to be able to make some things happen that I wanted to see in Richmond.
The CT: How did you get involved with REFERENCE Art Gallery?
Backman: By starting a gallery called Monumental Gallery. The Monumental Gallery began as a small student art show that happened out of my apartment on Monument Ave. last year.
It began as a small project, but quickly got a lot of attention from the students at VCU and we ended up showing a total of around 80 students in the two shows that we did. After the success of that project, I wanted to continue with running a gallery and that led to REFERENCE happening.
The CT: Why name it REFERENCE?
Backman: Coming up with a name for our gallery was one of the hardest challenges initially. We went with the name REFERENCE because it didn’t refer to anything other than itself.
Almost all the other names we were thinking about had too much of a connotation to one thing or another that we didn’t want associated with us … So REFERENCE worked out because it was a kind of placeholder for a namet a name that was sort of a ‘no-name’ name.
The CT: What are some events REFERENCE has hosted?
Backman: We’ve had five art shows since we opened in October. Four group shows and one solo show.
We’ve also been hosting some music events, performances and other one-night style community events. We’re trying to make sure we can schedule a diverse mix of things at the space that go beyond the more traditional art show.
The CT: Do you take part in First Fridays?
Backman: So far we haven’t really been a part of the First Friday’s circuit. We’re a little bit out of the way from the center of the whole Broad St. thing, so we’ve been more of a destination spot for people.
We’re working on become more of a part of that. The next few shows we will be doing are going to open on the first Fridays of the month.
The CT: Any comments for those who aren’t involved with art?
Backman: We are excited to hear your ideas about things you want to see happen at our space even if your ideas aren’t for art shows or aren’t directly art related. So hit us up, we want to hear from the community.
For more information about REFERENCE, visit www.referenceartgallery.com.
