1708 Gallery

At noon on Sunday, March 11, 2007, there was a fire at the vacant building 2 doors west of the 1708 Gallery. The Gallery is fortunate to have escaped severe damage from this fire. Our basement is flooded and there is some smoke damage, but the artwork all appears to be safe. This, of course, is a critical relief as the current show exhibits the Gallery’s annual art auction, which raises about one-half of our non-profit art space’s annual operating budget.

The annual auction is scheduled for Saturday, March 31 and will go on!
Tickets and sponsorships for this event ARE available and all support at this time is greatly appreciated…

Important: As phone service is currently disrupted, please email the Gallery Administrator Aimee Koch at akoch@1708gallery.org.

We will keep you posted as events unfold. The main points to remember are,
first, the firemen of Richmond are amazing!, second, the damage is not nearly as bad as we had feared and most importantly, no lives were lost in the blaze.

All support is greatly appreciated at this time, as we assess the amount of damage to our basement and archives. If you wish to help 1708 Gallery, please send a check to the 1708 Gallery, PO Box 10520, Richmond, VA, 23241. Write “March 11 Fire” in the memo line and your donation will be used to help us recover fully from this event.

Thank you for all your support for 1708 Gallery!

Link to Richmond Times Dispatch article on the fire.

Cultivated Grounds, a photography exhibit at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, features work by Richmond artists Aimee Koch (our 1708 Gallery administrator), Amanda Sauer (a 1708 Gallery Graduate Forum alumna) and Charles Gustina (a current VCU MFA student).


The photographs featured in the show use saturated colors, lush forms, and intricate compositions to seduce the viewer with images of plants, flowers and ornamental landscapes. Each artist contributes a distinct style and mood to the exhibition, yet all three capture the interplay of nature and culture in gardens, parks, and cemeteries.

The reception will be on Saturday March 17th, from 2-5pm. The show, in the Ginter Gallery II, will be on display from Thursday March 1, 2007 to Saturday March 31, 2007 and admission to the gallery is included with Garden admission.

Wednesday, March 14th UPDATE: Check out this review of the show in Richmond.com! Kudos!

This is such an easy way to support 1708 Gallery! 1708 Gallery is a non-profit organization and is registered with Benevolink. Anyone can register with Benevolink and donate to a variety of charities and non-profits of their choice! It’s free and really EASY to do. Just set up a free account with Benevolink and you can choose to deposit your Ukrops Golden Gift points (or points from over 300 other retail participants who participate with Benevolink) to 1708 Gallery. So take 5 minutes to register and share the love…

Tim Bowring interviews an artist, curator, or collector every Friday at 12:30 pm for his show Zero Hour on Richmond Independent Radio, WRIR, 97.3.
Some of our 1708 Gallery artist board members, such as Cindy Neuschwander and Diego Sanchez have been interviewed already.

Come and join friends from 1708 Gallery to enjoy the music of Blueline Highway, playing at the Iron Horse restaurant in Ashland this Friday, Feb 9th, at 8pm.
It is a great venue to enjoy good music, good food, and good conversation. Please come out and join us!!

A tiny but tasty sampling of what’s on Broad Street tonight:
1. Ledelle Moe is speaking about her sculptures at 1708 Gallery. The lecture begins promptly at 5pm and is free to the public. 1708 Gallery will be open for First Friday.

2. Our own remarkable Maria Dubon will have work in a show with Steven Little that opens tonight from 7-10 at the Kendra Wadsworth Space at 212 West Broad St.

3. And, Rob Tarbell has a show of drawings on smoked paper that opens tonight at art6 Gallery.

Come and meet artist Ledelle Moe next Friday, Feb. 2, when she will
speak about her work and sculpture
installation at 1708 Gallery.
Admission is free.
Following the talk, there will be a First Friday opening at 1708 and Broad St. galleries.

Lately I’ve been contacted by the 1708 staff regarding images, facts and figures of early events at 1708. The secret is out… we don’t throw things away in our house! Style Weekly is in the process of producing a special anniversary 25th Anniversay issue and 1708 is also looking back so we can look forward and plan accordingly… 1708′s 30th Anniversary is on the horizon!

As 1708 and Style undertake their missions we’ve been asked to dig through the Oliver/Kollatz archive. Harry proudly produced this in five minutes flat:

If you click on the image it will zoom large enough for you to read it. There aren’t many photographs of this controversial window, installed at 1708 E. Main in 1990 by Carlos Gutierrez-Solana.

My sources tell me that the photographer from the Richmond Review DASHED to Shockoe Bottom to take this photograph before the window was censored by local authorities.

I don’t think I am the only one who misses Lydia Douce, the acclaimed critic who wrote this piece. Lydia, where are you? I MISS you!