The Collector’s Dinner
A look back, and ahead, to a night of food, photography, and community in the gallery.
We should host a dinner in the space.
I honestly can’t remember who first suggested the idea. Every day in the office at Candela is a medley of sudden Eureka! moments which have fueled some of our most absurd programming decisions: exhibition-themed donut snack plates, the Candelar, gallery mini golf, photo cliché bingo, pandemic catalogs, paper maché ducks…
A dinner in the gallery, while a bit unhinged, felt right at home for us. Many of our decisions stem from the desire to create a welcoming space that encourages curiosity and excitement about photography. Personally, some of the times I’ve felt most welcome have been with a delicious plate of food in front of me and a glass of wine in my hand. Why not bring the intimacy and community of the shared table into the exhibition space?
This theory grew legs in 2020, which was going to be a great year.
It was a great month.
We kicked off programming with a double header of solo exhibitions by Alanna Airitam and Patty Carroll, and had decided to try hosting a dinner in the gallery among the artists’ lush still life compositions. The event was a hit. We had a gallery filled with friends and a delicious menu of winter soups, roasted fish, and charred root vegetables by Chef Jessica Wilson (of GRACE).
After a brief hiatus due to the collapse of civilization, we got back on the dinner horse. In the winter of 2024, seats at the table filled for Susan Worsham’s gelatin silver exhibition, Crystals of Silver. The table was decorated with handmade microscopic slide name cards and beautiful floral arrangements of colors referencing Worsham’s beloved color works. The artist, as usual, lulled guests into a trance as she walked them through her exhibition, weaving immaculate story into each image. Sarah Rennie of Two Fire Table cooked a phenomenal dinner over open flame right outside the space. Guests were treated with chard-wrapped polenta, roasted baby eggplant, and harissa-rubbed chicken thighs. Bottles of wine were passed around the table and plates were scraped clean.
As of 2026, the gallery is currently awaiting various approvals to begin operating as a non-profit. Friends of the gallery will not find this move all that surprising. While our mission has always been to elevate the discourse of photography, we do that by creating a space where anyone can walk in, become excited about the work, and have a friendly conversation. With this shift in operations, we will simply be able to do what we do best, better: we hope to offer funding for all exhibitions ongoing, bolster existing programming (like UnBound!), offer membership opportunities to our friends outside of Richmond, and have additional resources to support emerging and mid-career artists. The popular artist dinner format is evolving into our Collector Dinner Series. Ongoing, these evenings will serve as a way to raise money for programming through ticket sales and table sponsorship levels.
In celebration of the opening of our Spring 2026 exhibitions, we took a step towards this future model with a wine dinner featuring the work of artists Larry W. Cook and Natalie Krick. We had the absolute pleasure of working with Donnie Glass and Dylan Nemetz of Church Hill’s Grisette for dinner, and Lance Lemon of Jackson Ward’s neighborhood wine bar, Penny’s, for the wine pairings. Both of these businesses are owned by Richmond natives who put so much goodness into the community, and they felt like a perfect fit to start this next chapter.
Glass and Nemetz crafted a thoughtful menu that walked us through the exhibitions on the walls: artist talks by Cook and Krick were accompanied by small plates inspired by the three cities featured in the space. Salmon rillettes nodded to Natalie Krick’s home base in Seattle, mini steak tartare on a potato chip paid homage to Grisette’s classic steak frites. The star of the trio was the D.C.-inspired fried chicken croquette with mumbo sauce, with which Lemon seamlessly paired a delicious Pét-Nat.
Family style dinner was served at tables adorned with handmade collaged thank you cards and delicate arrangements of windflowers. The Grisette team served a locally-sourced lineup of milk braised pork shanks with a fantastic caramelized cabbage, parmesan polenta, and salad greens, with house-made focaccia. Lemon’s own Parallax red blend stole the show. Glasses around the room demanded refills, scattered among exchanges about local government policy, photos of pets, plans to attend the opera, and questions about artistic practice.
Glass and Nemetz closed out the evening perfectly with a Hennessy-soaked pound cake, in honor of Larry Cook’s DC club scenes, marked with an X of raspberry powder that referenced Krick’s marked out Marilyn Monroe contact sheets.
We ended that night reenergized from a great meal and great conversation, but this dinner was just the beginning. The series continues on Thursday, November 5th, alongside exhibitions by Justin James Reed, Kyohei Abe, and Donna Soo.
We hope to see you at the table soon.