End of Year Wishes
Editor’s note: I (Whitney) have combined three letters from Gordon, our founder and self-proclaimed “low-mileage elder,” into one Super Letter for your convenience and reading pleasure. Hence, the partitioned presentation.
If you’d like to jump to a specific part:
P1: PRAISE FOR WILLIE | P2: BACK ON 2023 | P3: AHEAD TO 2024
Happy reading and Happy New Year!
EOYW PART 1: A LITTLE LOVE FOR WILLIE ANNE
…in which we express our heartfelt desire that you might visit Candela to see an exceptional exhibition, Conjuring the Composition by Willie Anne Wright, before it comes down on January 6th, 2024.
Join us for the closing brunch reception on 1/6: RSVP HERE
Conjuring the Composition, an exhibition of paintings, photographs and photographic works by Willie Anne Wright has been warmly received and will be on view until January 6th, 2024. If you are visiting Richmond over the holidays and would like to see the work between now and January 2nd, send us an email and we will do our best to schedule an appointment for you.
We are thrilled to mount such an extensive collection of work from one of Richmond’s, and Virginia’s, towering photographic icons. Wright’s long career speaks for itself as she has exhibited steadily, and has been collected widely, for many years. Today, though, she is having a career moment. Besides the Candela exhibition, there is an ambitious retrospective of her work currently on exhibit at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts which features many of her major projects.
Wright began her career as a painter, as an undergraduate at William & Mary, with her earlier works having been collected by VMFA and the Muscarelle Museum of Art. Her pursuit of photography would come a little later, when in 1972, she took a photography class at Richmond Professional Institute (which would later become VCU). When her class was assigned the construction of a pinhole camera, the artist hit the ground running, sending her restless and innovative spirit in new directions.
Since opening Candela, in 2010, we’ve had the privilege of exhibiting Wright’s work in feature exhibitions and group exhibitions on multiple occasions. In 2015, we published a monograph of her incredible unique cibachrome work, entitled Direct Positive. And I have to say, working with Willie Anne has been a delight. Candela has been able to bathe in the reflected shine one enjoys when there is an opportunity to work with a notable artist or personality.
It is challenging to describe how open, intuitive and innovative Wright has been as an artist. There are so many discreet bodies of work, and eras of paintings, in various styles, but a striking realization, when you take a step back and consider the span of her career, is there are consistent throughlines, dynamic investigations into mysticism, a constant and intuitive use of materials, combined with a tinkerer’s interest in pushing the photographic process in new directions. Her subjects meanwhile return to themes of feminism, southern narratives, and larger art and photo histories,
You, gentle reader, should make a point of trying to see this exhibition for yourselves.
On a personal note, I have known Willie Anne for 30 years or so now. We’ve gone on photographic road trips together over the years... to abandoned houses, cemeteries, reenactments, and more. She is a dear friend and an inspiration. So, this has been a selfish pleasure having her work on the walls the past several weeks. Now seems like the time to send out a huge thank you and all our love to Willie Anne, herself. Half woman, half legend.
EOYW PART 2: LOOKING BACK AT 2023
In End of Year Wishes PART I, we implored you to visit the gallery. This is, of course, what I always do. You might say it is even my job to encourage, cajole, shepherd the wandering art denizens, and make good noise on behalf of photographic artists. But in this case, were you to miss this work by Willie Anne Wright–hypothetically–you would likely feel a gnawing hunger, possibly forever.
Conjuring the Composition is not to be missed. And, for us, it is an exquisite grace note to end an incredible year of programming and photography and engagement.
But today, we are feeling wistful… as the end of 2023 is nearly upon us. The holidays have just about usurped our surplus energies. .
With a staff of four, the Candela crew is not always working side by side. And I am often surprised by the number of things we manage to accomplish around here. But, looking back, even considering our habitual busyness, this year seems especially full. After the slow down of the previous few years, such an energetic resume of happenings are a welcome return to form.
In the gallery this year, we’ve had the privilege of featuring the following artists in significant ways:
Priya Kambli – Passport Cancelled
Caroline Minchew – Vernal
Michael Borowski – Machine Vision
Kurt Caviezel – Machine Vision
Adam Chin – Machine Vision
Rashed Haq – Machine Vision
Noelle Mason – Machine Vision
Drew Nikonowicz – Machine Vision
Maija Tammi – Machine Vision
Corinne Vionnet – Machine Vision
Liliana Guzmán – Next to Myself
Gary Emrich – All Consumed
Shawn Bush – Angle of Draw
Justin A. Carney – Altered
Eli Craven – Altered
Alma Haser – Altered
Adriene Hughes – Altered
Willie Anne Wright – Conjuring the Composition
(You can view all past exhibitions HERE.)
But let’s not forget we also mounted our twelfth Unbound! exhibition in July-August, 2023.
Each year, Unbound! Is a meandering and lethal photographic snow dragon of an exhibition, showcasing works by dozens of artists and book artists. As part of this annual programming, we also threw a great party which allowed us to raise monies enough to acquire 14 more works for the Candela Collection.
It’s almost time to roll out the call for Unbound! submissions for next year! I am clinging to a fantasy that we might have an escape room themed party but there are warring factions as to the next Unbound! party theme…miniature golf and game shows are other leading possibilities. We will sort it all out somehow.
Then we participated in Art on Paper New York in September.
Along the way, we’ve hosted numerous miscellaneous programs, private parties, panel discussions, student print sales, wedding receptions, VCU events, holiday parties, spoken to collector groups, camera clubs, zoom classes, attended portfolio reviews, book fairs, and more.
Today is the first day in a long while I have actually spent writing about Candela doings. Because many of the gallery’s communications, in the past few years, come from the desks, and agile minds of Ashby Nickerson and Whitney Cole, such that my gormless wordsmithery is not as often required. So, in their good names, I will offer a sincere appreciation and a silver halide blessing that 2023 is just a prelude to even better things to come.
Thank you for sharing a bit of your attention with us. We are sending as much positivity to you as we can in return.
EOYW PART 3: A PREVIEW OF THE NEW YEAR
We looked back at Willie Anne Wright’s exhibition and 2023 for Candela Gallery, and name checked the many other artists whom we featured and with whom we are proud to be associated. Then we ticked off some of the doings we managed, or oversaw, or enjoyed, or just rolled up our sleeves and got done. It has been a great year. And we thanked you for being a part of it.
In Part 3, we are looking forward, into another new year which promises to be a good one.
Emily Schiffer
Nancy Borowick
Linda Moses
Pixy Liao
Candela has its own thrum and flows, operating on a calendar which spreads out over several months. In the spare time bardo, which is rumored to exist between gallery programming and artist advocacy, we have been putting together the finishing touches on Memory Orchards, an anthology of work from 61 photographers and photographic artists for whom their own families are a principal inspiration. I have been editing this book project for several years.
More will be written about Memory Orchards, both the book and upcoming exhibition, as well as trying to message my appreciation as gigantically as I am able in the near future. But to participating photographers, and to their families, and to our own friends and families… I am so looking forward to sharing this new book with you. It is finally in the works.
Also a shout out to Memory Orchards’ editorial assistant, Shane McFadden, for his invaluable assistance on the project. Shane has since joined us as Candela’s gallery coordinator and we are excited about this development as well.
Details about our Memory Orchards release event, on February 1st, 2024, are forthcoming.
From Memory Orchards’ dustjacket copy:
Thomas Alleman
We find it easy to relate to family photographs, even when those depicted are strangers. In part, because photography suggests the truth of a situation, we are lured into believing we are learning about the subjects, and, possibly, something about the photographers as well. But photos of family also vibrate at a universal frequency. We see vulnerable children or affectionate partners, and we can see ourselves and our loved ones there. It is the same for those images of aging relatives. Because those aging relatives are also our relatives, or even, ourselves.
Memory Orchards presents a broad survey of family experiences, through highs and lows, through lust and loss, creating a collection of work which reflects our understanding of ‘family’ in this moment. The work is derived from long term documentary projects, from archive based explorations, from mundane interactions to moments of intimacy, from family snapshots to artful portraits. While the motivations of any given photographer are always distinctly individual, there are some foundational ideas which persist and are shared widely. Some artists write of their desire to remember, to document their own peculiar and beautiful realities. Others write of their desire to share their experience in hopes of adding to larger conversations about representation or identity. Taken as a whole, this engaging collection of work is complex and personal but deeply relatable.
Among the 61 photographers whose work is included in Memory Orchards are Priya Kambli, Elijah Gowin, Rashod Taylor, Lissa Rivera, Gillian Laub, Edgar Cardenas, Pixy Liao, Jess Dugan, Betsy Schneider, Takako Kido, Karla Guerrero, Lydia Panas, Nadiya Nacorda, Susan Worsham and more. These photographers and photographic artists are innovative, and introspective, in their widely varied approaches to such a familiar and well-loved subject.
Thanks for reading. Thanks for indulging me.
And many, many thanks for your support.
Vaya con fotos,