August – September 2026 Exhibits
Join us on August 28, 2026, from 6–8 p.m. for the exciting opening reception of our new exhibits at Art Works. Meet the talented artists, enjoy live music, refreshments, and libations sponsored by RVA Thriving Artists, and celebrate another vibrant season of creativity and community.
Each August, Art Works partners with a local organization to raise funds and awareness. This year, we’re proud to support Virginia Pride. The community comes together by donating items for a silent auction, and Art Works contributes a portion of all sales from Queer by Nature to benefit the cause.
Additional exhibits include new works by Martin Neal Reamy, a collaboration between Richard Harding and Ginny Loving, and a collaboration between RJ Gardner and Ben Anderson. The juried August All Media Show features works by regional artists.
This event is free and open to the public, with convenient, free parking available. Exhibits will remain on view through September 19, 2026.
Sacred Queerness: Nature, Spirituality and the Queer
Sacred Queerness is an installation that transforms nature into both a real environment and a place of queer possibility. Inspired by Thoreau’s Walden and the way time in the woods can change us, the show welcomes visitors into a forest-garden setting filled with art and interactive elements. Here, themes like transition, androgyny, and fluid identity come to life through creative expression.
At its core, the exhibition asks: Is nature really binary? The artists involved build spaces that celebrate resilience and community, showing the many ways, queer people connect with, interpret, and reshape both the natural world and the spiritual one.
The exhibition will be in the Jane Sandelin Gallery at Art Works and will continue through September 19, 2026.
Painting by Ambrose Hernandez Godoy
Queer by Nature
Art Works invites artists to submit artwork for Queer by Nature an exhibition exploring the intersections of queerness, nature, and identity. This show celebrates the diversity and fluidity found in both the natural world and the human experience.
Artists are encouraged to reflect on how queerness exists naturally—in growth, transformation, ecosystems, and the spaces between definitions. Works may draw inspiration from landscapes, bodies, flora and fauna, or the forces of nature as metaphors for resilience, authenticity, and becoming.
The exhibition will be in the Port II Gallery at Art Works and will continue through September 17, 2026.
1st Place – Solidarity Mulberry by Cardamom Beloin, Double-tissue paper, Folded, 18 x24, $1700
2nd Place – Gaze by Aaron Eichorst, Acrylic on Panel, 20×20, $900
3rd Place – Transition by Devan Ray Lassiter, Block Print, 54×36, $500
Honorable Mention – Lost in a City for Lovers by Jen Fox, Photography, 21.8×17.8, $350
Holy Hi-Fi Sci-Fi by Martin Neal Reamy
Visual artist and musician Martin Neal Reamy merges his creative passions in Holy Hi-Fi Sci-Fi, a vibrant series featuring the Dojo Deities—guardians, spirits, and deities adorned in bold ceremonial attire accented with jewelry, drums, and speakers that radiate sound and energy.
Drawing inspiration from samurai armor, African masks, 1980s cartoons, and surrealism, Reamy celebrates the fusion of color, rhythm, and imagination. Viewed together, the Deities seem to join in a cosmic dance of light and sound—inviting you to move with them.
The exhibit will be in the Centre Gallery at Art Works through September 19, 2026.
Exquisitely Porcelain and Twine
by Richard Harding and Ginny Loving
In Exquisitely Porcelain and Twine, Richard Harding and Ginny Loving explore the spirit of collaboration and friendship through a reimagining of The Exquisite Corpse. Centered on the theme of “nests,” the artists each begin a work—figuratively or literally inspired by this idea of shelter, comfort, and creation—and the other completes it. Through the tactile dialogue between porcelain and twine, their collaboration weaves together fragility and strength, structure and softness.
The nest becomes both subject and metaphor: a space built together from individual gestures, mirroring the connections that sustain creative communities. By focusing on smaller, intimate works and culminating in a jointly crafted statement piece, Harding and Loving celebrate the shared process of making—where trust, exchange, and material curiosity become the foundation for new artistic forms.
This unique exhibition will be on view in the Corner Gallery at Art Works through September 19, 2026.
As of Lately by RJ Gardner and Ben Anderson
This exhibition brings together two artists whose work reflects a shared love for Richmond through distinct but complementary visual languages. One artist presents photography and mixed media works highlighting the city’s architecture as a personal archive of place, memory, and appreciation. The second artist contributes street art–inspired graphic paintings infused with graffiti aesthetics, bold color, and urban energy, capturing the rhythm and voice of Richmond’s streets. Together, the works offer a layered portrait of the city—both its built environment and its expressive, ever-evolving culture.
This exhibition will be on view in the Port I Gallery at Art Works through September 19, 2026.
August 2026 All Media Show
This exhibit is a focal point of all Art Works’ openings. It is a juried show with cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. The show is open to all artists and all mediums. Tracy Stonestreet juried the exhibit.
1st Place – Every River a Rock by Laura Helene Sebastian, Gouache and Paper on Wood Panel, 9×12, $175
2nd Place – Rise,Rose,Risen by Richard Harding, Twine and Thread on Birch, 54 x 42, $3,500
3rd Place – Layered Memories by Maya Melvin, Photography, 20×30, $700
Honorable Mention – A Frog Got In My Way by Corinne Schofield, Graphite/Colored Pencil, 8×12, $150
Honorable Mention – Angels in Blue, Shalaia Washington, Acrylic on Canvas, 11×14, $130
The Community Bridge Project
RVA Thriving Artists is excited to welcome a new artist to the Community Bridge Project. Emerging artists from Central Virginia—including those from underserved and marginalized communities, are encouraged to submit their proposals through the online application form.
The current exhibiting artists is Zahra Chowdhury. Her mixed-media work explores identity, perception, and the power of the veiled gaze. Combining colored pencil with resin-saturated fabric, she challenges misconceptions about hijabi women by presenting the veil not as concealment, but as a frame for individuality, emotion, and self-expression. Her portraits encourage viewers to look beyond assumptions and recognize the depth, diversity, and strength within veiled Muslim women.
