Philip Geiger works within the tradition of American Romantic realism, which can be traced to realism, but has deeper roots in abstract, tonal compositions. Geiger’s domestic scenes—snapshots of his friends and family in their Charlottesville homes—communicate an authentic intimacy. He doesn’t overly sentimentalize; he paints women standing with arms crossed and backs turned, seemingly oblivious to their observer. His paintings exude a tension as serene environments commingle with embedded, arrested emotions. Geiger’s unique portrayal of light lends to each work’s palpable energy, which emanates from a light bulb’s burning glow, or a window’s imposing glare. Geiger earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University and Master of Fine Arts at Yale University (1978, 1980). He currently lives in Charlottesville, VA where he has been a University of Virginia art professor for over 30 years.

Joan Elliott has a process-oriented approach towards painting, working with both geometric patterning and landscape imagery. Inspired by recent travels to Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Uzbekistan, she has researched and documented a wide variety of geometric patterning onsite. She layers bold patterns over loosely depicted landscapes, resulting in paintings both delicate and powerful, natural, and densely graphic. Elliott states, “The surfaces are slowly built, layer after layer, with broad paint application and selective removal—drawing and etching into wet paint and intermittently sanding to build a translucent skin and tactile experience.”

Reflecting on the finished work in a recent artist statement, Elliott notes “the resulting mandala-like images act as radiant structures. Some are still and contemplative, others subtly pulsate with kaleidoscopic energy. Becoming infinity fields of natural repetition, the paintings present a continuous rhythm to quiet the mind.”

Elliott received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Virginia Commonwealth University (1978). Residing in Richmond, VA, she has taught at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for over 25 years. She is a Franz and Virginia Bader Fund Grant award recipient (2013).

From the treasure house of imagery arises an authenticity within Gerald Donato’s work, amplified by his sense of material and unrestricted by conventional methods. Wooden doors replace canvases, and house paint supplants acrylic as subtle lines of wood grain peer beneath cartoonish scenes. Cut-out canvas exaggerates surface, paralleling shapes and forms within the paintings. The contrast between two- and three-dimensional spaces is reproduced in his imagined characters, ranging from smiling Buddhas, muted nudes, bowties, and wonky figures. The characters dance along the work’s surface: their narratives communicating comedy and wit, laced with implications of race, culture, religion, and alienation. Each piece requires an intense engagement; as we assess each scene, unravelling the complexities of characters and nuanced art references, we undergo a deeper process of inner-reflection. The paintings exist mirror-like; created years ago, they adapt and challenge their current age as relevancy and historical narrative merge.

The Chicago-born artist (1941) received his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees from Northern Illinois University, and later earned his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was among the core founding teachers of VCUarts (originally known as the Richmond Professional Institute), where he taught for 38 years in the Painting and Printmaking Department. Among many accolades, he received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and a VMFA Professional Fellowship. He was a founding member of 1708 Gallery, a non-profit contemporary art venue in Richmond, VA. Donato passed away in 2010 in Richmond.