Image courtesy of the artist
From November 1-20, 2024, New City Arts, supported by UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost & the Vice Provost for the Arts, presents The Value of Dirt, an installation by Autumn Jefferson.
This partnership exhibition provides a UVA Studio Art student with an opportunity to present their work and further their professional practice in the Charlottesville community. Selected students or Fellows are provided with support for an exhibition and connection with a local artist mentor.
Exhibition Statement (Courtesy of the Artist)
Free standing loose material
holding in place
displaced ground
set on displaced feet
standing on ground
to belong nowhere
and everywhere
dirt was always a place
Free, Confined
Collapsed, Rewritten
an attempt to know the ground
from the thought of knowing
To know
what lies behind and between
Uprooting, shifting planes
Soft ground, hard floor
Dirt was never a place
About the Artist
Autumn Jefferson uses her identity as a Black American to explore tensions existing in, and pushing against, systems that are designed to contain an individual's state of being. By its nature, the constant flux between being inside and outside a system unfolds itself in her work. The themes of pushing against confinement find themselves emerging as a mirror to her lived experience. Architectural motifs and vegetative imagery serve as proxies that are used to describe this tenuous experience.
Jefferson is currently an Aunspaugh Fellow at the University of Virginia where she graduated with a B.A. in Studio Art in 2024.
New City Arts' Welcome Gallery
114 3rd St. NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902
First Friday Opening Reception
November 1 from 5-7:30PM; Artist talk at 6PM. Free and open to the public. All ages welcome. Exhibition opening sponsored by William Taylor and the Taylor Group of Truist Investment Services.
Gallery Hours
Wednesday-Saturday from 10AM-5PM
Exhibition Events
Lunch & Color with Autumn Jefferson | Nov. 14 from 12-1PM | RSVP here
Visitor Guide
Please note: This exhibition contains work installed on the walls and on the ground within reach of children. Near the back of the gallery, a large-scale painting is installed as sculpture against a partial wood wall, and a gap is present between the painting and the wall. In the back “room” of the gallery, sculpture is suspended from the ceiling and is installed on the floor. Visitors are asked to use care moving around the space and to accompany children as they view the work.
This month, the gallery is filled with large-scale paintings featuring architectural motifs and vegetative imagery. Stepping into the gallery, visitors are met with the red edge of a nearly 8-foot tall vertical painting installed sculpturally on the ground, at an angle, with the far side against the wall. The viewer’s attention will quickly be drawn to a similarly sized horizontal painting also installed at an angle near the back of the gallery. Each painting includes elements of trees and other vegetation, shadows, and lines alluding to architecture. The first is composed of muted browns, blue, pink, green and orange, while the painting in the back of the gallery is red, yellow, blue, purple, and black. Between these works is a painting installed on the wall with vegetative and architectural elements—plants, a lamp post, black flower pots, and lines—of 3rd Street in downtown Charlottesville. The colors in this painting are soft greys, creams, pinks, and purple with black and orange components as well. Along the left side of the gallery, two large horizontal paintings are installed on the wall, with the left painting mounted higher than the right. Both include vegetative imagery and abstract shapes, and have a similar palette of blues, browns, pinks, yellow, and black. At the back of the gallery, visitors walk past the large horizontal painting—which they will find is leaning against a temporary partial wall, they enter an installation contained by two red walls and filled with suspended frames and abstract shapes. A red and green sculpture sits on the floor and drying vines are hung throughout the sculptures.
Make a Trade for Exhibition Artwork
All of the work in this exhibition is available for trade. You’re invited to offer to trade something you consider valuable in exchange for artwork. Fill out this form to share your offer with Autumn.
Autumn will review trade offers through Friday, November 15th. Selected recipients will be notified the following week. Dimensions and photos of the work are available in the form. Email us with any questions.
Located at 114 3rd St. NE on Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall, New City Arts’ Welcome Gallery supports artists who live in the Charlottesville area. Welcome Gallery exhibitions and programs are made possible by generous sponsors, donors, and grants. Interested in sponsoring an exhibition? Connect with us!