 |
| Photo: Anne De Geer, Sweden. |
Where were you born
and raised?
I was born and raised
in Chicago, Illinois and attended public schools there. Later I graduated from
the School of the Art Institute with a BFA degree and afterward worked as a
graphic designer. For one of my clients, Mercury Records, I designed album
covers that included covers for some of the top recording artists of the early
sixties: the Smothers Brothers, Moms Mabley, Johnny Mathis and Leslie Gore
among others. A few years later I left Chicago to pursue an MFA degree
from Pratt Institute in NYC. In late spring of 1968 I was offered a teaching
position at Richmond Professional Institute. When I started teaching in the
fall, the school became known as Virginia Commonwealth University.
You came to Richmond
in 1968 to become an art professor at VCU and you immediately became an
integral part of Richmond’s budding arts community. You were involved with the
startup of Artspace and many other arts related projects. Tell us about
Richmond’s budding arts community in those early years.
When I arrived in
Richmond, there were very few galleries here and not a very extensive arts
community. In fact, my very first solo show here was in 1971 at the Eric
Schindler Gallery. It's still a vital local gallery here, even since I had my
exhibition there 47 years ago! Yes, later I was on the board of Artspace
Gallery when it was located on Broad Street and later moved to Plant Zero. I
then became one of the founding members of a new non-profit galley, Art 6 that
opened in the same location as Artspace. I was later invited to become an
artist board member at 1708 Gallery.
How has the Richmond
arts scene changed since then?
The art scene grew
considerably as the School of the Arts expanded, bringing with it many arts
faculty from all over the country. Later after First Friday was created, the
Broad Street art corridor began to flourish with new galleries, restaurants,
and shops.
 |
| Mixed Media Collage |
In 2017 the Richmond
Times Dispatch characterized you, your wife Mim Golub, and your children Noah
and Mica as “one of Richmond’s best known artistic families.” Were your parents
artists as well? Did you encourage Noah and Mica to become artists or was it
just in their DNA?
I don't know if we are
"one of Richmond's best known artistic families" but we are a 2nd
generation family of four practicing, professional artists. For the Glave Kocen
exhibition** we came up with the title, Family
Room. It referred to a space in our house my wife and I shared as our
studio before we had children. After our two children came along, all four of
us worked together in this space. They shared our supplies and that space
became our "family room"!
Not only are you an
artist, but it seems you are always looking for ways to make an art exhibit
fresh and interesting. For example, the Family Room exhibit in 2017 at the
Glave Kocen Gallery that included work by all your family members. Does that
inspiration come from the same place as the inspiration for, say, an assemblage?
I never thought of our
Glave Kocen exhibition as an assemblage, but in a way it was. I did assemble
the four artists, each with their own distinctive personal creative direction,
but all in the same family. At the last minute, I also included a fifth
up-and-coming budding artist, the newest member and a third generation member
of the Scalin family, our granddaughter Zinn. At the time she was three years
old and exhibited two of her abstract expressionist paintings...which by the
way, both sold the evening of the opening!
Of your extensive
body of art work do you have a favorite piece, series of works, or project?
Could you describe it? Why is it your favorite?
In the past 50 years,
I've worked with many different directions and mediums including painting,
collage, assemblage, photography, glass, clay and mixed-media works. I've had
solo shows and produced work with each of these mediums and with each of the
series I've produced, there have always been some favorite pieces--a few I've
retained and some were sold.
You spent over 30
years as an art professor at VCU, retiring in 2003 as Professor Emeritus and
Assistant Chair of the Communication + Design Department. You will be judging
the Reynolds Student Art Show opening at the end of March, 2018. What is the
best part of judging a student show? The most challenging part?
I was particularly
fond of the Body of Evidence
boxes I created in 2012 for my 25th solo show at Ghostprint Gallery. I had
hoped to keep the entire series intact so it could be exhibited in other
locations, but one of the pieces did sell at the time. However I still have the
remaining 13 pieces from the series and am pleased that these pieces did get to
be exhibited since then at international festivals in Indonesia, South Africa,
Australia and coming this fall in Nepal.
What advice do you
give young artists just beginning to explore their talents today?
I think the best
advice I can give to a young artist is to explore, experiment and don't be
afraid to try new directions. Look closely at your environment for inspiration
and finally to quote my children, to remember..."Creativity Is A
Practice!"
*Reynolds is pleased to have Professor emeritus and former
Assistant Chair of the Communication Arts + Design Department at VCU Chuck
Scalin and his wife, artist Mim Golub, as this year’s show judges. Chuck and
Mim are honored to judging this show and presenting awards to the students during
the Awards Reception.
Additionally, Reynolds is pleased to have a body of Scalin’s work,
“Chuck Scalin: creative pursuits 1971 – 2017” exhibited during the Awards
Reception. Eventually these works will become
part of Reynolds’ permanent collection. His collection will consist of 47 examples of work produced in
various mediums over the past 47 years.
Chuck has worked in many different mediums over the years and this
collection will include examples of his photography, collage,
assemblage, printmaking, clay and glassworks. Chuck earned his BFA and MFA
degrees from both the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and Pratt
Institute in New York.
He has been a practicing professional artist for over 50 years and
is also a designer, collector and curator and project producer. His work
has been included and received recognition in over 300
exhibitions, with 25 solo exhibitions and has works in many public and private
collection both in the US and abroad.
He has been involved with the local galley scene since he moved to
Richmond in 1967 and has sat on boards of non-profit galleries, including 1708
and Artspace Galleries.
**In 2017 the Glave
Kocen Gallery had an exhibit of the work of Chuck Scalin, his wife Mim Golub,
and their two children Noah and Mica. The family came up with the name, “The Family Room”. Each family
member was represented including the newest artist in the family, granddaughter
Zinn.
