On view November 3, 2023 – February 4, 2024
Tephra ICA at Signature
Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art (Tephra ICA) presents Metopic Ridge– an exhibition by 2023-2024 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) Visual Arts Fellow Eleanor Mahin Thorp. The exhibition will be on view at the Tephra ICA at Signature gallery from November 3, 2023–February 4, 2024, and an Opening Reception and Artist Talk will be held on Friday, November 3 at 6pm at the Signature Apartments in Reston Town Center.
In this new solo exhibition, Eleanor Mahin Thorp takes us on an immersive site visit to examine the Blue Ridge Mountains, exploring the stability and change, the seen and the hidden within rocks. Through Thorp’s discerning gaze, rocks are more than geological entities; Instead, they metamorphose into vessels of history and human connection. Drawing inspiration from the fascinating transformations depicted in Persian miniatures, Thorp traces the hidden figures and forms in the rocks. Her paintings reveal the duality of rocks’ existence as both a firm witness to time and a medium for that which is intangible.
“It is often said that the world is built by the way you see things around you. Thorp’s painting asks us to contemplate the layers of reality that exist beyond the surface – the palpable, the invisible, and the divine,” says Sandy Cheng, 2023 ArtTable Curatorial Fellow at Tephra ICA, and curator of Metopic Ridge.
Eleanor Mahin Thorp is an artist and educator living and working in Richmond, Virginia. Thorp approaches the subjects of her site visits through the lens of Persian animism, and constructs images of stone faces by searching for figures, words, animals, and forms embedded in the rock. Thorp received her MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, was a Hopper prize finalist, and is a 2023−2024 Visual Arts Fellow with the VMFA.
Tephra ICA at Signature, located at the Signature apartment building in Reston, Virgnia, is an innovative satellite gallery space that presents a year-round schedule of exhibitions featuring work by local and regional artists as selected by Tephra ICA curatorial staff. The gallery is provided in partnership with Boston Properties and Bozzuto and generously supported by Reston Community Center.
Visitors are welcome Tuesday–Saturday from 11am–5pm. The gallery is located at the Signature Apartments at 11850 Freedom Dr, Reston, Virginia.
Opening Reception and Artist Talk
Friday, November 3 at 6pm
11850 Freedom Dr
Reston, Virginia
Free and open to the public
Pictured at top:
Eleanor Mahin Thorp, Remnants of a Blue Ridge Basement, 2023
About VMFA Fellowship Program
For more than 80 years, the VMFA has supported Virginia contemporary artists through its Visual Arts Fellowship program––the most generous of its kind in the US. Since its inception in 1940 as a privately funded endowment, the program has awarded nearly $6 million dollars to professional artists and students who demostrate exceptional creative ability in a particular discipline.
About ArtTable Fellowship Program
Since 1980, ArtTable has been working to advance the leadership of women-identifying and nonbinary professionals in the visual arts. Through a variety of programs, they educate and inform their members and the public about significant developments and issues in the visual arts, as well as support dialogue and promote the evolving leadership role of women-identifying and nonbinary arts leaders. Their initiatives provide ongoing educational and public programming, mentorship, and professional development opportunities that are central to their mission as a nonprofit organization.
About Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art (Tephra ICA)
Tephra ICA is a non-profit, non-collecting institution committed to promoting innovative contemporary art and thinking. Leading with curiosity and care, the organization is a catalyst, generator, and advocate for visual arts.
Tephra ICA is supported in part by ArtsFairfax, Reston Community Center, Virginia Commission for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
www.tephraica.org