lady-in-the-green-chair

Lady in the Green Chair - Lee McVetta 

Perhaps you recognize this painting that hangs above our Stage table in the corner... It was created by an artist & at-that-time student at JMU, Lee McVetta.

Ron fell in love with this painting when viewing Lee's show at JMU, purchased it, then hung it in the Grill. We were lucky enough to get a few words about the piece from the artist himself:

"This painting was part of a series entitled 'Social Isolationism' that I created for my first ever exhibition at Sawhill Gallery — I believe in 1990. The paintings in this series addressed societal stigmas associated with those who have experienced child abuse, mental illness, racism, and in the case of this painting, misogyny. The image of the classes at um. There is no backstory to this painting my classes at MU. There is no backstory to this I Rather, I wanted the female's situation to be a mystery and allow the viewer to create their own narrative based on the elements included—a bottle, a tissue, a folded piece of paper, a phone-and the young woman's posture and expression. I compressed the foreground and tightly cropped the composition to further the sense of tension and discomfort. This is the first painting I ever sold, and I am honored that it has been displayed so prominently at The Little Grill over all these years and still triggers conversation to this day. Thank you Ron for your enduring commitment to celebrating creativity.

For the life of me, I can't remember the title of the painting..."

- Lee McVetta

We just call her The Lady in the Green Chair.

Check out some of Lee's "current creative outputs" at his instagram @lee_mcvetta, or at his website https://mcv-arts.com/