Take the Mantel is an intimate curatorial project and online platform for art and ideas, founded by married artists Brian Barr and Lauren Rice in suburban Richmond, Virginia. Focused on bridging the gap between an artist’s work, creative inspiration, and lived experience, our exhibitions invite artists to activate our mantel, fireplace hearth, and adjacent wall as spaces for both presentation and reflection. Each show highlights not just the finished work but also the ideas that fuel artistic practice, offering insight into the creative process. At its core, Take the Mantel is about championing great work and celebrating wonderful people.

Brian Barr is an artist and independent curator from Detroit, currently based in Richmond, Virginia where he is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an MFA from American University and a BFA from the College for Creative Studies. Barr has been awarded fellowships at MacDowell, the Kala Art Institute, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and completed a residency at the Luminary Center for the Arts in St. Louis. He currently serves on the Richmond Public Art Commission.

Barr frequently collaborates with his wife, artist Lauren Rice. Together, their work has been exhibited at Vox Populi (Philadelphia), Flashpoint Gallery (Washington, DC), Purdue University, Current Space (Baltimore), the Neon Heater (Findlay, OH), Artist Alliance Inc.’s Cuchifritos Gallery and Project Space (New York), and Alabama Contemporary (Mobile, AL).

His solo exhibitions include Popps Packing (Detroit), Skylab (Columbus, OH), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington (VA). His work was featured in New American Paintings No. 95.

From 2012 to 2014, Barr founded and directed PASSENGER, an experimental arts venue in Detroit. As a curator, he has organized exhibitions at PASSENGER, ORG Gallery (Detroit), Purdue University, the Museum of New Art Detroit, Delicious Spectacle (DC), and the Katzen Art Center Museum (DC).

As Executive Director of PASSENGER, Barr forged partnerships across the public and private sectors. He worked with Mayor Michael Duggan’s office to curate local artists into the mayor’s residence and municipal offices. He also collaborated with Dan Gilbert (Founder of Quicken Loans) and Rock Ventures to activate vacant downtown properties through public events and art exhibitions. Under his leadership, PASSENGER received a $50,000 grant from the Knight Foundation to support community programming in Rock Ventures spaces. This initiative contributed to the revitalization of a formerly vacant business corridor—now a thriving commercial, arts, and entertainment district. 

Website: brian-barr.com Instagram: @brian__barr

Lauren Rice is a visual artist based in suburban Richmond, VA. Rice identifies as a painter, however she most often works on and with paper through the combined modalities of collage, painting, drawing and sculpture. Originally from Atlanta, GA, Rice has made her home in many American cities, including Detroit, Brooklyn, Washington DC and Athens, OH. She has exhibited her work in solo, collaborative and group exhibitions at venues such as Cuchifritos Gallery and Project Space (NYC), Vox Populi (Philadelphia), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (NYC), Neon Heater (Findlay, OH), ICA Baltimore (Baltimore), 1708 Gallery (Richmond), The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia Beach), Transformer (DC) and Spring Break Art Show (NYC), among many others.

Rice has been a Fellowship Artist at The Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA and an artist-in-residence at The Luminary in St. Louis, MO. Her work has been published in New American Paintings, Maake Magazine, The Southeast Review, Art in Square Magazine and VAST Magazine. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Longwood University. Rice lives with her husband and artistic collaborator, Brian Barr, and their two children in a house with a garden on a street surrounded by big, old oak trees. For better or worse, Rice is a wearer of rose-colored glasses and is an avid supporter of underdogs. 

Website: lauren-rice.com Instagram: @laurendrice