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Art in some form has always been a part of Virginia’s life, with color being the focus of her work in both jewelry and painting. In her mid thirties after working in several design related jobs and when her daughter Kate began kindergarten, she returned to school to fulfill her goal of attaining her degree. At Meredith College, in 1993, she was selected by the faculty as Outstanding Student of Art. In the 1995 Raleigh Fine Arts Society Show, she received the Leonard White Award given by the show juror to the best entry by a student for “Looming Overhead.” She received her degree in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting from Meredith that same year. Around this time Virginia became active in Wake Visual Arts Association, (now Visual Art Exchange). Her work was included in numerous shows, and she received awards in several, including first place in the “Subtleties” show for her work, “Truce.” In 1997 she received a Regional Artist Project grant from the United Arts Council for her work “Continuum,” a 36 panel painting representing a year of her life. She was included in the Visual Art Exchange show honoring grant recipients across the state. In 1999, Virginia was invited back to Meredith College for a solo exhibition in the rotunda gallery of Johnson Hall. She participated in several group shows in the following years and has been collected by more than thirty patrons. Virginia has also donated her work to several charities and fundraisers for both political and social causes. She has been a guest speaker at Visual Art Exchange and Meredith College, and in the past taught workshops to graduating art students at Meredith College on topics ranging from how to frame their work to how to market themselves as artists. In August of 2006, Virginia was invited to join Local Color in Raleigh, an artist’s cooperative. She has an annual show in December at Local Color, and has participated in shows at Visual Art Exchange.
In 2010, she was included in the Meredith College Alumnae Exhibition and her jewelry was featured in “Skirt” magazine’s “Things We Love” issue for June 2010. She participated in her first art festival in North Hills in Raleigh, where her paper flower necklaces were featured and very well received.
Virginia resides in Knightdale, NC.
Artist’s Statement
As an artist, I feel that the best statement about my work is the work itself.
When working on jewelry, I am inspired by the materials to inform how I combine color and texture. I approach each piece with an open mind, allowing the end result to reveal itself through the process.
When painting, I am conveying my art from an emotional point of view, working not to over-think the flow of ideas. Each work begins with an emotional experience in mind, sparked by a particular event in my life. The goal at the onset of each of my paintings is to reveal the landscape of my emotional core. I have varying degrees of success at the completion of each work, but all are made better by the pursuit.
In the book “The Art Spirit” the painter Robert Henri writes: “There are moments in our lives, there are moments in a day, when we see beyond the usual. Such are the moments of our greatest happiness. Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom.”
In the rare moments when I allow myself to achieve this type of clarity of vision and then bring it from within to express it through my art, the work that culminates as my “artist’s statement” speaks volumes, bringing about greater self-knowledge and absolute joy.
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