Arts & Entertainment
VMFA’s Fellowship Program to support 28 student and professional artists
Since the VMFA Fellowship Program was launched in 1940, the museum has awarded nearly $5.8 million to more than 1,350 professional artists, art students and graduate students from across Virginia.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts announced this week that the 2019–20 recipients of VMFA fellowships. Twenty-eight students and professional artists were selected from 753 applicants to receive a total of $167,000 towards professional advancement in the arts.
Since the VMFA Fellowship Program was launched in 1940, the museum has awarded nearly $5.8 million to more than 1,350 professional artists, art students and graduate students from across Virginia. Recipients must be Virginia residents and can use the award as desired, including for education and studio investments. Each year, professional curators and working artists serve as jurors to select fellowship recipients.
“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is pleased to support the work of student and professional artists from across the Commonwealth,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA Director. “Financial resources provided through the Fellowship Program help pave the way for a successful career in the arts and create a longstanding connection between fellowship recipients and the museum.”
The VMFA awarded 12 professional fellowships of $8,000 each this year. Professional fellowship recipients are Mahari Chabwera, painting, Richmond; Eric Cowan, sculpture, Radford; Lily Cox-Richard, sculpture, Richmond; Soomin Ham, photography, Alexandria; Patrick Harkin, new and emerging media, Richmond; Rob McDonald, photography, Lexington; Jon McMillan, sculpture, Fredericksburg; Holly Morrison, photography, North Chesterfield; Julia Pfaff, crafts, Richmond; Russell Richards, sculpture, Charlottesville; Rebecca Silberman, photography, Gordonsville; and Sasha Waters-Freyer, film and video, Richmond. Hazma Walker, director of Laxart in Los Angeles, California, was the juror for the professional fellowship entries.
Undergraduate fellowships of $4,000 went to 11 students across Virginia, studying at Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Virginia and Parsons School of Design. The recipients are Ava Blakeslee-Carter, film and video, VCU, Alexandria; Amarise Carreras, photography, VCU, Chester; Jae Cha, photography, VCU, Haymarket; Michelle Erin Dominado, film and video, VCU, Chesapeake; Abigail Giuseppe, mixed media, VCU, Burke; Madison Hansen, new and emerging media, VCU, Midlothian; Alexis O’Neill, new and emerging media, Parsons School of Design, Mechanicsville; Kiel Posner, crafts, VCU, McLean; Marisa Stratton, drawing, VCU, Arlington; Kia Wassenaar, film and video, UVA, Charlottesville; and Qiduo Zheng, drawing, VCU, Henrico.
Four graduate students were each awarded $6,000. The recipients are Zaria Huggins, new and emerging media, Savannah College of Art and Design, Springfield; Nicole James, new and emerging media, UVA, Charlottesville; Caroline Paganussi, art history, University of Maryland, Oakton; and Sarah Phillips, photography, James Madison University, King George.
Jaynelle Clark Hazard, director of exhibitions at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, served as the graduate and undergraduate visual arts juror. Cory Korkow, associate curator of European art at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, Ohio, served as the graduate art history juror.
A new feature this year is the Cy Twombly Graduate Fellowship, honoring the renowned Virginia artist and two-time VMFA Fellowship winner. The award is supported by the McClintock Endowment, and its inaugural winner is David Franusich, a graduate student at Virginia Tech from Christiansburg with a focus on new and emerging media.
To celebrate nearly 80 years of the Fellowship Program, VMFA’s traveling museum—VMFA on the Road: An Artmobile for the 21st Century—launched in October with an exhibition focused on the history and impact of fellowship recipients throughout the decades. How Far Can Creativity Take You? VMFA Fellowship Artists features work by former fellowship winners such as Sally Mann, Cy Twombly and Vince Gilligan and is currently on view as VMFA on the Road travels throughout Virginia on its initial 16-month tour. Details on upcoming tour destinations can be found at vmfa.museum/on-the-road.
The Fellowship Program was established in 1940 with a generous contribution made by the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg. Offered through the VMFA Statewide Program, fellowships are still largely funded through the Pratt endowment and supplemented with gifts from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation and the J. Warwick McClintic Jr. Scholarship Fund.
In addition to providing financial rewards to all recipients, VMFA exhibits works by past fellowship winners in VMFA’s Amuse Restaurant and Claiborne Robertson Room, VMFA’s Pauley Center Galleries and select spaces at Richmond International Airport. Several past and present fellowship recipients have also shown their work in the galleries of Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton and the Capital One Commons in Richmond.
Additional images of works by 2018 VMFA Fellowship Recipients are available here.
Arts & Entertainment
Richmond Flying Squirrels to host summer movie series in the Diamond outfield
The Richmond Flying Squirrels will host Summer Movie Series presented by Woodfin at The Diamond with three chances to watch movies at The Diamond, the team announced recently.
The Richmond Flying Squirrels will host Summer Movie Series presented by Woodfin at The Diamond with three chances to watch movies at The Diamond, the team announced recently.
Movies will be shown on the video board at The Diamond on Friday, June 30, Sunday, August 27 and Saturday, September 16. Admission is $10 per person (children ages three and younger are admitted free). Tickets are available now at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Movies.
The three-night movie series begins on Friday, June 30 with a showing of the classic Pixar film, “WALL-E.”The gates open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie will start at 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, August 27, the Flying Squirrels will host a showing of “The Goonies” at 7 p.m. The gates will open at 6 p.m.
The movie series concludes on Saturday, September 16 with “Encanto.” The gates will open at 5:30 p.m. and the movie will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Seating will be located on the field or in the first-base lower bowl. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets or pillows, but chairs are prohibited.
Concessions will be available for the Summer Movie Series at the first-base lower stand on the stadium’s concourse. No outside food and drinks are allowed. Only credit or debit cards will be accepted at the concession stands.
Parking for the Summer Movie Series will be available for free in the Blue Lot at The Diamond, located off Arthur Ashe Boulevard across from the bus station. All guests should enter the stadium through the right-field gate located near the Cross Timbers Roofing Party Pavilion.
Attendees are asked to apply any sunscreen and bug spray before entering the field.
Tickets and more information are available online at SquirrelsBaseball.com/Movies, by phone at 804-359-3866 (FUNN) or in person at the Flying Squirrels ticket office.
Arts & Entertainment
Richmond Triangle Players announces 2023-2024 season shows
Five plays, including a new production of one of RTP’s biggest holiday hits, will take the stage at Richmond Triangle Players for its 2023-24 season, as the company celebrates its 31st year.
Five plays, including a new production of one of RTP’s biggest holiday hits, will take the stage at Richmond Triangle Players for its 2023-24 season, as the company celebrates its 31st year.
“Last year’s 30th Anniversary Season included some of the largest and most ambitious productions we have ever attempted,” said RTP artistic director Lucian Restivo. “This new season, we will take an in-depth look into the LGBTQ+ experience with some intimate and edgier works, alongside a fantastical musical and the return of one of our favorite holiday hits.”
As always, the focus of every RTP is rooted in staying true to its mission, presenting unique — sometimes provocative, sometimes challenging, and sometimes simply hilarious –- works of theater.
For over three decades, Richmond Triangle Players has transformed the community’s conversations about diversity and inclusion through the production of LGBTQ+-themed works A nonprofit, professional theatre company founded in 1993, RTP takes pride in being the leading performing arts company in the region that produces high-quality transformational programming rooted in queer experiences and supports the development of queer artistry.
RTP is the only professional theatre company in the Richmond area – and the longest continually operating one in the entire Mid-Atlantic region — which expressly and regularly serves the LGBTQ+ community. While other local theatres occasionally produce plays with LGBTQ+ content, only Triangle Players has made an ongoing commitment to queer artists, issues, audiences, and community support.
The 2023-24 Season will Include:
A defiantly embracing call to action
One in two by Donja R. Love
September 20 – October 14, 2023
The raucous holiday treat returns in a brand-new production
Scrooge in Rouge, book and lyrics by Ricky Graham, additional material by Jeffery Roberson, other interesting bits by Yvette Hargis, original music composed by Jefferson Turner
November 15 – December 23, 2023
A new look at a ground-breaking comedy
Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein
February 14 – March 9, 2024
Forgotten women who are not easy to forget
Airswimming by Charlotte Jones
April 10 – May 4, 2024
The musical that will roll right into your heart!
Xanadu book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the 1980 film of the same name
June 5 – July 13, 2024
Plus, on our Spotlight Cabaret Series (a separate subscription), we will feature:
Georgia Rogers Farmer: Re-Butter My Biscuit! October 19 – 21, 2023
Darienne Lake: Altered Boy, January 19 – 20, 2024.
Dan and Jim: A (Sorta) Love Song, March 15 – 16, 2024.
Nicholas Rodriguez: Sincerely, Sondheim, May 10 – 11, 2024.
Arts & Entertainment
Author Sadeqa Johnson discusses The House of Eve on June 8 as part of the Library of Virginia’s 2023 Carole Weinstein Author Series
Johnson is an international best-selling and award-winning author of five novels. Her novel Yellow Wife, which won the Library’s 2022 People’s Choice Award for Fiction, follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia.
The Library of Virginia’s 2023 Carole Weinstein Author Series continues with a talk by best-selling author Sadeqa Johnson on The House of Eve, the historical fiction follow-up to her award-winning novel Yellow Wife. The free talk will be held at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 8 at the Library of Virginia, 800 East Broad Street, Richmond. A book signing will follow the talk.
The House of Eve continues Johnson’s tradition of confronting timeless questions that have no easy answers. In this moving work of historical fiction set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., the stories of two women collide in unexpected ways as they both make decisions that shape the trajectories of their lives. The book explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal. The House of Eve was an instant New York Times best seller and was selected by Reese’s Book Club as the February 2023 pick.
Johnson is an international best-selling and award-winning author of five novels. Her novel Yellow Wife, which won the Library’s 2022 People’s Choice Award for Fiction, follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia. Johnson is a Kimbilo Fellow, a former board member of the James River Writers and a member of the Tall Poppy Writers. She also teaches fiction writing for the MFA program at Drexel University.
The Carole Weinstein Author Series supports the literary arts by bringing both new and well-known authors to the Library of Virginia. Free and open to the public, the series focuses on Virginia authors and Virginia subjects across all genres and is made possible through support from the Carole Weinstein Endowment for Virginia Authors. This year marks the Library’s 200th anniversary, a special occasion for spotlighting the Library’s role in bringing attention to talented Virginia writers and fascinating Virginia subjects.
To see the series schedule and register for events, visit www.lva.virginia.gov/public/weinstein. For more information, contact Elizabeth Kaczynski at [email protected] or 804.692.3536.
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