The VMFA’s 2021-22 Fellowship Program supports 21 student and professional artists

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) has announced the 2021-22 recipients of VMFA fellowships. Twenty-one students and professional artists were selected from more than 350 applicants to receive a total of $146,000 towards professional advancements in the arts. The VMFA Fellowship Program has awarded more than $5.8 million to more than 1,400 artists since 1940. Recipients must be Virginia residents and may 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 Fellowship Program is one of the largest programs of its kind in the United States,” said Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s Director and CEO. “We are committed to supporting students and professional artists. Last August, in addition to our regular fellowships, we also offered grants to help sustain forty Virginia artists during the pandemic as part of a special relief program..”

Fellowship Recipients

VMFA awarded ten professional fellowships of $8,000 each this year to Umico Niwa and Peat Szilagyi, Sculpture, Richmond; Megan Angolia, Sculpture, Chesterfield; Jaraz Jenkins, Painting, Richmond; Yoko Gushi, Painting, Henrico; Danya Smith, Mixed Media, Midlothian; Veronica Jackson, Mixed Media, Bedford; Franchell Mack Brown, Mixed Media, Henrico; Prederico Cuatlacuatl, Film/Video, Charlottesville; and Jason A. Hackett, Crafts, Henrico. Dean Daderko, Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, was the juror for the professional fellowship entries.

Undergraduate fellowships of $4,000 went to eight students this year. The recipients are Fiona Marinaro, Mixed Media, SCAD, Yorktown; Keita Heinrich, New & Emerging Media, UVA, Charlottesville; Myles Manuel, Film/Video, VCU, Richmond; Grade Solomon, Photography, VCU, Fredericksburg; Hien Nguyen, Sculpture, VCU, Henrico; Hee Yoo, Painting, VCU, Glen Allen; Olivia Therese Offutt, Drawing, GMU, Vero Beach, FL; and Bridget Yvonne Hamel, Mixed Media, VCU, Williamsburg. Seth Feman, Deputy Director for Art and Interpretation and Curator of Photography at the Chrysler Museum of Art, was the juror for the undergraduate fellowship entries.

Three graduate students were awarded $6,000 each this year. The recipients are Meagan Walsh, Art History, UVA, Charlottesville; Keith Nixon Jr., Film/Video, Howard University, Richmond; and Tacie Nicole Jones, New & Emerging Media, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg. Seth Feman, Deputy Director for Art and Interpretation and Curator of Photography at the Chrysler Museum of Art, and Leslie Cozzi, PhD and Associate Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs at the Baltimore Museum of Art were the jurors for the graduate fellowship entries.

The Cy Twombly Graduate Fellowship, which honors the renowned Virginia artist and two-time VMFA Fellowship winner, was inaugurated into the VMFA Fellowship Program two years ago. The award is supported by the McClintock Endowment. This year’s awardee is Larissa M. Rogers, a graduate student from Ruckersville who is studying New and Emerging Media at UCLA.

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 the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton and the Capital One Commons in Richmond.