Pamela Lawton, associate professor of art education, will be VCUarts’ second Tate Exchange associate when she heads to London on July 16–21, 2019. In addition to working with the Tate, she has also been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to bring her project “Artstories” to the University of Edinburgh early next year.

Lawton’s “Artstories” engages community assets, such as churches, schools and recreation centers, to bring together disparate groups who may not normally sit down and work on an art project together. In the past, she has taken “Artstories” to Nicaragua, Mexico, New York, Washington, D.C., and around Richmond.

To learn more about Lawton’s research and her Tate Exchange partnership, VCUarts reached out to ask a few questions.

VCUarts: For those that don’t know, what is the ‘Artstories’ project?

Pam Lawton: The ‘Artstories’ project is about people connecting through art who are from different generations and different backgrounds, because one way people connect is through storytelling. And art is a way of storytelling.

It involves people talking to one another, creating stories together, writing them down and then illustrating them. So it’s actually written, visual, oral and—at some point—it could be performed.

The most recent iteration of ‘Artstories’ was last spring. I had my students working with high-schoolers in the Six Points Innovation Center out in Highland Park, creating social justice-themed alphabet books.

It’s a way of bringing in all the arts for people to use to get to know other people—to break through barriers. The art piece decenters what could be difficult, one-on-one, heated conversations.

VCUarts: Why did you decide to bring Artstories to the United Kingdom?

Lawton: I’m doing the Fulbright [Scholarship program] in Scotland, and as a part of that, there’s this Tate Exchange possibility. I’ll be over there already, so I wondered if I could do another version of ‘Artstories’ in a week at the Tate.

I wasn’t sure what population that I would be working with in Scotland. I’d been talking with the dean of the University of Edinburgh, who said that one of her alums is Sudanese, and they told [the university] that their dad, a big artist from Sudan, just had a show at the Tate Modern. She said that to me and I went off like a bottle rocket because I hadn’t told her about the Tate Exchange thing. She said, ‘Wait! Let me reach out to him because there is a Sudanese community here. Wouldn’t it be great to do Artstories with the Sudanese community?’

VCUarts: For the project this time around, what shape is it going to take next year?

Lawton: With the Tate Exchange, there is a specific theme of ‘movement.’ And I think that my proposal was very different than the other folks’. I’ve been over there and met some of the other people who are Tate associates who will be working with me over the course of the year.

I saw ‘movement’ in terms of time, as a metaphor for time. Usually when a person is telling a story and listening to someone else’s story, there are elements of the past, and the present, and perhaps where they’d like to see themselves go.

People do think about Europe as being very white. So I thought, what if we took books that already exist—that tell the master narrative—and rip them up, let them put their own narrative in there? In other words: put their story in where it’s been erased.

I’d like to pilot that in some way with the Fulbright [in Scotland] and with the Sudanese community, and bring that to the Tate Exchange.

The idea would be to put some of those books in the Tate library so that other people can see them. I always feel like there has to be an exhibition or sharing phase for this to really be as meaningful or impactful beyond just the people in the moment doing the work.

VCUarts: What is some of the research you drew on for this?

Lawton: I’m writing a book called On Common Ground: Community Based Art Education Across the Lifespan. It’s drawing on my 15 years of doing this and two of my co-authors’ perspective and experience.

In what I call ‘community based art education,’ it’s about the learning that happens in the process of artmaking. It’s not like a social practice artist who may interact with the community to make their work. The process of making is where leadership development comes from, where self-empowerment comes from.

I’ve posited a theory of age-integrated arts learning. So part of this work continues to inform me as I continue to try to write it up for other people.

VCUarts: How does it feel being part of the Tate Exchange partnership?

Lawton: I’m glad I wasn’t the first one! I think John did an amazing job. Honestly, I could say that it’s going to be hard to follow that, but the exception being that I’m doing something completely different. He set the groundwork for this.

We’ve learned a lot from his involvement with it. The fact that I will be there for 7 months is very helpful. The Tate Exchange associates have meetings every other month.

VCUarts: Are the associates from all over the world or is it just the U.K. and the U.S.?

Lawton: No—they’re all from the U.K., and then there’s us. Of course I didn’t want to be the loudmouth American person, but I met a lot of people who wanted me to stay in contact with them.

I think it’s great that VCU is a part of this, and I hope that they continue to be.

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Last month, VCUarts hosted the creator of Hellboy, Mike Mignola, for a discussion with Communication Arts chair TyRuben Ellingson. Before his visit, RVA Mag was able to talk with Mike about his old friendship with TyRuben and the process of developing the Hellboy movies.

“Ty and I have been talking for years about getting together,” said Mignola. “Since I never pass through that way, the one excuse we could come up with for us getting together was ‘I’ll talk to your class.’ That sort of evolved into something else, as these things tend to do, but it was really an excuse to see him.”

“Hellboy has always been an uphill battle, getting those movies made,” he said. “[2008’s Hellboy II: The] Golden Army did not make… I think it turned a little bit of a profit. But none of it ever ended up in a place to make people jump and go ‘Oh boy, we’ve gotta make a sequel.’ So literally ever since The Golden Army, I’ve had the same producers I’ve had, trying to make a Hellboy film get off the ground.”

Read the full article in RVA Mag.

Image by Lindsay Eastham. Credit via RVA Mag.

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To the VCUarts Community,

I am writing to update you regarding an incident that took place on October 25 in our Painting and Printmaking department at the School of the Arts, which led me and my administration to ask VCU Equity and Access Services to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

The inquiry has now concluded, and in the coming days, I will be meeting with the parties to discuss the results and also briefing the administration. To the extent that I am permitted by VCU’s policy and the law, I will keep you updated about this situation.

Regardless of what I may or may not be able to say about this specific situation, I think this is an important moment at VCUarts. I want to let you know that I have heard you and that we, collectively as a school and as a community, need to work harder to create an environment where no one feels marginalized or unwelcome. Too often, those who have been subjected to overt or implicit bias have had to stand alone to challenge systemic oppression. VCU must be a place where those voices are heard and supported.

As President Rao has so eloquently stated, “Our diversity makes us one.” The School of the Arts has always been a place where we welcome, value, and celebrate diversity in all of its forms; support thoughtful, informed and inclusive action; and are committed to empowering community values in which individuals of different perspectives, life experiences, cultural backgrounds, and social identities are welcomed. This is our diversity statement and this is the community we are committed to creating, upholding, and advancing.

As a community, we are not always perfect. Even though it is difficult, during the times when our values and our community are challenged, I ask you to see these moments as an opportunity. It is an opportunity for all of us—and especially for those of us in positions of power and privilege—to speak louder, work harder, and energize a stronger commitment to our shared values, so that we may continue to build together a community that embodies the very best of our ideals.

Sincerely,

Shawn Brixey
Dean | School of the Arts
Special Assistant to the Provost for the School of the Arts in Qatar
Professor | School of the Arts
Affiliate Professor | College of Engineering

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We are pleased to announce that College Factual has named VCUarts the 2019 Best Fine & Studio Arts school for veterans in Virginia. VCUarts also ranked nationally 23 out of 513 schools for veterans, putting us in the top 5% of all schools in the nation when it comes to offering a quality education to veterans studying fine art.

Based upon PayScale survey data*, a student who graduates from VCU with a degree in Fine Art realizes average early-career earnings of $34,959 and average mid-career earnings of $51,815.

These rankings were developed to highlight schools that offer quality outcomes in a specific major while also offering support and resources to help veterans and active-duty military students thrive.

Read the full article on College Factual’s News.

Image: Nonprofit organization CreatiVets collaborated with VCUarts and VCU Office of Military Student Services to help veterans use art to process their war experiences. 

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“Part of the beauty of music is being able to share it with other people.” VCUarts Music student Stacey Sharpe talks about her VCUarts experience as a performer and an educator.

myVCUarts is a series that captures the experiences of student at VCU School of the Arts in their own words. These short videos take a candid look at the technical and conceptual work that VCUarts students undertake every semester. Learn how our students devise innovative ways of making, discover new ideas in research, work through creative challenges and explain why they love doing what they do.

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Now in its 54th year, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond’s Craft + Design showcases the work of more than 150 artists from across the nation. This year, 20 of those artists have ties to VCUarts. These VCU grads are skilled craftspeople who will bring a variety of museum-quality craft to VisArts’ weekend-long shopping event.

Several of the VCUarts alumni exhibiting at Craft + Design are also VisArts instructors. Alicia Dietz (MFA’16) is a former Army pilot and has since exhibited her work in Chicago, Maine and Australia. As a wood artist, she aims to bridge the gap between military and civilian life, encouraging interaction, discussion and pause. The artist said her time at VCUarts taught her the ways in which craft can convey a larger message and the effect that it has on communities.

Since graduating, glass artist Grant Garmezy (BFA ’09) has been busy traveling and teaching in places such as Tokyo and Istanbul. In 2015, Garmezy was recognized with VCU’s 10 Under 10 Award, which recognizes the noteworthy and distinctive achievements made by alumni who earned their first VCU degree within the past 10 years. Originally planning to travel the craft circuit, Garmezy got so busy that he “never left town” after building a strong Richmond client base. Since graduating from VCU, Garmezy’s work has evolved. Today, his practice is focused on high-end glass animal sculptures.

Caitie Sellers’ booth at Craft + Design 2017.

Caitie Sellers, who earned her BFA in craft and material studies, says choosing VCUarts was the best decision she’s ever made. Her work as a metalsmith has landed her residencies and professional experience working in places like Guatemala and Australia. A Craft + Design veteran, Caitie won both the Best Booth Design Award and the Best New Artist Award at Craft + Design in 2016. This year, she’s returning to showcase her work, which is based on the urban landscape.

Elaine Butcher (BFA ’09) has been busy experimenting with jewelry in the nine years since she earned at BFA at VCUarts. After apprenticing with Charlottesville-based jeweler Gabriel Ofiesh (another Craft + Design exhibitor) for more than three years, Elaine launched her own company, Elaine B. Jewelry. Today she operates out of Detroit, Michigan, where she creates an ethical, minimal and wearable production line as well as custom rings and jewelry.

VisArts’ Craft + Design Show is held every year during the weekend before Thanksgiving, in Main Street Station’s historic train shed. The event gives Richmonders a chance to eat, drink and shop museum-quality contemporary craft. All proceeds benefit the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. Learn more and buy tickets at visarts.org.

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VCUarts Craft/Material Studies alumnus Gabriel Craig (MFA ’09) was one of ten alumni honored with the prestigious VCU 10 Under 10 Award. The award celebrates the noteworthy and distinctive achievements made by alumni who earned their first VCU degree (undergraduate, graduate or professional) within the past 10 years. Craig and his wife Amy Weiks co-founded the Smith Shop in 2012.

Craig said he and his wife and business partner, Amy Weiks, have always worked to create community and engagement around their passion for metalwork. Smith Shop has shepherded 16 interns to success in the field of artistic metalwork. In 2014, Craig founded the Center for Craft & Applied Arts, a nonprofit advocacy and education organization that works to bring opportunities for creative production to central Detroit residents through exhibitions, public programs, community outreach and economic development.

That community involvement, Craig said, “drives me to continue to create new work, to share this vocation and to learn ever more about its practice and history.”

Read the full article in VCU News.

Image: Gabriel Craig and Amy Weiks co-founded the Smith Shop in 2012. Craig was one of 10 alumni recognized last week by VCU Alumni as part of its 10 Under 10 awards program. Photo courtesy of Gabriel Craig. Credit via VCU News.

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Since the birth of the School of the Arts, the Anderson has been a fixture in Richmond. Launched in 1931 in a former carriage house just behind Lewis Ginter’s mansion, the Anderson Gallery of Art—named for its chief benefactor “Colonel” A.A. Anderson—was the first modern art gallery in the city. Its inaugural show, featuring paintings by Anderson himself, set the precedent of attracting contemporary artists from near and far.

When the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts opened in 1936, Richmond Professional Institute slowly transitioned the gallery into a library. (The modern James Branch Cabell Library wouldn’t open at VCU until the mid-1970s.) However, over the next 30 years, the building was upgraded with a third story, a mezzanine and new safety features.

H.H. Hibbs, RPI’s first director, wasn’t too fond of the Anderson Gallery fading away. So when Maurice Bonds, then chair of art history, contacted the retired Hibbs in 1969 about acquiring and reviving the gallery for VCUarts, the two set out to return the space to its original role. By 1970, the Anderson Gallery was set to host eminent practicing artists for another 45 years.

Over the course of its run, from 1931 to 2015, the Anderson Gallery featured the work of Wassily Kandinsky, Ferdinand Léger, Pablo Picasso, Howard Finster, Dotty Attie, Sonya Rapoport, Yoko Ono, Mark Dion and many of VCUarts’ own talented faculty members.

2015 marked the gallery’s third major transformation. With the Anderson Gallery closed in anticipation of the opening of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. In commemoration, VCUarts published a lush and colorful hardback book titled Anderson Gallery: 45 Years of Art on the Edge.

The building reopened the following year, rebranded as the Anderson. Today, it is a student-centric gallery and performance space focusing on creative engagement and discovery. And it continues to be a source of our school’s creative, boundary-breaking and innovative artistic spirit. In the past year, Chase Westfall, curator of student exhibitions and programs, has organized exhibitions of undergraduate and graduate student work, live music shows, and performances and installations by a number of visiting artists.

2018 marks 90 years of creative daring at VCU School of the Arts. To mark this occasion, VCUarts is spending this school year reflecting on our shared history and envisioning how we can continue to pave the way for creative practice in the 21st century and beyond. Visit the VCUarts 90th Anniversary webpage to learn more about the many stories that have shaped our school, and to share memories of your own.

Are you a VCUarts alum? During the 2018–19 academic year, the Anderson is holding an Alumni Open Call for exhibition and event proposals to take place at the gallery. Submissions are open through February 13, 2019, or until all available slots are full. For more information on how to apply, visit the Anderson’s page on our website.

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Black Art Student Empowerment at VCU (otherwise known as B.A.S.E.) recently held their fourth annual showcase at The Anderson. Many VCUarts students participated, including Photography + Film students Daniel Diasgranados and D’Anna Johnson, as well as Art Foundation student Charles Stapleton.

VCU student Charles Stapleton revealed an intimate part of his life in his piece “Semicolon.” Stapleton’s piece was an exact replica of his room from 2012 to 2014, when he suffered from depression.

“Music got me out of it, so essentially that’s pretty much my whole take on what depression really feels like deep down inside the worries, the messiness, the disorientation. All that is pretty much what I felt,” he said. “And I feel like a lot of people feel that, so I kind of wanted to give artwork that people can really relate to and not feel like they’re all alone with it.”

Stapleton said BASE is all about empowering black artists and giving black students a voice. He said the artists involved are talented and use art as a vehicle to express their struggles, giving people something to relate to.

Read the full article in the Commonwealth Times.

Image: The You are Special Project by D’Anna Johnson features black models with different skill levels being vulnerable in front of the camera. Photo by Raelyn Fines. Credit via Commonwealth Times.

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This summer, VCUarts Theatre student Priscilla Franklin was awarded a Dean’s International Study Grant to travel to Shandong University of Arts in Jinan, China, to explore and practice Chinese traditional ink painting, language and theatre. This experience allowed her to become versatile and skilled in Chinese painting to use in theatre scenes, as well as practice the Chinese language in hopes of fully translating Chinese play scripts.

Priscilla recently reflected on her trip and the opportunity to travel abroad:

Before going to Jinan to learn traditional Chinese painting, I lived in Chengdu for the summer. I visited the history and art museums to study the making of ancient shadow puppetry and to analyze ink paintings. I was especially impacted by this magnificent 90 foot long dragon hand woven by Fang Tse Yu and his daughter. Besides color and lighting in a theatre set design, I have become more inspired to incorporate texture after seeing this dragon and other mediums of fabric used in Chinese ethnic minority theatre costumes. I want to design a production that uses more texture to evoke emotion and to experiment with how it interacts with lighting. Now that I have learned more about China’s history and other art mediums, I am ready to excel further in my painting skills, stay tuned!

Created in 2006, the Dean’s International Study Grant program was started by the VCUarts Dean’s Office to fund students’ international exploration. That first year, six $1,000 grants were awarded to students. Today, up to ten $2,500 grants are awarded each year as the Dean’s Office continues to strive to support international travel and enforce the importance of a global perspective on creative and scholarly endeavors. The deadline to apply is January 25.

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The 1960s was a transformative period for the School of the Arts. At the beginning of the decade, the school was housed under Richmond Professional Institute—then an affiliate of William & Mary. By 1970, RPI had merged with the Medical College of Virginia to become Virginia Commonwealth University.

In the intervening period, students and faculty members at RPI’s School of Art were buzzing with creativity and eager to engage the national arts community. Though the school was growing year after year, it was far removed from major institutional resources in cities like New York. So, RPI brought New York to Richmond.

“There really was no venue for contemporary film or contemporary music,” said the late Richard Carlyon (MFA ’63), a longtime faculty member. “So, a group of us, across departments, got together and decided to have a spring arts festival.”

In 1964, the BANG Arts Festival was born. Each spring until 1967, RPI faculty invited local and national artists to participate in art exhibitions, dance recitals, film festivals, music concerts and panel discussions open to the public. Carlyon and his colleagues (including Jon Bowie, James Bumgardner (BFA ’58), Bernard Martin (BFA ’59), Willard Pilchard and Bill Livingston) used whatever resources they had available on campus to accommodate their visitors.

1965’s BANG 2 (also known as “BANG BANG”) attracted a veritable who’s who of contemporary arts. In the prime of their careers, choreographer Lucinda Childs, sculptor Robert Morris, dancer Yvonne Rainer, Village Voice critic Jill Johnston, and painter Roy Lichtenstein all visited the RPI campus in the span of a week.

“Yvonne Rainer, with Robert Morris, performed ‘Waterman Switch’,” said Carlyon. “It’s a hallmark of 20th-century dance. It had only been performed one time before it was performed in the RPI gym here, and that was before the court of the King of Sweden. … It’s to music by Vivaldi. They are nude, and their bodies are pressed against each other, and they walk across this track that Robert had built the night before in another performance. It was absolutely gorgeous and was greeted with thunderous applause.”

RPI’s central administration, no stranger to artistic censorship, dogged the School of Art faculty about the nude performance. Theresa Pollak, however, was delighted by ‘Waterman Switch.’ She remarked in 1969, “As I think back on the great beauty of this performance and the lasting effect that it has made on me, I cannot but feel that it was well worth the reprimand which it brought upon us.”

Over the years, BANG was host to a number of avant-garde performances, including Allan Kaprow building a women’s boxing ring and composers John Cage and David Tudor premiering Variations VI at the Scottish Rite Temple. Though the annual festivities ceased as VCU was formed, the school continued to bring renowned contemporary artists to campus when the Anderson Gallery was revived in 1970.

Below, you can browse some of the other promotional materials used to advertise BANG Arts Festival activities in the 1960s. All images are provided by Special Collections & Archives at VCU Libraries.

2018 marks 90 years of creative daring at VCU School of the Arts. To mark this occasion, VCUarts is spending this school year reflecting on our shared history and envisioning how we can continue to pave the way for creative practice in the 21st century and beyond. Visit the VCUarts 90th Anniversary website to learn more about the many stories that have shaped our school, and to share memories of your own.

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At 1708 Gallery’s annual InLight exhibition, Steven Casanova (BFA ’15) used a broken street lamp, a tarp-covered house, solar powered lights, and footage of protests and a speech from Congressmember Luis Gutiérrez to give voice to Puerto Ricans in his installation, 1898 N. Colonial Ave. Below, he explains the genesis of his work.

I’ve been going to Puerto Rico a few times a year for the last 2-and-a-half years. I was working on a photo project in Puerto Rico in August 2017, before Hurricane Maria came through. I was telling my friends and family, “Okay, I’ll see you in December. Be back soon.”

Then Hurricane Maria came through, and I went back about two weeks after the storms passed. I brought supplies and was doing the best I could to help whoever I could, but I was also documenting everything I saw. It became abundantly clear that I needed to do more than just post these images online.

I remember joking with people in Puerto Rico about making this show. “I need to make it completely in the dark. I need to make it a long line to get in. I need to release mosquitos in the gallery room. I need to make the roof start leaking and just destroy the place.” But a fire was lit within me that I hadn’t felt before. I knew that, regardless of the barriers, I was going to do whatever I could to get this message across.

I had just come from a country of 3.5 million people living in the dark, every day. And then I came back to Richmond and went to InLight, which I love, hoping to feel better. It was on Broad Street, where they had shut down the city blocks, and there were thousands of people walking around in the dark for fun. That was really striking to me, to recognize my own privilege.

InLight draws a massive crowd that is not necessarily looking for socially aware art. To design a piece that forces people into an uncomfortable space—to see an uncomfortable message—was more successful than putting it in a space that people are already expecting to get that sort of message.

The fact that conversations started is so important to me. People in Puerto Rico can’t vote for themselves, so people in the states have to vote for them. At the very least, I need people to talk about it. The next step is that I need people to be a little more educated when they do talk about it. The end goal is that people become advocates for their neighbors, for the people around them who are from Puerto Rico or know people from Puerto Rico.

The message is much bigger than Maria. I often am trying to steer the conversation away from Maria, or from it being this administration’s responsibility. Because then people ignore that the Obama administration is who put PROMESA, the financial control board, in place. And that the Bush administration allowed the tax cuts to end in 2006 that led to the current economic depression. And the Clinton administration… It just continues to go back.

So, the message is to try to give an anecdotal definition to what colonialism is. It is studied and talked about, but rarely is it realized how deeply it affects a country, an island, a people.

I no longer feel the responsibility to hold people’s hands throughout educating them. Within all of my work, there are details that allude to something greater if you feel inclined to look into it. An important image for me in the video was the black and white Puerto Rican flag, which, if you Google it, you will already start learning so much about the problem.

Every single endeavor that I’ve taken regarding Puerto Rico—if it was what looks like a protest on the street, if it was a performance piece during First Friday, if it was a lecture, if it was an organized show or fundraiser—has connected me with more people that care and has provided opportunities to do more. Each thing has clearly built on the last action to lead to this point.

InLight was no different. From being able to show 20,000 to 25,000 people this piece, a number of them have already reached out and want to be involved in some way. That’s super exciting. I don’t seek to change the world with my art, but I hope to plant some seeds that flourish for a few people.

I’ve made sure to include elements within my work that are exciting for a Puerto Rican to see. I overheard people talking about the sound of the coqui [frog] that was playing. The coqui exists other places, but it’s often considered a pest. In Puerto Rico, it is loved so dearly. To be at InLight and to hear the sound of the coqui across the hill, I know this brought so much comfort to every Puerto Rican that heard it. I’m interested in educating, getting the word out, shocking people, and changing perspectives—but I’m also interested in giving Puerto Ricans hugs.

Steven Casanova is a Puerto Rican artist and educator living in Richmond, Va. You can follow his work and research on Instagram at @cheapgarlic.

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To the VCUarts Community,

During this time of the year, we share moments with family and friends and reflect upon our many reasons to be thankful.

I am deeply thankful for our creative community, where our students, faculty, staff and alumni constantly work to elevate one another as artists and as humans. I am also thankful for our shared commitment to uphold VCUarts as a supportive, thoughtful and inclusive place of inspiration and opportunity.

Thank you for all you do to make VCUarts a home of limitless possibility.

Happy Thanksgiving,
Shawn Brixey

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The way Drea George tells it, Kinetic Imaging practically called out her name. Before attending VCUarts, she visited campus multiple times to tour the KI studios and classrooms.

“It had this sort of underground, analog-tech kind of feel,” she says, “which felt really familiar and comfortable for me. I had grown up around all kinds of analog machinery, and had always felt at home with the beeps and hums of computers, the grainy picture in old camcorders, and the sound those Kodak disposable cameras made after releasing the shutter.”

George, now a senior, is set to graduate this December from the program. And the wide array of technology at the Kinetic Imaging department taught her to be adaptable and inventive, empowering her to apply her range of skills to any number of professional endeavors.

“I’m open to a lot,” she says. “My only need is to be somehow involved in the film or television world.”

To that end, George has been focused on honing her prowess as a video editor and animator, with her heart set on one day landing a job with big-name studios like Adult Swim or Nickelodeon. Her senior film “Franklin Wants Pizza” exhibits her knack for expressive characters, clever editing and charming physical comedy.

“My work always comes back to body,” says George. “Every video is about movement, every sound piece about voice, every animation about character.”

A set of characters by Drea George.

Learning to communicate that movement and sense of character can be tricky. There are myriad ways to draw something walking and talking and bounding across a screen, and just as many specialized tools to render each frame, line and shape. So, George knew she had to equip herself with a varied skill set.

“When I came across VCUarts and discovered KI,” she says, “I found out that not only could I do 2D and 3D, but I could do video, sound, and experiment with art in a way that I had never done before.”

In addition to her work with Kinetic Imaging, George has spent her time at VCUarts invested in the academic community. She has served as a film editor and content creator for the African American Studies Department at VCU, where she creates original promotional materials from animations to illustrations. She’s also an official department representative for KI, taking prospective students and their families on tours through their facilities.

Illustration by Drea George.

Her work has earned her an award of excellence from KI, as well as exhibition spots at the Anderson and the Fine Arts Building.

Of course, hard work can take its toll on any artist. After struggling with exhaustion from the rigor of producing “Franklin Wants Pizza,” George spent her summer giving herself a break from animation. The time off led her to a new perspective on artmaking—the process of “creative recovery”—that has helped her prepare for working full-time in the creative industry. Key to her research has been Julia Cameron’s 1997 book The Artist’s Way: Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self, a guide to overcoming artist’s block and building self-confidence.

“One of my biggest challenges this semester has been finding the ways that I inherently make art,” she says. “Becoming aware of my bad artist-habits—perfectionism, obsession with detail, being too self-critical—and calling myself out on them, working to amend them, has been helpful.”

“I want to keep on nurturing my process, learning as much as I can, getting better at what I love to do, and see where that takes me.”

See more of Drea George’s work at her website, dreageorge.online.

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VCUarts Cinema professor Kirk Kjeldsen and Rob Tregenza, program director, have been receiving fantastic reviews of their collaborative feature Gavagai. The film was recently placed in the top ten movies of the year by Metacritic.

Metacritic’s mission is to help consumers make an informed decision about how to spend their time and money on entertainment. Their Metascore system is unique and merits its own explanation page.

Image: Andreas Lust, one of the stars of “Gavagai,” in a scene from the film. Photo courtesy of “Gavagai” production via VCU News.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Emma Coates
Office of Development and Alumni Relations
(804) 828-2694
ekcoates@vcu.edu

Virginia Commonwealth University hires executive director of development and strategic initiatives for School of the Arts
Art museum veteran Anna E. von Gehr will join VCU on Jan. 1

RICHMOND, Va. (Nov. 28, 2019) – Anna E. von Gehr has been named executive director of development and strategic initiatives for the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, the premier public graduate school of arts and design in the United States, effective Jan. 1.

Von Gehr is currently the chief officer for advancement and external affairs at The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida. In her new role, she will work closely with VCUarts’ senior leadership, diverse departments, academic leadership and volunteers to initiate relationships, steward donors and increase participation from the school’s alumni. She will report to Shawn Brixey, dean of the School of the Arts and special assistant to the provost for the School of the Arts in Qatar.

“Anna’s experience will help us deepen our connection to our alumni and local community as we expand VCUarts’ narrative as a collaborative leader among the schools of the Arts, Medicine and Business and the College of Engineering,” Brixey said. “We look forward to a new model for the advancement of VCUarts—centered around creativity and innovation.”

Under von Gehr’s leadership, The Ringling’s operating budget has grown from $12 million to $21 million since 2013 as a result of philanthropy more than doubling and strategic changes to earned revenue streams. Attendance has also increased, from 300,000 to over 400,000 annual visitors, and awareness of the museum has expanded nationally and internationally.

“Anna has accomplished much during her tenure at The Ringling,” said Steven High, The Ringling’s Executive Director, “and with the successful completion of our $100 million comprehensive campaign this year, she departs on a high note. We will miss her creativity, energy and fundraising acumen that has served The Ringling well these past five years.”

Before her role at The Ringling, von Gehr was director of university arts development at the University of Virginia, where she directed the final phase of the $100 million comprehensive Arts Grounds Campaign, part of U.Va.’s $3 billion fundraising campaign. She has also served in development positions at Washington and Lee University, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Montana State University.

A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she completed an undergraduate degree in history, and of San Francisco State University, where she earned an M.A. in museum studies, von Gehr is a member of the American Alliance of Museums and was recognized in 2017 with the Women in Business Initiative Leadership Circle Award.

“Anna’s rich background in philanthropy, as well as her extensive knowledge of arts management and best practices, will be an unbelievable asset to the School of the Arts,” said VCU Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Jay E. Davenport, CFRE. “We are excited to welcome her and can’t wait to see how she will build on and elevate the school’s strong relationships with alumni, community leaders, donors, corporations and foundations to increase support and engagement.”

Von Gehr said, “Joining the VCUarts team and returning to the extraordinary Richmond community is nothing short of inspiring. I am honored to assume this new role in service of VCUarts’ students, faculty, staff and donors as we work together to drive creative daring and innovative arts-based research.”

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About Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts

VCUarts has been the top-ranked public university visual arts and design program in the country for more than 10 years, according to U.S. News & World Report. Undergraduate and graduate classes in the school’s 16 departments and programs are taught by a distinguished faculty of professional artists, designers, and scholars. VCUarts is part of a vibrant, arts-centered community with global influence. The School is part of a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research and a deep commitment to diversity, community, discovery, and innovation.

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Since the 1970s, VCUarts alumni have been making their imprint on the comics industry. From illustrators for Marvel and DC Comics, to indie artists and even comic book scholars, our alumni have been recognized as some of the best in the biz.

Perhaps the most decorated alumnus is Painting + Printmaking grad Charles Vess (BFA ’74), who’s best known for his fantasy art. In the 1990s, he collaborated with English author Neil Gaiman on The Sandman, Stardust and The Books of Magic. He’s won the coveted Will Eisner Comic Industry Award twice: once in 1997 for his work on The Book of Ballads & Sagas and The Sandman, and another in 2002 for his work on Rose.

“A Chance Meeting in The Greenwood” by Charles Vess. (From VCU’s On the Cabell Screen.) A suite of 12 prints from Stardust can be found on the second floor of Cabell Library.

Vess got his start during his undergraduate years at VCUarts by contributing work to Fan Free Funnies, a counterculture tabloid produced by The Commonwealth Times in 1973. Editor Edwin Slipek (BA ’74), then an art history major, solicited work by local artists at VCU and in the neighboring Fan district. (Today, Slipek is a senior editor for Style Weekly.)

Alongside Vess, Fan Free Funnies featured the work of Phil Trumbo (BFA ’72), a fellow Painting + Printmaking major who went on to win an Emmy for his work on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. He later become a designer and storyboard artist on the Nickelodeon animated series Doug.

In 1981, The Commonwealth Times founded another spin-off publication titled ThroTTle, helmed by Dale Brumfield (BFA ’82). And in 1997, Sculpture + Extended Media alumnus Pete Humes (BFA ’95) created the indie weekly Punchline, featuring comic strips and covers by local artists.

Of course, major publishers have been printing the work of talented VCUarts alumni for decades. Since Vess first painted Spider-Man in 1985, alumni Reilly Brown (BFA ’03) and Mike Wieringo (BFA ’91) have made their mark on the wider industry.

Brown, a communication arts alumnus, began self-publishing comics in 2002; three years later, he was invited by Marvel to contribute to a holiday special edition. Since then, he’s drawn Deadpool, Spider-Man, Hercules and Lobo for companies such as Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, Archie and Tantor Media.

Illustration of Spider-Man by Reilly Brown. (From VCU’s On the Cabell Screen.)

Wieringo, who passed away in 2007, actually earned his degree in fashion illustration. But by the year he graduated, he was already working on an independently published revival of the pulp fiction character Doc Savage. Through the ’90s and ’00s, he penciled issues of The Flash, The Sensational Spider-Man, Tellos, The Adventures of Superman, Fantastic Four and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, as well as many crossovers and miniseries.

After his death, the Baltimore Comic-Con honored the late artist by launching the Ringo Awards, in reference to his occasional pen name “Ringo.” His work is still celebrated today for his fun and exuberant approach to superheroes, particularly during an era of comics that often features gritty realism.

Alumni from the past decade have garnered swift success in the world of independent comics, and have even expanded into other mediums. Hugo award-winner Abigail Larson (BFA ’10) has created covers for the comics Edward Scissorhands, Assassin’s Creed and Penny Dreadful, in addition to artwork for tabletop games and text adventures. Shannon Wright (BFA ’16) has created political comics for The Nib and children’s comics for KAZOO Magazine (in addition to her newspaper illustrations for the New York Times, NPR, The Guardian and more). And Richie Pope (BFA ’09) won an Ignatz Award for his indie comic That Box We Sit On in September.

Most recently, Megan James (BFA ’17) was featured in our Senior Spotlight series last year after she had already published three full-color issues of her indie comic series Innsmouth. This November, The Commonwealth Times interviewed professor Christopher Irving (BFA ’99), an art education alumnus who teaches a Star Wars class with the assistance of TyRuben Ellingson, chair of communication arts. Irving got his start writing comic book reviews and contributing to comics enthusiast magazines. He’s since published numerous historical texts on comic books and artists—including a volume on the celebrated Charles Vess.

If you would like to learn more about the world of comics, VCU is a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award-winning repository, with nearly 1,000 comics-related publications in Cabell Library’s Comic Arts Collection.

2018 marks 90 years of creative daring at VCU School of the Arts. To mark this occasion, VCUarts is spending this school year reflecting on our shared history and envisioning how we can continue to pave the way for creative practice in the 21st century and beyond. Visit the VCUarts 90th Anniversary website to learn more about the many stories that have shaped our school, and to share memories of your own.

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National Geographic recently highlighted two VCUarts programs on its Instagram account, in a partnership with Intel. Nearly 100 million followers had the chance to learn about Embodied Empathy—an interdisciplinary research project that uses virtual reality to improve movement and music performance technique. A second post featured a student working in an animation studio.

 

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Photo by @katieorlinsky | #sponsored by @Intel | Stacey Sharpe, a violinist studying in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Music Department, practices violin shifting movements in class while wearing VR goggles. The goggles play a video of her instructor executing the same motions. The class is a collaboration between the Embodied Empathy project and the Music department at VCU. Embodied Empathy is an interdisciplinary ARTS course at VCUarts focused on embodiment, virtual reality, and arts research. Here researchers ask, “Can movement quality improve through the first-person embodied experiences of a seasoned professional?” | As part of their commitment to enhanced learning with education technology, @Intel is taking some of the most immersive technology to schools and museums across the country, to help educators build the leaders of tomorrow. #GivingTuesday #EdTech *Virginia Commonwealth University has not benefited from Intel’s education initiatives.

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Nov 27, 2018 at 1:43pm PST

 

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Photo by @katieorlinsky | #sponsored by @Intel | A student works on her short film in an animation studio at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. Watching this young student’s vision come to life so quickly and beautifully with the help of technology was pretty incredible, while the analog elements of her tiny studio reminded me of my own studies during the early days of digital photography. I don’t think I could have even imagined how far it has come. | As part of their commitment to enhanced learning with education technology, @Intel is taking some of the most immersive technology to schools and museums across the country, to help educators build the leaders of tomorrow. #GivingTuesday #EdTech *Virginia Commonwealth University has not benefited from Intel’s education initiatives.

A post shared by National Geographic (@natgeo) on Nov 27, 2018 at 10:48am PST

Image: Katie Orlinsky for National Geographic

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As graphic design major Jennie Pajerowski prepares to graduate in December, they reflect on how the interplay of technical design skills and theoretical critiques has prepared them for a career in the field.

When I came to VCU, I was looking at communication arts. After I got into AFO, I took the graphic design project course and pretty quickly was like, this is what I was looking for. VCU’s design program is more conceptual than other programs I’ve seen. I definitely have developed the harder skills along the way, but I feel like our program focuses a lot more on conceptual thinking.

I love Nicole Killian’s classes. They’re always multidisciplinary. The one that I’m taking right now, “A Pause, A Call,” is maybe half graphic design, but also some Sculpture + Extended Media and Painting + Printmaking majors. We’ve mostly been doing writing assignments and it’s all about the language of critique and the language we use to talk about design, and the ways that we communicate about ideas and art. It’s very good to have that as a counterpoint to the pressure you feel in graphic design to just be producing.

Sculpture students, I’ve noticed, tend to approach critique by thinking about concepts and themes. In design, there’s a lot of focus on usefulness and intention. It’s very common for someone to say, “Did you intend for this to happen?” The critiques in [Killian’s] class are a lot more about the ideas that the work is bringing up and the ideas that it’s pointing to. It’s very easy to get used to the way that you approach something or the way that your brain works. Shaking things up and being with people from other majors, it’s a little nudge that gets you moving in a slightly different path.

I also loved my typeface design class. It was basically one project for the whole semester—to make a typeface. It felt very similar to the time I took a ceramics class and would get into a rhythm of spinning the wheel and figuring out the muscle memory of where my hands went. With the typeface design, I set up a system of how I was going to do something, and then applied it across so many different characters. It made me value typefaces that are a lot of fun—that are stylish and look good, but have some flair to them. I’ve been moving away from using straightforward typefaces.

I’ve been working for a marketing and design firm in D.C. called brllnt. As an intern, I get some of the nitty-gritty work—Google ads and social media ads. But I’ve also gotten to do some web design, and some branding and logo work. They’ve worked with financial groups, for the city of D.C. and the city of Nashville, so it’s a good mix—some government, some financial, some cultural. For an internship or a first job, it’s been a lot of good experience.

Honestly, I feel like I’m pretty prepared to go out and start working. I feel very confident in my design skills. But there are so many more things that I want to learn. I’m taking web design classes, but there’s so much to coding. I’m super interested in learning more about web design, motion graphics and animations. I’m interested in the ways that the web functions, and how we communicate and what we use those forms of communications for. I feel like I have all of these skills as a basis and I can move forward and learn new things.

See more of Jennie Pajerowski’s work on their website, jenniepajerowski.com.

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To the VCUarts community,

In the spirit of this holiday season, I want to pause and acknowledge how deeply appreciative I am to be part of our creative community. Every day, I am inspired by the innovative pursuits of our students, faculty, staff and alumni, as you strive to address the challenges of tomorrow. I am proud to be part of a community that constantly works to elevate one another as artists and as humans.

Let us continue to work to make VCUarts a place where creative minds can come together—where we encourage one another to explore new frontiers, and where we support our talented colleagues, peers and friends.

Thank you for all you do to make VCUarts a place of limitless possibility. I’m excited to see where the coming year will take us.

Happy holidays,
Shawn Brixey

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