The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is now accepting applications for 2013-14 Visual Arts Fellowships. Grants from $4,000 to $8,000 are awarded to professional, graduate and undergraduate artists. You must have been a legal resident of Virginia for 24 months preceding the application deadline of November 9, 2012.  For more about the eligibility requirements and an application, click here

Competition Deadline: 1 November 2012 One of the leading overseas centers for independent study and advanced research in the arts and the humanities, the American Academy in Rome offers up to thirty fellowships for periods ranging from six months to two years. Rome Prize winners reside at the Academy’s eleven-acre center in Rome and receive room and board, a study or studio, and a stipend. Stipends for six-month fellowships are $14,500 and stipends for eleven-month fellowships are $27,000. Fellowships are awarded in the following fields: Architecture Design (including graphic, fashion, interior, lighting, and set design, engineering, urban planning, and other related design fields) Historic Preservation and Conservation (including architectural design, public policy, and the conservation of works of art) Landscape Architecture Literature (awarded only by nomination through the American Academy of Arts and Letters) Musical Composition Visual Arts Ancient Studi

On July 15, Split This Rock and Busboys and Poets celebrated VCCA with a reading from Entering the Real World: VCCA Poets on Mt. San Angelo — an anthology of poems that were written about or inspired by VCCA residencies. The house was packed with folks who came to hear nine VCCA Fellows read from the popular anthology. (Photos by Split This Rock board member Dan Vera and Pete Montgomery.) Split This Rock Director Sarah Browning welcomes a full house to the reading of Entering the Real World: VCCA Poets on Mt. San Angelo at Busboys and Poets. Anthology co-editor Andrea Carter Brown and contributor Kim Roberts share the excitement. Contributor Karren LaLonde Alenier reads from Entering the Real World: VCCA Poets on Mt. San Angelo . Contributor Holly Bass reads work she wrote while in residence at VCCA. Contributor Becky Gould Gibson reads from the anthology. Co-editor Margaret B. Ingraham reading her poem in the anthology. Contributor Kim Roberts

If you want to find out what a VCCA residency is like, or reminisce about one, don't miss this reading at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC, on July 15. Nine VCCA poets will read from the poetry anthology, Entering the Real World: VCCA Poets on Mt. San Angelo , edited by Margaret B. Ingraham and Andrea Carter Brown.  For more info about any of these poets, click on their name: Karren LaLonde Alenier , Ned Balbo , Holly Bass , Andrea Carter Brown , Becky Gould Gibson , Margaret B. Ingraham , Kim Roberts , Dan Vera and Michele Wolf .   Sunday, July 15, 2012   5:00 - 7:00 pm   Busboys and Poets   2021 14th Street, NW (at V St.) Washington, DC Busboys and Poets has a $5 admission charge

"Horn 1" by Rob Tarbell, 2012, mirrored glass with integrated projector and ipod In the summer of 2010, artist Rob Tarbell and composer Douglas Boyce met at Moulin à Nef , VCCA's facility in Auvillar, France. Their collaboration began with the mysterious singing of an Auvillarian bird they couldn't identify—birdsong in a foreign language.  Two years later, their exploration of space and light, songs and flight, is complete. Bird-like Things in Things Like Trees —t he show they conceived in that beautiful Gascon village—is opening at Les Yeux du Monde art gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia. EXHIBITION:   Bird-like Things in Things Like Trees WHERE:   Lex Yeux du Monde OPENING RECEPTION:   Friday, July 13, 5:30 - 7:30 pm LIVE PERFORMANCE:   7:00 pm with Harmonious Blacksmith   C-Ville article: "Rob Tarbell and Douglas Boyce Fuse Visual Art and Musical Composition" Rob Tarbell (Photo from "Checking in with Rob Tarbell" art

Poem Concluding with a Derecho   by Aaron Baker   It doesn’t know the names of things and won’t stop to revise. Summoned, wraith-like, out of the corn fields of Iowa, out of general error, the oath of the deserted wife, the farmboy’s dream of the coast, out of bitterest arguments too long delayed, it builds among the inland prairies and plains— not ignorance but total and undifferentiated knowledge. It moves—slowly at first—against Illinois, Indiana and the Virginias.                                    And so dusk on Mount San Angelo where the artists are gathered, crackers and wine, to greet the arriving genius. Lights flicker, flicker out. The treeline hoves and plunges in the teeth of the squall. Hold hands! Hold hands! The painter puts down her knife, then takes it up in darkness. The composer puts his hands over his ears. Listen: the dream of the artist is transformation. The derecho shatters the cedar, pitches treetops into housetops

The visual artists rise early so they can work in their studios until the heat accumulates to blistering levels. When it is finally unbearable, they seek cool havens. In the early days, the Ascension Episcopal Parish Hall was the only oasis. Then the Amherst Public Library opened with ac and wi-fi, then the Sweet Briar computer labs got power. Fellows saw the utility work crews—but still no respite for VCCA. By dinnertime—the Fellows' Residence is searingly hot. At night, some Fellows sleep on wet towels or stretch out on the concrete floors of their studios. They laugh about having to wear sweaters if the temperature ever drops to the 80s again. And during all of it, they're writing, painting, composing—sometimes incorporating the derecho into their work. Indeed, they've been so determined to maintain their discipline that they turned down an offer to sleep cool at Sweet Briar College. Late Thursday night, Sheila and Craig Pleasants finally got power at their

Derecho has the ring of a cowboy in an old spaghetti western starring Clint Eastwood. This Derecho rode into Virginia on June 29 under cover of darkness and, like all cinematic villains, it was intent on mischief. Tough old Mt. San Angelo trees that had weathered thousands of challenges from storms before, finally lost to the galeslinging Derecho, holding their ground even as they fell. No flinty-eyed Clint came to our rescue, but there was no shortage of heroes. Our Resident Fellows Barbara Bernstein and David Garratt worked through the storm Friday night then began again at 5:30 am Saturday morning. The driveway of Facilities Manager Mike Patterson was blocked by debris, so David went to pick him up. While David and Mike were clearing paths and cleaning up the Mt. San Angelo grounds, Barbara moved to the kitchen and started cooking. The three of them performed these and other storm related tasks for fifteen hour days all weekend long. On Sunday, Michael Dowell (director of ope

Michael Dowell dressing cool for his last day in the oven. At 4:15pm, it was 101 ° outside—so you can imagine how cozy his office was. Michael’s last week a s VCCA’s Director of Operations and Finance was a doozy. The derecho hit Friday night and Michael was on premises first thing Saturday, a pattern he has repeated every day since, clearing paths, cleaning up, making sure Fellows were as safe and comfortable as possible—no easy feat when you’re working without power and the days are a scorching 100°. He even brought an industrial fan from his own house for the VCCA kitchen, a blessing for the sweltering cooks. He’s also been working with insurance adjustors and taking care of the myriad technical aspects of this disaster, even as he was closing out his own office responsibilities. In typical Michael fashion, he has handled it all with humor and grace. Thank you, Michael, and best of luck in your new endeavors.

If you want to find out what a VCCA residency is like, or reminisce about one, don't miss this reading at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC, on July 15. Nine VCCA poets will read from the poetry anthology, Entering the Real World: VCCA Poets on Mt. San Angelo , edited by Margaret B. Ingraham and Andrea Carter Brown.  For more info about any of these poets, click on their name: Karren LaLonde Alenier , Ned Balbo , Holly Bass , Andrea Carter Brown , Becky Gould Gibson , Margaret B. Ingraham , Kim Roberts , Dan Vera and Michele Wolf .   Sunday, July 15, 2012   5:00 - 7:00 pm   Busboys and Poets   2021 14th Street, NW (at V St.) Washington, DC UPDATE - Busboys and Poets does have a $5 admission charge

It's called a derecho—that crashing riptide of winds that tore through Virginia last Friday. It began in Illinois and took about 12 hours to get to here, fueling itself on the above average temperatures. This particular derecho was notable for its strength, speed and longevity. No one at VCCA was hurt, but the straight-line winds were so powerful, they felled some of Mt. San Angelo's grand old trees—black walnut, oak, pine, cedar and a glorious poplar. Electricity has been off since Friday and the temperatures have been soaring into three digits. Fortunately, the kitchen stove is gas so Chef Stella (who is filling in for Sarah while she is on vacation) and her diligent staff along with Resident Artist Barbara Bernstein have been cooking—in every sense of the word—all weekend.  Resident Artist David Garratt along with Facilities Manager Mike Patterson have been on premises every day—clearing, fixing, and trying to make things a little easier for our patient Fellows.