Craig Pleasants resigns effective February 1st

Pleasants at work on his sculpture
in Auvillar, France, October 2013

Craig Pleasants announced this week that he will resign his position as VCCA’s Artistic Director effective February 1, 2014.  Craig and his wife Sheila came to VCCA from New York City in October 1989 to work at VCCA. They lived in the Studio Barn apartment for seventeen years with their three daughters, moving off the property in 2006.  Sheila will continue her work with VCCA as Director of Artists’ Services.

Pleasants said “I have loved this organization and the contact with the wonderful, brilliant people it has brought into my life, but it is time to move on to the next phase of my life.”

“I have several demanding art projects in the works, and Sculptorhouse.com, an art and design venture I started several years ago, has taken on some exciting new developments that now demand more of my time,” said Pleasants. “My sculpture practice has focused for many years on shelter and alternative methods of creating housing, and Sculptorhouse is developing a small, octagonal kit house, a hybrid between sculpture and architecture, that can be used as an artist’s studio, guest house, tiny house, or disaster housing. With advice from a venture-philanthropy concern, things have begun to percolate.”

Over his 24-year career at VCCA, Pleasants has built relationships with organizations, supporters, and artists including Cy Twombly and the Twombly Foundation, the MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, the Heinz Endowments, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Cave Canem, and Riverviews Artspace.  His research and proposals also helped VCCA to secure the Governor’s Award for the Arts and the gift of the Moulin à Nef Studio Center in Auvillar, France, as well as over 3 million dollars in support for VCCA’s ongoing operations.

 

 Pleasants's Coeur de mon coeur  at Moulin à Nef in Auvillar, France

VCCA’s Executive Director Gregory Allgire Smith recognized and thanked Pleasants for his years of service and his “ideas, creativity, hard work, and dedication to both the VCCA and the artists it serves. In light of the void created by Craig’s resignation and the possible choices before the VCCA in the coming years, we will evaluate the duties of this position within the staff as a whole and will decide how to proceed after the December holidays.” 

The entire VCCA community wishes Craig the best of luck with his new projects.