During this season of thanksgiving, all of us at Mt. San Angelo are grateful for your continued support of the VCCA.We wish for you a harvest of hope and possibility this year and always. Image Credit: VCCA Fellow Daniel Hauben painted Osage in Autumn I during a VCCA residency in 2003, depicting one of several osage orange trees at Mt. San Angelo. Osage in Autumn I, 19” x 25” pastel on paper, 2003.

This Just In: Kathy Anderson's short story, "You Are the Bad Smell," has been nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize by Apple Valley Review, which also awarded her its Editor's Prize this year. To read Kathy's award-winning story, click here. Kathy's plays have been produced in New York, Philadelphia and Arizona. Her new play "The Meatpackers Book Club" will have its world premier in May 2009 at the Philadelphia Theatre Workshop. Congratulations Kathy!

Don't forget to join your fellow Fellows for our annual reunion tomorrow night, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the National Arts Club in New York City. There will be a special presentation of the VCCA Award for Excellence in the Arts to playwright Kia Corthron. The National Arts Club is located at 15 Gramercy Park South, New York City. Call (212) 475-3424 or click here for more information. Please note that the there is a strict dress code at the NAC and no denim is allowed. See you tomorrow night!

The current VCCA Fellows Council has elected five new members from a pool of 20 nominees. The newly elected members will serve through the autumn of 2012. They are: Loren Graham, poet, Helena, Montana; David Haynes, fiction writer, Dallas, Texas; Peggy Ingraham, writer, Alexandria, Virginia; Claire Lieberman, visual artist, Bloomington, Illinois; Koji Nakano, composer, Boston, Massachusetts. These five Fellows will join the current Council members who will serve through autumn of 2010: Karen Bell, photographer, New York, New York, chairperson; Kerry Dolan, writer, San Francisco, California, vice chairperson; Marion Held, sculptor, Montclair, New Jersey; Patricia Spears Jones, poet, Brooklyn, New York; Laura Kaminsky, composer, Bronx, New York; Anne LeClaire, writer, South Chatham, Massachusetts. These eleven Fellows will be the “voice of the Fellows” to the VCCA Board of Directors and administration. Among other goals, they will also work on behalf of the Fellows to address such issues...

When Caroline Y. Lindemann, who graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1949, came across an exhibit of miniature finger paintings by VCCA Fellow Mary Ann Brandt at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, she was mesmerized. Sadly, Caroline, who lives in Richmond, did not meet Mary Ann, who died in 2007. One of the nation's leading collectors of miniature books (she recently donated 13,000 to the University of Virginia), Caroline decided to pay tribute to this VCCA artist. Her new press, Cyclone Press, will publish "Mary Ann Brant," its first book, later this month. Written by Eileen Mott and edited by Caroline, it is appropriately diminutive in size. Letterpress printed, it includes several life size color illustrations. Mary Ann, who was in residence at the VCCA four times between 1983 and 1990, raised finger painting to a high art. It was during one of her VCCA residencies, Caroline tells us, that Mary Ann began to see miniature paintings within her paintings, and so began her ...

It was 1990 and the last thing on Mark Greenside's mind was living and working in France. But during a VCCA residency that spring, he met Fellow and poet Kathryn Levy, whose innocent suggestion that they travel to France, literally changed the course of his life. "Kathryn is a Francophile, fluent, a lover of most things French, except their politics," said Mark. "It would not have been a surprise to anyone who knows her—except, of course, me—that she wanted to return to France, to Brittany, where she’d been before, and wanted me to go with her. I’ll Never Be French is the story of our trip over and the first few years of my life in Brittany. " I'll Never Be French will be published in November by Simon and Schuster. Order your copy today! Mark, who divides his time between California and Brittany, is the author of "I Saw a Man Hit his Wife," a collection of short stories that has been nominated for awards from PEN Hemingway, PEN Faulkner, PEN USA ...

The plein air painting workshop at the VCCA's studio center in Auvillar, France, led by VCCA Fellow Danny Hauben, came to a close today, marking the end of another successful workshop in this new, fledgling program. Six participants from Virginia, New York and California traveled to the tiny village to paint outdoors in what has been officially designated as one of France's "100 most beautiful villages." Our 2009 season will be announced later in the fall, so please check back periodically. Pictured here: Danny in the historic town center's round marketplace.