Visual artist Jennifer DePalma decided to apply to VCCA because she was feeling untethered. She had just finished an installation for American University’s Katzen Art Center, which she had toiled over for three years during which time   she also had a son. And as a graduate ( with honors) of the Corcoran College of Art + Design, she was feeling bereft by the demise of that institution and the scattering of its community. At VCCA, Jenn was “ really pleased with being around other artists studios and having that accessibility. I feel like I gleaned a lot of technical information the last few days I was there and everyone had open studios. Its funny, I hang out with tons of artists in DC, but in order to do a studio visit we have to schedule a time and drive there and meet and then drive home and it ends up sucking a whole half-day or so from my studio time. But at VCCA we were able to do these quick studio visits that were right around the corner literally, so I also feel like...

VCCA is saddened to hear of the death of Anne Adams Robertson Massie on Sunday, February 8 at the age of 83. A native of Lynchburg, Annie, as she was known, was a graduate of Randolph Macon Women’s College with a B.A. in English. It was a subject she taught for five years at E. C. Glass High School in Lynchburg from 1955-1960. Soft-spoken with an innate graciousness, Annie had an enormous influence on Lynchburg, channeling her passions for art, historic preservation and gardening for the betterment of the city. Annie, who was a VCCA Fellow (October 1997) and also a board member (1995-2005), was nationally recognized for her watercolor paintings, which, combining softness with acuity, were emblematic of herself. Annie’s many accolades include the designation of Dolphin Fellow of the American Watercolor Society.  In 1993 in New York City she received the American Watercolor Society’s highest award, the Gold Medal of Honor.  She received the Virginia Watercolor Soc...

There’s a whole lot going on in Aaron Johnson’s paintings. They’re visually rich with vibrant colors, densely packed compositions and a profoundly macabre subject matter. Generously larded with potent political and societal themes, the work is created through a complicated technique Aaron refers to as “reverse painted acrylic polymer peel painting.” In the multi-step process, Aaron starts with a preliminary drawing. “For the small paintings with their hyper detail it helps for me to plan it all out in advance,” he says. “Narratives come easily when I’m drawing with pencil and paper—letting things come into my mind and having fun with it.” The drawings get messy with all the erasing and smudges of graphite and so he makes a tracing of them that he tapes to the front of the polyethylene plastic sheeting on stretchers he uses as his painting surface. “For the bigger ones, I’ll just draw right onto the plastic because it’s a looser piece.” Aaron’s paintings have three layers of ...

VCCA has learned that Elise Partridge died on January 31 at 57 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Originally from the States, Partridge, an award-winning writer, had lived in Vancouver, BC since 1992. Raised in Pennsylvania, Elise studied at Harvard University, Cambridge University, Boston University and the University of British Columbia. Her first book of poetry, Fielder’s Choice   was published in 2002. The collection was   shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, which honors the best first book of poetry published in Canada each year. Her second book, 2008’s   Chameleon Hours , partially written in response to her diagnosis, was a finalist for the BC Book Prize and won the Canadian Authors Association Poetry Award. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Slate, The Walrus, Poetry and The New Republic. Elise was in residence at VCCA in 2009 for 20 days. Describing Elise, Damian Rogers, poetry editor of the House of Anansi, the publisher of he fo...

Judith Robertson is a walker. She’s in residence now and it’s not uncommon to see her out and about on the Mt. San Angelo grounds. Aside from the personal pleasure she derives from the pursuit, it also has profound repercussions in her art.   The act of walking: moving the body through space references the passage of time. There’s also a degree of uncertainty about the whole enterprise: often meanderings will take us off course. Sometimes, there’s a specific destination, other times not. “I’m very conscious of how we as creatures are making these lines around the globe with historic patterns going back forever. If you start mapping them, you’ll find they have their own unique story pattern and emotional subtext. In my recent work, I am becoming more panoramic. I’m trying to create a sense of time or bring time into the mix by virtue of motion: as we walk, time passes and the story unfolds.’ Judy uses photographs as the catalyst to achieve something quite different from t...