MFA in Visual Art Residency

The MFA in Visual Art program’s summer 2022 residency will be held on campus July 20–28. This residency will be a platform to reconnect and reflect on the program’s core values. In the words of program founder G. Roy Levin, the program “remains adventurous and collaborative in spirit, ‘owned’ by all involved.” The program has invited a diverse group of artists, scholars, and researchers to share their ideas and work, hoping they will enrich participants’ vision and understanding of the visual culture and language of today. The residency’s key words are Black aesthetic, adjacency, Black gaze, and poetics of care.

Residency guests include Artist-in-Residence Ghazaleh Avarzamani, Visiting Scholars Lewis Gordon and John Zeppetelli, and Visiting Artists Sonia Barrett, Mauricio Cortes Ortega, Eric Gottesman, Jessica Spence, and Lisa Diane Wedgeworth.

Six students will graduate with their MFA at this residency: Leah Byck, Josephine Chase, Shellie Kacillas, Bethany LeJeune, John Schartung, and Nina Valdera. All six will present public artist-talks on July 25 and 26. Learn more at the event pages linked below, and RSVP in advance!

SUMMER 2022 RESIDENCY EVENTS

Visiting Scholar presentation: Lewis Gordon
Friday, July 22, 7–9 pm ET
(open to all VCFA students, faculty, alumnx, and staff)

Artist-in-Residence presentation: Ghazaleh Avarzamani
Sunday, July 24, 7–8:30 pm ET
(open to all VCFA students, faculty, alumnx, and staff)

Graduating Student Artist-Talks session 1
Monday, July 25, 7–8:30 pm ET
Leah Byck, Josephine Chase, Shellie Kacillas
(open to the public)

Graduating Student Artist-Talks session 2
Tuesday, July 26, 7–8:30 pm ET
Bethany LeJeune, John Schartung, Nina Valdera
(open to the public)

Visiting Scholar presentation: John Zeppetelli
Wednesday, July 27, 4–5:30 pm ET
(open to all VCFA students, faculty, alumnx, and staff)

(featured work by Nina Valdera, VA ’22)