VCFA’s Summer 2023 Residency Photo Gallery
From July 21-29, 2023, VCFA students, staff, faculty, and alumnx gathered in person and virtually for our first summer residency on the Colorado College campus. With all six of our MFA programs together in one place, it was an interdisciplinary and collaborative experience packed with lectures, screenings, performances, workshops, readings, showcases, exhibitions, college-wide events, and more. The images from our summer residency reflect the new sense of opportunity, connection, and community that we will bring with us to our inaugural winter residency on the Susquehanna University campus in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.
VCFA extends their thanks, with endless gratitude, to the students, staff, faculty, alumnx, GAs, trustees, and the staff at Colorado College who made this summer 2023 residency possible.
To view each gallery in full and read art credits, click the photos in the galleries to enlarge.
A Summer in Photos
On July 21, students from across our six MFA programs gathered for VCFA’s first college-wide convocation ceremony. In-person and on the cloud, students, staff, and faculty were welcomed to residency with opening remarks at convocation in Shove Chapel.
On Colorado College’s 92-acre campus, students were greeted by Colorado’s green spaces, Rocky Mountains, and sunny morning skies each day of residency.
The Colorado College campus had plenty of space to hold treasured VCFA traditions, including the annual MFA in Writing prose vs. poets softball game. This year, the game was held on the green outside of the Tutt Library.
The MFA in Film program welcomed new visiting faculty member Damon Davis (F ’20) with his opening event on Friday, July 21.
New Writing for Children & Young Adults faculty member Erica Perl gave her first VCFA faculty lecture, “There’s More Than One Way to Cook an Eggplant,” on July 22 to a hall of students and fellow faculty.
Music Composition alumnx kei slaughter (MC ’13) engaged with the VCFA community throughout the week through their Music Composition lecture, their Center for Arts + Social Justice sponsored event COME AS YOU ARE: MUSICAL SPACE-MAKING, and on the Center for Arts + Social Justice panel “Imagined Futures: On Art + Social Change.”
Throughout the week, the MFA in Graphic Design program took over the Cornerstone Arts Center with their pin up and graduating student exhibitions.
Across campus from the Graphic Design exhibitions, the MFA in Visual Art program found their residency home in the Worner Campus Center with their new & returning student exhibition and their graduating student exhibition.
Throughout the week, the MFA in Writing program was able to attend lectures across the Colorado College campus, including a special talk and Q&A with Naomi Shihab Nye (author, poet, and VCFA’s Summer 2023 Honorary Degree Recipient) in Shove Chapel.
New Zealand stuntwoman, actress, and VCFA visiting filmmaker Zoë Bell—whose stunt work includes classics such as XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS and KILL BILL Vol 1 and Vol 2—offered industry insights to the MFA in Film community during her lecture and time on campus.
The MFA in Visual Art’s Artist-in-Residence Mercedes Teixido welcomed students to her Artist Talk presentation on Sunday, July 23.
On July 26 in Bemis Hall Lounge, the Writing for Children & Young Adults program threw open the doors to their annual Poetry off the Page showcase. All programs were welcome to attend this celebration of art and writing.
With new, larger crowds to perform to, the MFA in Music Composition program hosted a full week of performances throughout our summer 2023 residency.
VCFA’s inaugural college-wide graduation took place on July 29, the last day of residency, in Shove Chapel. With family and friends in attendance, the community enjoyed closing remarks from VCFA leadership and VCFA’s Summer 2023 Honorary Degree Recipient Naomi Shihab Nye.
View the Summer ’23 Residency events and program event recap here.
Photo credit Meesh Deyden & Anthony Pagani.