Virginia Bryant born 1951 San Francisco Troy NY Studio 518-818-4707 virbry@gmail.com
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 In the North, Chapel Cultural Center, Troy New York
2020-21 Practice & Composition, Chapel Cultural Center, Troy New York
2019 Fugues & Preludes, Eclipse Mill Gallery, North Adams Massachusetts
2019 Fugue States, Chapel Cultural Center, Troy New York
2017 Victorian Abstraction, Curator Jim Lewis, Troy New York
2016 To the North, St Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill New York
2008 Clouds of Unknowing, Art Project Studio Show, Naples Florida
2003 Glimmerset, Dennison Moran Gallery, Naples Florida
2002 New Works on Paper, Bay Front Center, Naples Florida
2001 Winter Paintings, Art Projects, Naples Florida
2001 Time and Evaporation, Art Projects, Naples Florida
2000 Painter’s Progress, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers Florida
1999 Ten Year Survey, Eden Park Gallery, Naples Florida
1998, 1997, 1996 West Wing Art Projects, Naples Florida
1997 Classical Abstraction, Sage Art Salon, Miami Florida
1992 Beach Paintings, Art of the 21st Century, Naples Florida
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023 Among Friends, Metaphor Projects, Brooklynn NY
2023 All That Glitters, Bennington Museum, Bennington Vermont
2023 Installations & Collaborations with Assange Defense, Banner drops
2022 New Work, New Directions, (online) Martinez Gallery, Troy New York
2021 The Witching Hour, Clement Gallery, Curator Jon Gernon, Troy New York
2020 Visions, Albany Art Center Gallery, Curator Jenny Tang, Albany New York
2017 Winter Salon, Scarlett Seven Gallery, Troy New York
2017 Nasty Women, Collar Works Gallery, Troy New York
2016 Great Places and Spaces, Albany State Museum, Albany New York
2015 Lake 10, Openings in St Paul the Apostle, New York New York
2014 Florida Contemporary, Baker-Artis Museum of Art, Naples Florida
2011, 2012 Incognito, Baker-Artis Museum of Art, Naples Florida
2004 Aspirants, Shamans & Mentors, Art Projects, Naples Florida
2003 FGCU First Five Years, Florida Gulf Coast University Gallery, Fort Myers Florida
2001 featured artist, Modernism Art gallery, Naples Florida
2000 group show Heriard Cimino Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana
2001, 2000, 1999 Art Encounter, von Liebig Art Center, Naples Florida
1999 A Sense of Place, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Smyrna Beach Florida
1998 ANA 27 Holter Museum, Helena Montana
1995 Organic Abstraction, Watching Art Center, Plainfield NJ
1992 Black & Blue, Avalon, New Orleans LA
1991 Structures- Draper & Bryant, Heller Schaeffer Gallery, New Orleans LA
1991 Spirituality in Contemporary Art, Louisiana State University, New Orleans LA
1990 Love & Death in Art, Curator Don Marshall, Downtown Gallery, New Orleans LA
Awards & Residencies
2021 Haven Foundation, Painting Award
2019 Haven Foundation, Painting Award
2019 maxi’s kansas city project award
2014 OPENINGS Residency, Lake George, New York
2005 CHANGE Grant, Rauschenberg Foundation
2003 George Sugarman Award for Painting
2001 Gottlieb Emergency Grant
2001 Merit Award, von Liebig Center
1998 Honorarium, as Founder of West Wing Art Projects
1991 Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center
Selected Publications
2020 Peace Around the Fountain, Indiana Nash, The Daily Gazette
2014 Xeno Feminism, New Center for Research & Practice, NYC
2012 Flying Under the Radar, Creating Visual Jazz, News Press, Amy Bennett, Fort Myers Florida
2011 Journal of Integral Theory & Practice, MIRRORED SYMMETRY #9, Frontispiece
2011 Small Things Considered, Janice Paine, Naples Daily News
2011 Recycling, Reinvention & Artistry, Laura Pactor, News Press
2004 Aspirants, Shamans & Mentors, Mary Wozniak, News Press
2003 Abstract Fluidity, Janina Bertola, N Magazine
2002 The Last Bohemian, Janice Paine, Naples Daily News
Artist Writing
2023 Truth Is the Central Issue of Our Time, LA Progressive
2009 New Paradigm Blues, Gathering of Tribes, New York
2001 What Painting Is, by James Elkins, book review, Parabola
2000 Hudson River Painters from the Paine Collection, Naples Museum, News Press, Fort Myers, Florida
1999 Retinal Richness, Jules Olitski at Naples Museum, Naples Daily News, Naples Florida
Selected Lectures
2006 Contemplative Traditions in Art, Florida Gulf Coast University Renaissance Center, Naples Florida
1998 The Found Object in Modern & Contemporary Art, West Wing Art Project, Naples Florida
1993 Line Direction & Movement, Edison College, Fort Myers Florida
Selected Curatorial Projects
2004 ASPIRANTS, SHAMANS & MENTORS with Darby Bannard, Bruce Conner, Tom Draper, Hollis Jeffcoat, Jim Krieger, KODO, Yves Martin, Morgan Paine, Melinda Russek, Seigan, Jerry Taylor and JB Trevor- Art Projects, Naples Florida
1998 THE FOUND OBJECT with Jeffrey Cook, Joan Dunkle, Sean Kilcoyne, Yves Martin, Dan Macneil, Paul Pinkman, Bob Rauschenberg, Sherry Rohl and Santina for West Wing Art Projects, Naples Florida
1997 EARTH, first in a series of exhibits on the elements, featuring Marilyn Crawford, Jean Dean, & JoAnn Lizio which was the inaugural exhibition of the West Wing Art Projects, the first national nonprofit gallery in Naples Florida
1991 BLACK & BLUE Avalon Night Club, New Orleans Louisiana
Troy NY Studio, with light overlooking the Hudson Valley
“Abstraction at its best”- John Casey, The Times Sun, Pine Island, Florida
“Her ability to explore new ideas and images combined with the persistence of her studio production has continually impressed me. I have worked with Virginia on a number of projects and found that she is always effective in doing what it takes to enlarge and quicken the project.”
Morgan T Paine, Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers Florida
“She’s quietly helped shape the region’s cultural scene for decades while creating layered meditative works in her studio. The California born artist identifies with the shifting identity of an outsider and states her paintings are “a joyful escape from the mundane logistics of daily living.”
Amy Bennett, News Press, Fort Myers Florida
“The Hudson Valley-based artist, formerly a theater and costume designer during the 1970s and 80s in her native San Francisco, seamlessly combines 18th century decorative Baroque and Rococo styles— scrolling volutes and arabesque lines form melodic contours that resound with brilliance across meditative backgrounds of atmospheric color contemporaneous with the heyday of the musical fugue her exhibition title invokes—with her own inimitable abstract style. The result pulls the viewer into painted worlds of drama and ecstasy.”
Dr Robert Shane, Curator & Art Historian, University of Albany Museum
“I am impressed by the amount of focus she imparts in each stage of creating her art and curating an exhibit. She understands and is proactive in all the logistics in putting an exhibition together. Her standards of excellence are evident practically and artistically.”
Kevin Krolik, Director, Chapel & Cultural Center, Troy New York
These are my earlier influences and activities.
In the 1970’s I acted as a theatrical, garment and fabric designer in San Francisco. My first theatrical design job was the tree for a feminist version of "Waiting for Godot.”
My first exhibitions were hand sewn and painted wall hangings in 1978 shown at the Artery African Art Gallery in San Francisco.
I performed, choreographed and costumed with the new wave dance troupe Mortimer’s Dance Club in San Francisco from 1978-1980.
I engaged in several painting processes as a fabric designer for garments under auspices of the label PI Squared, including rorschach line drips, silkscreen, and shibori from 1976 until 1988.
The gestural orientation of my paintings are outgrowths of early ballet training and experience as a dancer, performer and choreographer. This included my choreography "Riffle" set to Stravinsky's "Ragtime" and my choreography for Camus' “Caligula" in 1980.