Benjamin Wigfall’s Church Hill

Benjamin Wigfall’s Church Hill will be three weeks of programming taught by guest artists recruited by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Oakwood Arts. The program is in conjunction with the exhibition Benjamin Wigfall and Communications Village currently on view at the VMFA, and will take place at our home at 35 11 P Street. Students will have the opportunity to visit the exhibition and create work inspired by what they learn at the museum.

Benjamin Wigfall

Chimneys, 1951, Benjamin Wigfall (American, 1930–2017), oil on canvas, 36 1/4 × 28 in., Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, General Endowment Fund

The programming will be offered free of charge for participants in week-long sessions. The participants will register for the week of their choosing, and may choose to participate in more than one week. The programming will take place 10 AM - 3 PM, Mondays through Fridays for each session.

Each intensive will be reflective of Benjamin Wigfall’s body of work and mediums explored by the artists and students at Communications Village. The three courses will also share an overarching theme relating to Communications Village initiatives, such as highlighting intergenerational stories in the Church Hill neighborhood. Regardless of theme, each instructor will encourage students to explore their surroundings to uncover inspiration and art around them. To quote Mavis Pusey, a visiting artist at Communications Village, “You don’t have to go to the city, you don’t have to go to any specific neighborhood or any specific place. It is right where you are…You can find art anywhere, you just have to look for it.”

Support for this program generously provided by the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond.

Thank you to Plaza Art for their generous contribution of supplies for this program!

WEEK ONE: JUNE 17TH - JULY 21ST | Paper CRAFT, Linocut & Fabrics

Instructors

Unicia R. Buster

Unicia R. Buster is an award-winning artist from Richmond, Virginia. She creates stunning and unique compositions that challenge the cultural and social ideals of feminine beauty, the sociopolitical narrative around racism and black lives, and the human impact on environmental issues. Through the use of different media - including paint, textile and photography - Unicia develops her ideas and perspectives over the course of many works to fully explore her subject. Her work spans more than twenty years and can be found in public and private collections.

RAVEN NICOLE SMITH

Raven Nicole Smith is a Florida native who moved to Richmond in pursuit of a life of art and the outdoors. Her work has been shown at the True F. Luck Gallery at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond Library, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Quirk Gallery’s pop up events, and the Visual Arts Center Craft and Design Show. Additionally, she has been featured in B-Side Magazine.

Raven was the 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond where she is now a teacher for Paper Art Workshops. She is currently Oakwoods Arts’ Artist-in-Residence for 2023.

WEEK TWO: JULY 24TH - JULY 28th | PhOTOGRAPHY & PODCASTING/ORAL HISTORY

INSTRUCTORS

MAYA JACKSON

Maya Jackson is an image based artist and photographer who was born and raised in Richmond, VA. She earned her BFA from VCUarts in 2019 and is currently pursuing her MFA degree at the University of Arizona. Her work focuses on challenging photography as documentation, “truthful” imagery, and introspection through self portraiture as a form of meditation. While focusing on making primarily image-based art, her practice also includes poetry, sculptural installation, and video. An active participant in her local arts community, she has been a lead mentor and class instructor at Oakwood Arts since 2017, a nonprofit whose goal is to make art and careers in creative industries accessible to everyone. In addition to creating personal work, Jackson is also an Adjunct Studio Instructor at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Studio Manager and photographer at Dementi Studio, Richmond’s oldest photographic studio.

CHIOKE I'ANSON

Chioke I'Anson, PhD, is a lecturer in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture. He is also one of the voices of NPR's sponsorship messages. Since 2016, he has tracked and delivered underwriting copy for newscasts and digital downloads.

He is also a professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and is the Director of Community Media at VPM + ICA Community Media Center, which provides free workshops and training to anyone who wants to get into podcasts. His current work focuses on podcast and media education for the public. As a philosopher, he is focused on the intersection of critical thought and media literacy.

Dr. I'Anson serves on the board of the Association for Independents in Radio. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religion from Florida A&M University and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of South Florida.

WEEK THREE: JULY 31st - august 4th | PhOTOGRAPHY & PODCASTING/ORAL HISTORY

Instructors

BRIAN PALMER

Brian is a Peabody Award-winning multimedia journalist based in Richmond, Va. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Smithsonian magazine, and other publications, and on PBS, BBC, and Reveal. Since the end of 2014, he and his wife, Erin Hollaway Palmer, have been part of the volunteer effort to reclaim East End Cemetery, a historic African American burial ground in Henrico County, Virginia, from nature, neglect, and vandalism. Until recently, he was the Joan Konner Visiting Professor of Journalism at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Palmer has taught at the undergraduate and graduate level at the School of Visual Arts, Baruch College, New York University, Hampton University, and the University of Richmond. He is a member of SVA's Board of Directors.

Palmer began his career as a fact-checker for the Village Voice. Before going freelance in 2002, he served in a number of staff positions—Beijing bureau chief for US News & World Report; staff writer at Fortune; and on-air correspondent at CNN. Palmer was awarded a Ford Foundation grant for Full Disclosure, a video documentary about his three media embeds in Iraq with U.S. Marines, completed in 2009.

CHIOKE I'ANSON

Chioke I'Anson, PhD, is a lecturer in the Richard T. Robertson School of Media and Culture. He is also one of the voices of NPR's sponsorship messages. Since 2016, he has tracked and delivered underwriting copy for newscasts and digital downloads.

He is also a professor of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and is the Director of Community Media at VPM + ICA Community Media Center, which provides free workshops and training to anyone who wants to get into podcasts. His current work focuses on podcast and media education for the public. As a philosopher, he is focused on the intersection of critical thought and media literacy.

Dr. I'Anson serves on the board of the Association for Independents in Radio. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religion from Florida A&M University and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of South Florida.

UNICIA R. BUSTER

Unicia R. Buster is an award-winning artist from Richmond, Virginia. She creates stunning and unique compositions that challenge the cultural and social ideals of feminine beauty, the sociopolitical narrative around racism and black lives, and the human impact on environmental issues. Through the use of different media - including paint, textile and photography - Unicia develops her ideas and perspectives over the course of many works to fully explore her subject. Her work spans more than twenty years and can be found in public and private collections.

For All Participants:

Friday, Aug 11, 6:30pm-7:30pm
VMFA

DISCUSSION: Experiencing Communications Village with Drew Thompson, artist Pat Jow and former Communications Village Students

Saturday, Aug 12
Oakwood Arts

Student Exhibition & Reception plus Wigfall walking tour with guests from previous evening

About the Benjamin Wigfall & Communications Village Exhibition at the VMFA

Explore the life and legacy of Richmond native Benjamin Wigfall (1930–2017)—artist, educator, and champion of arts equity. In this first retrospective of his pioneering career, the exhibition highlights the period from his early years in Virginia in the 1950s to his founding of Communications Village, a community art space in Kingston, New York, in the 1970s. Learn about his Richmond roots in the Church Hill neighborhood, his stellar artistic achievements, and his lifelong commitment to building community. Through nearly 50 works of art by Wigfall, numerous video recordings, and a printmaking display, visitors will experience an intimate portrait of his artwork, impact, and legacy.

Benjamin Wigfall and Communications Village showcases Wigfall’s artistic development, from abstract painting, to printmaking, to his pioneering work in social-practice art and his founding of Communications Village. He was a VMFA Fellowship recipient who art educators and museum leaders regarded highly for his artistry and personal character. Wigfall was also the youngest artist to have his work acquired by VMFA. From Richmond, where his passion for artmaking began, to his pursuit of higher education at Hampton University and Yale, to his professorship at State University of New York (SUNY), New Paltz, Wigfall recognized inequities and dedicated his life to providing access and opportunity.

While teaching at SUNY, New Paltz, he selected a close-knit Black neighborhood in nearby Kingston for the location of his studio because it reminded him of Church Hill. Named Communications Village, his studio became a place for making art and mentoring youth. In this inclusive, vibrant setting, Wigfall invited leading African American artists of the era to engage with the local community and to experiment with printmaking as an art form. Benjamin Wigfall and Communications Village traces Wigfall’s development as an artist and showcases Communications Village as a major conceptual artwork within his larger body of paintings, assemblages, and prints. The exhibition also features more than 30 major works by Benny Andrews, Betty Blayton, Melvin Edwards, Charles Gaines, Mavis Pusey, and others affiliated with Communications Village.