VCU news

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley

RICHMOND, Va. – An auction of 50 original watercolors by Dr. W. Baxter Perkinson, Jr. has set the stage to raise more than $300,000 for the Virginia Commonwealth University Inger and Walter Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences.

Dr. Perkinson called the purchase of his paintings “an investment that will benefit not only our children, but all of us.”  He said the funds raised by the auction would provide a “front door” to the VCU Rice Center, a 364-acre living laboratory of old growth forests and diverse aquatic habitat along the James River in Charles City County.

Money raised from the auction and matching contributions will allow the construction of an 80-foot research pier facility that will provide boat access to the original river channel, a secure boathouse for up to three research vessels and a 400 square-foot floating platform that will give researchers and instructors direct river access for sampling, monitoring and class activities.  The pier will be wired to allow real-time data and video transfer to VCU’s Environmental Technology Lab via satellite link.

About 300 people attended the auction, held Oct. 4 at the artist’s home in Richmond.  They bid against each other for the paintings – many of them inspired by the Rice Center property.  Total bids for the paintings exceeded $150,000.  Perkinson was especially pleased that one of the paintings reached the highest auction price ever at over $11,000.  Dr. Randolph L. Gordon, chair of the Rice Center Board of Trustees, committed to match the auction revenues by raising an additional $150,000 for naming the research pier facility in the name of Raymond Lee Gordon, Jr., his father.  Gordon, Jr. is a retired YMCA employee of 39 years.  Nine of those years were spent as director of Camp Weyanoke, now the VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences. 

“The new Raymond Lee Gordon, Jr. Research Pier Facility will be a state-of-the-art, 21st Century research field station,” Dr. Perkinson said.  “It will be a significant asset for scientists and educators interested in large, coastal rivers like the James.”

Dr. Perkinson began his artistic career 22 years ago.  He has never sold a watercolor for personal profit, instead donating his works to benefit various philanthropies.  It is estimated that his paintings have now raised about $4.8 million for charities.

A VCU alumnus, Dr. Perkinson is the founder of Virginia’s largest dental practice.  He is also the Rector of the VCU Board of Visitors and serves as a clinical professor at the VCU Dental School.