Anderson Gallery to present Virginia Watercolor exhibition

By J. Suzanne Horsley and Shelagh Greenwood

RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia Commonwealth University’s Anderson Gallery will display 120 paintings during the 22nd annual Virginia Watercolor Society Exhibition. The juried exhibition will open at noon June 10 at the gallery, 907 1/2 W. Franklin St., and continue through Aug. 11. The gallery’s summer hours are Tuesday through Saturday from noon-4 p.m.

"The ‘state of the art’ of watercolor painting in Virginia is strong and vibrant," said Ted Potter, director of the Anderson Gallery. "It is an honored artistic tradition, with significant audience appeal. The Anderson Gallery is pleased to host this exceptional exhibition."

The juror for this year’s exhibition will be Katherine Chang Lui, an internationally known painter and teacher from California. She has been a past recipient of funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and is a former chairman of jury selection for the National Watercolor Society.

"In jurying, my only criteria is quality," she said. "But quality is a very difficult word to define. I suppose what matters to me, as a viewer of an artist’s work, is his or her commitment to it."

The Virginia Watercolor Society, formed in 1979, is the only statewide organization for watercolor artists in Virginia. Each year the members’ exhibit is hosted by a different Virginia locale and then travels to other venues throughout the state. This year, the exhibition will be hosted in Richmond by VCU’s Anderson Gallery and will include 120 paintings selected from more than 700 submissions by 344 members. Several cash awards will be presented. The award-winning artworks will then become part of a traveling exhibition to Williamsburg in September.

For more information on the 22nd annual Virginia Watercolor Society Exhibition, please contact Jill Chafin, VWS president, at (804) 379-8980 or Sue Stuller, VWS vice president, at (804) 379-1477. The exhibition is free and open to the public. For further information, contact the Anderson Gallery at (804) 828-1522 or visit online at www.vcu.edu/artweb/gallery.