Students enrolled in BFA and MFA programs at VCUarts were well-represented among the recipients of the 2021-22 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowships, alongside their faculty and alumni peers. Of the 21 artists who received a total of $146,000 in career funding, 11 had ties to VCUarts.
“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship Program is one of the largest programs of its kind in the United States,” says VMFA Director and CEO Alex Nyerges. “We are committed to supporting students and professional artists.”
Undergraduate student fellows, who each received $4,000, included photography + film majors Myles Manuel and Grade Solomon; sculpture majors Hien Nguyen and Bridget Yvonne Hamel; and PAPR major Hee Yoo.
Professionals, which include VCUarts faculty and alumni, each won $8,000 and included sculpture alums Umico Nawa (MFA ’20), Peat Szilagyi (MFA ’20) and Danya Smith (MFA ’15); PAPR alum Jaraz Jenkins (BFA ’15), and assistant professor and studio manager in Craft/Material Studies Jason Hackett (MFA ’05).
This year’s Cy Twombly Graduate Fellowship, which honors the renowned Virginia artist and two-time VMFA Fellowship winner, supported by the McClintock Endowment, went to PAPR alum LaRissa M. Rogers (BFA ’19).
Since 1940, The VMFA Fellowship Program has awarded more than $5.8 million to local artists.
Bridget Yvonne Hamel, Mixed Media, VCU, Williamsburg
Grade Solomon, Photography, Fredericksburg, VCU
Hien Nguyen, Sculpture, Henrico, VCU
Hee Yoo, Painting, Glen Allen, VCU
Danya Smith, Mixed Media, Midlothian
Jaraz Jenkins, Painting, Richmond
Jason A. Hackett, Crafts, Henrico
Umico Niwa and Peat Szilagyi, Sculpture, Richmond
LaRissa Rogers, New and Emerging Media, Ruckersville