Painting + Printmaking

The VCUarts Department of Painting + Printmaking is a vibrant community centered on both practice and research. Students build skills in painting, drawing and printmaking but are also given opportunities to participate in an expanded field that includes socially engaged practices, creative coding, video, performance and more.

We offer both B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in addition to interdisciplinary models of education in partnership with other areas across the university. Alumni from this program have gone on to careers as artists, teachers, gallerists, curators, arts administrators and master printers.

Painting + Printmaking also offers a range of public programs including lectures and studio visits with artists, curators and critics, exhibitions and open studios.

Our alumni include recipients of numerous awards and fellowships. Alumni exhibit their work throughout the world, attend prestigious residency programs, hold teaching positions, are entrepreneurs and maintain active studio careers.

Degree Programs

The Work

Trölls

Eleanor Mahin Thorp (Third Prize, Round One, Capital Square Prize 2026)

The award for Third Place and recipient of the $500 prize in round one of the inaugural, 2026 Capital Square Prize, goes to Eleanor Mahin Thorp (M.F.A.’22). Thorpe was featured on Yellowstone Public Radio in 2025. Her work has been featured in the Washington Post and published in Anarchist Review of Books. She currently teaches at City College at City University of New York.

A Few Rules for Predicting the Future

Luis Vasquez La Roche (Second Prize, Round One, Capital Square Prize 2026)

The award for Second Place and recipient of the $1,500 prize in round one of the inaugural, 2026 Capital Square Prize, goes to Luis Vasquez La Roche (M.F.A.’20). La Roche is an artist and educator who resides between Trinidad and Tobago and Virginia. They hold an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. They are a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Design at George Mason University in Northern Virginia.

Pillar and Cadence

Natalia Mejía Murillo (First Prize, Round One, Capital Square Prize 2026)

The award for First Place and recipient of the $3,000 prize in round one of the inaugural, 2026 Capital Square Prize, goes to Natalia Mejía Murillo (M.F.A ‘23). Murillo, (b. Bogotá, Colombia), is a visual artist whose work explores the notions of territory, repetition, trace and time through correspondences between astronomy, cartography and archaeology. She holds an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, an MA in History and Theory of Art and a BFA from the National University of Colombia.

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Our Faculty

are Teachers and Doers

Painting + Printmaking faculty are working artists and experienced teachers. Their experiences both in and outside of the classroom will help each student develop their own artistic practice.

Meet Our Faculty & Staff