UNC Asheville Art Professor Virginia Derryberry Named Recipient of Southeastern College Art Conference Artist Fellowship

Virginia Derryberry, a noted painter and UNC Asheville associate professor of art, was recently named the 2005 recipient of the prestigious Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) Artist Fellowship. The award includes a cash prize and a solo exhibition of a series of paintings begun during a 2004 residency in Auvillar, France. The SECAC Artist Fellowship was established in 1981 to support member artists and to encourage individual creative growth and the development of new ideas for exhibitions and creative projects.

Derryberry is an actively exhibiting artist. Represented by Hodges Taylor Gallery in Charlotte and Cumberland Gallery in Nashville, Derryberry’s work has been included in numerous solo, juried and invitation exhibitions. These include “20th Century Painting in Tennessee” organized by Cheekwood Museum and “Convergence” and “20th Century American Drawing” at Forum Gallery in New York. Her paintings are also in the collections of the Knoxville Convention Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Tennessee State Museum, Morris Museum of Art, the West Virginia Permanent Collection and in such corporate collections as NationsBank, HBO and the Nashville International Airport. In recent years, Derryberry has received two Individual Arts grants from the Georgia Council for the Arts as well as the West Virginia Governor’s Award.

A Tennessee native, Derryberry holds a master of fine arts degree from the University of Tennessee and a master of arts degree from Peabody College. She joined the UNC Asheville faculty in 1996. In 2004, Derryberry received the UNC Asheville University Research Council Award for Professional Scholarship and Creative Activities, and earlier this year she was presented the Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award, the University’s highest faculty honor. In addition to teaching art courses, Derryberry is also director of UNC Asheville’s nationally acclaimed Undergraduate Research Program.

Media Contacts:

• UNC Asheville Art Department, 828/251-6559
• Jill Yarnall, UNC Asheville Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526