"The Seven Deadly Sins", oil on canvas 72" x 96"2009

Virginia Derryberry, a noted painter and UNC Asheville art professor, will hold a solo exhibition of recent work at the Flood Fine Art Center Gallery, 109 Roberts St., in the Asheville River Arts District from November 13 to December 5. The exhibition, entitled "Eide/Eidola," features 15 large-scale paintings from her Rebis series. It is Derryberry's first solo exhibition in Asheville since 2000. An opening reception will be held 7-10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 13, in the gallery, which is located on the second floor of the Phil Mechanic Building. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

The paintings in this exhibition – and in the Rebis series -- are richly saturated with deep colors and incorporate dualism, mythological narratives, and alchemical symbols and colors. The large pieces fuse realism and portraiture with mythic content and alchemical symbolism. The classically composed paintings include symbolic objects and narratives associated with myth. The paintings take new views on such traditional archetypes as Diana, Mars and Venus and the Greek nymph Echo. Three painting from this series are featured in the current edition of the prestigious magazine, New American Paintings.

Derryberry's work has been shown in solo exhibitions in New York, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Represented by Hodges Taylor Gallery in Charlotte and Cumberland Gallery in Nashville, her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including "20th Century Painting" and "Convergence." Her paintings are also in the collections of the Knoxville Convention Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Tennessee State Museum, Morris Museum of Art and the West Virginia Permanent Collection.

The recent recognition by New American Paintings is just one in a series of accolades. Derryberry has received two Individual Arts grants from the Georgia Council for the Arts as well as the West Virginia Governor's Award. In 2005, Derryberry was named a recipient of the Southeastern College Art Conference Artist Fellowship.

A native of Tennessee, 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. Since then, she has received a number of University awards, including the Distinguished Teaching Award, the University's highest honor. In addition to teaching art classes and serving as the current chair of the Art Department, Derryberry has also been director of UNC Asheville's nationally acclaimed Undergraduate Research Program.

For more information about the exhibition, call the Flood Fine Art Center Gallery at 828/254-2166.