DVAA Member since 2022

Virginia Maksymowicz

Website:

About:

Virginia Maksymowicz (b. 1952, NYC) is a mixed-media, installation artist, whose work examines the relationship between the human body and architecture.
She received a BA in Fine Arts from Brooklyn College and an MFA in Visual Arts from UC San Diego.
She has exhibited at the Franklin Furnace, Alternative Museum, Elizabeth Foundation and Grey Gallery (NYC); the Mitchell, Michener and Woodmere museums (IL & PA); SACI Gallery (Florence, IT), and in college, university and nonprofit galleries throughout the US and abroad.
Maksymowicz received an NEA fellowship in sculpture in 1984. She has been a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome; an artist-in-residence at the Powel House Museum in Philadelphia; and a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center.
Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, New York Newsday, The New Art Examiner and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Her sculpture was featured in a full-length article in Sculpture Magazine and in Amtrak’s coast-to-coast magazine, The National.
She currently holds the title of Professor Emerita, Franklin & Marshall College.

Artist Statement:

“My artwork in recent years has followed a complex journey through architecture and figurative elements. I am especially interested in the metaphorical implications of the female body, especially when tied to place: buildings, fountains and other structures.
I have a particular interest in feminist issues and I often focus on the circumstances of a range of women, both in past history and in current times. My recent series of inkjet prints on silk pair images of caryatids and women from a variety of cultures. Ambient air currents cause the fabrics to move, creating a shifting, visual interaction. They appear soft and vulnerable, all the while depicting strong, confident female figures.
During the COVID shutdown, I began drawing architectural mascarons, ornamental faces that gaze down from the façades of buildings in order to deter evil spirits. The term literally means “big masks.” I see these figures assuming a new protective role.”