Virginia Carstarphen

Virginia Carstarphen is a visual artist and small business owner who splits her time between Chicago, Illinois and Saint Clair Shores, Michigan.  She received a BFA, summa cum laude, from Georgia State University in 1992 and continued her art studies in the masters program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, (MFA1998).  Over the years, Virginia has shown work at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the Detroit Artist Market in Detroit, Michigan, and more recently at KB Studio in Chicago, Illinois. In 2018 she was invited to become a member of ARC Gallery, 1463 W. Chicago, where she had a solo exhibition in 2021. She has recently begun directing a seasonal exhibition and event space in Trader Todd’s Marina in Saint Clair Shores, MI.

“Over the past few years I have spent more and more time in Michigan where I am on the water’s edge every day.  My work as a result has become more attuned to that part of the world. I find myself always thinking of the horizon.  The lake, the sky, the shore, are always changing. Sometimes their edges are in sharp contrast and other times they are almost indistinguishable. I feel an obligation to venerate that space. Is it a spiritual calling?  Maybe. As an artist I suppose that is what I am searching for, finding another meaning through the work. Finding out why I am drawn to my source.”