Virginia Carstarphen

Artist Statement

While in college I discovered the writings of American geographer John Wright who coined the term “geopiety:” geo from the Greek for earth and piety from the Latin pietas meaning sense of duty of filial love. This word so perfectly expresses my love and sense of devotion to the places that have filled my life. The landscapes of Georgia, New England, Florida, and the Midwest; the waters of the Great Lakes, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico all figure prominently in my work.

 Although my work edges mostly on abstraction, I have always thought of myself as a landscape painter.  Artists like Helen Frankenthaler, Anselm Keifer, and Cy Twombly inspire me greatly. Through line, color, material and gesture I attempt to honor the landscapes that I am deeply attached to. These landscape explorations are filtered through both experience and memory. Imagination plays an important role as well.

At time these abstracted landscapes can be internal mappings of the human body on a cellular level – a way of finding myself in the world.  Other times they verge on more macrocosmic abstractions – a landscape as big as a galaxy.  Often they navigate the space between. It is within that space that I find balance between destruction and renewal, entanglement and order. 

Recent Exhibitions

An Exhibition: Work by 57 artists on the theme of GREEN, Grosse Pointe Arts Center, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI, March 16 - April 27 Honorable Mention for “Germinations #6”

49th Annual ARC Members’ Show, ARC Gallery, Chicago IL, September 9 - 25, 2022

“2022 Lakeside Palette Club Winter Art Exhibition,” Saint Clair Shores MI November 11 - December 30 2nd Place Award for “Waterworld Abstraction”

“Waterworlds” Group Show curated by Kaye Buchman, Anchor Arts and Events Building, Trader Todd’s Marina, Saint Clair Shores MI, June 10 - 30

“Wanderings, Maps and Memories” Work by Virginia Carstarphen, ARC Gallery, Chicago IL , May 28 – June 19, 2021, archived online opening reception of the exhibit: https://www.arcgallery.org/virginia-carstarphen/

“Women Strong” 45th anniversary group show at ARC Gallery, Chicago IL, September 12-29, 2018

“Entanglements” Work by Virginia Carstarphen and Sue Teller, KB Studio, Chicago IL , May 11 - June 3, 2018

Mentions

Grosse Pointe News “Nautical Mile Marina Doubles as Art Gallery” By Ted O'Neil on June 15, 2022https://www.grossepointenews.com/articles/nautical-mile-marina-doubles-as-art-gallery/

KB Studio Spotlight, Interview with Kaye Buchman, June 9, 2021 https://kbstudio.us/blogs/spotlight

Lake View east Chamber of Commerce Member Spotlight, September 26, 2018