A second, a pearl (1), 2013, Multiple plate color intaglio, edition 6
The second in a series of stories about the impact of the VMFA Visual Arts Fellowship program. These stories are in celebration of the 75th anniversary of this valuable program. Please watch this blog for future stories.
Most Fellowship recipients feel the impact of their Fellowships for years, perhaps even throughout their careers. However, few have the tangible reminder of that impact that printmaker and educator Kris Iden has.
In 2000 after winning a Fellowship, Iden purchased a press with part of the funds from her award. And for the past fifteen years, Iden has moved that press around with her, even to Dresden, Germany, and the equipment has helped to advance her career a little further with every mile it’s traveled.“Without the press, I would not have had the opportunity to develop my work in printmaking and my exhibition activity to its current level,” she says.
Since winning her Fellowship, Iden has had nine solo exhibitions as well as been a part of numerous group shows, several of which have been held at international art spaces. Her work will also be included in the VMFA Fellowship 75th Anniversary exhibition, opening this summer at the Pauley Center.
But the impact of Iden’s Fellowship runs much deeper than the press she purchased or even the finished products that have come off it. According to Iden, “The mere acknowledgment for one’s work is something for which I have been deeply grateful.”