Fellowship 2024–25 Recipients

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Visual Arts Fellowship Program was established in 1940, through a generous contribution from the late John Lee Pratt of Fredericksburg, to foster the creative efforts of Virginia’s best artists and most promising art students. The VMFA Fellowship Program continues to be a vital source of funding for professional artists, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline. In the program’s history, VMFA has awarded nearly $6 million to more than 1,500 Virginia artists.

In addition to providing financial rewards to all recipients, VMFA exhibits works by past fellowship winners in VMFA’s Amuse Restaurant and Claiborne Robertson Room, VMFA’s Pauley Center Galleries, and select spaces at Richmond International Airport. Fellowship recipients have also shown their work in the galleries of the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton and the Capital One Commons in Richmond.

Click here to learn more about the VMFA Fellowship Program, including how to apply.


Professional Fellows

 

Kamari Branch
Kamari Branch
Richmond
Film and Video

Website: kamaribranch.com
Instagram: @nowhiteangels



Mamadou Dia
Mamadou Dia
Charlottesville
Film and Video



Matt Eich
Matt Eich
Charlottesville
Photography

Website: matteichphoto.com
Instagram: @MattEich



Ali Kaeini
Ali Kaeini
Richmond
Painting

Website: alikaeini.com
Instagram: @alikaeini



GM Keaton
GM Keaton
Richmond
New and Emerging Media

Website: cargocollective.com/GMKeaton
Instagram: @ gee_mmm_keats



Rosalind Koons
Rosalind Koons
Richmond
Sculpture

Website: rosalindkoons.com



Abed Elmajid Shalabi
Abed Elmajid Shalabi
Richmond
Sculpture

Website: abedelmajidshalabi.com
Instagram: @abedelmajidshalabi.com



Kate Sicchio
Kate Sicchio
Richmond
New and Emerging Media

Website: sicchio.com
Instagram: @sicchio



Yulin Yuan
Harrisonburg
Mixed Media

Website: yulinyuanart.com
Instagram: @yulin_one



Graduate Fellows

 

Pooja Campbell
Pooja Campbell
Chantilly
Painting
American University

Website: poojacampbell.com
Instagram: @poojafineart



Truman Deree
Truman Deree
Burke
Photography
George Mason University

Instagram: @trumandereephotography



Isaiah Mamo
Isaiah Mamo
Alexandria
Photography
Virginia Commonwealth University

Website: lightpainterr.mypixieset.com
Instagram: @lightpainterr



Rebecca Oh
Rebecca Oh
Richmond
Painting
Virginia Commonwealth University

Website: rebeccaoh.com
Instagram: @rebeccaohart



Isabelle Ostertag
Isabelle Ostertag
Charlottesville
Art History
University of Virginia

Isabelle Ostertag is a doctoral candidate researching English medieval architecture under Dr. Lisa Reilly. Her dissertation, “Porta Caeli: Lay Piety and Marian Devotion in the Parochial Lady Chapels of East Anglia,” analyzes lay Marian devotion in medieval England through an examination of parochial chapels dedicated to the Virgin Mary in East Anglia.


Cy Twombly Graduate Fellow

 

Tyna Ontko
Tyna Ontko
Richmond
Sculpture
Virginia Commonwealth University

Website: tynaontko.com
Instagram: @tyna.ontko



Undergraduate Fellows

 

Margaret Gambino
Margaret Gambino
Vienna
Drawing
Wake Forest University

Instagram: @omgi.love.belles.art



Levi Mason
Arlington
Photography
Virginia Commonwealth University

Website: levimasonstudio.com
Instagram: @levimason_p



Laneecia Ricks
Laneecia Ricks
Richmond
Photography
Virginia Commonwealth University

Website: laneeciaricks.net
Instagram: @laneeciaricks



Kaitlyn Stanton
Kaitlyn Stanton
Vienna
Painting
Rhode Island School of Design

Website: kstanton.myportfolio.com



Patton Westphalen
Patton Westphalen
Midlothian
Film and Video
Maryland Institute College of Art

Website: pattonwestphalen.portfoliobox.net



Jurors

 

Professional Fellowship Juror
Jennifer Inacio, Associate Curator, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida

Graduate Art History Juror
Betsy Chunko-Dominguez, Professor of Art History, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia

Graduate and Undergraduate Visual Arts Juror
Veronica Jackson, Visual Artist, Curator, and Interpretive Exhibit Designer, Bedford, Virginia