"Blue Ghost" by Heather Harvey.
BIG STONE GAP, Va. -- Heather Harvey, an artist based in Big Stone Gap, has been awarded a 2009-2010 Virginia Museum of Fine Art Fellowship.
She and 14 other professional artists across the state were recognized by the Virginia State Assembly at the Capitol in Richmond on Feb. 20, 2009. The Fellowship Program supports Virginia's outstanding professional artists to advance their careers in the visual arts. The honor includes a monetary award of $8,000, and the opportunity to be part of future museum exhibitions.
Harvey, the only professional artist to receive the award this year in the category of sculpture, will use the funds towards upcoming exhibitions, including a site-specific installation on view at the Staniar Gallery at Washington and Lee University April 20 - May 15, 2009, and a solo show at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts from June 17 - Oct. 11, 2009.
Harvey's site-specific installations have a minimal aesthetic that combine painting, sculpture, and drawing. She is concerned with absence, memory, ghosts, and the hidden infrastructures that underpin daily life.
In addition to being an artist, Harvey is also an art critic, gallery director at Charles Harris Library Gallery in Wise, Va., and adjunct professor of art at the University of Virginia's College at Wise.
More information on Harvey's work is available at: www.heather-harvey.net.
