Current Studio Access Residents
The Visual Arts Center of Richmond’s Studio Access Residency is designed to support emerging and established visual artists as they develop new ideas and to foster artistic exploration by providing free access to VisArts’ 17 communal studio spaces.
Alezendria Decking
Alezendria Decking is a Brazilian-American artist whose primary disciplines are oil painting and ceramics. She received her BFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
She seeks to portray a sort of suggestive reality in her work in hopes of sparking emotion and memory within viewers. She concocts an imagery that any person can imagine themselves taking part in. The narrative scenes in her paintings are constructed from things she has witnessed that may not hold significance to most. This is because the instances which she finds herself paying attention to are often unsolicited; like the facial expression of someone checking their grocery list at a store, or the passing of an object from one set of hands to another.
She views the mundanity of many instances as romantic in this way. Can’t anything be a spectacle if you’re looking close enough? As often overlooked as they may be, the cropped moments of which figures take place in her paintings force viewers to analyze their expressions and experience the vulnerability that people have when existing within a crowd or solitude itself.
Ashley White
Ashley White is a multidisciplinary artist and founder of Styledentity, a brand specializing in handmade jewelry that combines unique materials and innovative design. Her work reflects a commitment to craftsmanship and individuality, often incorporating personal narratives and cultural influences into each piece. In addition to jewelry, Ashley is expanding her artistic exploration into collages and housewares, using these mediums to foster connections and tell stories. As a participant in the Studio Access Residency at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, she looks forward to further developing her artistic expression and experimenting with new techniques in her work.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/styledentity/
Asia Rorick
Asia Rorick (she/her) is a local Richmond illustrator. She recently graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in Communication Arts. Asia loves to play with shapes, organic textures, and bright colors, creating a sense of traditional media in her digital work. She also enjoys incorporating hand lettering, and has recently been exploring other creative outlets like clay sculpture. She draws inspiration from outdoor walks, her garden (and its small bug and critter residents), and her two cats. Most recently, Asia was awarded 1st place in the Richmond Office of Elections’ 2024 “I Voted” sticker contest. Her sticker features Richmond’s unofficial mascot, the opossum, and is being used at all 72 polling places throughout the city in the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Instagram – @liloposs // Website: https://asiarorick.com/
Davi Leventhal
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and raised on Roosevelt Island in New York City, Davi Leventhal is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work is heavily based on people.
Beginning his art studies at Pratt Institute and going on to study at School of Visual Arts, Cooper Union, Ringling School of Art and Design, and the Art Students League of NY, Davi has advanced his education and techniques in a unique way. Having acquired Old Masters techniques in his studies, Davi brings a diverse approach to his work, which has helped him to develop a focused vision and style all his own while simultaneously creating a community-based art engagement aspect within his art practice called, The Fuxico Project. This community-based art initiative is founded on the power of art, to help further amplify social impact through a popular Brazilian craft Davi grew up around called, fuxicos, helping build bridges between others and strengthen communities.
Davi also has experience curating exhibitions and working on international collaborative art projects while continuing to exhibit his own works in both the United States and Brazil. Recent exhibitions include the Plaxall Gallery (NYC), The Arts Center in Orange (Orange, VA), Baker Gallery (Orange, VA) and Firnew Farms Artists’ Circle (Hood, VA) to name a few.
Davi Leventhal site – www.davileventhal.com
Fuxico Project site – www.fuxicoproject.com
Davi’s Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/davileventhal/
Elsa Barrientos
Elsa Barrientos is an interdisciplinary artist and recent graduate of Printmaking and Sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her body of work explores the environmental and cultural visuals of Perú, the country of her father, abstracting them into compositions and objects to represent the beauty of Latin America in the context of our increasingly technological world. Many of her forms and colors are derived from the abstraction of the Spanish language itself.
Website/socials: elsabarrientos.com
Instagram: @elsabarrientos.m
Isaiah Mamo
Isaiah Mamo, digitally known as lightpainterr, is a lens-based artist residing in Richmond, Virginia. Their work seeks to queer the photographic process through alternative methods such as light painting, collage, anthotype, scanography, and film to both create and abstract images. They weave elements of mysticism, horror, and fantasy in their work to elevate and communicate through photographs. Conceptually exploring themes of occultism, Ethiopian magic, and the transformation of natural materials into photographs, their work is a technicolored world of alternative expression. Situated in the depths of Queer club culture, their photography is a loud celebration of Queer identity and expression.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightpainterr