| ABOUT THE VIRGINIA CENTER FOR THE CREATIVE ARTS
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Executive Director Suny Monk has been at the VCCA since 1997. She is currently on the board of Virginians for the Arts, the Alliance of Artists Communities and the Academy of Fine Arts in Lynchburg. From 1982 until 1996, she was the Headmistress of Aylett Country Day School in Miller's Tavern, Virginia, where she was responsible for all aspects of the administration of this private school. Suny was a partner in Phoebus Gallery, a fine art and crafts gallery in Hilton Head, South Carolina from 1977 to 1981. Trained as a ceramicist, Suny's current artwork focuses on fabric and wearables.
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Craig Pleasants is Program Director and former Acting Director and has been at the VCCA since 1989. From 1985 to 1989, he was Co-Director and Exhibition Designer of 80 Washington Square East Gallery and Broadway Windows, two exhibition spaces of New York University's Department of Art and Art Education. In 1978 he founded The Upstairs, one of the first alternative spaces in the southeast. He was its Director/Curator until 1984. In that capacity he was a founding member of the National Association of Artists' Organizations. Craig has been an exhibiting artist for the past 20 years. Solo shows of his work have been mounted at The Alternative Museum, White Columns, and Berland/Hall Gallery in New York City, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and Virginia Commonwealth University's Anderson Gallery, in Richmond, the North Carolina Museum of Art, and Musee d'Art Contemporain in Marseilles.
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Director of Artists' Services Sheila Gulley Pleasants has served in that capacity since 1989. As Admissions Coordinator, Sheila manages the scheduling of over three hundred Fellows each year. She also administers the international exchange programs with Austria, Germany, France, Malta, Ireland, and UNESCO. From 1984 to 1989, she was an administrator in the Institute for Speech and Language Sciences and the Department of Linguistics at New York University. She has taught French in the Modern Languages Department at Sweet Briar College and Randolph-Macon Woman's College. She has also taught English at the Université d'Orléans in France. With Craig Pleasants, Sheila was instrumental in the operation of The Upstairs, an alternative exhibition space in Tryon, North Carolina.
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Communications Director Amy Ruth Allen came to the VCCA in 2002 after five years in media relations at the College of William and Mary. She has 17 years experience working as a full-service communications professional. A VCCA Fellow in 2001 and 2002, she is the author of eight books for young people and dozens of newspaper and magazine articles. Her work has been translated into Catalan and Korean. She has a bachelor's degree in English from Virginia Commonwealth University and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa. Amy serves on the boards of directors of the Amherst County Chamber of Commerce and Citizens for Adult Literacy and Learning (CALL), a non-profit literacy organization serving adults in Amherst County, and sits on the steering committee of the Humane Society of Amherst County. She and her husband Leigh Allen live on the VCCA grounds. |
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Office Manager Beatrice Booker arrived at the VCCA in 2003 after working in Lynchburg as a case manager at GE Financial. Bea, who has a paralegal certificate from Central Virginia Community College, is the mother of two girls, Bianca and Bijoana. She is active in her church, singing in the choir and working with youth groups. She enjoys walking, reading and traveling with her husband Sylvester and her daughters.
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Director of Advancement Hannah Hanford joined the VCCA staff in 2008 after an extensive nationwide search for a seasoned development officer to lead the VCCA's fundraising efforts. She comes to Mt. San Angelo following a 25-year career in health care, including 11 years as the head of the Foundation of CVPH Medical Center in upstate New York.Hannah is very involved in community volunteerism and is an active Rotarian and past Paul Harris Fellow. She earned a bachelor of science degree from Cornell University in 1979. In her spare time she enjoys being in the wilderness hiking or snowshoeing, gardening, collecting antiques and great artwork of all types and cooking for friends. Hannah's two sons are both in college, one in New York and one in Colorado.
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Bruce Hartless joined the VCCA in 2003 as Facilities Manager, with oversight of the grounds and buildings. Previously, he was a long-time CAD engineering manager at Ericsson, a communications firm in Lynchburg. In his spare time Bruce is an enthusiastic camper and a part-time beef cattle farmer in Amherst County, where he was born and raised. He and his wife, Marian, have one daughter.
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Housekeeper Dorothy Johnson came to the VCCA in 1981, and for a while, she also prepared breakfast and lunch for Fellows and her method for keeping oatmeal warm was once featured in Parade magazine. Today she keeps the Fellows' Residence clean, comfortable, and welcoming.
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Robert Flimming Johnson, November 28, 1933 to June 23, 2006. Robert joined the staff of the VCCA in 1977, the year it moved to Mt. San Angelo, and for three decades served in so many capacities,
caregiver, chef, host, driver, poker player extraordinaire, always faithfully and always cheerfully. No facet of the VCCA was untouched by Robert's special blend of charm, wit, and grace and his mark upon this place endures even after he is gone. We miss him tremendously.
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Dana Jones is Associate Director of Admissions and assistant to Director of Artists' Services Sheila Gullley Pleasants. She joined the VCCA staff in 1998. She has an Associates Degree from Central Virginia Community College. Her job includes processing all applications received for the VCCA's various residency programs as well as oversight of the computers and network. Dana is on maternity leave through August 15, 2008. Please contact Celeste Wackenhut until then.
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Marketing and Program Coordinator for Moulin à Nef Roberta Lawrence brings 10 years experience to VCCA France. A long-time VCCA Fellow, Roberta will promote the facility to groups and market the VCCA initiated Auvillar Writers' Workshops to be held in June and July 2007. She is principal of her own firm, Roberta Lawrence Media, which specializes in providing public relations counsel to individuals, creative companies, and non-profits. Her diverse client roster includes animators, directors, composers, and educational institutions. She has produced and publicized many seminars, receptions and events ranging from small intimate educational workshops to orchestral concerts at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. A fiction writer and journalist, she is a recipient of a grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation for her fiction. She is currently at work on her first novel. She holds a degree from State University of New York in Advertising and Communications.
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Jeannette MacDougall is the VCCA's Resident Director of the Moulin a Nef property in Auvillar, France, serving as caretaker of the property, liaison to the village and host to VCCA Fellows in residence. She earned a bachelor's degree in Art from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and a master's degree in Art Supervision from Bank Street/Parsons School of Art and Design in New York. Her experience is built on teaching and studio work as a painter. Instruction and supervisory roles include the San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio Children's Museum and the Southwest School of Art and Craft where she has taught drawing and painting since 1980. Her work has been shown in Texas, California, Mexico, and Scotland and in numerous private collections. She participated in a Cultural Exchange program for the U.S. State Department in El Salvador and last year led a drawing and painting workshop at Moulin a Nef in Auvillar. |
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Associate Director of Development Carol O'Brien, who joined the VCCA in 2002, works with cultivation, development and donor stewardship including board support, the VCCA Legacy Society planned giving program, special events and projects and donor acknowledgment. From 1975 until 2002 she was the co-founding owner of Colony House, a gift and furniture store in Russellville, Kentucky, where she was a board participant in various civic and nonprofit organizations.
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Mike Patterson joined the grounds and maintenance crew in 2004, tending everything from fast-growing grass to persnickety plumbing and electrical systems. He had been a building mechanic at Tritech Laboratories in Lynchburg. Mike and his wife Jennifer have one daughter, Katherine. They live on a farm in Amherst County where Mike enjoys hunting and fishing.
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Chef Rhonda Scovill managed one of Charlottesville's oldest fine dining establishments, The C&O Restaurant, for more than 13 years and remains a chef there for special events. Knowledge of food preparation, technique and presentation was expanded during training and apprenticing at 20 South Catering where she claimed Executive Chef for four years. She has continued her indulgence in providing exquisite dining experiences with her own small catering business and her passion for nourishing and entertaining family and friends is a perfect match for the Fellows at VCCA. She lives in Charlottesville and is currently preparing to study for the Culinary Institute of America/American Chef Federation professional chef certification.
Y'all come and eat!
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Cora Tabb has been at the VCCA since 1986, tending to the studio and logistical needs of Fellows and keeping the 13,000 square-foot studio barn complex spic and span. The VCCA is very much a family tradition for Cora, whose mother also worked here. Cora lives in Amherst with her husband Charles and their two daughters, Christy and Cecily.
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Financial Officer Bonnie Sue Wine has been keeping the books at the VCCA for more than seven years. Previously she has worked as an auditor for Bank of America in southern California, an accountant and assistant manager for Carey Limousine in Washington, D.C. and West Palm Beach, Florida. She was also the Town Treasurer for the Town of New Market, Virginia. She has served on the Board for the Shenandoah Valley Travel Association and the New Market Area Chamber of Commerce and has been a member of the New Market Planning Commission.
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