Bearing Witness
2023
Virginia Candler
New Orleans, Louisiana
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Virginia Candler
Virginia Candler (b. Atlanta, GA) is an abstract painter based in New Orleans, where she and her husband have raised their family for the last 17 years. After a career in education, Virginia re-visited her interest in art a decade ago by taking classes and has worked to establish her own practice ever since. Layered color, self-portraiture, and gestural shapes are hallmarks of her paintings, often including natural materials used as collage. Virginia sees her work as an investigation into her inner life and its connection to the material. Virginia is represented by Gregg Irby Gallery in Atlanta, and her work is part of the permanent collection at Ochsner Clearview and The Carrollton New Orleans senior living residence. She regularly participates in New Orleans group shows curated by Creole Connections and Where Y’art Works.
Program Participation
Joan Mitchell Center Residency, 2024
Website / Social Links
Reckoning with a changing understanding of spirituality, my artwork reflects a discovery of reverence for my body, my inner life, and my inherent divine nature. By layering self-portraits, leaf imagery, and foliage from my immediate surroundings, I am exploring the interrelatedness of my body, all bodies, and the natural world, and how the physicality of each is an expression of divine love.”
