Wednesday Lemonade
September 1, 2021
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Welcome to the September edition of "Wednesday Lemonade," VCCA's monthly community newsletter focused on keeping Fellows, staff, and supporters connected.
A big deadline is only two weeks away! Applications for Summer 2022 residencies at Mt. San Angelo close on September 15. Below, we highlight the four fully-funded fellowships included in the application. If you know someone who's eligible for these opportunities, please help spread the word.
In event news, we have some schedule updates to tell you about.
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We're taking a break this month from our virtual VCCA Fireplace Series. We'll see you again on the third Thursday of October for an event celebrating the Richard S. and Julia Louise Reynolds Poetry Fellowship!
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We're gearing up for a Board meeting and Fellows reunion in New York City this month. The Fellows and Friends Gathering on Saturday, September 18, is moving to an outdoor location at an earlier time than originally advertised. See the updated event details below. Fellows: Let us know if you are exhibiting/reading/performing in NYC the weekend of September 17; we'll compile a list of galleries/events for visiting Fellows and Board members.
Also in today's newsletter, we look forward to the return of the VCCA Salon series at Sweet Briar College, we share what we're listening to in the newest edition of our Composer Playlist, we pass along a bit of news from Fellows, and we celebrate a few fellowship recipients who will be in residence at VCCA this fall.
Finally, sadly, we pay tribute to Frank Soos, a dear VCCA Fellow and former staff member, who passed away last month. 🧡
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upcoming fellowship recipients |
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We are grateful to the organizations and individuals who support fellowships at VCCA. Four recipients of these funded awards are scheduled to join us this November at Mt. San Angelo in Virginia.
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Writer Rachel Landsee served for twelve years as an Army lawyer. Her one-act musical Soar debuts this month at Firehouse Theatre in Richmond, Va.
She'll join VCCA this November as a 2021 NEA Military Veteran Fellow with several playwriting and nonfiction projects in mind.
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Montana-based author Maxim Loskutoff has been named the 2021 recipient of VCCA's L.E.A.W. Montana Fellowship.
He will join us at Mt. San Angelo this fall with plans to work on a novel revolving around the Unabomber's time in Montana, called Old King.
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Bahama- and Scotland-based visual artist Laurie Tuchel graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1980.
As the 2021 Harry D. Forsyth Fellow, she'll return to Amherst this fall to continue work exploring Grand Bahama Island's history and individual stories through paintings and needlepoint.
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Four Funded Fellowships Available for Summer 2022 |
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The deadline to apply for Summer 2022 residencies and fellowships at Mt. San Angelo is coming up soon on September 15! If you know someone who could benefit from our current selection of funded fellowships, please spread the word:
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SSG & AC Edwards Fellowship: Native American visual artists (strong preference) and/or female-identifying visual artists are eligible for a fully-funded two-week residency.
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Anne Spencer Fellowship: Composers of African American descent are eligible for a fully-funded one-month residency with $1,500 honorarium.
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MICA Fellowship: Maryland Institute College of Art faculty with 3+ years of service are eligible for a fully-funded two- or three-week residency.
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fellows + friends gathering in nyc |
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To help ensure a safe reunion, this month's Fellows and Friends Gathering in New York City will now take place outdoors — join us at Riverside Park on the Hudson River — from 5 to 7 p.m.
Date: Saturday, September 18, 2021
Time: 5 to 7 p.m. ET
Location: Riverside Park | NYC
67th Street & Riverside Boulevard
The event is free of charge. Sign up to attend. More details coming soon to your inbox!
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Two weeks ago, we got the terrible news that VCCA Fellow and former staff member Frank Soos was killed in a solo bike accident in Maine, where he often spent the summers. An avid cyclist and outdoorsman based in Alaska, Frank was VCCA's very first Resident Fellow, living in E3 at VCCA for eight months in 2002. That year, he also worked as VCCA's Interim Program Director while Craig Pleasants was on sabbatical. Frank quickly became a beloved member of the community as a smart, generous guy with a quick, dry wit and a slow, gentlemanly southern accent.
Professor Emeritus at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) and 1998 winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, Frank was a wonderful teacher and mentor. After he retired as Director of the Creative Writing Program at UAF, Frank returned to VCCA to serve as Program Coordinator in Virginia for the VCCA's residency program at the Moulin à Nef in Auvillar, France. He was one of the first staff members to visit the Moulin à Nef after the VCCA acquired it in 2004. He was there for the St. Noé festival that year, and friends in the village had difficulty securing St. Noé togs for his 6 foot, 5 inch frame ("Comme il est grand!").
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Our hearts go out to VCCA Fellow Margo Klass, Frank's wife and collaborator in life and art. Frank and Margo met at VCCA in 2002 and formed an amazing partnership.
Frank is the author of five books, one of them, Double Moon, a collaboration with Margo. A posthumous collection of Soos’ stories is scheduled to be published in 2023.
We feel lucky to have had him in our lives. All of us wish we could have had him longer.
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Pictured above: Frank at VCCA's Moulin à Nef in 2005. |
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VCCA Salon Series at Sweet Briar College Continues |
In collaboration with our neighbors across Highway 29, we're excited to resume the SBC/VCCA salon series.
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Rewatch a Reading With Carter Sickels and Steven Petrow |
While you patiently wait until October for the next Fireplace Series gathering, we encourage you to reencounter two moving readings from last month's virtual event.
Carter Sickels, who is currently in residence at VCCA as a 2021 recipient of the Steven Petrow LGBTQ Fellowship, read an excerpt of his award-winning novel The Prettiest Star live from the VCCA library.
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It was wonderful to hear these two read together and to join in conversation with our fantastic host Iraj Isaac Rahmim.
A recording of the event is available to watch on VCCA's Facebook page and YouTube channel. |
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Here's What We're Listening to This Month |
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Enjoy music this month from five VCCA Fellow composers:
- Oliver Caplan | Watershed, Movement II: Calm
- Mikel Durlam | Overhead
- Laura Konjetzky | Nocturne 5 for solo piano
- Adrián Rússovich | De Rerum Natura
- Steve Landis | BOOM!!! ...for Real!
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Fellows, please share your news. This is a way to tell the VCCA community about your work. We're always especially interested in stories about work created in connection to your VCCA residency.
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"My debut novel, The City of Good Death, was recently longlisted for the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. I wrote major portions of the novel and completed the first draft during my first two VCCA residencies."
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"I invite you to watch my backstory discussion with pianist Nathan Carterette about Chai Variations on Eliahu HaNavi, a set of 18 variations I composed on this beautiful Jewish folk tune. Our conversation is followed by a video performance of the piece, which the pianist created himself!"
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"I have just launched my new website! On the website you can sign up to my mailing list, get gift vouchers and discounts and find out about upcoming events before I release them to social media. Looking forward to keeping in touch with you."
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"Theatrix: Poetry Plays, my 8th book of poetry, was published by Anhinga in March. Doubleback Books reprinted Treason, my fourth book of poetry and it's available for download."
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"Subito Music’s newest edition of Composers Corner has an interview with me. Subito Music is the publisher of all my music compositions."
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🧡 Stay safe, and be well.
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