Sarah Sargent has joined VCCA as Director of Communications and Grants Management effective June 2. Sargent has a strong background in writing and contemporary art and has been the art columnist for Virginia Living magazine since 2007 where she has also been a contributing editor. She writes about contemporary art for Artillery magazine (“Killer Text on Art”) based in Los Angeles, as a member of its New York Desk, and Charlottesville’s C-Ville Weekly.
Raised in New York City, Sargent is a graduate of Wellesley College; she received her M.A. in Art History from Columbia University. After working for several galleries in New York, Sargent headed up Second Street Gallery, a nonprofit contemporary art space in Charlottesville known to feature outstanding emerging artists from around the country (1993-1999). An avid collector of contemporary art, Sargent lives in Charlottesville; her blog is http://artnosh.blogspot.com/
“Since my earliest days at Second Street I have known about the VCCA and even served on a couple of juries. It is an organization I have the utmost respect for. How it nurtures artists—allowing them time and space to be creative—is so remarkable, and so vital.
“I have several friends who have been Fellows and I’ve seen how they have benefited from their time on Mt San Angelo. I also see how attached they become to VCCA. It’s no wonder there are so many “frequent flyers.” My very first day on the job, I met one of these, a Richmond artist, who had just recently arrived and was positively giddy at the prospect of being back. Another I was introduced to from New York City, said, grinning ear-to-ear, “Welcome to Paradise!” It’s attitudes like these and the very significant role that VCCA plays in moving culture forward that inspire me. I am looking forward to my time working for (and in) paradise.”