Woodberry welcomes new exhibit

Contributed
Published: April 10, 2008

Woodberry Forest School announces Drawings and Paintings, featuring the art of Jorge Benitez, Monica Palma, and Diego Sanchez in the Baker Gallery of the Walker Fine Arts Center through April 30.  A reception will be held Wednesday, April 16 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the Walker Fine Arts Center.  The public is cordially invited to attend. 
Jorge Benitez presents meticulous drawings and paintings, many of which feature obscure, imaginary monuments that haunt the margins of our nation’s political landscape.  Monica Palma offers large mixed media drawings on paper that involve repetitive mark-making as they explore the relationship between specificity and abstraction in a range of images from crowds of people to mountains and rivers.  Diego Sanchez selects common objects and puts them into a puzzle of patterns, grids, color schemes, and spatial contexts to see how representational and formal elements will work and interact with the same importance on the picture plane.  All three artists received their studio training at Virginia Commonwealth University and currently maintain studios in Richmond.
Jorge Benitez studied graphic design while serving in the United States Marine Corps in the late 1970s.  He received a BFA in painting and printmaking from VCU in 1982.  While working as a freelance graphic designer in the 1980s, he co-founded The Focus Group (now called C5 Communication), an advertising firm specializing in business-to-business accounts.  Returning to VCU, Benitez received an MFA in painting and printmaking in 2006.  He continues to focus upon the relationship between art and communications theory as an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Arts at VCU.
Monica Palma received a BFA from the University of Veracruz, in the state of Xalapa, Mexico in 2002.  She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in both Veracruz and Richmond.  Her drawing involves the arduous repetition of mark-making that she associates with influences ranging from television static, prayers, crochet patterns, and aspects of penance that relate to her Mexican Catholic background.  She is currently enrolled in the MFA program in painting and printmaking at VCU and expects to complete her work for the degree in May.
Since earning both his BFA and MFA in painting and printmaking at VCU, finishing his graduate work in 1990, Diego Sanchez has been very active in the Richmond art scene.  He has exhibited his paintings and prints extensively throughout the state, and he is represented in a number of private and corporate collections.  His art has won numerous awards and he has served as a juror for the Virginia Museum Fellowships and the Scholastic Awards Arts Council in Richmond.  He currently teaches at St. Catherine’s School, Virginia Union University, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Gallery hours are daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  For information, contact Kelly Lonergan at , or call 540-672-3900.