Artist Feature: Dennis Winston
Dennis R. Winston is a Virginia artist and educator. Click here to learn more about Dennis Winston's process and work.
Dennis R. Winston is a Virginia artist and educator. He is a graduate of Norfolk State University (magna cum laude) and has done post-graduate work at the University of Richmond (Masters of Humanities), the University of Colorado and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has served on the faculties of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University and the Governor’s School of South Carolina. Winston retired as the Coordinator of Arts Education and the Humanities Center for the Richmond Public Schools.
As an artist, Winston is included in an educational multimedia series entitled, “African American Artists: Past and Present,” and in the textbook publication “Below the Surface; Ethnic Echoes in America’s Modern and Contemporary Art”. His work was selected for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Exhibition Art on the Road for 2019 and he is a featured artist in the recent edition of The International Review of African and African American Art published by Hampton University Museum. His work was included in the 16 TH International Exhibition in Goryeong, South Korea by the Daegaya Artists Association. Winston’s work is included in an international show that will travel to China and India entitled “Negritude” that is an Exhibition of African American Art sponsored by the National Alliance of Artists of Historical Black Colleges and Universities.. Winston’s work can be found in many private and public collections. A partial list of collectors include; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the University of Virginia Medical Center, Capital One Corporation, Apex Museum of African American Art, Lynchburg College Museum, Indiana University Museum of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond Museum, National Civil Rights Museum, Medical College of Virginia, Bowie State University Art Department, Child/Savers of Richmond, Longwood University, St. Mary’s Hospital of Richmond, Virginia, Museum of African American Art of Dallas, Bank of America, and The Bank on the James of Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been a recipient of a public arts commission from the City of Richmond and an artist fellowship award from the Virginia Commission of the Arts for works on paper. The woodcut print is his primary medium of expression.
Winston has received many honors both locally and nationally as an artist and as an educator. In education he has been recognized by the Virginia Art Education Association as part of its’ Distinguished Fellows’ Legends and Legacies Project to preserve the stories of prominent Virginia Art Educators. He has received the Eugene Grigsby Award for Meritorious Service by the Committee on Multiethnic Concerns by the National Art Education Association. The Virginia Education Association has awarded him the Fitz Turner Award for leadership in promoting human rights and intergroup relations. He has been named Teacher of the Year by for Richmond Public Schools and Virginia’s Middle School Art Teacher of the Year by The Virginia Art Education Association. In 2019, he was awarded the Richmond Public Schools Foundation’s “Living Legacy Award” which honors alumni who have become successful in their professional and community life.
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
“My primary medium is the woodcut print, which allows me to use direct, bold black and white imagery to create works that reflect both my social and aesthetic needs. Sometimes in my works, I incorporate other media and color to experiment and to create more complex and creative images. In this project, I felt that black and white imagery was more appropriate for the vignettes. My purpose in either approach is to capture the essence of my subjects and at the same time make the surface marks interesting to the eye. I want to provoke thought from the viewer and reveal in my human subjects something of their character and the spirit that sustains them. As I observe the world around me and attempt to look for inspiration from a variety of sources that relate to the human condition, the Wilton Project was an opportunity to present visually what life and the human condition was like on this plantation during this period of history during the 18th and 19th century.
The “Wilton Uncovered: How Archeology Illuminates an Enslaved Community” project involved a collaboration between the artist and the curators to create four woodcut vignettes that would illustrate the daily lives of the enslaved community on the Wilton plantation. I had an opportunity to study some of the artifacts that were discovered on the plantation so that as I created the woodcut prints some of the discoveries and objects could be included in the prints. Using these artifacts in the prints provides a narrative and defines how they are connected to the enslaved community. It was also important to study some of the maps that related to the terrain and layout of the plantation to give an accurate idea of location and placement of certain structures and areas as they related to the James River.
There were times that certain emotions made the work a little difficult to tackle as I reflected on the history of slavery in America and the fact that this plantation at its peak had the largest enslaved population in Henrico County. This work was completed during a time of racial unrest both in Richmond and around our nation during the Covid19 pandemic. The work of artists of differing races and ethnic groups historically has promoted the prevailing negative as well as the positive opinions that one race has held for another. As an artist and an educator, I pressed forward to complete these prints to help educate and present a visual account of what daily life was like for this community on the Wilton Plantation. I hope these prints will meet that objective.”