The Andrew Ross Visiting Artist Series

The department’s artist-in-residence program and visiting art series are made possible by the Andrew Ross Visiting Artist Legacy Fund. Andrew Ross served as an assistant professor of photography at Radford from 2014 to 2018. He was an effective and popular professor and is remembered for creating a student gallery in the McConnell Library, now called the Andrew W. Ross Student Art Gallery.

Andrew retired in 2018 after being diagnosed with ALS. He now lives in Chapel Hill, NC, but has remained an extraordinary supporter of the arts at Radford. Andrew and his parents, Coleman and Carol, established and have generously donated to the Andrew Ross Endowed Photography Scholarship and the Andrew Ross Visiting Artist Legacy Fund.

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Artists-in-Residence

Each fall, a professional artist joins our department and hosts a series of workshops, lectures, and critiques. Resident artists may also share their expertise and insight by teaching courses for undergraduate and graduate students. Resident artists spend a semester developing original works of art, often inspired by local scenery and culture, and, in the spring, a solo show at the Radford University Art Museum and an artist talk bring the residency to a celebratory close.

2023-24: Leslie Smith (Winston-Salem, NC)

Leslie’s work involves printmaking, letter press printing, papermaking, natural dyes, bookbinding, and archival research. She makes drawings, prints, and books based on her interest in the mind, body, and selfhood. Leslie is the 2017 winner of the Minnesota Center for Book Arts Prize, an international award.

 

 

2022-23: hazel batrezchaves (Albuquerque, NM)

Hazel is a first-generation artist, educator, and organizer whose art investigates agency, authority, language, and violence. Their work moves freely between poetry, textiles, sculpture, performance, and installation and it often bears witness to generational experiences of migration, isolation, and resistance. Hazel is a recent recipient of a Story Maps Fellowship from the Sante Fe Art Institute.

 

 

2021-22: Colby Caldwell (Asheville, NC)

Colby’s work explores how land becomes a charged site of memory and history. Colby uses a flatbed scanner as a makeshift camera to collect field recordings, capturing sensations, impressions, and layers. Colby is the co-founder and program director of the contemporary art space REVOLVE in Asheville, NC.