Current Studio Access Residents
The Visual Arts Center of Richmond’s Studio Access Residency is designed to support emerging and established visual artists as they develop new ideas and to foster artistic exploration by providing free access to VisArts’ 17 communal studio spaces.
Austin “Auz” Miles (she/her)
Austin “Auz” Miles is a multidisciplinary painter, public artist, educator, and activist from Durham, NC, currently working in Richmond, VA. Her community-based creative practice centers the stories of Black women, exploring themes of identity, ancestry, and societal constraints. Miles explores the complexities of Black womanhood through the interplay of abstraction, representation, painting and fibers. Austin “Auz” Miles has exhibited her work throughout the East Coast including spaces like The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art at Virginia Beach, and The Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover, DE. Miles is a member of All City Art Club and has installed numerous murals through out Richmond. In addition, she has painted public art installations throughout the country including Detroit, MI, Magnolia, MS, and Cleveland, Ohio. This fall (2025), Austin Miles will be attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, pursuing her MFA in Fibers & Material Studies.
Instagram: @auz_can
Catherine Kiser (she/her)
Catherine Kiser is a Richmond-based Concept Artist and Illustrator whose work is focused on immersive world-building for fantasy and sci-fi media. Blending digital and traditional media, she designs everything from small props to sprawling environments that tell a story to bring the viewerinto a new world. Her colorful and intricate designs contrast against the common desaturated dystopian design language to present a different image of an alive, sustainable, and inclusive future.
Catherine received her BFA in Communication Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2021. Since then, she has been involved in pre-production projects for LucasFilms, Paramount, and Netflix. She has also done book illustration work for NYT bestselling authors like Tomi Adeyemi and Adalyn Grace.
Instagram: @c.g.kiser / Website: catherinekiserart.com
Coorain Devin (they/them)
Coorain Devin is an artist and an educator with an expansive practice. They make performances, photographs, and objects, often textiles, that discuss the joys and horrors of American consumer culture. Coorain is particularly interested in food and craft, often making quilts that combine traditional piecework with issues around industrial food production.
Coorain received an MFA from Georgia State University, a BA in Philosophy from Tufts University and a BFA in Studio Art from the SMFA, Boston. They currently teach Photography and Printmaking at Mary Washington University.
Instagram: @coorain / Website: coorain.com
Courtney Lebow (she/her)
Howdy! My name is Courtney Lebow. Teaching and utilizing my love for the visual arts as a vehicle for human connection is my ultimate professional goal and passion. For the last decade I have been working in the field of art education. I finished my Masters in Art Education from Virginia Commonwealth University in December 2018. I then taught high school art full time for six years at Hanover High School, leading the art department and leaving a legacy of 6 murals and a thriving Art program. I am now continuing my own art-making practice, and recently have been accepted into Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). I plan to begin my Masters of Fine Arts studies in the summer of 2026. I enjoy vending my art at local markets, and I will be launching art workshop offerings to Richmond in local community hubs starting in summer 2025. The mural depicted here was made in collaboration with Hamilton Glass through the “Mending Walls” program.
Instagram: @rainbow.flypaper / Website: thatcoolartteacher.com
Jeffrey Deane Hall (he/him)
Born in Richmond, VA, Jeffrey Deane Hall is an artist and educator whose work blends precise trompe l’oeil technique with layered symbolism. He earned his degree in Studio Art, along with minors in Physics and Art History, from the University of Richmond, and his Master’s at Virginia Commonwealth University. Hall’s paintings often reflect his wide-ranging interests, from the structure of knowledge to the tension between naturalism and abstraction. His recent “Edges” series—featuring hyper-realistic stacks of books—has been recognized for its exploration of censorship of information, visual perception, and communication. Hall’s work has been featured in both the 100th and 160th issues of “New American Paintings”.
For more than three decades, Hall has balanced his studio practice with a dedication to teaching, currently serving as Visual and Performing Arts Department Chair and visual art instructor at Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School. When not in the studio or classroom, he draws inspiration and support from life at home, as a husband and father to two incredible young women.
Instagram: @jeffreydeanehall / Website: jeffhall.art
Kelly U Johnson (she/her)
Kelly U Johnson, a self-taught artist from Louisville, KY, now based in Richmond, VA, honed her artistic skills at the University of Louisville. Her work offers a profound reflection of her perspective on the world—capturing the beauty of nature and celebrating the strength and resilience of Black Americans. She explores a wide range of materials, from graphite and paint to fabrics and repurposed objects, embracing mixed media as her preferred mode of storytelling. Through rich textures, layered compositions, and vibrant colors, she weaves powerful narratives, making each piece a testament to history, identity, and the human spirit.
Websites: kellyufineart.com + kellyujohnson.com
Leah Raintree (she/her)
Leah Raintree is an artist based in Richmond, VA and Brooklyn, NY. Her practice focuses on the human connection to earth, with an interest in how we frame and experience time, matter, scale, and phenomena. Her work is rooted in an experimental drawing practice that spans media, with projects developing through a combination of process-based mark-making and direct engagement with materiality and place. She primarily works across drawing, ceramic, and photographic processes, often using site-specific materials to explore our interconnection with the planet.
Raintree has held four solo exhibitions with Reynolds Gallery (Richmond, VA) and has exhibited with cultural and academic institutions such as the Noguchi Museum (Queens, NY), High Line Art (New York, NY), and the Staniar Gallery at Washington & Lee University (Lexington, VA). She has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships including from Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Workspace and Process Space (New York, NY), Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium), the Banff Centre (Canada), and the Lower East Side Printshop (New York, NY). Raintree holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MFA from Parsons School of Design.
Instagram: @leah.raintree / Website: leahraintree.com
Lexi Staton (she/her)
Lexi Staton is a Virginia-born creative with interests in ceramics (both functional and sculptural), painting, illustration, and just about anything else she can get her hands on! Creative activity has been a huge part of her life since childhood; however in the wake of the pandemic, she found herself a nurse on a COVID floor. This experience was very shaking. She began leaning heavily into her art as a way to help cope with the stress of the world around her. Since then, art has become as necessary for her as air. She has found it to help her manage the stress of coping with disability, mental health, and day to day stress. Her aim is to experience life to the fullest and create a world of creativity to be shared with others around her.
Instagram: @pinktankpottery / Website: pinktankpottery.com
Merrin Winkel (they/them)
Merrin Winkel (b.1999) is a Richmond, VA based multimedia artist, screen-printer and illustrator. In 2023, they received a BFA in Painting & Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, where they were awarded the VCUarts Talent scholarship. Their work delves into the interplay between consciousness, spirituality, and transformation. Known for their vibrant colors and detailed symbolism, Winkel’s art serves as a bridge between the material and spiritual realms, inviting viewers to embark on journeys of self-discovery and inner reflection. Drawing inspiration from surrealism and the metaphysical, their work often features spontaneous, intuitive elements that reveal layers of meaning, encouraging a deeper connection with universal themes of growth, healing and divinity. Merrin’s hand-drawn, multimedia work explores the mysteries of the universe through visionary and psychedelic art, using bold imagery to evoke a sense of wonder and awe. Their artwork is an invitation to experience expanded consciousness and explore unseen worlds. Merrin seeks to inspire others to explore their own inner worlds and embrace transformation through the creative process. They have exhibited their work in Alexandria, VA at Kyo Gallery, in Arlington, VA at Artisphere, Santa Fe, New Mexico at Axle Contemporary, and in Richmond, VA at Black Iris, Material Room, Artworks, and the Anderson galleries. Their work is also featured in Heaven Replied, In Solidarity With Palestine, published by Renascence Books. As an interdisciplinary artist they specialize in drawing, painting, and digital media.
Instagram: @merrinsart / Website: winkelm.myportfolio.com
Oliver Mukherjee (he/him)
Born 2000 in Washington DC, Oliver Mukherjee is an artist and photographer working out of Richmond, VA. He holds a BFA in Photography from Virginia Commonwealth University. The forms of ink, silver, wood, and paper are how he addresses the intricacies of human thought and behavior.
Instagram: @ollie_muk
Raven Larcom (she/her)
Raven Larcom is an American artist whose primary disciplines are drawing, sculpture, and photography. She received her BS in Biology and Art from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, and her MS in Crop and Soil Environmental Science from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA.
She is interested in subverting conventional aesthetics to explore discomfort and the emotional impact of form. Her work often features anthropomorphic forms, uncomfortable textures, and playful colors.
Most recently, her ceramic work was featured in the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design as part of the Re-Think Landscape: Habitat Stewardship exhibit. This work borrows tactile spines from insect morphology to explore the roles of beauty, danger, and our relationship to everyday objects.
Instagram: @ravemilarc / Website: ravenlar.com
Robert Chamberlin (he/him/they)
Robert Chamberlin is a conceptual artist living and working in Northern Virginia. He received his MFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Art Boston and Tufts University and a BFA from the Ernest G Welch School of Art & Design, Georgia State University. Chamberlin primarily uses ceramics, photography, and performance, to express ideas and promote conversation around desire and excess. Chamberlin’s work has been exhibited in Volta NYC and Pulse Miami as well as many exhibitions throughout the United States. He has been the recipient of the SMFA Boston Traveling Scholars Fellowship, the Yousuf Karsh Prize, Peter S Reed Grantee. Publications covering exhibitions and Robert’s studio practice include The Boston Globe, Emergency Index: An Annual Document of Performance Practice, the Daily Free Press, Art News, Pottery Making Illustrated.
Instagram: @studiochamberlin / Website: robertchamberlin.com
Trinity Dunkerley (she/her)
Trinity Dunkerley is a Japanese-American mixed media artist based in Richmond, VA. She currently balances her time between freelancing and designing for I.M.P. (930 Club, The Atlantis, Lincoln Theatre, The Anthem, Merriweather Post Pavilion).
When out of the office, Trinity works to expand her personal art practice: carrying a camera around with her 24/7, experimenting in her sketchbook, and taking ceramic and darkroom classes. Her work is informed by themes of time, connection, and humanity and takes great philosophical inspiration from ideologies celebrating imperfection and impermanence such as the Japanese concepts of Wabi Sabi and Mono No Aware.
Aesthetic inspirations range from punk subculture to monty python animations to basically anything old, weathered, and tactile. For Trinity, creating is a meditative practice that allows her to document and reflect on her everyday life. She strives to share a functional yet aesthetic body of work that allows her to connect with the friends, families, and strangers around her in hopes that they may do the same.
Instagram: @trinnnyd / Website: trinitydunkerley.wixsite.com
Weezie McInnis (she/they)
Weezie McInnis is a visual and performance artist inspired by the playful spirit of childhood whimsy. She studied physical theatre at the Accademia dell‘Arte in Italy and graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a BA in theater. Originally from Sumter, South Carolina, much of her work draws inspiration from the wild and lush landscape of the cypress swamp that held her close during adolescence. Weezie’s work reflects a unique and multifaceted perspective tying in elements of southern upbringing, theatre of the absurd, and childlike irreverence. Led by experimentation and curiosity, with the Studio Access Residency, she seeks to explore these motifs using glass, textiles, found objects, precious metals, and paper mache.
Instagram: @la.sqweez