Virginia Rigney
Artist Background
Once Virginia Rigney could hold a crayon, she began to make art. Her love of clay began while making a ceramic pig in the third grade. She recalls first feeling a form coming to life in her hands. Her forms have since changed, but not the feeling. She majored in painting, receiving her BA in Art from Stanford University, but the magic of clay reclaimed her when learning to throw clay on the wheel.
Virginia continued wheelwork until the 1980’s when she became fascinated with extruded forms at Mission Clay in Fremont, California. As a resident sculptor she worked with eight-foot tall cylindrical sewer pipes. She began a Sentinel Guardian series, revisiting it through the years. “Passages”, a sculpture from that series, was installed in the California San Bernardino County Government Center (1984). She’s had pieces in the Sam Maloof Sculpture Garden in Southern CA.
"I moved to Point Richmond in the 60's to become part of an artist community". Enrolling in classes at the Richmond Art Center, Ernie Kim reintroduced her to clay art, adding to her ongoing oil painting, cold wax and pastel practice. Hazel Sami, a Richmond Art Center founder, encouraged Virginia to take Arts Administration classes and join the board. She became board president of Richmond Art Center and Point Richmond Neighborhood Council (PRNC), and a founding member of the Arts of Point Richmond.
Virginia was the first Arts and Cultural Manager of the City. There she established the Neighborhood Mini Art Grant Program to encourage local art with PRNC, for which she received national recognition. She also received an award for co-creating the Percent for Art Program for the City of Richmond. While PRNC president, she spearheaded fundraising for our beloved Tunnel Mural, designed and painted by local artist, John Wehrle.
