From Mississippi mud to English porcelain, with inclusions of everything from black sand to sushi rice, Virginia Pates digs, invents and uses an ever-changing palette of clays to create her loose, thin and gesturally thrown forms, while an underlying deftness as a glaze chemist shows through in her unusual range of glaze colors and atmospheric surfaces.
Pates began teaching college ceramics in England in 1999, after completing an MFA in Ceramics at the University of Wales. She relocated to teach in to her childhood home near New Orleans in August 2005 just in time for Hurricane Katrina. After several years spent teaching at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and collaborating with the George Ohr Museum of Art and the Mississippi Arts Commission on artists’ recovery in Biloxi, Mississippi, she moved to the high desert, far from hurricane season.
Pates has been living in the former ghost town of Jerome, Arizona, since August, 2008, when she began teaching ceramic art at the Verde Valley Campus of Yavapai College. She says of the Verde Valley, “There’s great dirt here.”

Education

1999 - Master of Fine Arts in Ceramic Art, Centre for Ceramic Studies, University of Wales, Cardiff, Wales, UK.

1995 - Bachelor of Fine Arts, Emphasis in Ceramics, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS.

Employment

2008-current - Head of Ceramics, Art Instructor, Gallery Director, Verde Valley Campus, Yavapai College, Clarkdale, Arizona.

2006-current - Adjunct Online Art Instructor, Temple College, Temple, Texas.

2005-2008 - Visual Arts Instructor, Gallery Director, Jefferson Davis Campus, Mississippi Gulf Coast College, Gulfport, Mississippi.

2000-2003 - Proprietor – Rood Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Bristol, England.

1999-2003 - Lecturer in Ceramics and Foundation Course Leader, Queens Road School of Art and Design, Bristol, England.

Selected Exhibitions

2011
All Arizona Clay, Juried Exhibition, Chandler Arts Commission, Chandler, Arizona, Merit Award.
Faculty Exhibition, Temple College, Temple, Texas.

2010
From Bird Heaven, With Clive Pates, RLV Gallery at Rancho Linda Vista Arts Community, Oracle, Arizona.
Form to Light to Color, With Clive Pates, Old Jerome High School Art Studios, Jerome, Arizona.
2010 Verde Faculty Exhibition, Verde Gallery, Yavapai College, Clarkdale, Arizona.

2009
25 Years, Online Exhibition of Alumni, the Cardiff School of Art, University of Wales, United Kingdom.
The Stain of Politics, Group Exhibition, Gallery 527, Jerome, Arizona.

2008
Ceramics Biennial, Juried Exhibition, Northern Arizona University Museum, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Virginia Pates – Recent Work, Solo Exhibition, Gallery 527, Jerome, Arizona.
Traveling Dialogue, Traveling Exhibition with Clive Pates, Meridian Community College, Meridian, MS.
Traveling Dialogue, Traveling Exhibition with Clive Pates, Yavapai College, Clarkdale, AZ.
Domo Arigato: Thank You, 2nd Annual Mississippi Clay Invitational, George Ohr Museum, Biloxi, MS.

2007
Rood / Pates, With Clive Pates, RLV Gallery at Rancho Linda Vista Arts Community, Oracle, Arizona.

2006
Mac and Andy Show, Group Show of Katrina Recovery Grantees, The Cedars, Jackson, MS.
Summer Show, Group Exhibition, Gallery 119, Jackson, Mississippi.
Faculty Exhibition, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Gulfport, MS.
Oracle Arts Auction, Rancho Linda Vista, Oracle, Arizona.

2003
Alumni Invitational, Mississippi State University.

2000-2003
Rood Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Bristol, England.

Selected Awards and Recognition

2010
Yavapai College Institutional Grant for Research in Ceramic Glazing.

2008
Selected for the Arizona Arts Commission’s Roster of Teaching Artists.
Mississippi Arts Commission Business Grant.

2007
SouthernArtistry.org, Invited by Mississippi Arts Commission

2006
Andy Warhol Foundation Grant.