Virginia MOCA exhibition highlights Commonwealth-based artists

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Artists across the Commonwealth are featured in the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art’s (Virginia MOCA) new exhibition, Made in VA Biennial.

The inaugural exhibition opens to the public Friday.

It will showcase 87 works created by 61 artists. The galleries show a mix of mediums ranging from photography to painting to film. The works also range in size from small sculptures to large canvas to greater-than-life-size glassworks.

The artists come from different regions across the state. Local artists were selected from Chesapeake, Newport News, Norfolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg.

“At Virginia MOCA, we’re deeply rooted in our community,” said Alison Byrne, interim director, director of exhibitions at the Museum, in a press release. “Our upcoming exhibition featuring Virginia talent is a perfect example — exceptional contemporary art that resonates on every level.”

This is the first year of the biennial exhibition. For 30 years, the museum had an annual presentation of work by artists in the state, Made in VA. That original presentation has now expanded in size, prize funding and professional opportunities for chosen artists.

Senior Curator Heather Hakimzadeh told WAVY this is the first time the exhibition will take up the entire gallery space.

“We want to highlight the talent we have in the commonwealth,” Hakimzadeh said. “We have a lot of talent in the Commonwealth. It’s one of our missions to continually promote regional talent.”

Prizes were awarded Thursday before the exhibit opens to the public. Artists have a chance to win a $10,000 best-in-show and a solo exhibition that will run at the same time as the 2026 Made in VA Biennial. Other awards include second place, third place, honorable mentions and the director’s prize. The People’s Choice prize will be awarded at the end of the exhibition once people have visited and cast their votes.

Hakimzadeh collaborated with a juror team to select the finalists.

“We normally get about 300 or 400 applications” said Hakimzadeh. “We got 699 this time, which was an enormous amount.”

Hakimzadeh said it was a tough competition to judge. They cut the application pool into what visitors will see on the walls.

“Everything is made very well,” Hakimzadeh said. “These artists really understand their media and how to work with it.”

Artists are allowed to submit work created in the past two years. In the gallery, there is a large variety of inspiration and theme.

“You can see it’s all different media, all different approaches, which is really beautiful, really interesting,” Hakimzadeh said.

Kole Bennett is one artist selected. They are based in Norfolk and work with the preferred medium, glass.

Their work titled, “Mother” is a glass sculpture of a wolf spider.

“It’s really inspired by the lowest common denominator for care and love,” Bennett said.

They told WAVY the design is blown up to this large scale so visitors can see the beauty, texture and detail. Each part was made individually and assembled together. Take a look at the work in the gallery below.

“The submission process was more intimidating on my end because I know the caliber of work that’s in the show,” Bennett said, “so it was a little nerve wracking for me, but I was fortunate to get in.”

As opposed to other places Bennet has lived, they feel the momentum around art continues to grow in the Hampton Roads area. Whereas in other places they have lived, where art has been on the decline.

For Hakimzadeh, it’s the pieces’ meaning that played a critical role in selection.

“It was really, for me, artists who had something interesting to say and they were telling it in interesting ways,” Hakimzadeh said. “And, even if they were unique to the artists, they were still kind of something that could be shared, that spoke to larger human condition. Artists who really successfully did that, were the ones that got the most attention.”

Another local artist, Rowena Federico Finn is based in Virginia Beach. Her work began with her Filipino background and culture.

“A few years ago, I’d been doing different kind of art, but I really wanted to start getting in touch with my roots,” Finn said.

Born in the United States, Finn wanted to connect with the Philippines and explored what materials were indigenous. While researching, she found Capiz shells are one of the major exports. She started playing with the shells and tried to figure out what to work them into.

“I started thinking about quilts, and how it’s such an American thing, but it’s very exotic to me,” Finn said.

Growing up, Finn said friends had quilts, whether purchased or passed down across generations. And, she also thought of quilts importance to American history. But, also how it is not a part of her history. She asked the question, ‘what would quilts be like for us?’

The piece on the left, titled “Anitos Quilt” is created with piña fabric, capiz shells, rubbings from her grandparents gravestones in the Philippines and fabric trim. Her piece on the right is titled “Memories of Green.” It takes a look at the use of green synthetically and in nature. It’s also created using capiz shells. Take a look at her work in the gallery below.