Virginia Fifield’s art career began in 1979, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from York University, Toronto, Canada. Immediately, she was hired as Head Assistant and Master Class teaching assistant at the Banff School of Fine Arts. After one year, she returned to Toronto to pursue her career as a professional fine artist. There her work was exhibited with commercial galleries in Toronto for over 5 years. She was awarded numerous grants and her work is held in public and private collections in Canada.
Despite her success, in 1985 she returned to school to pursue her interest in architecture at the University of Toronto and worked in that field until 1991 when she moved to South Florida. Inspired by Florida’s fragile and magnificent beauty she returned to her first passion of fine art with her series of large, scale charcoal drawings of animals and birds.
In 1996, Fifield moved to the New Orleans area where she began to develop and exhibit her new body of work. She gained recognition by winning awards in almost every juried exhibition she entered.
Since returning to Florida in 1999, Fifield has continued to exhibit and win awards including Best in Show in ArtFlorida 2008 and 2010. Her solo exhibitions at the Art & Culture Center of Hollywood and Nova Southeastern University received critical acclaim. One of her Judges stated that her drawings were… “proof that humble charcoal can be as satisfying and expressive as more exotic media. It is simultaneously ambitious and restrained. Each mark of the charcoal seems taut with sensitivity to both medium and the subject. It’s velvety blacks and whites make color seem irrelevant”.
Recently her work was featured on PBS’s TV show ArtStreet for an exhibition at Opera Gallery, to benefit the South Florida SPCA help abandoned and abused horses. Fifield continues to live in South Florida where she serves on the Board of Directors for ArtServe in Ft. Lauderdale and the Selection Committee for Public Art in Broward County. Her work is currently exhibited at the Opera Gallery and is held in public and private collections internationally.
