Melissa Darden Odom Speaker Series
The Melissa Darden Odom Speaker Series Memorial Fund along with the Suffolk Art League provides lectures to the residents of Suffolk and beyond at no cost as part of our community outreach and dedication to arts education. Some of our programs are organized in collaboration with, but not limited to, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is supported in part by their Paul Mellon Endowment and the Jean Stafford Camp Memorial Fund.
Upcoming Lectures
Matt Lively
March 28, 2026
5 PM
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I am an artist living in Richmond, Virginia. I am a sculptor, painter, and muralist; I have designed installations, worked on films, and illustrated books. I try to let my work be defined more by an openness to new ideas and opportunities than by working solely in one particular medium. My success over 25 years is a result of learning through mistakes combined with the collective wisdom of others. Collaborating with other passionate people always presents new avenues to explore that I would never be able to experience working on my own.
My studio is a 130-year-old barn that keeps me close to my family. A lot of things get made in the barn, and some of it gets shown nationally and internationally. When not in the studio, I teach at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School. It's because of all the people who took a minute to help me that I'm able to do this today. Most of what I've learned has been borrowed, so I do what I can to pass it on. I make images that suggest a story without a beginning or end. Learning to stop before the piece reveals too much is the most delicate aspect of my process. |
Recent Lectures
Jeanette Nicewinter, PhD
Frida Kahlo and Mexican Modernism
September 26, 2025
7 PM
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Dr. Nicewinter is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Northern Virginia Community College. She holds a Ph.D. in Art Historical Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, with a major in Pre-Columbian Art and a minor in Modern Art and Theory. She also holds an MA in Art History from VCU and a BFA in Studio Arts from the University of Tampa, Tampa, Florida. She was a Fellow at the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institutes in 2014 (Mexico) and 2018 (Hill Museum and Manuscript Library). Her scholarship addresses the art of pre-Hispanic Peru, but her interests range further and include pre-Hispanic Mexico, colonial Latin America, and contemporary Native American Art.
This talk considers Frida Kahlo’s work within the larger cultural and societal context of post-Revolution Mexico. Frida’s revolutionary politics and beliefs often informed her work, and more broadly her identity, and were part of a much larger movement related to modernism and “indigenismo” in Mexico after the Revolution. Frida’s work will be placed in conversation with works by other Mexican modernist, such as Diego Rivera, to elucidate how Kahlo used the vernacular of post-revolution Mexican modernism within her artworks. |
Kimberly McKinnis
August 23, 2025
6:30PM
Kimberly McKinnis is an artist, educator, and curator originally from Southern California. She holds a BFA in Studio Art with a Concentration in Glass, and an MFA in Exhibition Design—both from the California State University in Fullerton, California. As a member of the curatorial team Day Job Projects, she has been organizing exhibitions in and around Orange County, California, since 2012. Recently, she has returned to making her own work, which focuses on themes of identity, introspection, and exploring preconceived notions of beauty through symmetry. In her personal studio practice, she utilizes a variety of media including silver, glass, video, and performance. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and has been featured in publications such as the annual New Glass Review by the Corning Museum of Glass. She currently resides in Norfolk, Virginia. McKinnis is an adjunct faculty member at Old Dominion University and The Governor's School for the Arts, as well as a member of the glass studio team at the Chrysler Museum of Art.
Shirley Whitenack
March 7, 2025
6:30PM
A self-taught photographer, I enjoy sharing with others what I have learned, teaching in high school, community college, as well as art centers. I am often asked to speak at camera clubs and judge photography/art competitions. I am a lifetime member of Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and a member of Virginia Professional Photographers Assoc. (VPPA). In addition to my portrait and event photography, I sell my work at art shows, galleries, and gift shops. My photographs are in many private as well as public collections and published in books and magazines. I also teach one day and multi-day photography workshops.
Although all of my photographs now are created with a digital single lens reflex camera, I am forever grateful for most of my photographic career I used film cameras. Shooting film required a level of discipline, control, and a "get it right in the camera" attitude that I still live by today. My only weakness with digital is the tendency to take too many pictures! Is that even possible?
Although all of my photographs now are created with a digital single lens reflex camera, I am forever grateful for most of my photographic career I used film cameras. Shooting film required a level of discipline, control, and a "get it right in the camera" attitude that I still live by today. My only weakness with digital is the tendency to take too many pictures! Is that even possible?
John R. G. Roth
January 24, 2025
6:30PM
John R. G. Roth was raised in the Chicago area. He earned his BS in Art Education and Industrial Arts Education from Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI. He then went on to earn his MFA in sculpture and painting from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Before entering university, I worked in construction, on dairy farms, in retail management, in a lumber mill and as a maintenance mechanic in a foundry, furniture factory and chemical plant.
also taught K-6th grade art in a four-room schoolhouse in rural Michigan. During graduate school I was employed as a technician in a contract industrial research laboratory where I fabricated laboratory apparatus, models, prototypes and performed destructive testing. I have shown my sculpture in New York, London, Ottawa ON, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles. I've been teaching sculpture for the past 26 years and currently hold the position of associate professor and Chair, at Old Dominion University, Norfolk Virginia.
Before entering university, I worked in construction, on dairy farms, in retail management, in a lumber mill and as a maintenance mechanic in a foundry, furniture factory and chemical plant.
also taught K-6th grade art in a four-room schoolhouse in rural Michigan. During graduate school I was employed as a technician in a contract industrial research laboratory where I fabricated laboratory apparatus, models, prototypes and performed destructive testing. I have shown my sculpture in New York, London, Ottawa ON, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles. I've been teaching sculpture for the past 26 years and currently hold the position of associate professor and Chair, at Old Dominion University, Norfolk Virginia.
Carolyn Swan Needell, PhD
"Archaeology and Ancient Glass"
May 9, 2024
7-8pm
Carolyn Swan Needell, PhD, is the Carolyn and Richard Barry Curator of Glass at The Chrysler Museum of Art. She specializes in the study of ancient and medieval glass excavated from archaeological sites across the Mediterranean and Near East, and her research has been published in the Journal of Glass Studies as well as journals specializing in archaeological science. At the Chrysler Museum, Carrie is responsible for the care and research of more than 10,000 glass objects dating from antiquity to the contemporary era. She also curates two temporary glass exhibitions at the museum each year to explore the history and artistry of glass, including, for example, Agony & Ecstasy: Contemporary Stained Glass by Judith Schaechter and Fantastic Creatures of the Venetian Lagoon: Glass 1875-1915.
Join us on Thursday, May 9 at the Suffolk Art Gallery as we warmly welcome Carolyn to share her discussion with us about her archaeological digs and ancient glass artifacts.
Join us on Thursday, May 9 at the Suffolk Art Gallery as we warmly welcome Carolyn to share her discussion with us about her archaeological digs and ancient glass artifacts.
Anne Kenny-Urban
January 19, 2024
6PM
Calling all super Sleuths! There has been an Art Crime in Suffolk, and we need your help in finding out ”Who Done it!” We will have an expert on famous Art Heists, Anne Kenny-Urban from Virginia Museum of Fine Art aiding us in the process of capturing the fine art caper or capers! Come out to the Suffolk Art Gallery and spend the evening with us unlocking the mystery of the stolen painting, and enjoy some complimentary wine and refreshments. Doors will open at 6 o'clock, The Italian Cellar will have a selection of wines available for tasting, where you can experience some of the Lazio Region wines with a professional sommelier. While you are sipping on your wine and enjoying some hors d'eouvres, Anne Kenney-Urban will be speaking with us about famous art heists throughout history. Discover what Japanese gangsters, bear spray and daring boat getaways have in common with noteworthy art thefts. In this lecture, you will travel the globe learning why museums from Amsterdam to Zimbabwe have been targets for thieves and what tools they used to elude detection. Find out who got caught…and who did not (VMFA Art Education Division).
The Suffolk Art League will have the famous Gustav Klimt painting "The Lady with the Fan" at the gallery as a "loaner" for one night only! *wink *wink
Can we keep this exquisite painting, the final Klimt masterpiece out of the sticky hands of art snatchers or will we fall victim to another Art Heist?!
The Suffolk Art League will have the famous Gustav Klimt painting "The Lady with the Fan" at the gallery as a "loaner" for one night only! *wink *wink
Can we keep this exquisite painting, the final Klimt masterpiece out of the sticky hands of art snatchers or will we fall victim to another Art Heist?!