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Joseph H. Seipel

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American sculptor and conceptual artist
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Joseph H. Seipel was an American sculptor and conceptual artist who was formerly the Dean of the VCU School of the Arts. He was a member of the VCU faculty for over 40 years. As Dean of VCU arts, he also had oversight of the VCU School of the Arts branch in Doha, Qatar. He administered VCU exchange programs with art and design schools in Finland, India, Israel and Korea. He retired in 2016. He died on June 12, 2024.

Education

Seipel received his B.S. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1970, and his M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Rinehart School of Sculpture in 1973. In an interview by Glenn Harper in Sculpture Magazine, before talking about sculpture and sculpture education, Seipel spoke about his own early education and how it affected his concept of the importance of scale and use of varied materials.

Teaching and administrative positions

When Seipel became chair of the sculpture department at VCU in 1985, succeeding Dean Richard Toscan, the program had been strong for many years, with about 100 VCU-trained sculptors graduating each year. All BFA graduates of the Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts—even though not necessarily sculpture majors—were required to have at least one rigorous class in the sculpture department. Seipel strove to transfer that multi-disciplinary success to the graduate program and to put additional focus on incorporating new technological equipment and training into the education of artists. "All of a sudden the sculpture students were using the same language as engineering students," Seipel said. Named Administrative Dean at the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011, Seipel returned to Richmond as Dean of the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts, a position from which he retired in 2016 and was followed by interim dean, Professor James Frazier. In 2017 Seipel served as the Interim Dean of the School of Art and Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. He also served as the Interim Director of the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art.

Sculpture and exhibitions

In 1999 Joe Seipel's biographical installation piece 18,621 Days at 1708 gallery in Richmond received a Critic's Choice award for public art. His exhibition history at 1708 includes 25 x 25 in 2003, 18621 Days (a 1999 solo installation), the Founders’ Exhibition in 1998, and numerous invitational group shows in Richmond, Milan, Italy, New York City, Washington, DC and Norfolk, VA. He participated in the Richmond citywide project 21 Billboards by 21 Artists.

Additional photos and commentary by Seipel are included in a 2016 published history of Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts' Anderson Gallery edited by Ashley Kistler. Seipel's sculpture is conceptual, monumental in scale, and frequently robotic. After retiring in 2016 from his administrative duties at VCU, Seipel was working again in his studio in the Fan district of Richmond, Virginia.

Gallery and museum affiliations

Seipel was a founding board member and first president of 1708 Gallery in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom, now located on West Broad Street, in Richmond's Arts and Cultural District. While working in Savannah, he was the juror for Richmond's 1708 Gallery's 13th Annual SECAC (Southeastern College Art Conference) and MACAA (Mid-Atlantic College Art Association) Juried Exhibition. In 2012 VCU announced plans for a new ICA (Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond), to be a privately funded signature building for the VCU School of the Arts located at the corner of Broad Street and Belvidere, a busy thoroughfare in the city's art district. In 2014 Seipel and architect Steven Holl participated in the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Institute of Contemporary Art in Richmond.

Professional activity and awards

Seipel was named top sculpture educator at the 2009 International Sculpture Conference in Philadelphia. Seipel received recognition for lifetime achievement in the 2012 Theresa Pollak Prizes for Excellence in the Arts. In 2016, he was honored by Richmond Magazine as "Richmonder of the Month." He served as an honored member of the International Society of Fine Arts Deans. As Dean of the VCU School of the Arts, in 2014 Seipel oversaw the purchase and transformation of a former Richmond West Broad Street trolley station into a building called The Depot, an art lecture hall, classroom, exhibition, and studio space for students and faculty. He participated as a speaker at the VCU Brandcenter. He was appointed by Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder to the Task Force for Promotion of the Arts and by Governor George Allen to the Virginia Art and Architecture Review Board. The VCU Brand Center produced five Vimeo video interviews with Joseph Seipel, each addressing a different question posed to him. The questions were: 1) What's your process when you start a sculpture? 2) Do you see advertising as an art or a science? 3) Do you think creativity can be learned or are you born with it? 4) How do you know when a piece is finished? and 5) Who do you feel is the most important artist of the past 25 years? Seipel was frequently quoted and interviewed regarding contemporary sculptors and sculpture and about the new Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond. Following the retirement of the ICA's inaugural director Lisa Frieman from her position at the museum, Seipel was named interim director of the new museum. In December 2018, Seipel was named a Richmond Times Dispatch person of the year for his service to the arts community.

References

  1. "Joe Seipel Presentation Details" (PDF). VCU Brand Center. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  2. Buckley, Anne. "Joseph H. Seipel Named Dean of the VCU School of Arts". Richmond, Virginia: VCU News. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  3. Reid, Zachary (July 17, 2016). "Studio time:Retired VCU Arts dean is creating again". No. Sunday:Arts & Entertainment. Richmond, Virginia: Richmond Times-Dispatch. p. G11. For the first 25 years he was at VCU, Seipel was one of the great creative forces in Richmond. He was part of one of the most respected art schools in the country, and as a professor of sculpture, and later as department chairman, he was in the middle of one of the school's top departments. "The crazy thing is, VCU was already great when I got here," he said. "It was great back in the days of RPI. When I got here, if I had anything to do, it was to let people know how great it was."
  4. "Joe Seipel - VCU Sculpture + Extended Media". Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  5. "Joe Seipel Brand Center Presentation" (PDF). Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  6. staff, Richmond magazine (May 18, 2016). "Richmonder of the Month: Joe Seipel". richmondmagazine.com.
  7. Staff, Richmond Magazine (18 May 2016). "Richmonder of the Month: Joe Seipel". Richmond, Virginia: Richmond Magazine. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  8. https://richmond.com/news/local/joseph-seipel-sculptor-vcuarts-dean-obituary/article_2352c77a-2cd0-11ef-9172-03457f7c46f5.html
  9. "Joseph H. Seipel Named Dean of the VCU School of Arts". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  10. Admin, MemberClicks. "Bio - Joseph H. Seipel". www.icfad.org. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  11. Harper, Glenn. "Material Consequences: Conversation with Joseph Seipel". sculpture.org. Sculpture Magazine. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  12. Nieman, Carrie. "Inside the Studio:How VCU's sculpture department has attracted a national spotlight". Style Weekly. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  13. Proctor, Roy (16 March 2009). "VCU's Seipel to Savannah". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  14. "VCUarts Dean Joseph H. Seipel Announces Retirement - VCUarts". Virginian Commonwealth University School of the Arts. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  15. Nieman, Carrie. "Inside the Studio" (Cover Story about Joe Seipel). Style Weekly. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  16. "Interim Dean James Frazier". vcu.edu. Archived from the original on June 4, 2017 – via Wayback Machine.
  17. "Joe Seipel's biographical piece "18,621 Days" at 1708 Gallery". Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  18. "Joe Seipel Brand Center Presentation Details" (PDF). Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  19. Reid, Zachary. "Retired VCU Arts dean Joseph Seipel is working again". Richmond.com. Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  20. Harper, Glenn. "Sculpture.org". www.sculpture.org. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
  21. "Seipel retires after four magical decades in the School of the Arts". Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  22. Seipel, Joe. "Joe Seipel Presentation" (PDF). VCU Brand Center. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  23. "13th Annual SECAC and MACAA Juried Exhibition | 1708 Gallery | A Non-Profit Space for New Art | Richmond, VA". www.1708gallery.org. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  24. Buckley, Anne. "VCU Announces Plans for Institute for Contemporary Art". VCU News. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  25. Slipek, Edwin. "Being There: VCU's Institute for Contemporary Art Ground Breaking". Style Weekly. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  26. "Videos". ica.vcu.edu. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  27. Slipek, Edwin Jr. "VCU's Joe Seipel is named outstanding sculpture educator by an international organization". Style Weekly. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  28. "Sculpture.org". www.sculpture.org. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  29. "Richmonder of the Month: Joe Seipel". richmondmagazine.com. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  30. "Richmonder of the Month: Joe Seipel". Richmond Magazine. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  31. Admin, MemberClicks. "53rd Annual Conference". www.icfad.org. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  32. "Joe Seipel". www.icfad.org. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  33. Rolett, Burl (10 April 2014). "Practicing the art of transformation". Richmond BizSense. Retrieved 15 September 2016. With construction wrapping up on the first half of a nearly $7 million dollar facility, the Virginia Commonwealth University arts department is pulling into a former West Broad Street trolley station.
  34. "Joe Seipel Presentation" (PDF). VCU Brandcenter. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  35. Brand Center, VCU. "Joseph AND Seipel - Bing video". www.bing.com. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  36. Dobrzynski, Judith H. "Sculpture Rocks The Art World: "An Experimental Age"". Judith H. Dobrzynski. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  37. ""VCU Sculpture: The Formative Years" introduced by Elizabeth King | Blackbird v11n1 | #gallery". www.blackbird.vcu.edu. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  38. "Videos". ica.vcu.edu. Retrieved 2 December 2016.
  39. "Why the ICA is Important to VCUarts - Joseph Seipel, Dean of VCUarts". YouTube. 26 September 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  40. "Former VCU Arts Dean Joe Seipel Named Interim Director of ICA". Style Weekly. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  41. Staff reports. "Art advocates Monroe Harris, Marlene Paul and Joseph Seipel named 2018 RTD People of the Year". Richmond Times-Dispatch. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
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