Artist Talk with Virginia Derryberry and Guest Curator Mary Edith Alexander

Virginia Derryberry is pictured in front of her four-paneled piece titled, The Four Elements.

Upstairs Artspace invites the public to an engaging Artist Talk with Virginia Derryberry and

guest curator Mary Edith Alexander on Sunday, March 29 at 2:00 PM. The conversation will

take place in conjunction with Private Domain, Derryberry’s current exhibition on view at

Upstairs Artspace through April 10, 2026.

During the talk, Derryberry and Alexander will discuss the themes, inspirations, and artistic

processes behind the exhibition’s large-scale narrative figure paintings. The conversation will

offer visitors a deeper look into the symbolism, mythology, and alchemical references that shape Derryberry’s work, as well as insight into the curatorial perspective that helped bring the exhibition together.

Derryberry is an established contemporary painter whose work has been widely exhibited across the United States and featured in publications including New American Paintings and Oxford American. Her paintings have been presented in museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville, the Piedmont Museum, and the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, and are held in numerous public and private collections. She is also Professor Emerita at the University of North  Carolina Asheville where she taught drawing and painting in the Department of Art and Art History.

Guest curator Alexander offers further context for the exhibition. A curator and artist, she holds a degree in painting from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan and has worked as a gallerist and arts administrator for more than 30 years, curating over twenty exhibitions. She was an Affiliate Artist at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte and participated in 2008 String of Pearls exhibition at Upstairs Artspace. Her artwork is held in corporate and private collections in Australia, Great Britain, Malaysia, and the United States. She currently resides in Western North Carolina.

The Artist Talk offers visitors a unique opportunity to hear directly from the artist and curator

while experiencing the exhibition firsthand. The event is free and open to the public and will take place at Upstairs Artspace, located at 49 S. Trade Street in Tryon, NC. For more information, visit UpstairsArtspace.org, call 828-859-2828, or email FrontDesk@UpstairsArtspace.org. Follow Upstairs Artspace on Facebook and Instagram @UpstairsArtspace for updates and upcoming events.