(From left) Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester founder Adrianne Ryder-Cook Joseph and Susie Mains, one of Kacey Carneal’s daughters (Photo courtesy Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester)
Kacey Sydnor Carneal went into her studio on Free School Creek in Gloucester County eight hours a day, seven days a week, for almost 50 years, painting in oils on canvas or wood. The Richmond native’s whimsical expression, realized in a distinctive, self-taught, folk manner, became widely exhibited and collected. The constant maker died in May 2022, but her legacy endures. More than 300 of Carneal’s paintings, furniture, sculpture and other artifacts form the centerpiece of the new Fine Arts Museum of Gloucester, which holds its grand opening on Oct. 7.
In a 2014 interview Carneal, then age 79, discussing her art-filled home, quoted poet Mary Oliver: “I would not be anywhere but stalled in the happiness of the miracle.” She added, “I love what I do. Obviously. And I feel blessed to be able to paint every day and have that luxury. … I just wanted to paint. I don’t know why. I took one beginner’s class at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond to learn the basics of which oil paints to buy.”
She reflected in a 2012 Virginian-Pilot profile on how she cleared her mind in order to receive the source of inspirational energy, what she termed as “Spirit.”
“The Spirit comes out through my fingers,” she said. “I don’t do any sketches. I put on music and let what comes come.”
Carneal’s last completed work, “They have suffered a great something and yet stood proud” (2020)
Artists bring something from nothing, and in a similar way, the arts in Gloucester have benefited from the passionate cultural collaboration of the Cook Foundation. For a quarter century, the philanthropic nonprofit has cultivated the arts through varied programs including the summer Gloucester Arts Festival; the Plein Air Invitational, which draws outdoor painters from across the country; and bringing the Virginia Symphony Orchestra to the county’s streets.
The foundation’s founders, the late Edwin Joseph and his wife, Adrianne Ryder-Cook Joseph, invested in Gloucester village’s Main Street, transforming a rundown shopping center into Main Street Center, a burgeoning arts district. The Gloucester Fine Arts Museum’s two main exhibition spaces, totaling 5,000 square feet, are housed in the former YMCA space.
Carneal’s vivid works, often filled with whimsy, also addressed serious themes on occasion. She served as the resident artist at the University of Virginia Children’s Hospital and the Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Charlottesville. Carneal’s work is in the collections of the American Folk Art Museum and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Elizabeth Blackney, who serves with the foundation and as a director of the museum, relates that Ryder-Cook Joseph was moved when experiencing the artist’s depictions. Through the cooperation of Carneal’s daughters, Vicki Henderson and Susie Mains, the body of work will remain intact and accessible for public appreciation. The opening exhibition, “Back Home,” presents 90 pieces ranging from the 1970s to her final work from 2020.
Some of Carneal’s art may travel, and works by others will likely come to Gloucester. Blackney says the museum is in conversation with the VMFA (which brings its Art Mobile to Gloucester at festival time) and the Chrysler Museum of Norfolk.
And so the Spirit moves.
