Joe Seipel
Days before he died on June 12, artist and retired academic Joe Seipel attended an event at VCUarts’ Murry N. DePillars Building. The function marked the naming of the structure’s gallery after Seipel in commemoration of his 42 years of service at Virginia Commonwealth University. During that time, including Seipel’s 17 years as sculpture department chair, the school became nationally renowned for the quality of its classes and the caliber of its graduates.
Chase Westfall, interim director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU and himself an artist, gave introductory remarks. When Westfall slightly faltered during the emotional moment, the ailing sculptor quipped, “Chase, don’t start crying and f--- up my party.” The off-color ribbing provoked needed laughter and provided a form of validation. And in that, it was pure Joe Seipel.
An exhibition of his work, “Yours & Mine,” at VCU’s Anderson Gallery and off-site at Seipel’s former studio at 1609 W. Main St., runs Aug. 20-Sept. 28. A public reception will be held 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 22. Shuttles will transport visitors between the two locations during the installation.
“I was fortunate to work closely with Joe to select the works for the exhibition,” Westfall says. “In a real sense, he co-curated this show. Joe was always interested in what happened beyond the studio. His creative process extended into his work as an organizer and administrator, and his role shaping this project is a wonderful continuation of that.”
Seipel was a protean figure in Richmond’s cultural life. In 1978, he co-founded the artist-run 1708 Gallery, and he partnered in creating the Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe (1982-99), where Richmond’s art crowd gathered and where he met his wife, Suzanne.
Seipel started building things as a youngster growing up poor in Spring Valley, Wisconsin. He used blocks and Lincoln Logs to create structures throughout the house. His family was left near impoverished when he was 11 due to the accidental death of his father. Years later, he memorialized his dad with a limited installation at 1708 Gallery, “18,621 Days,” which is re-created for the “Yours & Mine” exhibition.
Breaking ground for the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU
During his five years as dean of VCUarts, the ICA materialized from blue-sky dreams and the drawing boards of Steven Holl Architects into steel and glass at Belvidere and Broad streets. Seipel believed in possibilities. Something that gnawed at him, he said, was making others understand how important creativity is.
The reinstallation of his immersive piece “Classical Opera” (which he worked on from 1995 until exhibiting through Reynolds Gallery in 2022) at his former Main Street studio is a surreal experience. Visitors walk among visual projections, sculptural figures and Seipel’s sonorous voice telling stories.
Seipel’s gregariousness and sense of humor are manifested in the work, but so are serious and profound contemplations on the existential condition we are all in — that is, life. He thoroughly understood the idiosyncratic character of nuance.
“I describe being in the studio as hanging onto the tail end of a big dog and seeing where it goes,” Seipel told Richmond magazine in a 2012 article upon receiving a Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts. “Sometimes you try to get it here or there, and sometimes it goes that way and sometimes it doesn’t. And you have to remain rather fearless about the next step.”
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