Learning to Remember

Teens in the VMFA’s Museum Leaders in Training program discover the art of archiving and the legacy of a Church Hill-born artist

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African-American artist Benjamin Wigfall, born 30 years after the turn of the 20th century in Church Hill, would break barriers for creators of color in Richmond and far beyond.

Today, a group of local teenagers is preserving and promoting Wigfall’s legacy, while learning archiving and documentation skills, through their efforts in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Museum Leaders in Training (M.Lit) program.

“This project showed me parts of Richmond I’d never heard of,” says Hermitage High School student Anna Wershbale, a second-year participant in M.Lit and one of 27 middle and high school students taking part this school year.

“We learned about the Marshall Street Viaduct, which I’d never even heard of,” says Wershbale. Former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, one of Wigfall’s childhood friends, spoke about his relationship with the artist as part of the students’ project. As the teens interviewed and recorded him, Wilder shared details about Wigfall’s work and Richmond roots, and the vanished viaduct, a roadway that spanned Shockoe Valley from the early 1900s to 1970 and led into the heart of Church Hill.

As Wigfall came of age in Church Hill, he honed his artistic talent through classes at the VMFA. Shortly after, he attended Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), with some of his tuition paid through three VMFA fellowships. When he was just 21, the museum acquired his painting “Chimneys,” distinguishing him at the time as the youngest artist to have work featured in the museum’s collection. The painting was inspired by Wigfall’s perspective of Shockoe Valley from Church Hill.

Wigfall, who earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University, taught art at the State University of New York for 30 years and became a distinguished gallerist, was also the third black artist to have work in VMFA’s collection. His relationship to the museum and his paintings served as the foundation of this year’s M.Lit program, says Lulan Yu, education programs manager at the VMFA.

“Creating this project around Wigfall opened a larger story,” Yu says. “It taught us a lesser-known story of Church Hill, and gave us an opportunity to explore the neighborhood where [Wigfall] lived and first began making art.”  

With help from the program’s lead teacher, Sonya Coleman, VMFA staff, and local historians and archivists, the students mapped a walking tour corresponding to Wigfall’s time in the neighborhood and his development as a young artist. There’s George Mason Elementary School, where Wigfall and Wilder were schoolmates. There’s the home in which Wigfall was raised, still standing. A free tour of “Benjamin Wigfall’s Church Hill” is scheduled to depart from Robinson Theater on Tuesday, June 19, at 5:30 p.m. At each tour stop, the students will share what they’ve learned about Wigfall and the Church Hill of his youth.  

“A main goal of the course was helping teens understand their role in preserving history,” says Coleman, who is also a digital collections specialist at the Library of Virginia. Using resources in the library’s special collections such as maps, city plans and decades-old official documents, Coleman led the students through a deep dive into Wigfall’s life, and what the city was like during his younger days.

The M.Lit program also teaches teens research and oral presentation skills, abilities that will serve them well in college and the professional world. “The beauty of M.Lit is showing these young people that they can take an active role in preserving history,” Coleman says. “This program gives them that knowledge and puts those tools in their hands and helps them shape their own story.”

In addition to their work surrounding Wigfall, M.Lit students created a personal archive project. These hands-on projects could be based on their family history, or about another subject of their choice. Wershbale created an interactive art project via Instagram. Guest presenters also shared their historical and artistic knowledge with the teens. Free Egunfemi, founder of Untold RVA, schooled the students in what she calls “commemorative justice,” using Wigfall’s personal and professional experiences, which were stained by racism.

“I [helped] the students understand what the city of Richmond was going through at the time of Benjamin Wigfall’s residence here, so they could understand contextually why his work was so important and groundbreaking,” Egunfemi says. “We helped them understand race relations at the time, and how hard it was to support yourself as an artist of color then. I gave them examples of how black art and artists in Richmond have been both supported and thwarted.” Her lessons to the students weren’t teaching history just for history’s sake, Egunfemi says. “The goal was to inspire and empower them.”

Wigfall died in 2017, not long after the VMFA interviewed him for the last time.  

“We’d done a previous project with him, and had met with his family,” Yu says. “It was important to us to capture what we could, while we could.” The students used some of that archival content to shape their presentation.

The Museum Leaders in Training program runs for 12 weeks each year, says Yu, and covers topics related to museum careers. Interested students in grades 8 through 12 must complete an application, which requires a recommendation and a personal statement essay. About 25 students are accepted into M.Lit annually; this year’s deadline is September 14.  

The program has stoked Wershbale’s desire to become a museum professional.

“I feel happiest when I’m in a place of history and art.”

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