Virginia Paquette 

An MFA graduate in painting with a BA in art education from the University of Washington, Virginia Paquette has worked and exhibited internationally. Her art frequently depicts a sense of movement and change, and is inspired by natural forms and phenomena. Winner of numerous public art commissions, Paquette completed an environmental installation celebrating the Millennium and Education on the campus of Bellevue Community College, and is presently installing a sculptural work for Yelm High School’s new arts and sciences center, also through the Washington State Arts Commission/ART IN PUBLIC PLACES project. (A sample of her work can be viewed on the website created by 4Culture for Public Art, under SITE.) Paquette has worked in many media, often combining elements of painting, drawing, collage, and printmaking. Sculpture and installation works are in steel, aluminum, mosaic and tile, concrete, and glass. She also takes an interest in collaborative, site-specific performance with a group of artists/musicians called ARTKOAMIA, and has collaborated with her husband, composer/clarinetist William O. Smith, on several projects combining visual art and video with electronic and improvisational music performance. She has continued to teach throughout her career in art, and believes as Yeats did that, “Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire.”