Virginia Kay White has painted everything from houses to signs to portraits, but her favorite medium is sculpture. According to White, "At times, working with paint is like visual sculpting, trying to make something flat take form." She says, "Any time I am working on art, I am playing. I'll be working really hard on it, but it is still play: the joy of creation."

She did her first picture that turned out the way she wanted in 1980. It was a pen and ink of Wolf Robe, a Cheyenne Chief. "Something just clicked for me then. I've always been interested in art and color, and I have learned a few things from several fine teachers along the way."

In 2000, White started college at Rich Mountain Community College in Mena and then went onto Henderson State University, in Arkadelphia, where she earned a fine arts degree in studio art. And there is no stopping her now.

White says, "A lot of my work has a Native American theme, and I believe there was some Cherokee blood in the family, along with some English, Irish, Spanish, Black Dutch. I guess this is what you get 500 years after Plymouth: American soup."

White’s most recent work has be a music video she directed and edited for singer, songwriter Mike Addington of Red River, NM. The video is of Mike Addington’s “One Lonesome Cowboy” song from his “Horizon & Main” CD released 2009. White painted the old western painting that belongs to the old cowboy for the video. Prints of the painting will be available for the tour, as well as DVDs of the video and Mike Addington’s “Horizon & Main” CDs. The video can be viewed on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue30TbyFhAQ

White also did a “Thanks!” video to thank everyone who contributed to the making of the “One Lonesome Cowboy” video. The audio is another Mike Addington original song included on his CD, this can be viewed on You Tube also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuZgw4_hpfQ

White volunteers with the Mena Art Gallery at everything from being the official secretary to painting the signs out front to designing letterheads, posters, and flyers. Look for her work the next time you are in the gallery.