Virginia is a Boulder artist who has been active in the local art scene for several years. She studied art as an undergraduate at the University of California Santa Cruz but went on to obtain graduate and postgraduate degrees in chemistry. After retiring from a long scientific career, she returned to her roots as a painter, studying under Jordan Wolfson and other notable instructors in the Denver area. She has been a contributor to artma since 2010. She has exhibited in the Gallery at Studio J in Denver’s Santa Fe Art District, and most recently at the “Where Art Thou” Art Gallery in Grand Lake, CO. She can be contacted at houlding@aol.com for more information. Virginia’s primary medium is oil on canvas, using both additive and subtractive techniques to reveal unexpected interactions of color and texture that create a three-dimensional experience for the viewer. She believes that the real value of a work of art lies not in its virtuosity or collectability, but in the intimate dialogue it creates with its observer. This dialogue is what art come alive in this world.