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A new exhibit at Central Virginia Arts will open with a reception coming up later this month. The new exhibition, featuring the art of Paula Totten and Patsy Coderre, may be viewed through August.

A Cumberland County native, Paula Totten has always found herself at the intersection of art and science. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design, Drawing and Printmaking from Longwood University. After a few years of working in the printing industry, her love for science drew her to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Geology with a specialty in Engineering Geosciences from Radford University.

She has worked in the environmental and agriculture fields in both the public and private sector.

While working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) her artistic tendencies resurfaced and her love for photography came into focus. Since leaving federal service in 2017, her creative outlets have centered on working with clients to tell their agricultural stories through the visual media of video and photography.

Now retired, Paula finds herself back on the family farm in Cumberland where her artistic and science proclivities continue to intertwine. She loves taking pictures, creating videos, and pretty much any craft activity she can find time to do. She still walks in those same woods and picks up those same rocks as she did as a child with her grandmother; only now she does that with her husband of 23 years and their two rescue dogs.

For Patsy Coderre, photography started when her grandmother showed her black and white photographs of Europe and the places where she traveled. As years passed, Patsy’s interest became more involved with wildlife, birds, and hiking to places to which most people would not venture. Film photography is great, but digital opens a whole new world for her. She believes the picture should look exactly like what she saw through the lens. She entered a contest with one of her wildlife photos and was awarded a place in the book released by National Geographic. Her newest subject in photography is astrophotography.

Patsy is moving forward as a proprietor of a small photography business that highlights wildlife, iconic scenes, landscapes, theme parks, and especially pet photography.

After living for 50 years in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Patsy moved to Virginia with her husband and 3 rescue dogs in 2022. She is also the proud parent of a United States Army soldier.

When is the reception? 

The Artist Reception will take place on Friday, July 12, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the Riverside Cafe, located at 522 N. Main Street in Farmville.