Royal Head with Flowers

woodcut on mulberry paper

18 x 36 inches

Courtesy of The Artist

Dennis Winston is a Richmond-based artist and educator known for his evocative woodcut prints that explore African American culture, identity, and history. His compositions often feature family members, childhood memories, and straightforward moments of daily reality. Dennis has been a huge part of The Hand Workshop and VisArts for decades. He received the Shelly Shepherd Master Teacher Award in 2023.

"My work reflects both my urban and rural experiences. As an artist, I am driven by needs that are both aesthetic and social. My themes are universal and are concerned with the everyday reality of all human existence. The woodcut allows me to use a bold and direct black and white approach in my work. This is an ordinary medium through which I endeavor to capture telling moments in the lives of ordinary people. It is an attempt to reveal something of their character, the history that has shaped them, and the spirit that sustains them. These works express essential ideas, and I have merged my vision and the medium to celebrate both the process and my perception."

Dennis is a graduate of Norfolk State University and the University of Richmond and has done post-graduate work at the University of Colorado and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has served on the faculties of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia State University and the Governor's School of South Carolina. He retired as the Coordinator of Arts Education and the Humanities Center for the Richmond Public Schools.

Dennis has received honors both locally and nationally as an artist and as an educator. He has been included in an educational multimedia series entitled, "African American Artists: Past and Present," and recently was included in the textbook publication "Below the Surface; Ethnic Echoes in America's Modern and Contemporary Art". His work can be found in a number of publications on artists and exhibitions nationally.

Dennis's work can be found in many private and public collections. Some recent collectors include; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the University of Virginia Medical Center, Capital One Corporation, Apex Museum of African American Art, Lynchburg College Museum, Indiana University Museum of PA., University of Richmond Museum, National Civil Rights Museum, Medical College of Virginia, Bowie State University, Childsavers of Richmond, Longwood University, St. Mary's Hospital, Museum of African American Art of Dallas, Bank of America, First Market Bank, and The Bank on the James of Lynchburg.

He has been a recipient of a public arts commission from the City of Richmond and an artist fellowship award from the Virginia Commission of the Arts for works on paper. The woodcut print is his primary medium of expression and he is a member of One /Off Printmakers.