Virginia Hatley
Virginia grew up in Rawlins, a small town in Wyoming’s
Red Desert. The vast landscape and skies there have inspired
her imagination all her life. The Wind River Reservation
was nearby, and she became interested in Native American mythology. At 17, she traveled to New York City where
she graduated from Pratt Institute. She studied both Art and Fashion Design.
As a fashion designer, she traveled extensively in South America and the Far East. In Uruguay, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru,
she worked with local fabrics and studied native art and myths.
She began to make Artist Books to record her experiences. These became the series Dream Books. The work evolved to portraits of people and animals that reveal both their grandeur and vulnerability.
Maya Storybook is a continuing work of illustrations based
on Mayan folktales. They tell of the perils of Vanity, Passion, Power, and Greed. Her paintings bring to life the Gods
and creatures that inhabited the imagination of Mayan artist
and scribes so long ago.
Exhibits & Awards
Virginia Hatley’s paintings have been shown in solo
and group shows at the Douglas Baker Gallery and the Nina Bliese Gallery in Minneapolis.
Her illustrations have been published as book covers and in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, GQ, and Time.
Her work was selected to be in American Illustrations 17, a book of best American illustrations.
Ms. Hatley’s work appears in many private collections.