My name is Vessna Scheff, and I am a producer of marks and sounds.

Through music and watercolors, I tell stories of incredible resourcefulness, strategy, technique, beauty, community, liberation, and love. Celebrating the unsung histories- personally and socially- is at the core of my family story and artistic practice. My work plays with intervals and conversations; in relationships of mark to mark, note to note, tone to texture, breath to brush, and color to sound. 

Leaning into language often used to describe both watercolors and Black living, words such as “difficult” and “uncontrollable”, I position the fluid nature in my work as an embrace of full internal liberation. The central use of movement in my practice pushes against the desire to control, and instead positions us to appreciate the glorious sensations of liberation- the swell, the pour; the beat, the splash; the hit, the mark; the tone, the texture—even if they are just for us, and for just a moment. These moments, we hold forever.

To collect, and for press, booking and commissions, please submit the form below.

LET’S CONNECT

CV

Education

Rhode Island School of Design, MFA in Painting - Received June 2022

Concentration in Theory and History of Art & Design: Race, Ethnicity and Representation - Received June 2022

Certificate of Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design - Received June 2022

San Francisco State University, Multiple Subject Teaching Credential - Received May 2014

San Francisco State University, B.A. in Sociology - Received Jan 2013

2024

The Lemonade Stand - Performance 

Penland Teaching Artist, Luminous Drawings and Radiant Watercolors 

“MERGE” Collection & Single Release

TILA X PHII Collection Artist Talk and Acquisition - Group Show

SLIDE Single and Collection Release

JAM Single Release

Brown University Adjunct Lecturer | 2023 - present

2023

BUTTER Single Release

“Click! Whir. Unravel…” Solo Show - Machines with Magnets

Mass MOCA Artist in Residence

TILA Private Collection Acquisition of Single Edition “Setting” Print

2022

“We Feel Our Way Through When We Don’t Know” at The Brattleboro Museum & Arts Center - Group Show

Pratt>FORWARD Artist in Residence

SPUR Fund Grant Awardee l 2022

“New Contemporaries” at Gelman Gallery in the Rhode Island School of Design Museum - Group Show

Haystack Open Studio Residency

“Graduate Selections” at Sol Koffler Gallery

RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition

Graduate Commons Grant Awardee l 2022 - Research grant awarded through RISD

“The Black Biennial” at The Rhode Island School of Design Museum - Group Show

Materials Fund Awardee l 2022 - Project based materials grant through RISD

2021

Graduate Commons Grant Awardee l 2021 - Research grant awarded through RISD

Select Works in S.N.A.I.L Gallery Online Exhibition - Group Show

“Last Minute Additions” at Memorial Hall Gallery - Group Show

Materials Fund Awardee l 2021 - Project based materials grant through RISD


2020

“Not My First Rodeo” at Sol Koffler Gallery - Group Show

TILA Studios Virtual Artist in Residence

Honorable Mention by Fredrick Whitaker and Eileen Whitaker Foundation for Watercolors

Graduate Assistantship at The Rhode Island School of Design


2019

Performance w/ Sherman Flemming at the Barnes Foundation - Group Show

Artist in Residence at Glen Foerd

Artist in Residence at Elixr Coffee Roasters

Performance of “Sound + Color” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Performance of “Sound + Color” at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC

2018

Artist Bash: Fierce Women at The Barnes Foundation

iHeart Radio Interview w/ Nikki Powerhouse

Solo exhibition at Urban Art Gallery

Solo exhibition at Square One Coffee Roasters

Semi-finalist in Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series

Solo exhibition at Luna Cafe 

Solo exhibition at Azuka Theater

Solo exhibition at Circle of Hope Gallery

2016 - 2017

Craic Radio Interview w/ Fergie Carey and Sean Timmons

Double Decker Music Series

Behind the Mynd Interview w/ David Colón