Vessna Scheff

Bio

Vessna Scheff was born in Redwood City, CA and spent her developmental years throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The diverse landscape of the Bay culturally, politically and geologically, laid the foundation for Scheff’s sensitivity to equity. Encouraged by her passion to perform, Scheff began working in watercolor through the process of making show flyers, leading to a Visual & Performing Arts teaching position at Gateway Middle School in San Francisco where she explored portraiture alongside her students. Falling in love with the complex dynamic of watercolors, she began to conceptualize and reclaim an often described as “difficult/ sketch” medium for it’s uncontrollable qualities, and rather conceptualizes the freedom of watercolors as an expression of Black liberation- always being, responding, and adapting despite the confines of oppression. After moving to Philadelphia, Scheff decided to apply, and was accepted to the Rhode Island School of Design where she is merging performance with immersive installations contextualizing society's love for all that Black womxn create while disregarding ongoingsupport of Black living and more broadly, how diasporic identities hold, create and share embodied histories. Through poetic paintings, portraits, performances, sounds, and installations that use watercolors, movement, vocals, and projections as mediums of inquiry, Scheff’s works dance with time and fall to gravity. They blend, bleed, and bloom; they stretch, they resist, they flood, and they drip- potent in texture, heavy in meaning, and rich in nuance. She will graduate with an MFA in Painting from RISD in June 2022.

What does black joy look like to you?

Feeling ease in my movements and my thoughts- relaxed throughout my body. Afro blowing every direction in the wind and loving there’s no controlling it. Unapologetically taking up space- letting myself be big, expressive, and expansive.

Lil Brother. 2021, Watercolor on paper 22” x 30”
Lil Brother. 2021, Watercolor on paper 22” x 30”
Big Brother.  2021, Watercolor on paper 22” x 30”
Big Brother. 2021, Watercolor on paper 22” x 30”
Setting. 2021, Watercolor and pencil on paper 29.5” x 41.5”
Setting. 2021, Watercolor and pencil on paper 29.5” x 41.5”
Upward. 2016, Watercolor on paper 9” x 12
Upward. 2016, Watercolor on paper 9” x 12
Holding. 2021, Watercolor on paper 30” x 42”
Holding. 2021, Watercolor on paper 30” x 42”
Knit Seeds in the Soil. 2022, Watercolor and pencil on canvas 5’x6’
Knit Seeds in the Soil. 2022, Watercolor and pencil on canvas 5’x6’
Lift. 2021, Watercolor on paper 22” x 30”
Lift. 2021, Watercolor on paper 22” x 30”

Archive

The archive is comprised of over 80 contributors who have individually submitted images, writing and various other content on their behalf. In an effort to prioritze the authors of this content, the archive is oraginized by the contributors first name. Please refer to the index below to view all content within the collection.

  • Benita Perkins2022
  • Aaron Bollwinkel2022
  • Brett & Stacey Pulley2022
  • Sarai Reed2022
  • Karissa John2022
  • Samantha Willis2022
  • Chaz Outing2022
  • Esther Akintoye2022
  • Asha Parks2022
  • Samantha Storch2022
  • Renea Toni Burke2022
  • Jasmine Monteiro2022
  • Dominique Thomas2022
  • Sandra Hightower2022
  • Brook Tillman Bullitt2022
  • Zoë King2022
  • Nicole Bradley2022
  • NaN
  • Matt McGriff2022
  • Vessna Scheff2022
  • Claire Green2022
  • Alkebuluan Merriweather2022
  • Jalina Suggs2022
  • Dominque Weaver2022
  • Adam Easterling2022
  • Erin Williams2022
  • Eva Woolridge2022
  • Deandra Gichie2022
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  • Sedrick Miles2022
  • Stephanie Buckler2022
  • Beth Faulkner2022
  • Vanessa Davis2022
  • Jenni Oughton2022
  • Marin Griffith2022
  • Brandon Malone2022
  • Sapphina Roller2022
  • Iyo Aghedo2022
  • Shawn Carter2022
  • Ndivhuho Rasengani 2022
  • Stacey Pulley2022
  • Rene Payne2022
  • Kennedy Jones2022
  • NaN
  • Annalee Reid2022
  • Sydni Watkins2022
  • Jamil Fatti2022
  • Olufisayo Quadri2022
  • Calli Haramaras2022
  • Uthman Olowa2022
  • Amina Tamkaba2022
  • Tori Cherry2022
  • NaN
  • Addie Kae Mingilton2022
  • Aboubacar Naby2022
  • Corinthia Ellis2022
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  • Nik Muka2022
  • Ivana Thorton2022
  • Jahi Kijo Lendor2022
  • Natiana Alexandra Manuel Fonseca2022
  • Sabrina Sims2022
  • Shanika Powell2022
  • Tina Ramos Ekongo2022
  • Isaiah Aladejobi2022
  • Bert Alexander2022
  • Rraine Hanson2022
  • NaN
  • Gabrielle Dancy2022
  • Melanie Blagburn2022
  • Alicia Pickney2022
  • Angela Hill2022
  • NaN
  • Nicole Hollant2022
  • Romello Goodman2022
  • Akilah Sigler2022
  • Rebecca Franklin2022
  • Taino Flores2022
  • Alyssa Hard2022
  • Shanira Eccleston2022