Photo by Hekyung Parkbarr
About
Sally Veach (b. 1962, Summit, New Jersey) is a painter based in Alexandria, Virginia, where she works from her studio at the Torpedo Factory Art Center. Her layered landscape paintings set imagery drawn from 18th-century Indian chintz textiles and botanical illustrations against the sublime power of the natural world.
Veach's work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, the City of Alexandria, and the County of Fairfax, and in the corporate collection of a Fortune 50 technology company. She is a 2026 finalist for the DC Art Bank. Her work has been reviewed by DC critic Mark Jenkins, including in The Washington Post (2022), and she is the recipient of three Marion Park Lewis Foundation grants and residencies at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Weir Farm National Historic Park.
She is also the creator of Yellow Boy: Ancestral Reckoning on the Red Moshannon, a project of atonement for ancestral coal leases in Pennsylvania, with 100% of drawing-sale proceeds donated to the Moshannon Creek Watershed Association.
Artist Statement
My work examines humanity's place within the sublime power of the natural world through multi-layered landscape paintings. Gestural, atmospheric surfaces are interrupted by intricate motifs derived from 18th-century Indian chintz textiles and botanical illustrations: the chintz patterns reference the colonial cotton trade, the marginalization and domination of cultures by Western European powers, and the consequences of unrestrained capitalism. Imagery from 18th-century botanical illustrations recalls the Age of Enlightenment, when Europeans sought to name, categorize, and commodify every species of the natural world. Building the work in layers allows earlier applications to show through — an accumulation of human eras set against the enduring presence of nature. Canvas edges fray into soft fringes, a reminder of the plant-based origins of the substrate itself.
Many pieces incorporate imagery from 19th-century Hudson River School paintings, whose sublime landscapes invoked spiritual renewal while promoting the harmful ideology of manifest destiny. Combining references to the 18th and 19th centuries, the work reveals the complex relationship between humans and nature.
This work is deeply personal. I descend from early American settlers, and it offers a way to acknowledge the effects my culture has had on the human and natural worlds — and to affirm a belief in the sublime power of nature, despite human interference.
Curriculum Vitae
Selected Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2027
Sally Veach: A Survey of Works, Colloquia Art, Woodstock, VA (November)
Sally Veach and R. Wayne Reynolds, Vanderbilt University, Sarratt Gallery, Nashville, TN (April)
2026
Sally Veach: Hubris and the Sublime, McLean Project for the Arts at the Berlage Center, McLean, VA
Sally Veach: Hubris and the Sublime, GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, PA
What Will Persist: Sally Veach & Elizabeth Coffey, The Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA
2024
Here & Where? Sally Veach & Jeffery Berg, DC Arts Center, Washington, DC
2023
Sally Veach & Megan Caldwell, Purple Fern Gallery, Winchester, VA
2022
Sally Veach: Toombs Hollow, Delaplaine Arts Center, curated by Corey Frey, Frederick, MD
2020
Ghosts of a Forgotten Landscape: Paintings by Sally Veach, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, curated by Corwyn Garman (2019-2020), Winchester, VA
2019
Abstracted Landscapes, Staunton Innovation Hub, Staunton, VA
2018
Barns of Shenandoah, Delaplaine Arts Center, Frederick, MD
Barns of Shenandoah: Returning to Nature, The Barns of Rose Hill, Berryville, VA
Almost Heaven, Grasshopper Gallery, Wardensville, VA
Barns of Shenandoah & More, Larkin Arts, Wine-Riner Galleries, Harrisonburg, VA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2027
Common Things: Art and Objects in Public Life, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, curated by Sarah Rogers Morris / Crowstep Projects in partnership with the Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College, Washington, DC (Feb 6–May 23)
2026
DC Art Now 2026, Eye Street Gallery, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Program finalist exhibition, Washington, DC (Sep 10–Dec 11)
2025
Women Artists of the DMV, The Universities at Shady Grove, Priddy Library, Rockville, MD
Daughter of the Stars (Women Artists of the DMV), Melissa Ichiuji Gallery, Front Royal, VA
WPA Art Night, Hickok Cole, Washington, DC
Echo Locator, Field Projects, New York, NY
2024
Landscape of Desire, Melissa Ichiuji Gallery, Front Royal, VA
Wallmountables, DC Arts Center, Washington, DC
2023
Wallmountables, DC Arts Center, Washington, DC
VSC × WSS, Washington Studio School, Washington, DC
March 150, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA
ADMO Art Walk, DC Arts Center, Washington, DC
2022
Torpedo Factory Art Center On the Road, Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA
Newly Juried, Principle Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2021
Art Optimism, The Athenaeum, curated by Twig Murray, Alexandria, VA
Garden Party, Latela Curatorial (online), curated by Marta Staudinger, Washington, DC
Shine: Catching the Light, Annmarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, Solomons, MD
2020
2020 Virginia Juried Artists Exhibition, Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center, Hampton, VA
Vital Force, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, curated by Corwyn Garman, Winchester, VA
Salon Show, Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, New York, NY
2019
Terrain: A Landscape Collective, Anne Neilson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Social Media Friends, Thomas Deans Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2018
Art at Belle Grove (three-person), Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, VA
2017
2017 Emerging Artists Exhibition, Anne Irwin Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Abstracts Matter, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
2016
American Landscapes, Maryland Federation of Art, Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD
Larkin Arts National Juried Exhibition, Larkin Arts, Wine-Riner Galleries, Harrisonburg, VA
Institutional Collections
Harvest Ghost, permanent collection, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, VA
Cloud Five, permanent collection, City of Alexandria, VA
Mason Neck Vista, permanent interior artwork commission, Fairfax County Police Station and Animal Shelter, Lorton, VA
Corporate Collections
Fortune 50 technology company (collection of nine paintings)
Awards and Honors
2026
DC Art Bank, Finalist
2025
Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Interdisciplinary Residency, Upperville, VA
I Like Your Work Podcast, Spring 2025 Catalog: Outreach
2024
I Like Your Work Podcast, Summer 2024 Catalog: It's Complicated
2023
Marion Park Lewis Foundation, Grant
2022
Torpedo Factory Art Center, Studio Recipient, Alexandria, VA
Marion Park Lewis Foundation, Grant
Weir Farm National Historic Park, Residency, Wilton, CT
Château d'Orquevaux, Residency, Orquevaux, France
Lodestar School of Art, Residency, County Limerick, Ireland
2021
Marion Park Lewis Foundation, Grant
Lodestar School of Art, Residency, County Limerick, Ireland
2020
Vermont Studio Center, Merit Grant, Johnson, VT
Selected Press
2026
Mark Jenkins, Popping Post Impressionism, …Elizabeth Coffey and Sally Veach Take the Veil…, DisCerning Eye (Substack), April 15, 2026
Kara Holsopple, Artist creates mining sludge drawings to help clean up a polluted watershed, Allegheny Front (PA public radio), August 27, 2026
Emily Ready, Paintings made with mining sludge will benefit Red Mo creek cleanup efforts, WPSU (Penn State public radio interview), August 26, 2026
Bill Uhrich, Art exhibit in Reading explores environmental consequences of coal mining, Reading Eagle (front page), August 19, 2026
2024
Phil Hutinet, History and Color — Art and the City, HillRag, September 2024
2022
Mark Jenkins, In the Galleries: Seasonal group shows include a singular artist / Newly Juried 2022, The Washington Post, August 12, 2022
Lauren La Rocca, Four new solo exhibitions at the Delaplaine Center, The Frederick News-Post, February 16, 2022
2019
Jenny Baker, MSV to host Women in the Arts panel Sunday, The Winchester Star, August 3, 2019
Josette Keelor, ArtFest paints a fun scene in downtown Woodstock, The Northern Virginia Daily, June 24, 2019
2018
Ashley Miller, Barns of Shenandoah County, The Shenandoah Valley-Herald, May 11, 2018
Ashley Miller, Belle Grove art show features 75 works by 3 artists, The Winchester Star, May 21, 2018
Education
1984
BFA, Illustration, Syracuse University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse, NY (London Program)
2022
New York Studio School, Painting Marathons, with Graham Nickson and Fran O'Neill
Eric Aho Master Workshop, Eric Aho Studio, Saxtons River, VT
NYC Crit Club, with Clarity Haynes, Andrew Woolbright, Yevgeniya Baras, Alexis Callender, and Monica King
2021
NYC Crit Club, with Padma Rajendran