About | vmallen

About Virginia Mae Allen

Virginia Mae Allen (1928 - 2015) was an established and much respected artist in the Boston area. She was Professor Emeritus of Art History at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where she taught for twenty-seven years.

Dr. Allen exhibited her art widely in New England and elsewhere in the U.S., including solo exhibitions at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and the Landmark Building in Boston. Her work is also in a number of private and corporate collections. Virginia's art received national recognition, including numerous prizes and awards in competitive exhibitions. She was also a Gallery Artist (selected by jury) for many years at the South Shore Art Center.

Virginia was both a painter, print-maker and mixed media artist, working in many mediums, such as oils, acrylics, watercolors, collages, as well as etchings and mono-prints. She was fascinated by the passage of time, which can be seen in the luminous colors and reflections found in her many paintings. Additionally, myth, symbol and allegorical imagery were prominent components of the etchings and prints she created.

Professor Allen was born and raised in Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. She received her A.B. degree in Zoology from Mount Holyoke College, her M.A. in Art History from the University of Pittsburgh, and her Ph.D. in Integrated Studies from Boston University. She studied printmaking and painting as an undergraduate, and also at Oklahoma City University, the Ivy School of Professional Art (Pittsburgh), the University of Pittsburgh, and as a special student at Carnegie Mellon.

She moved to the Boston area in 1967, becoming rooted for the next five decades in the community of Scituate, six houses up from the Harbor and three blocks from the ocean.

Virginia had two children - a married daughter in Scituate, her son, his partner and a beloved granddaughter in Seattle. Her husband of sixty-four years still lives in the home they created together in 1967.

This website was created by Virginia's daughter as an act of appreciation for the vast legacy and body of work that she left behind for all of us to enjoy.