Artist Roster

The mixed media Collage Paintings of felicia Belair-Rigdon have evolved through a concentration on collage incorporating handmade and artist-made paper. These works focus on other-worldly matters as a synergy of the artists early childhood experiences at  church, theater, and  the auction house.

Born in1938, Belair-Rigdon grew up in Old Town Alexandria; the daughter of Felix Belair, Jr., a New York Times correspondent and Margaret Popp an avid collector and hobbiest.

Upon graduating from high school in 1957, she studied art and design in Stockholm, Sweden, attended the Parsons School of Design and received a BFA from the Richmond Professional Institute-a branch of William and Mary College. During this time she received recognition with a Certificate of Distinction from The Virginia Museum of Fine Art in 1963 and  again in  1965. She attended advance painting classes at the Corcoran School, in Washington, DC while working in the Communications/Advertising field.

In 1967 Belair-Rigdon married Thomas E. Rigdon, Jr. and resided in Washington, D.C. with their daughter, Jessica E. Rigdon. The couple moved to Columbia, MD where the artist formed a cooperative gallery showing her work and took a studio at the Foundy Gallery housed in the Savage Mill. She was juried into the Torpedo Factory Art Center in 1990 and maintained a studio there for 22 years. These were years of recognition from national jurors and she received many awards for her works on paper.

Says New York critic Donald Kuspit, "A compelling combination of past and present, this is to me a central, contemporary and topical motif. . .which calls attention to vulnerability and mortality."

Steven Lanier of the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts honored  Belair-Rigdon with Best In Show, Art Howard County 1993, Howard County Arts Council.