Meet the Artist – S. Ross Browne

The Roanoke Arts Commission and Play Roanoke are pleased to announce the selection of S. Ross Browne as the artist who will create the mural inside the Eureka Park Recreation Center and the art panels on the exterior of the building. We’ll introduce Mr. Browne to the community with an artist’s talk on March 5, as the Richmond-based artist visits the community to begin his exploration as part of his design process. The event will feature light refreshments from the Market on Melrose. More Info. Thursday, March 5 at 5:30 PM Harrison Museum of African American Culture (2502 Melrose Avenue) About the Artist S. Ross Browne studied Communication Art and Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia and Photography at The Corcoran School of the Arts in Washington, DC. He is also an alumnus of The Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia.Browne is a professional studio artist with more than 23 years of experience. With an emphasis on painting, he has exhibited domestically and internationally in more than 70 gallery and museum exhibitions and is in multifarious private and public collections including the permanent collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. As an educator, Ross was the Art Specialist for the VCU Health System where he practiced Art Therapy and taught art to his patients, with an emphasis on pediatric hematology and oncology, infectious disease, brain injury and elder care. He was also an art educator for various support groups, including Living Well for pediatric cancer support and the Richmond Brain Tumor Support Group.Browne was an instructor for the Resident Associate Program at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC. and has taught art and design for inner city and at risk youth for the Fresh Air Fund of New York City, Weed and Seed, Project Ready and Art 180 of Richmond, Virginia.As an illustrator, his work has graced book covers from St. Martin’s Press and Enfiniti Publishing and he has been a featured artist on the Directory of Illustration website and publication.S. Ross Browne is the recipient numerous awards and honors from the Richmond Free Press, Sigma Rho Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Happily Natural Day, National Arts Program, Partners in the Arts and was the Regional Winner of the 2011 Rush Philanthropic/Bombay Sapphire Fine Art Competition. About the project, Browne said, “My approach for the mural concept is to start with actual dialogue and end with visual representations of those conversations. It is the stories and discourse with the historians, elders, local luminaries as well as the youth that will help feed the concept of the design. Those ideas will be made manifest with input from the public. I will sketch and layout the design of the mural with the voices of the people as my guidepost.”