How it Started
In 2025, the Virginia Community College System announced the biennial 2026 VCCS Poet Laureate and Visual Arts luminary competition. The competition was held at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, VA. Each of Virginia’s 23 community colleges was encouraged to select one student from the visual arts category to attend and participate in the statewide competition.
As part of the competition requirements, visual arts students were asked to submit a project proposal highlighting the importance of visual art within their community. Elena Kollin’s piece, The Dreaming Lioness, and her project Appalachian Matriarchs Art Exhibition, went on to win the Inaugural Visual Arts Luminary Award.
https://www.vccs.edu/blog/vccs-poetry-and-visual-arts-competition-returns-for-2026/
The Appalachian Matriarchs Project combines visual, spoken, and written storytelling to highlight the diversity of Appalachia’s rich matriarchal history. By contrasting ethnographic research with visual interpretations, we aim to reveal the influence of matriarchal legacy on the region’s cultural psyche.
The Dreaming Lioness
by Elena Kollin
Mission
The Logo
The Appalachian Matriarchs logo was inspired by the Appalachian Quilt Star Flag designed by Benjamin Logan Wyrosdick in 2023, who describes the flag as depicting “the uniquely beautiful landscape of the ancient Appalachian mountains, with a forward-beaming morning sun rolling over the distant blue mountains, a sign of a bright day.” We paired this imagery with the symbol of the Triple Goddess, representing the moon’s phases and its relation to feminine identities and experiences of womanhood.
Designed by Elena Kollin
About Elena Kollin
Elena Kollin is an artist residing in Abingdon, VA. She spent the bulk of her childhood in Napa, CA, and previously attended UC Santa Cruz, graduating summa cum laude with degrees in English Language Literature and in Italian Studies. In 2020, she moved to Damascus, VA, and she has lived in Appalachia for the past six years. In 2025, she enrolled in a drawing course at Virginia Highlands Community College during which she entered and won first prize for the state-wide Virginia Community College Poet Laureate and Visual Arts Luminary competition. As Visual Arts Luminary, Elena was given two years to complete her project proposal, Appalachian Matriarchs, combining her passion for visual arts, women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.
During her two-year term as the VCCS Visual Art Luminary, Elena will design and coordinate a collaborative project, titled “Matriarchs of Appalachia,” involving community engagement, ethnographic research, and visual artmaking, culminating in an exhibition of works in the Art Lab Galleries at the William King Museum of Art in October 2027.
