Artist, educator and raconteur Joe Seipel is leaving Richmond for Savannah.

After 34 years at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, Associate Dean Joe Seipel has taken a job as vice president of academic affairs at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Ga. Seipel, 61, leaves at the end of the spring semester. He’s best known for building VCU’s world-class sculpture department, which he inherited in the mid-1980s.

Click here to read the entire article.

For over three decades Seipel’s contributions an artist and educator have had quite an impact on Richmond’s art scene and have done much to put VCU on the map. He had a hand in selecting Stanley Bleifeld as the artist for the well-received Virginia Civil Rights Memorial that was dedicated in Capitol Square, this past summer.

In 2001 Glen Harper interviewed Seipel for Sculpture Magazine.

On June 9, during the International Sculpture Conference in Pittsburgh, the International Sculpture Center presented the 2001 Outstanding Sculpture Educator award to Joseph Seipel, chair of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Department of Sculpture. Seipel has taught at VCU for 27 years and has been department chair for 16 years.

Click here to read the entire Sculpture Magazine interview.

At the end of Joe’s days as an owner of the Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe, I wrote a piece for Richmond.com in its second month on the Internet.

In 1982 three friends trusted their instincts and put together The Texas-Wisconsin Border Café, a quirky Fan District watering hole known affectionately as “The Border.” Owners Jim Bradford, Donna Van Winkle and Joe Seipel were rewarded with an immediate following and in its 17 years, The Border evolved into a bar known near and far for its wacky interior and its diverse crowd.

Click here to read that 1999 piece.