Varina alum and artist celebrates school’s historic milestone with gifted painting

Artist Joseph Mack has been commissioned by the families of several legendary entertainers – Chadwick Boseman, James Brown, B. B. King, and others – to create portraits of them.

But coming home to dedicate a portrait to his alma mater, Varina High School, was a special full-circle moment for Mack.

The portrait depicts Varina High Principal Cherita Sears, who became the first Black woman to serve as principal of the school after taking the position in 2023. For a once all-white segregated school, and the first in Henrico to be desegregated, the moment is absolutely “something to be celebrated,” Mack said.

“I’m proud of her. And it's a huge accomplishment for Varina as a whole,” he said. “[The painting] also just felt like a good way of honoring where I came from and what brought me up to become an artist today.”

The artwork is something that will be “appreciated for years to come,” said Sears.

“It is truly a beautiful piece,” she said. “And I am touched by the thought, creativity, and care that went into making it.”

For Mack, a native of Henrico, the piece was also a tribute to “where it all started” for him: his artistry, his motivation, and his roots within Varina.

Mack, who signs his pieces as “Joey Withinarts,” still has the art awards he won back as a middle-schooler at John Rolfe Middle, where he was first told by his teachers that he would make a good artist. 

His skills began picking up when he started at Varina High School in 2008. He also joined the wrestling team with his brother and competed at shot put on the track and field team. Surrounded by his five brothers and three sisters, along with his cousins who attended Henrico High School, Mack said he felt invigorated by the hunger and energy around him.

“When I was growing up, there was a whole lot of passion and motivation around me, from my siblings, to my friends, to my cousins, to the school,” Mack said. “They gave you that push. The school system definitely gave me that push. They just mold you to become great.”

But Mack remembers also feeling like the “weak link” among his siblings, who excelled in Advanced Placement classes. In high school, he felt like the emphasis was on either academics or athletics, with art as more of an afterthought. Considering art more of a hobby, he never felt that it could be his “endgame.”

“I felt like being an artist was left out career-wise. A lot of kids grow up and want to be in the NFL or the NBA, but when you talk to someone who loves art, you always ask them, ‘where do you go from here?’” he said. “Even when you take art as a class, you just switch to another class and it ends right there. There weren't a lot of programs you do after school to keep up like athletes.”

But during the school day, Mack never could wait to get to art class.

After graduating from Varina in 2012 and moving to South Carolina, Mack continued his hobby. One day, while working at his receptionist job in Greenville, a local radio host noticed Mack drawing on a paper and invited him on her show. From there, his career took off.

Since then, Mack has produced an abundance of pieces celebrating Black history, Black artists and changemakers. When he returned to Varina to gift his portrait to Sears, Mack also gifted a portrait of his cousins, Immanuwel and Moshea Aleem – both professional boxers – to them in Richmond to celebrate their journeys and how their own passion motivated his artistry.

“My cousins, they encouraged me with art and I encouraged them with boxing, and we both were just going back and forth, motivating each other,” Mack said. “When I was watching them growing up, I was like, ‘man, they’re really taking off.’ So that kind of pushed me in the direction to be an artist.”

“To me, this painting represents more than an image. It represents family, identity, perseverance, and the legacy we’re building together,” Immanuwel Aleem said. “Having my cousin Joey create this painting means a lot to me. It’s special when someone who knows you personally can take their talent and create something that represents you beyond what people see in the ring.”

Mack has always been drawn to portraits. In history, portraits were a significant way to remember people by, he said. Even now, with photography and other advanced technology, portraits capture something that cannot be captured the same way with a camera.

“Our faces as humans are so unique, because with the slightest difference of the eye or the nose, you can tell the difference between this person and that person,” he said. “People are special. I feel like their lives and their stories should be told.”

Oftentimes, Mack supplements his oil pastel and acrylic paintings with other materials: ceramic putty, cotton, cloth, wood, and more to make the picture “pop out” and give it a 3-D look.

“I use a bunch of different textures. It makes the picture feel more real,” he said. “I love grabbing anything I can find to make the picture more alive.”

The artistic world can be tough, Mack said, and often a testament to how much you believe in yourself and your work. Judgement and criticism is inherent to the field, and not everyone will understand or appreciate what you have created, he said.

“Art is so judgmental because it always depends on the viewer. You really don’t know what makes an artist good,” Mack said. “With athletes, you can play a game and win it, and everybody knows you won. But when it comes down to art, you can get 10 judges and they’ll give you 10 different opinions. Or you can have a picture on the wall, and one person will say the picture represents something completely different than the next person looking at it.”

To young students facing similar questions that Mack had to contend with – "Is my art worth pursuing? Can I really become a successful artist?" – Mack has one message: stick with it. Believing in yourself is the biggest hurdle to overcome, he said.

“You’ve got to have the courage and the patience to say, ‘you know what, I love it, And I want to do another picture,’” he said. “There’s a reason why you decided to pick up a pencil or use a paintbrush. Not everybody will have the ability or patience to do it, but you never know where it can take you.”

Liana Hardy is the Citizen’s government and education reporter. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.