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The Suffolk Art League has announced the retirement of a longtime Suffolk mainstay, following decades of contributions to the city’s art scene.

Suffolk Art League Executive Director Linda Glasscock Bunch will be retiring from the role this coming November after years of service to SAL. Starting as an Administrative Assistant in 1987, Bunch’s work has seen her rise as an Executive Director, advancing public art initiatives, promoting local artists and advocating as an artist, leader and educator.

With a concentration in Crafts, Bunch received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior to SAL, Bunch served as Director of the Isle of Wight County Recreational Facilities Authority ceramics shop. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Hampton Roads, where she also served as President. In 2015, Bunch was also recognized with the Alli Award for Arts Professionals. SAL also honored Bunch for her work with a retirement party held on Wednesday, Oct. 9 that saw attendance from many Suffolk dignitaries. Pharmacist and Former Mayor S. Chris Jones gave remarks to Bunch during the event.

“We wish you the best…,” Jones said to Bunch. “But I just want to say on behalf of everyone here, on behalf of the city, thank you for all that you have done over the years and your dedication of just being there and pushing for those who need to be exposed to the arts. It’s been a passion and it’s been a devotion of what you have done for so many years.”

Prior to the event, Bunch took time to chat about her milestone and reflect on her life in art in a Tuesday, Oct. 8 interview.

“I cannot remember a time in my life when art was not part of my life. Both my parents were very creative, my grandmother was a painter, so I cannot remember there not being art in my life. We went to museums, we did a little traveling, always went to art museums and history museums. It’s always played a big part of my life,” Bunch said.

Bunch says her mother was a musician who taught music lessons and was involved in visual art. Her mother also encouraged Bunch and her brother and sister to “explore creative avenues.”

“Like I say, art has always been part of my growing up and every facet of my life. So, it was destined,” she says.

On her main goal to advocate for the arts in Suffolk, she says she shares SAL’s mission on “unlocking the gateway for the arts.”

“Art should be for everyone,” Bunch said. “It’s not for the wealthy or the affluent or whatever. Art should be part of everybody’s life, like it was in mine. That has always been a big focus of what the organization wanted and its vision in life. So, we were a good match and that we can take our programs into the schools at no cost. We can do community art things at the Farmers Market or Taste of Suffolk or wherever, and give people a chance.”

Bunch continued, noting the class workshops at SAL, sponsors and grants and offering programs in the community that most families and residents can afford.

“Our summer art days are $1 a kid to come once a week to do an art project, and if you don’t have $1, we’re not going to turn you away,” she said with a laugh.

On retiring, Bunch says she’s looking forward to having her own studio time to make art and express herself. However, she says she will still be involved with SAL as “they will let me.”

“You know, you invest 37 years of your life into something that you can’t just turn it off! It’s a part of you,” she said. “So Art League’s the big fundraiser – The Antique Show – in February, I’ll still be very active with that. The Earth and Arts Festival that the Art League is a partner in, I’ll still be involved in that. The Plein Air Festival that we just had in September, that’s done with the Suffolk Center in the city, I plan to still be involved with that. So I still plan to be very much a part of the art scene in Suffolk. It’s just too much of who I am to just walk away from it.”

In a message to the Suffolk community, Bunch gave a simple statement: “Support the arts.”

“It’s just, it’s such a vital part of any community,” she said. “…The arts can be such a vital part of communities and an economic driver for communities, and artists are such wonderful people to have in your community, because most of them are such giving people that it enhances the community in so many different ways…I think the arts can assist the city in its growth and its success, and it can be very much a partnership I guess. Not that it’s one way or the other – that the arts and the city can grow together and make the place more wonderful than it already is.”