Based in Baltimore and also active in Wilmington, Delaware, Virginia West is known as a weaver and textile artist specializing in wearable art. She studied at the Philadelphia College of Textiles (now Philadelphia University), Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, and Maryland Institute College of Art. A teacher and writer as well as a working artist, she taught at Maryland Institute, becoming its first weaving instructor after a 25-year gap, and at the Bureau of Recreation at Patterson Park, and wrote several books about weaving techniques. West is also known for her contribution to the development of weaving computer software programs.
West is represented in the collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art, as well as private corporate collections in Maryland, and was a juror for the 19th annual contemporary craft exhibition at the Delaware Museum of Art in 1975. She is a member of the Twenty Weavers of Washington, the Baltimore Weavers Guild, and the Maryland Craft Council.
