According to the artist, her themes fall into three categories: the exploration of optical phenomena, landscape, and weaving techniques. Her resulting art work is an ongoing discourse about color theory, the shared grid of minimalist painting and woven textiles, visual rhythm and repetition, human perception, the disparity between painted and woven images, and the history of textile techniques and their human use… Art about art. Canvases about canvas. Light about light. Textiles about other textiles. Dye about paint and paint about dye. The work of Virginia Davis is thoughtful, elegant, understated, and bold. Clearly it adds an absolutely original chapter to the history of the international contemporary fiber movement.
From an essay by Laurel Reuter, Director of the North Dakota Museum of Art

Much of her work engagingly fools the eye, casting optical illusions that challenge the best of op art. Her flat weavings can appear three dimensional, with precisely arranged colors and textures converying depth. Here too, she merges old with new...austere geometric patterns reminiscent of the minimalist canvasses of Frank Stella or Agnes Martin. She explores the possibilities of double layers,...and additive processes, such as painting on her weavings with a variety of materials that reflect light in different ways... Her aim is...to blur the boundaries between weaving and painting, and to confront the notions that distinguish craft from fine art... Victoria Alba, Fiberarts, Mar/Apr, 2000

Virginia Davis makes "weavings about weaving"...Davis conveys in her work a message about the erasure of the gulf between the crafts and fine arts. Although the technical basis of her work has been ikat weaving for nearly two decades, she has begun to paint on the surface of her weavings...Technique supports and complements the conceptual basis of Davis's work as a thoughful exploration of theme and variation...
Karen S. Chamber, Surface Design Journal, Winter, 1996