September 10, 2014
You don’t often get to use “beer” and “art exhibition” in the same sentence. But you will beginning on October 4 when Hardywood Park Craft Brewery unveils its new Belgian white ale specially brewed in honor of VMFA’s upcoming special exhibition Forbidden City: Imperial Treasure from the Palace Museum, Beijing (opens October 18). By celebrating…
August 12, 2014
Rarely do people enter an art museum hoping to see art being made, but rather they venture in to see the completed masterpieces. At least not until recently, that is. Ryan McGinness: Studio Visit is a full-blown recreation of contemporary artist (and VMFA favorite) Ryan McGinness’s New York loft studio, right inside the museum. This…
August 4, 2014
I never met an exhibit I didn’t like, by which I mean to say that I never came away from an exhibit that didn’t give me something. So, here comes this show with so many images of beauty that I admired throughout my childhood and adulthood that they brought back the old mythologies of childhood:…
July 28, 2014
VMFA is among the first art museums in the United States to commemorate the centenary of the start of World War I with its exhibition THE GREAT WAR: Printmakers of World War I (on view now through November 11, 2014). Comprising more than 28 works on paper by European and American artists, THE GREAT WAR considers the role of…
July 15, 2014
How do we use our bodies to tell our story? On Thursday, July 17, 6:30 – 7:30 pm, Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art moderates a powerful discussion between artists Sonya Clark and Robert Pruitt, whose work is currently featured in Identity Shifts, about the shifting ideas of culture, history, and…
July 14, 2014
Reprinted from the KaKY (Kollege and Kareer 4 Youth) blog with permission from Marcy Williams, MBA The exploration of beauty in the African American culture has been explored for centuries. From the earliest days of slavery to the most recent neo-soul era, the topic of what is considered beauty in the African American culture has…
June 26, 2014
Recently you may have noticed that the advertisements for our current exhibition, Posing Beauty in African American Culture, have changed. After the opening of the exhibition, visitors told us that they thought this was an important show, plumbing issues of shared and individual identify, the shifting definitions of beauty, and a slice of historical and…
June 24, 2014
Family Day on Saturday Brings Many New Faces to VMFA and Posing Beauty by Nicole Gilpin Hood, PhD, chapter journalist for Richmond (VA) Chapter, The Links, Incorporated Last Saturday, from 1 pm until 4 pm, the doors were open and the whole world came. The family event was called Celebrate African and African American Art…
June 23, 2014
“Posing Beauty . . . considers black beauty without venturing to define it. It poses important questions about aesthetics so diverse and dynamic that they defy boundaries.” Read this inspiring post about Posing Beauty by Maya Payne Smart.
June 9, 2014
I experienced a déjà vu moment recently while viewing Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach quilt, which is part of the Identity Shifts exhibition at VMFA. Many years ago, I lived in New York City and served on the board for Children’s Museum of Manhattan, a great organization. I vividly recall a wonderful exhibit at that museum…
