Past Events › Lecture

After many years of planning, ground was broken in March 2023 for the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Visual Arts. Designed by Bill Butler of the world-renowned firm Pelli Clarke and Partners, the Center will be the new home of the Muscarelle Museum of Art when it opens in fall 2024. The design features a grand entry atrium, new education spaces, a tripling of gallery space, and many other important features. Join us for this Zoom-based program hosted by David Brashear, Director of the Muscarelle, that will include an update and progress report on the construction underway.

This semester, our Muscarelle Explorations lecture series will dive into the people, the art and the stories that have defined the Muscarelle over the past 40 years. The earliest advocate for a campus museum was William & Mary Chancellor Professor Emeritus Miles Chappell, who surveyed what was called the “College Art Collection” in the early 1970s. Chappell’s project revealed that over nearly 300 years, the university had amassed a sizeable collection of art, and there was a clear need for a museum to preserve and protect the works. Join us for a casual conversation between Muscarelle Director David Brashear and…

This semester, our Muscarelle Explorations lecture series will dive into the people, the art and the stories that have defined the Muscarelle over the past 40 years. One of the most iconic elements of the Muscarelle Museum of Art is the large installation of colorful illuminated tubes on its front facade. The work, entitled Sun Sonata, features color arrangements designed by artist Gene Davis, a central figure of the Washington Color School, a movement epitomized by color field painting and centered in Washington, D.C. Learn more about the artist and the movement in this lecture by Jack Rasmussen of the American University…

UPDATE! Due to a scheduling complication, the topics of our Oct. 4 and Oct. 11 talks have been swapped! Cats in Art will now be presented on Oct. 4 and Self-Portraits will be presented on Oct. 11. Art in the Afternoon is a four-part lecture series presented by Muscarelle Docents. Join us Wednesdays in October for these illuminated art history presentations. Herding cats? Puss in boots on canvas? A purring pun or two. Ver- Meerkat? We’ve got it all in this lighthearted survey of artists’ representations of cats in various artistic roles presented by Docent Lisa Smith. They’re everywhere. All we’ve…

This semester, our Muscarelle Explorations lecture series will dive into the people, the art and the stories that have defined the Muscarelle over the past 40 years — and into the future. One of the great privileges of being the Director of an art museum is the opportunity to guide the expansion of the permanent collection and chart its direction. The Muscarelle is currently focused on expanding the representation in our collection, with a special emphasis on adding works by women and artists of color. Join Director David Brashear as he surveys the progress the Muscarelle team is making toward…

UPDATE! Due to a scheduling complication, the topics of our Oct. 4 and Oct. 11 talks have been swapped! Cats in Art will now be presented on Oct. 4 and Self-Portraits will be presented on Oct. 11. Art in the Afternoon is a four-part lecture series presented by Muscarelle Docents. Join us Wednesdays in October for these illuminated art history presentations. Today, anyone with a cell phone can capture a “self-portrait” – or so it seems. But what do artists hope to achieve when they create images of themselves? How do they want to be seen and understood? And how…

This semester, our Muscarelle Explorations lecture series will dive into the people, the art and the stories that have defined the Muscarelle over the past 40 years. In the 1930s, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller donated what is possibly the most famous work in the Museum's collection, White Flower, by Georgia O'Keeffe. She hoped her gift would be seen "not only as an aesthetic gesture but also as an inspiration to the young women who are students at William & Mary." Barbara Buhler Lynes, the preeminent scholar on O'Keeffe, will visit campus to discuss the life and work of the artist. Since 1946, the…