April 2023
Hands On: A Ceramics Experience with Michelle Erickson ’82
Students are invited to meet ceramic artist Michelle Erickson ’82 and learn about her new work in progress entitled “UNITY,” commissioned in collaboration with the Muscarelle Museum of Art and William & Mary. After an introduction to the project, students will participate in the project by getting their hands in the clay and leaving handprints or handwriting — a cathartic lasting expression of their time at William & Mary as unique individuals and a united community. Students who RSVP by April 17 will take home an Extraordinary Cupcake from the event! ABOUT THE PROJECT “UNITY” was commissioned to commemorate the…
Find out more »Museum Trip: Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art
This spring, visit some of the most exciting exhibitions coming to the region’s best museums, and leave the planning to us. On Thursday, April 20, we’ll travel to the VA MOCA in Virginia Beach to see the newly opened exhibition Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick. Featuring more than 80 works from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer, the exhibition offers a broad overview of Walker’s career. “A leading artist of her generation, Kara Walker (b. 1969) works in a range of mediums, including prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture, film, and the large-scale silhouette cutouts for which she is perhaps most…
Find out more »Careers in Museums Panel
Hear from 4 professionals working in a wide variety of roles in different museums around the commonwealth. Don't miss this opportunity to network and learn about careers in museums! Panelists include: David Brashear, Director, Muscarelle Museum of Art Christy S. Coleman, Executive Director, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Timshel Purdum '93, Virginia C. Ellett Deputy Director of Education, Science Museum of Virginia Gary Ryan, Director & CEO, Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art Pizza lunch provided! Sponsored by the Office of Career Development & Professional Engagement and the Muscarelle Museum of Art
Find out more »The Art of the Book Workshop
In this two-day intensive workshop, participants will explore and study the exciting world of the history of books in Swem Library’s Special Collections Research Center. Participants will examine rare books in Special Collections, learn about the history of the book, and create a collaborative artwork using one of the oldest forms of book making through relief printmaking. Participants will receive the finished design as both a print on paper and a T-shirt upon completing the class. Lunch will be provided each day. April 24-25 10 AM – 3 PM All materials will be provided, and all skill levels are welcome;…
Find out more »The Life and Work of Abstract Expressionist Lee Krasner: A Biographer’s View
Art historian and scholar Gail Levin will join us for the third talk in our spring Muscarelle Explorations series, Modern Masters at the Margins. Lee Krasner once said, “I think my painting is so autobiographical, if anyone can take the trouble to read it.” Her friend and biographer, art historian Gail Levin, who first interviewed the artist when she was a twenty-two year-old graduate student, guides us on an illustrated journey from Krasner’s birth in 1908 Brooklyn to her love of nature on the Eastern End of New York’s Long Island. Levin will not only give art historical analysis, but…
Find out more »Abstract Artist Lynne Mapp Drexler’s Journey from Virginia to Maine
Art historian and scholar Gail Levin will join us for the fourth talk in our spring Muscarelle Explorations series, Modern Masters at the Margins. Imagine a story of an artist who escaped from an art world rife with competition and her struggle to find herself, landing on an enchanted island, where she lived happily ever after, painting, though forgotten, for the rest of her life. She went so far as to write to a friend what her dealer could tell collectors who inquired about her: “advise them I’d become a hermit — an eccentric one and that I come to…
Find out more »May 2023
Muscarelle Reads: Ninth Street Women
As part of our spring Muscarelle Explorations series, Modern Masters at the Margins, join us for a virtual discussion of Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel, which chronicles the experiences of five women who dared to enter the male-dominated world of twentieth-century abstract painting — not as muses but as artists. Museum Director David Brashear will be joined by Gary Ryan, Director and CEO of the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, for a Zoom-based discussion of the book. No need to read the book in order to attend — bring your questions and enjoy the discussion! ABOUT THE BOOK: Five…
Find out more »Museum Trip: Inside the Renovations at the VMFA & the Virginia Museum of History and Culture
Join Muscarelle Director David Brashear for an insider's view of the recent and upcoming renovations at two of Richmond's premier museums. We'll start the day at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, home of the Virginia Historical Society, the oldest cultural organization in Virginia. A guided tour with museum leadership and architects will take us inside the recently completed, award-winning renovations that transformed nearly 2/3 of the museum's 250,000 square feet of space. After a break for lunch, we'll hear from Michael R. Taylor, Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Art and Education at the Virginia Museum of Fine…
Find out more »Turning the Feather Around: The Life and Work of George Morrison
Dr. Danielle Moretti-Langholtz, Curator of Native American Art at the Muscarelle, will present the final talk in our spring Muscarelle Explorations series, Modern Masters at the Margins, with a talk about artist George Morrison. Born and raised near the Grand Portage Indian Reservation in Minnesota, George Morrison (Ojibwe) had a long and distinguished career as an Abstract Expressionist painter and sculptor. This presentation will follow Morrison's life story and his foray into the inner circle of some of the most prominent American expressionists of the day, including Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, and his return to Minnesota during the…
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