Member Events

Wed, Apr 24, 6 pm

Join Dr. Susan J. Rawles, Associate Curator of American Painting and Decorative Art, for a program celebrating the opening of A Return to the Grand Tour: Micromosaic Jewels from the Collection of Elizabeth Locke. Her talk will explore this extraordinary collection of intricately crafted works made for fashionable 18th- and 19th-century tourists as souvenirs of their journey. Following the talk, enjoy cocktails and a preview of these dazzling objects in the Works on Paper Focus Gallery.

A Return to the Grand Tour: Micromosaic Jewels from the Collection of Elizabeth Locke is sponsored by Pam and Bill Royall and Peachtree House Foundation.

Fellows Programs are a benefit for members beginning at the Fellows Society level.
To reserve or learn more, please call 804.340.1499. 

Fri, Apr 26, 6 pm 
Artist Talk: Dawoud Bey

Dawoud Bey began his career in 1975 with a series of photographs, Harlem, USA, that were later exhibited in his first one-person exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1979. He has since had numerous exhibitions worldwide and his works are included in the permanent collections of over fifty museums throughout the United States and Europe. A recipient of a 2017 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, among other honors, Bey holds an MFA from Yale University and is currently Professor of Art at Columbia College Chicago, where he has taught since 1998.

The VMFA Circle Lecture Series is open to all members beginning at the Friends Circle level.

Thu, May 16, 6 pm 
Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Pundit
with Dr. Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Professor of Art and Art History, Duke University

Best known for his evocative portraits of African Americans in the 1920s and 1930s and his chromatically brilliant genre scenes of Jazz Age Paris and Chicago, Archibald J. Motley, Jr. is rarely viewed from the vantage point of an artist/correspondent who, in the manner of a photo-documentarian or a socially committed painter, explores people’s lives and social conditions and visually tracks their movements, both literally and figuratively. This talk proposes an interpretative way into Motley’s art that acknowledges its expressive, modernist preoccupations while also contending with Motley as an urban chronicler, recounting America’s shifting demographics and transformations.

The VMFA Circle Lecture Series is open to all members beginning at the Friends Circle level.

Thu, Jun 27, 6 pm 
Dynamism and Multisensory Experience in Contemporary West African Masquerade
with Dr. Lisa Homann, Assistant Professor of Art History, UNC Charlotte

Based on extensive research in Burkina Faso, this talk will offer an overview of contemporary masquerade practices, addressing the question, “What is masquerade?” While we might be accustomed to understanding African masks as wood headpieces displayed on walls in museums and private collections, Dr. Homann demonstrates that masks are more than objects to be looked at. Rather, mask headpieces are just one element of the dynamic and multisensory experience of masquerade. Her presentation will include photographs, videos, and eyewitness accounts of spectacular recent mask performances.

The VMFA Circle Lecture Series is open to all members beginning at the Friends Circle level.