Talks

Join Dr. John Henry Rice, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, for a 3 in 30 program connected to the special exhibition India’s Great Mughals: Art, Power, and Opulence. Objects on view in the permanent galleries will explore the fact that as much as the Mughals might appeal to our curiosity, they were equally fascinated by their adopted Indian home.

IMAGE: Two Holy Men Conversing in a Landscape, 1640–50, Payag (Indian, ca. 1591–ca. 1658) opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2025.59

Join Dr. John Henry Rice, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, for a 3 in 30 program connected to the special exhibition India’s Great Mughals: Art, Power, and Opulence. Objects on view in the permanent galleries will explore the fact that as much as the Mughals might appeal to our curiosity, they were equally fascinated by their adopted Indian home.

IMAGE: Two Holy Men Conversing in a Landscape, 1640–50, Payag (Indian, ca. 1591–ca. 1658) opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2025.59

Explore artworks on view in the largest gallery at VMFA: the museum's open spaces. Join Izzie Fuqua, Interpretation and Digital Project Coordinator, for a discussion of three works of art in the permanent collection that have changed the physical landscape of the museum both inside and out.

IMAGE: Chloe, 2016, Jaume Plensa (Spanish, born 1955), polyester resin, marble dust, and stainless steel. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2017.1. ©️ Jaume Plensa

 About this Event 
Join us as we honor and celebrate the life and legacy of painter, activist, educator, and trailblazer Mary Lovelace O'Neal (1942–2026), whose career spanned more than six decades. Learn about Lovelace O'Neal's artistic practice and the pivotal decade that is the focus of the VMFA exhibition Mary Lovelace O’Neal: Blacker Than a Hundred Midnights Down in a Cypress Swamp organized by Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Cassel Oliver will explore the many highlights of Lovelace O'Neal's remarkable career during this period, the exhibition's large-scale paintings, and her use of lampblack, a deep rich pigment made from powdered soot created by burning oil.  

To watch from the comfort of home, visit our livestream page.

  
Photo of Mary Lovelace O’Neal. Courtesy the artist and Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York and San Francisco  
  
About the Artist  
A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Mary Lovelace O'Neal earned her BFA in 1964 from Howard University, where she studied under David Driskell and Lois Mailou Jones. During her time in Washington, DC, she was active in the Civil Rights movement, working closely with Stokely Carmichael and many other political and cultural icons. She was a member of Howard's student-led Nonviolent Action Group (NAG) and an active participant in sit-ins organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). 
  
During an undergrad residency in 1963 at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, she happened upon lampblack pigment. She began to use lampblack in earnest as a graduate student at Columbia University, where she earned an MFA in 1969. While in New York City, she became part of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) engaging with writers and musicians whose works left an imprint upon her practice. Lovelace O'Neal's prolific career as a painter, activist, teacher, and trailblazer spanned more than six decades. After nearly five decades, she retired from the University of California at Berkeley, earning the title of Professor Emerita. Lovelace O'Neal resided between Oakland, California, and Mérida, Mexico, where she passed away on May 10, 2026.

To celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse, join Dr. Wai Yee Chiong, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art, in exploring three works in the East Asian galleries with equine themes.

https://www.vmfa.museum/programs/3-in-30 

IMAGE: Chiryū, Early Summer Horse Fair, 1833–34, Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858), woodblock print, ink and color on paper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, General Endowment Fund, 58.14.40

To celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse, join Dr. Wai Yee Chiong, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art, in exploring three works in the East Asian galleries with equine themes.

https://www.vmfa.museum/programs/3-in-30 

IMAGE: Chiryū, Early Summer Horse Fair, 1833–34, Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858), woodblock print, ink and color on paper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, General Endowment Fund, 58.14.40

Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award, sponsored by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Library of Virginia, recognizes an outstanding book published in the previous year that is written primarily in response to a work (or works) of art while also showing the highest literary quality as a creative or scholarly work. Author Sue Prideaux will offer a presentation on this year’s winning book, Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin. A book signing and reception will follow the program.

To watch from the comfort of home, visit our livestream page.

Explore the tension between human memory and disaster through three objects from the ancient Roman world that survived through different means. One was preserved by a sudden volcanic eruption, one was buried by earthquake, and one was salvaged from a campaign of political erasure. Together, they help us understand how archaeology pieces together the fragments of the past when human history and nature collide.

https://www.vmfa.museum/programs/3-in-30 

IMAGE: Floor Mosaic with the Four Seasons, AD 250–300, Roman (Antioch), limestone and glass tesserae. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 51.13

Explore the tension between human memory and disaster through three objects from the ancient Roman world that survived through different means. One was preserved by a sudden volcanic eruption, one was buried by earthquake, and one was salvaged from a campaign of political erasure. Together, they help us understand how archaeology pieces together the fragments of the past when human history and nature collide.

https://www.vmfa.museum/programs/3-in-30 

IMAGE: Floor Mosaic with the Four Seasons, AD 250–300, Roman (Antioch), limestone and glass tesserae. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 51.13

As part of Fine Arts & Flowers, reimagine landscape design as living composition in this talk, "Garden as Art" by Stephen Eich. 

Eich considers landscape design as a deliberate act of composition—where space, light, movement, and time shape experience in collaboration with nature. Drawing from contexts that range from private estates to rooftops and cultural spaces, Hollander Design Partner Stephen Eich explores gardens as curated visual experiences, from collaborations with sculptors to the thoughtful process of creating compositions that evoke memory and feeling. Through luminous photography of the firm’s nationally recognized work, Eich reveals how gardens can function not only as places we inhabit, but as works of art in themselves.

Stephen Eich directs the design, development, and construction of city-based projects ranging from residential terraces and corporate headquarters to hospitality and park redevelopment. Since joining the firm in 2010, Stephen has overseen the design and management of some of the firm’s most highly publicized and notable projects in New York City and abroad. Stephen’s hospitality, residential, and office projects have won accolades from the ASLA, AIA, and ICAA, and recognition in publications such as Elle Décor and Architectural Digest. 

Book signing to follow featuring The Landscape of Home.

Design with sumptuous old-world charm reminiscent of classical paintings as part of Fine Arts & Flowers.

Natasja Sadi is a celebrated floral designer, artist, photographer, storyteller, fashion designer, baker, and the author of A Sweet Floral Life. 

Originally born in Suriname, she has been captivated by vivid environments filled with light and color throughout her life, leading her to become one of Amsterdam's most renowned floral creatives. The world around Sadi has always been an endless source of intrigue and creative inspiration. These fascinations fuel her work, from her background in creating bridal couture to composing and photographing fresh flower arrangements and sculpting ethereal sugar flowers in the Dutch still life tradition from her home atelier in Amsterdam. 

Sadi's exquisite, lifelike sugar floral sculptures are part of museum collections in the Netherlands and North America. Her work has been featured in international magazines such as Elle Décor USA, Flower Magazine, Victoria, Town & Country, and The World of Interiors. A highly sought-after teacher and lecturer, Sadi has helped people discover the joy of creating and preserving beauty through teaching floral design and the secrets of sugar flower artistry in Europe, Asia, South Africa, and North America.

Book signing to follow featuring Sadi’s A Sweet Floral Life.

Design with a modern take on traditional interiors as part of Fine Arts & Flowers. 

Caroline Gidiere is an internationally acclaimed interior decorator known for using traditional design to create interiors that are both beautiful and relevant for today’s modern world. She received the Institute of Classical Arts and Architecture’s Philip Trammel Shutze Award for Interior Design in 2023. Veranda named her one of six “Next Legends.” Gidiere has twice been a finalist for ADAC Atlanta’s Designer of the Year and was recently included on Traditional Home’s "New Trad List." Her work has been featured in the pages and digital platforms of Veranda, Vogue, AD Spain, the Wall Street Journal, House & Garden, Southern Living, Flower, and many more. You may know her from her Schumacher Home Tour, which has received more than 1.4 million views. 

Signing to follow featuring Caroline’s book Interiors for a Life in Good Taste, which was released in March 2025 and sold more than 10,000 copies in the first six months.