Talks + Lectures

Sun, Feb 23, 2025
2–3 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

Join visual journalist and educator Brian Palmer and Dr. Sarah Kennel, the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper, for a discussion about Palmer's works currently on view at VMFA in the exhibition Home/Grown. Learn more about how the artist pays tribute to history through his photography and activist work in the Richmond community.

From the comfort of home, watch live on our livestream page.

RESCHEDULED: The lecture will now take place on Sun, Feb 23, 2025. It was originally scheduled for Sun, Feb 16, 2025.

Thu, Feb 27, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members, $5)
Cheek Theater

Last year, VMFA became the first major US art museum to lend a work from its permanent collection to a sub-Saharan African institution. This talk details the collaboration between the museum and the Congolese Plantation Workers Art League art collective located in the remote village of Lusanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo that led to this loan. Dr. Ndubuisi Ezeluomba, Curator of African Art, will explain how this historic collaborative engagement came about and recount the long and fascinating journey that he and VMFA's sculpture made.

From the comfort of home, watch live on our livestream page.

Thu, Mar 6, 2025
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater

Join Dr. Margaret Laird to explore how, where, and why nonprofessional artists created pictorial graffiti and drawings of women on walls and other media. Although women were uncommon subjects for Pompeii’s artists, their images were nevertheless given prominence and power. This lecture has adult content, including images of graffiti with mature themes.

The Mary Ann Frable Lecture is presented annually by a distinguished scholar to foster the study and appreciation of ancient Mediterranean art and is supported by the Jack and Mary Ann Frable Fund for Ancient Art.

From the comfort of home, watch live on our livestream page.

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Speaker Bio

Dr. Margaret Laird is Associate Professor of Latin and Classics at the University of Delaware. She earned her PhD from Princeton University. Her published work includes the book Civic Monuments and the Augustales in Roman Italy.

Thu, Apr 3, 2025*
6:30–7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater
SOLD OUT

Join exhibition curator Dr. Sarah Powers for a talk that marks the opening of Frida: Beyond the Myth. Learn how the exhibition moves past the mythology surrounding Mexican artist Frida Kahlo and how it elucidates the inspiring life and work of this extraordinary woman whose jewel-like paintings are among the most memorable and haunting images of the 20th century. Dr. Powers will explore works on view in the exhibition, which showcases a selection of paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs.

From the comfort of home, watch live on our livestream page.

*Please note this date, as the talk was rescheduled after the Winter/Spring 2025 Classes & Programs brochure published.