From its founding to today, Virginia has played host and backdrop to emerging and established artists who successfully define the creativity, innovation, and beauty of the state. This presentation jumps through eras and mediums to provide an overview of Virginia’s contributions to the art world, shedding light on the talented visual artists and their works all connected to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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At First Blush: The Use of Pink in Art
The color pink – in all its many hues – is often included in an artists’ palette. This visual presentation highlights the use of pink and its effectiveness to punctuate, enhance, and emphasize within a multitude of mediums.
Request ProgramMuseums and Social Responsibility
Museums are places for ideas and dialogue that use collections, exhibitions, and programs to inspire people. The power of museums lies in acting as agents of social change. Museums are uniquely positioned to acknowledge and accept the needs, concerns, and issues of the diverse, often disenfranchised, and shifting audience landscape. As a place of dialogue…
Request ProgramPropaganda vs. Social Commentary in Art During World War I
The Twentieth Century presented society with a long list of incomprehensible situations and events, beginning with World War I. Acting as a buffer between the horrors of reality and individual’s perceptions of the world, art helps to inform, explain and educate society, but it can also be used to change people’s perceptions. In August 1914,…
Request ProgramThe Nativity Cycle in Western Art
Narrative scenes of the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary were, by the Middle Ages, the most common images in Western art, and were found throughout the architecture of the church – pulpit, doors, altarpieces, and so on. These scenes were remarkable for their consistency of composition. The reason is that these scenes were…
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Anthropomorphism parodies our tendency to see the human in everything, reminding us at the same time of the separate, secret reality of nature. Most cultures possess a long-standing fable tradition with anthropomorphized animals as characters that can stand as commonly recognized types of human behavior. This lecture traces the anthropomorphic development of the classic characters…
Request Program“My Day Long Obsession, Joy and Torment”: The Use of Color in Art
The American Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko once said: “A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience.” Objectively, color is the element of art that is produced when light, striking an object, is reflected back to the eye. Subjectively, color is a sensation, a human reaction to a hue arise in part from…
Request ProgramThe History of Early Video Games
This presentation discusses the evolution of the video game from the 1960s through the late 1990s, with a focus on Atari and Nintendo.
Request ProgramWhat’s it Worth: Researching your Collection
Join Mrs. Emilia Penney, professional appraiser and estate specialist, as she discusses the resources and processes used in evaluating objects and collections. In this workshop, participants will discover tips for identifying heirlooms and investigating family treasures through online research venues. This will be a fun and informative event as Mrs. Penney shares her tales from…
Request ProgramThe Cartoonist in Comics: Varying Levels of Autobiography in Dean Haspiel’s Comics
More than any single living cartoonist, Dean Haspiel has presented slivers and full looks at both his life and others through his work. The master of the “semi-autobio” comic, Dean has presented his life directly in Opposable Thumbs, partially in Street Code, and through the lens of a fictitious avatar in his successful comic book and digital strip Billy Dogma. Dean’s work has also graced the biographies of authors Harvey Pekar (American Splendor), Jonathan Ames (The Quitter), and Inverna Lockpez (Cuba). This presentation chronicles the cartoonist from his early days as an assistant in the industry to his current position as a digital comics pioneer.
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