In Alexandria, Egypt, AD 391, Hypatia—one of the earliest female mathematicians, astronomers, and philosophers—is caught up in society’s upheavals: the rise of Christianity as a political force, religious conflict, and threats to institutions of higher learning. Hypatia’s student Orestes is in love with her as is her personal servant. Hypatia only interests are the movement of the sun and planets and the brotherhood of all. This film complements the special exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities.
Special Events
Opening Talk: Sunken Treasures from Ancient Egypt
Franck Goddio will highlight the thrilling discoveries at the heart of the exhibition Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities. Since 1996, Goddio and his team of archaeologists, Egyptologists, historians, geologists, geophysicists, and computer engineers have been surveying Aboukir Bay. After four years, they located the submerged ancient city of Thonis-Heracleion and parts of the city of Canopus.
Goddio founded the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology, of which he serves as president. He is a visiting professor of Oxford University and the co-founder of the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology. The work of the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology in Egypt is performed in close cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry for Antiquities.
Quill Theatre Presents: The Great Gatsby
Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, passionately pursues the elusive Daisy Buchanan. Nick Carraway, a young newcomer to Long Island, is drawn into their world of obsession, greed, and danger. The breathtaking glamor and decadent excess of the Jazz Age come to the stage in this adaptation by Simon Levy from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel.
For additional details and full cast listing, please visit the Quill Theatre website.
3 in 30: Kamoinge
Join Professional Photographer and Studio School Administrative Assistant for the Studio School, for a tour that highlights three works of art in the special exhibition, Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop.
VMFA After Hours: VMFA Is for Lovers
Join host Kelli Lemon for a night of art, music, dancing, and love after dark. Catch DJ Lonnie B on the spin in the Marble Hall. Enjoy Legacy Band performing live music in the Atrium. Experience the exhibitions Edward Hopper and the American Hotel and Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop.
All galleries will be open during this event to give you access to our diverse collections of art from around the world.
Ticket Includes:
- Admission to Edward Hopper and the American Hotel
- Heavy hors d’oeuvres
- One drink ticket
- Access to all galleries
- Parking in VMFA Parking Deck
Join VMFA!
Find out how to apply the price of one ticket to a new VMFA membership.
Community Event | Celebrate Wiley!
Featuring the African American Read Read-In for Families
Join VMFA for a community celebration of Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War! This special event will offer families a chance to view this new work of art and welcome it to its permanent home through art-making, gallery activities, and readings of children’s literature.
Featured on this day will be the African American Read Read-In for Families which celebrates children’s literature and art created by African and African American artists. Experience these works with your children through discussion, music, movement, and enrichment activities.
(Intended audience: children ages 2 1/2–8 years; everyone is welcome)
African American Read-In 2020
Literature and fine arts come together with African American Read-In at VMFA. See and hear notable figures from the greater Richmond community as they lend their voices in prose and poetry readings throughout the galleries. In this powerful display of storytelling, experience evocative and poignant pairings of works by African American artists and authors.
The following works will be highlighted at this year’s program
The Banjo Player, 1929, Hale Woodruff (American 1900–1980), Oil on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art The Banjo Player, 1929, Hale Woodruff (American 1900–1980), Oil on canvas, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, J. Harwood and Louise B. Cochrane Fund for American Art
Tightrope: Continuous Rotation Servos, 2017, Elias Sime (Ethiopian, born 1968), Reclaimed electronic components and wire on panel, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment. Tightrope: Continuous Rotation Servos, 2017, Elias Sime (Ethiopian, born 1968), Reclaimed electronic components and wire on panel, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment.
Untitled (#6) from the Mémoire Series, 2006, printed 2017, Sammy Baloji (Congolese, born 1978), Archival digital photograph on satin matte paper, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment. Untitled (#6) from the Mémoire Series, 2006, printed 2017, Sammy Baloji (Congolese, born 1978), Archival digital photograph on satin matte paper, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment.
Frontispiece and Title Page, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Engraving attributed to Scipio Moorhead, 1773. Lent by the Library of Congress, Rare Book & Special Collections Division Frontispiece and Title Page, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Engraving attributed to Scipio Moorhead, 1773. Lent by the Library of Congress, Rare Book & Special Collections Division
Boy and H, Harlem, 1961, Louis Draper (American, 1935–2002), gelatin silver print, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment. Courtesy of the Louis H. Draper Preservation Trust, Nell D. Winston, trustee. Boy and H, Harlem, 1961, Louis Draper (American, 1935–2002), gelatin silver print, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Endowment. Courtesy of the Louis H. Draper Preservation Trust, Nell D. Winston, trustee.
The following community readers will join us for this year’s program*:
- Amber Esseiva, Assistant Curator at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU
- Tobias Wofford, Assistant Professor of Art History, VCUarts
- Ross S. Browne, Professional Studio Artist & Instructor of Therapeutic Art
- Todd Waldo, Engineer, Artist and Community Advocate
- Adrienne Cole Johnson, Director of Family and Community Engagement for Henrico County Public schools
- Cheryl Miller, Anchor, CBS6 News WTVR
- Dr. Corey D. B. Walker, Visiting Professor, The Jepson School of Leadership Studies and the School of Arts and Sciences, University of Richmond
- The Honorable Mayor Levar Stoney, City of Richmond
- Nell Draper-Winston
- Dr. Lance Watson, Reverend, St. Paul’s Baptist Church
Prior to the Read-in, attend the unveiling of the RVA Community Makers Art Activity!
Please join us for the African American Read-In for Families which will be featured during the Community Event | Celebrate Wiley!
*speakers subject to change
Black History Month 2020
COMMUNITY CONVERSATION
The Eggleston Family Legacy and Green Book
Sun, Jan 26 | 2–3:30 pm
Free, tickets required
Leslie Cheek Theater
Learn the history of The Negro Motorist Green Book through a screening of the Smithsonian Channel film The Green Book: A Guide to Freedom (51 min). The post-screening conversation features Melody Short, Director of Operations and Marketing, Akwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns; Dr. Michael Hall, Assistant Professor of English, VCU; and Neverett Eggleston Jr., whose family owned the historic Eggleston Hotel and Motel from the 1930s to the ’90s.
TALK
Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop
Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, VMFA, in conversation with Nell Draper-Winston
Thu, Jan 30 | 6:30–
7:30 pm
$8 (VMFA members $5)
Leslie Cheek Theater
VMFA’s Dr. Sarah Eckhardt, curator of Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop, will provide an overview of the exhibition, which features photography by members of the Kamoinge Workshop, an artist collective founded in New York City in 1963. Nell Draper-Winston, sister of photographer Louis Draper, will join Dr. Eckhardt in conversation to discuss her brother’s photographs and his roots in Richmond.
Image Credit: Boy and H, 1961, Louis Draper (American, 1935-2002), Gelatin silver print, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, National Endowment for the Arts Fund for American Art.
OPEN STUDIO PLUS PERFORMANCE
Grandma’s Hands
Sun, Feb 2 | 1–4 pm
Free, no tickets required
Art Education Center
Performances in the Atrium 2 pm & 3 pm
Join us as we encounter generational lessons from two sisters with remarkable stories to share from the perspective of the African American South. Through song, stories, and signed poetry, we will learn how women have made an impact on culture through practices passed down from family matriarchs.
RVA Community Makers Art Activity
Sun, Feb 2 | 1–4 pm
Free, no tickets required
Art Education Center
During Open Studio Plus Performance, celebrate family with Richmond artist Hamilton Glass and local African American photographers.
Take your digital family portraits onsite at VMFA to become part of a mixed-media public art collaboration. Glass will guide attendees in hands-on participation. You can also capture fun memories in the Family Portrait Photo Booth.
Extending the meaning of family to community, the project also brings together six local photographers—Regina Boone, Courtney Jones, Brian Palmer, Sandra Sellars, Ayasha Sledge, and James Wallace— who will create portraits of six selected community leaders.
FIRST FRIDAY
Spirituals
Fri, Feb 7 | 6–8 pm
Free, no tickets required
Atrium
Join us as we welcome sopranos Lisa Edwards Burrs and Olletta Cheatham to our First Friday series with an evening of Spirituals. Lisa and Olletta will sing many powerful songs of the genre and explore their resonating impact on history.
DANCE PARTY
VMFA After Hours: VMFA Is for Lovers
Sat, Feb 15 | 7–11:30 pm
$45/person ($35 VMFA members)
Museum wide
Join host Kelli Lemon for a night of art, music, dancing, and love after dark. Catch DJ Lonnie B on the spin in the Marble Hall. Enjoy Legacy Band performing live music in the Atrium. Experience the exhibitions Edward Hopper and the American Hotel and Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop.
All galleries will be open during this event to give you access to our diverse collections of art from around the world.
GALLERY PROGRAM
3 in 30: African American Art and the Power of the Written Word
With Dr. Christopher Oliver, Assistant Curator of American Art
Tue Feb 11, 11–11:30 am
Thu, Feb 13, 6:30–7 pm
Free, no tickets required
Meet at Visitor Services
Join Dr. Christopher C. Oliver for an exploration of three objects on view at in VMFA’s American Art galleries and discover their connection with the power of poetry and prose.
LIVE JAZZ
Dominion Energy Jazz Café: Jazz Around the Museum
Thu, Feb 13 | 6–9 pm
Free, no tickets required
Marble Hall
Back by popular demand! Who says a Jazz band can’t party, get down, and get funky? Led by saxophonist Robert “Bo” Bohannon, Klaxton Brown combines the old with the new, and will rock you steady all night long. Prepare to get Klaxtonized!
ARTIST TALK: Paul Rucker
Fri, Feb 21 | 6:30–7:30 pm
$8 ($5 VMFA members)
Leslie Cheek Theater
Join artist Paul Rucker for a discussion of his multidisciplinary practice as a visual artist, composer, and musician. His art explores issues related to mass incarceration, racially motivated violence, and the continued impact of policies that sustain inequity.
DANCING
Dance After Work: Hip-Hop Line Dancing
Fri, Feb 21 | 6–8 pm
Free, no tickets required
Atrium
RVA Community Makers Unveiling
Thu, Feb 27 | 5:30 pm
Free, no tickets required
Atrium
Come see RVA Community Makers—a mixed-media public art mural in VMFA’s Atrium. The completed project will feature portraits of six local leaders who have been selected for their impact on the RVA community. The mixed-media mural of acrylic paint and photography will reflect the creative visions of Richmond artist Hamilton Glass and local photographers Regina Boone, Courtney Jones, Brian Palmer, Sandra Sellars, Ayasha Sledge, and James Wallace.
GALLERY PROGRAM
African American Read-In
Thu, Feb 27 | 5:30–7:30 pm
Free, no tickets required
Meet at Visitor Services
Literature and fine art come together with African American Read-In at VMFA. See and hear notable figures from the greater Richmond community as they lend their voices in prose and poetry readings throughout the galleries. In this powerful display of storytelling, experience evocative and poignant pairings of works by African American artists and authors.
Community Event: Celebrate Wiley!
Sat, Feb 29 | 10–11 am
Free, no tickets required
Atrium
Join VMFA for a community celebration of Kehinde Wiley’s Rumors of War! This special event will offer families a chance to view this new work of art and welcome it to its permanent home through art-making, gallery activities, and readings of children’s literature.
GALLERY PROGRAM
Family African American Read-In
Sat, Feb 29 | 11 am–noon
Free, no tickets required
Meet at Visitor Services
Bring your family to VMFA to enjoy this unique event and experience African and African American children’s literature read by members of the community in front of engaging works of art. Children will also enjoy music, movement, and enrichment activities. (Intended audience: children ages 2–8 years with their guardian; everyone is welcome.)
Conservation on Display
Join Assistant Chief Conservator, Debbie Linn, for a discussion and demonstration about conservation efforts being made on a piece from the permanent collection of South Asian art.
Intersecting History Museum Crawl
Join Initiatives of Change USA for Intersecting History’s first Museum Crawl on Saturday, December 14, 2019, from 10 am to 4 pm, in celebration of the permanent installation of Kehinde Wiley’s sculpture, Rumors of War. Free. Transportation includes stops at all six participating institutions. Hop on and off the bus to visit:
- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Virginia Museum of History & Culture
- Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia
- The Valentine
- American Civil War Museum
- Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU
Intersecting History—a collaboration of historical and cultural institutions across Richmond—centers the narratives of community historians, marginalized voices, and communities of color around history and race. The Intersecting History program is sponsored by Initiatives of Change USA.