Welcome to VMFA’s VIRTUAL Celebration
Welcome to VMFA’s Family Day VIRTUAL celebration!
This year, we are excited to host our Celebrate African and African American Art: Global Community Family Day event in-person at VMFA, on Jun 11, 2022, 11 am-3 pm.
In addition to hosting our Family Day event in person, we are also excited to share this virtual celebration available online from Jun 11 to Jul 31, 2022.
Below, you will find four buttons that will lead you to a variety of activities and resources. Have fun, explore, and let your imagination roam!
★ Art Activities
It’s time to make art! Check out the art activities listed below. Under each title and description, you will find a resource document with instructions and a list of supplies needed for each project.
Create Your Own Room Collage!
Explore different materials, both traditional and nontraditional, to construct your own room collage. Be inspired by works from artists Jacob Lawrence and Mickalene Thomas.
Construct Your Own Woven Building!
Take a look at Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach II. Then, use weaving techniques to create your own woven building.
Create a Community Sculpture!
Consider different sculptures created in communities around the world and form a sculpture inspired by your own community using air-dry clay.
★ Presentations
Watch videos of artist demonstrations and presentations using the links below.
Nastassja Swift
Nastassja Swift is a sculptural fiber artist, who is redefining her use of portraiture through wool to create work that speaks to spirituality, history, and place in relation to the body. Nastassja was recently invited to Penland School of Craft’s Winter Residency as a Distinguished Fellow. She is the recipient of a 2022-23 VMFA Fellowship, the 2021 Dr. Doris Derby Award, the Art Matters 2021 Artist2Artist Award, the Black Box Press Foundation 2021 Art as Activism Grant, and the 2020 Virginia Commission of the Arts Fellowship.
Esther Mahlangu @ VMFA
South African Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu discusses the early years of her painting practice, her designs and pigments, and the preservation of culture in this talk at VMFA. The conversation includes Esther Mahlangu, Marriam Mahlangu, Grace Masango, and Richard Woodward (former VMFA curator of African art). Learn more about Esther Mahlangu
Virtual Symposium | Kamoinge Workshop: Collaboration, Community, and Photography
In 2020, the museum presented weekly panel discussions with Kamoinge artists and scholars to talk about this artist collective’s role in the history of 20th-century photography and the Black Arts Movement, as well as the social and professional challenges faced by Black photographers. This program was inspired by the exhibition Working Together: Louis Draper and the Kamoinge Workshop.
★ Virtual Gallery Activities
Explore galleries and gallery activities through the links provided below.
Gallery Preview: Africa
VMFA’s collection of African art is one of the most comprehensive in the United States and features figures, masks, textiles, regalia, and ritual objects from more than 100 cultures throughout the continent. Click on the link below for a virtual view of VMFA’s Arts of Africa Galleries.
Gallery Preview: Mid to Late 20th Century
VMFA’s Sydney and Frances Lewis Galleries showcase art made from the 1940s through the 2000s and feature paintings, sculpture, video art, prints, drawings, photographs, and collage. Like other galleries at the museum, objects on view change from time to time as curators rotate objects in and out of storage. This way, more of the collection can be shared with visitors, and new and interesting connections can be made between objects. Click on the link below to get a virtual view of the Mid to Late 20th-Century galleries.
Gallery Preview: 21st Century
These galleries contain works made by living artists who are exploring ideas about the world we share. Artworks from around the nation and globe feature a wide variety of materials, techniques, and ideas. Together, they provide a broad view of our contemporary world. Like other galleries at the museum, objects change from time to time as curators rotate them in and out of storage. This way more of this large collection can be shared with visitors, and new and interesting connections can be made between objects. Click on the link below to get a virtual view of the 21st-Century galleries.
I Am: Identity in African Art
What can the visual arts tell us about an individual or a community? This resource explores the concept of identity in traditional African art and culture by focusing on twelve objects that speak to various roles within a society. These objects represent cultural groups from different parts of the continent, reminding us of the diversity that exists across Africa.
Gaye Adegbalola “Front Porch Blues”
Virginia musician Gaye Todd Adegbalola was inspired by Romare Bearden’s collage “Three Folk Musicians” to create a musical composition. Here she talks about her process and the blues genre of music.
Interactive Exercise: Question into Monologue
Artworks can offer an opportunity to consider different perspectives. Artists are intentional about how they depict people alone or in groups. Spending time looking carefully at expressions, body language, and contextual clues in figural artwork can help students consider ideas about identity, community, and belonging. Use this interactive exercise to guide students as they explore a work by Kehinde Wiley, creatively document the ideas it presents to them, and consider how their thoughts connect with the artist’s own ideas and intentions.
★ Explore More
Discovering VMFA’s Collection
Continue learning about and discovering VMFA’s collections VMFA. Learn about artwork in the museum’s collection through stories, interactive maps, videos, and much more.
VMFA Learn
Explore resources, watch artist videos, and engage with more art from around the world!
Accessing VMFA’s Library
The Margaret R. and Robert M. Freeman Library of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is the oldest and one of the most extensive art resources in Virginia, with visual arts reference material that addresses virtually all the humanities. In addition to serving museum staff, it also acts as a non-circulating library for scholars, students, researchers, writers, and the general public. The library is open by appointment only. You can explore the library’s digital collections online.
Shop VMFA
The VMFA Shop searches the world to provide a diverse selection of unique jewelry, home accessories, toys, stationery, and books, focusing on merchandise related to the museum’s collections and exhibitions as well as educational items and works by Virginia artists.
Generously sponsored by
Celebrate the Art of Latin America: El Salvador | Sep 10, 2022 | 11 am-3 pm