Pop Art brought mass consumerist culture into museums and galleries in the early 1960s radically changing the course of art by eliminating the boundary between “high” culture and everyday life. Part of what paved the way was that it was the first major art movement with a sense of humor. This talk, using images of…
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Archived Lectures. Some no longer available. Please visit the Statewide Faculty page for up-to-date listings.
VMFA Speakers on the Arts lectures are an excellent complement to programming at partner sites. They can also introduce new areas of art to Partner audiences and enhance community events and celebrations. A wide selection of topics and speakers is available for VMFA Statewide Partners. See Booking Speakers on the Arts for information about requesting a lecture.
Aspects of Ingenuity and Innovation: A Potter’s Perspective on VMFA’s Ceramic Art Collection
From Greco-Roman pottery to Annabeth Rosen’s clay sculptures, the VMFA’s ceramics collection includes examples of not only great artistic achievement but technological invention as well. Greek red and black figure ware, Koran sanggam inlay decoration, San Ildefonso Pueblo black ware, high fire celadons, and Japanese tea ceremony vessels are but part of an enduring, endearing…
Request ProgramFrom Invisibility to Political Activism: the Black Experience in American Art
Historically, and in our own time, African American artists have foregrounded in their work the social, political, and cultural successes of Black Americans and have offered vociferous critiques of violations of their civil rights, and of systemic racism. In their art they questioned racial stereotyping and engaged their audience in thoughtful, but also provocative interrogations…
Request ProgramBeautiful Chinese Cuisine Visual Journey
Chinese cuisine is an important part of Chinese culture. When we are homesick, we always say that we are missing the homeland taste of food where we grew up. If we cook, we can make anywhere our home. Also, if we cook, we can have a travel experience through cuisines from different cultures. There is…
Request ProgramSelf-Expression through Chinese Calligraphy Art
Chinese calligraphy as an art form is life fully experienced through the energy and motion of marks on paper, with time and rhythm in shifting space. The speed, acceleration and deceleration of the writer’s moves and turns give “spirit” to the characters by greatly influencing their final result. It requires the writer to have perfect…
Request ProgramIntended & Unintended Meanings of the American Monument
The moment of the unveiling of a public monument marks the end of a process. The need for commemoration was felt, an artist engaged to express the idea, and the means found to bring the project to realization. Whatever the intended meaning, once in the public eye an installation acquires its own history. The interpretation…
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 ProgramIn The Round: Sculpture in America
This presentation is designed to create a greater aesthetic understanding and appreciation of sculpture in America. We will delve into sculptural works of art across eras and genres, forms and subject matters, and methods and materials of American sculptors.
Request ProgramArmchair Travel: How to See England Without Leaving the U.S.
Love to visit England, but hate the jet lag? Then let Executive Director, Anne Kenny-Urban, lead you through a tour of “England in America”. From the comfort of your seat, travel from Connecticut to Nevada in search of English architectural treasures, like Agecroft Hall, that have made the journey from the Old World to the…
Request ProgramForbidden City
This program explores imperial rituals, court painting, family life, and religion in the Forbidden City, home to 24 of China’s emperors from the Ming (1368-1644) through the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Utilizing selected objects from the Palace Museum, Beijing, in addition to works from VMFA’s permanent collection, this talk explores the visual and cultural landscape established…
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