UVA Department of Art

UVA Department of Art The Official page of the University of Virginia Department of Art. Find our official website at: https://art.as.virginia.edu

Studio Art and Art History at the University of Virginia

PVCC to kick off new arts season with screening of oldest surviving animated film.-Friday, September 18, 2026, 7 p.m.Fre...
09/17/2026

PVCC to kick off new arts season with screening of oldest surviving animated film.
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Friday, September 18, 2026, 7 p.m.
Free Admission | General Admission

Join the PVCC Art Department for the monthly Films Talk Back series. Enjoy a thoughtful selection of movies, shown on the big screen and paired with engaging post-show discussions led by passionate experts. This first installment of the 2026-2027 season celebrates a centennial milestone with a live-music screening of history's oldest surviving animated feature film. It follows the first gallery exhibition opening reception of the season, from 5-7 p.m.

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), based on the sweeping Persian and Arabian folktales tradition, is a 65-minute masterpiece by German master seamstress and costume designer, Lotte Reiniger. The film will show alongside a live score performed by celebrated silent film accompanist and film lecturer Matt Marshall.

Using her expertise in textiles to fashion finely detailed paper cutouts, Reiniger built her groundbreaking film one frame at a time over 3 years, setting in motion an immersive and color-drenched story that follows a prince as he's whisked away on a magical flying horse. On his grand quest, he confronts shape-shifting monsters, encounters the iconic character Aladdin, and battles an evil sorcerer to rescue a princess.

After the credits, Mashall will host a talk about the significance of the film and chat with the audience.

Lemniscata, now on view at Ruffin Gallery in the UVA Department of Art, is accompanied by a limited edition publication ...
09/11/2026

Lemniscata, now on view at Ruffin Gallery in the UVA Department of Art, is accompanied by a limited edition publication designed by Mariana Mora and featuring an essay by Eleonor Botoman.

Stop by the gallery to pick up a copy while supplies last!

On view: August 28 - October 9 | M-F 9am-5pm

Ruffin Hall 179 Culbreth Rd 3rd Fl, Charlottesville, VA 22903

This exhibition is supported by the UVA Department of Art and the Peter B. and Adeline W. Ruffin Foundation Endowment for Distinguished Artists-in-Residence.

1708 is pleased to announce, Skin of Stars, Sacredness of Disobedience, our forthcoming solo exhibition by Federico Cuat...
09/08/2026

1708 is pleased to announce, Skin of Stars, Sacredness of Disobedience, our forthcoming solo exhibition by Federico Cuatlacuatl. This exhibition centers the current endurance of immigration persecutions experienced by Nahua diasporic communities. The strength, defiance, and spirit of resistance manifests in transborder Nahuales and ancestral force. The persistence and insistence to continue defying imperialistic borders is highlighted in drawings, sculptures, and video.

Federico Cuatlacuatl (b. 1991, San Francisco Coapan, Cholula, Puebla-México) addresses Nahua immigration temporalities, smuggling as a form of resistance, and ongoing transborder Nahua experiences. Building on his own experience as an undocumented immigrant and formerly a DACA holder, his creative practice centers on Nahualismos and immigration. At the core of his most recent research and artistic production is the intersection of transborder Indigeneity, migrant Nahua diasporas, and Nahua futurisms. His work has been featured in international film festivals and exhibitions globally. Cuatlacuatl is a co-founder of the UNDOC+Collective and the founder of the Rasquache Artist Residency in Puebla, México.

Stay tuned for more exhibition and programming announcements for Skin of Stars, Sacredness of Disobedience!

Image: Federico Cuatlacuatl, El Humo que Desplaza tu Piel (the smoke that displaces your skin), 2025, 2-channel video installation, courtesy the artist

Our Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Christa Noel Robbins, will be holding general information and Q&A session on...
09/08/2026

Our Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Christa Noel Robbins, will be holding general information and Q&A session on applying to UVA’s Art & Architectural History Graduate program on Friday, September 18, at 2:00 PM EST.

Please register here before the end of the day, Thursday, September 17: https://virginia.zoom.us/meeting/register/znoYoHZyS32OrzL3zQJFNA

Art Department Professor Rolando Vargas and Ph.D Candidate Slenka Botella in UVAToday: From handwoven art to AI, UVA hel...
09/02/2026

Art Department Professor Rolando Vargas and Ph.D Candidate Slenka Botella in UVAToday: From handwoven art to AI, UVA helps preserve Guna culture
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Botello and Vargas are working to create 3D scans of molas and other Guna artifacts for a digital museum exhibition to be hosted online, in consultation with Indigenous collaborators in the Darién. A Team Fellowship from UVA’s Digital Humanities Center and Data Analytics Center supports the work, including a project to use AI to transcribe Guna. Like many Indigenous languages, Guna is rarely written down, though Vargas mentioned some Spanish priests worked to translate Bibles into the language.
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Images:
Art history professor Rolando Vargas, left, and Lisa Blackmore, director of the Digital Humanities Center, pose for a photo in Shannon Library, near the Digital Humanities Center space. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
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Vargas shows various molas and other Guna cultural objects to a group at the Digital Humanities Center. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
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A wooden comb, a Guna artisan crafted, is among the objects Vargas brings to UVA. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)

https://news.virginia.edu/content/handwoven-art-ai-uva-helps-preserve-guna-culture?utm_source=DailyReport&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

Please join us tomorrow, August 28, for the opening reception of Lemniscata, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist ...
08/27/2026

Please join us tomorrow, August 28, for the opening reception of Lemniscata, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Sasha Fishman.

Building on her previous work in fountain-building and biomaterials, this work reflects Fishman’s continued fascination with aquatic systems of energy exchange. Her hydrological sculptures take up questions around toxicity, entropy, care, capture, and fluidity. This curiosity has led Fishman to experiment with living substrates such as fish skin, hagfish slime, and mycelium as well as kinetic structures derived from marine aquaculture such as salmon ladders and fish cannons, tracing humanity’s past and present obsession with controlling, transporting, and harnessing water from the ecosystemic down to the bodily scale. Sasha Fishman is not searching for an answer, but drawn to the murkiness—the tension, confusion, and complexity of where these phenomena arise and how technology attempts to resolve deeply rooted ecological and ethical issues.

Fishman created My Lungs, featured in Lemniscata, during an artist residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in Oisterwijk, the Netherlands.

Sasha Fishman is a New York-based sculptor and researcher. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she collaborated with labs on salmon, fountains, and carbon capture materials. She is a current fellow at Lighthouseworks and recipient of the 2026 Folly Tree Dancing Tree Award.

Artist talk: August 28, 3:30-5pm, Campbell 160
Opening Reception: August 28, 5-7pm, Ruffin Gallery

This exhibition is supported by the UVA Department of Art and the Peter B. and Adeline W. Ruffin Foundation Endowment for Distinguished Artists-in-Residence.

Flyer design by Mariana Mora

Graduating Miller Arts Scholars blend talents in interdisciplinary final project:Students combined their artistic talent...
08/27/2026

Graduating Miller Arts Scholars blend talents in interdisciplinary final project:
Students combined their artistic talents and social identities, creating powerful pieces to share in their final semester
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The J. Sanford Miller Arts Scholars Program fosters a community of growth, collaboration, learning and mentorship for undergraduate students heavily involved in the arts at the University. With applications open for first and second years, students are admitted to study one of five disciplines — Studio Art, Drama, Music, Dance or Creative Writing — with increased access to grants in their fields as well. Before the end of a Miller Arts Scholar’s time at the University, they complete a final project that encompasses their journey throughout the program.
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According to Associate Professor of Digital Media Design Mona Kasra, newly appointed director of the Miller Arts Scholars and associate drama and art professor, students are accepted into the program based on their engagement with the arts at the University alongside their academic achievements and a crafted portfolio of creative works. The 52 existing scholars, with 18 soon-to-be graduates, have each detailed their artistic involvements, past works and aspirations in profiles on the program’s website. Applications are reviewed by faculty representatives of the five disciplines, with around 50 percent of applications being chosen in the last cycle for the latest cohort selected in March.

Join us this Friday, August 28, for the opening of Lemniscata, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Sasha Fishman....
08/24/2026

Join us this Friday, August 28, for the opening of Lemniscata, a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Sasha Fishman.

Artist talk: Campbell 160, August 28th 3:30-5pm
Opening Reception: Ruffin Gallery, August 28 5-7pm

Building on her previous work in fountain-building and biomaterials, this work reflects Fishman’s continued fascination with aquatic systems of energy exchange. Her hydrological sculptures take up questions around toxicity, entropy, care, capture, and fluidity. This curiosity has led Fishman to experiment with living substrates such as fish skin, hagfish slime, and mycelium as well as kinetic structures derived from marine aquaculture such as salmon ladders and fish cannons, tracing humanity’s past and present obsession with controlling, transporting, and harnessing water from the ecosystemic down to the bodily scale. Sasha Fishman is not searching for an answer, but drawn to the murkiness—the tension, confusion, and complexity of where these phenomena arise and how technology attempts to resolve deeply rooted ecological and ethical issues.

Fishman created My Lungs, featured in Lemniscata, during an artist residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre in Oisterwijk, the Netherlands.

Sasha Fishman is a New York-based sculptor and researcher. She holds an MFA from Columbia University, where she collaborated with labs on salmon, fountains, and carbon capture materials. She is a current fellow at Lighthouseworks and recipient of the 2026 Folly Tree Dancing Tree Award.

This exhibition is supported by the UVA Department of Art and the Peter B. and Adeline W. Ruffin Foundation Endowment for Distinguished Artists-in-Residence.

NEW SECTION ADDED!ARTH 2861 East Asian ArtProf. Dorothy WongThis course introduces the artistic traditions of China, Kor...
08/18/2026

NEW SECTION ADDED!

ARTH 2861 East Asian Art
Prof. Dorothy Wong

This course introduces the artistic traditions of China, Korea, and Japan, from prehistoric times to the modern era. Surveys major monuments and the fundamental concepts behind their creation, and examines artistic form in relation to society, individuals, technology, and ideas.

General Education Curriculum Requirements/Attributes: Artistic, Interpretive, Phil|Cultures/Societies World
Major/Minor Requirement: Courses before 1500, Courses after 1500, Courses Emphasizing African, Asian, or Indigenous Traditions
Enrollment Requirements: None

This Fall, the Department of Art is excited to welcome Assistant Professor and General Faculty of Studio Art, Saloni Par...
08/13/2026

This Fall, the Department of Art is excited to welcome Assistant Professor and General Faculty of Studio Art, Saloni Parekh!
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Saloni Parekh (she/her) is a visual artist and an educator. She is originally from India and relocated to the United States in 2017. In 2015, Saloni obtained her bachelor's degree in Physics, followed by a BFA in painting from Kent State University in Ohio in 2020 and her MFA degree from the University of Tennessee in 2024. Her artistic practice spans various media, including painting, video, and installation. She explores the intricate aspects of the term "god," recognizing its historical, mnemonic, and emotional significance, while delving into the consistencies within religion and the inconsistencies that contribute to societal divisions. Parekh's work has been showcased at numerous institutions, including the Tennessee Valley Arts Museum, Tri-Star Arts, Rosefsky Gallery at Binghamton University, and the CICA Museum in South Korea.

Welcome Saloni!
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Houses On The Game Board Are On Fire, Video, 16 minutes, 2024

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