The Art Museum of West Virginia University has received an Access for All Grant from the Art Bridges Foundation to fund educational projects through the next three years.  

The Access for All Grant is the fourth partnership between Art Bridges Foundation and the Art Museum of WVU. Art Bridges has previously supported the Blanche Lazzell traveling exhibition and the Bridge Ahead Initiative to help the museum connect with the community remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Art Museum also worked with Art Bridges on implementing Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Surveys (COVES), which helps the museum learn about visitor demographics and experiences.  

Q: Can you tell me about your connection to WVU? Did you go to school here, what years, what activities were you involved in?

A: As a WV native, I have always felt a connection to WVU.  I started taking clarinet lessons in Morgantown when I was 15. During high school, I attended Mountaineer Music camp two summers and had been a member of various All-State conferences that were held in Morgantown. Even after those positive experiences I thought I would attend a smaller school.  But in the Spring of 1998 the Pride of WV sent a Keynotes CD to every high school in the state after receiving the Sudler Trophy, and I was hooked. I graduated from the College of Creative Arts in 2002 with a degree in Music Education. While at WVU I was a member of various instrumental ensembles including the Pride of WV, where I served as a drum major for three seasons.  I also was a member of Mountain Honorary. 

The Art Museum of WVU has selected participants for its second Art Museum Faculty Fellowship and Jacknowitz Summer Internship for Summer 2023.

Dr. Erik Herron, Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Political Science at WVU, will serve as the second Art Museum of WVU Faculty Fellow. Funded through private donations through the WVU Foundation, the Faculty Fellowship is designed to provide the opportunity for faculty and instructors from across disciplines to enhance their teaching and scholarship by engaging with the Art Museum’s permanent collection of more than 4,000 objects. 

A major exhibition at the Art Museum of West Virginia University this spring explores society’s relationship with the violin and its meanings over time and across the globe.

For nearly the entire history of the medium, violins have appeared in photographs in ways that signify talent, status, geography, and culture—and have often been presented as beautiful objects unto themselves.

George Lilley, a longtime supporter of West Virginia University, has donated $50,000 to the Art Museum of WVU to support a new major acquisitions fund.

Lilley has lived and worked in West Virginia for more than 50 years. Together with his wife, Mavis Grant, the couple has a passion for helping their community with an emphasis on creating opportunities for art education.

The Art Museum of West Virginia University reopens for the spring semester on Saturday, Jan. 21, with new exhibitions in both galleries, including “In/Humanity: Combat and War in Art.”

“In/Humanity: Combat and War in Art” focuses on how war and combat are inextricably part of the human experience, and art helps us make sense of the ways such conflict brings out the worst—and sometimes the best—in society.