The Art Museum of West Virginia University’s Lunchtime Looks lecture series will continue Friday November 5, 2021 at 12 p.m. with speaker Sam Hensley.

Hensley is a junior Art History student at WVU and he spent the summer working at the Museum as the inaugural Jacknowitz Summer Intern. His undergraduate research focuses on the artwork and mythology of the Pre-Columbian Americas, particularly that of the Maya and the Moche culture of modern-day Peru. He plans to continue in the Pre-Columbian field in graduate school, while also exploring East Asian art and the international context of Modern and Contemporary art. 

The late Alice and Jack Frost will be forever memorialized at West Virginia University through The Alice & Jack Frost Endowment for Art Museum Exhibitions.

Sue Frost established the endowment to honor her parent’s deep roots at WVU and their love of the arts.

Linda Jacknowitz and her late husband Art added to their legacy of service and giving at West Virginia University with a significant planned gift to support the Art Museum of WVU’s educational outreach programs.

“This is a truly transformational gift for the Art Museum of WVU,” said Director Todd J. Tubutis. “Linda’s foresight in dedicating her and Art’s legacy to support a graduate assistantship means we contribute not only to the educational mission of the University, but we will also be able to build capacity in serving greater numbers of K-12 students in north central West Virginia.”

The Art Museum of West Virginia University will resume its free, in-person Lunchtime Looks Lecture Series on Friday Sept. 10. WVU’s School of Art & Design Associate Director Kristina Olson will lead the discussion on the museum’s latest exhibition "Rauschenberg in China: The Lotus Series.”

Olson teaches modern and contemporary art history. She is co-editor of the book “Social Practice Art in Turbulent Times: The Revolution Will Be Live,” author of many exhibition catalogues and an exhibition reviewer for several art magazines and journals. 

The Art Museum of West Virginia University reopens for the fall semester on Saturday, Aug. 21 with a new exhibition, “Rauschenberg in China: The Lotus Series.” This is the first U.S. venue for the exhibition after debuting in Denmark in 2017. 

Robert Rauschenberg was an influential American artist who, over a six-decade career, worked in painting, sculpture, photography performance and printmaking. Driven by curiosity, he was committed to a collaborative, experimental and interdisciplinary artistic practice.

After spending the last six weeks learning about photography and growing their skills, 13 students from Robert C. Byrd High School in Clarksburg now have their work on display at the Art Museum of West Virginia University.

The students participated in a professional photography workshop facilitated by the Art Museum of WVU in conjunction with the exhibition, “Walker Evans: American Photographs, ” on its first stop on a national tour that celebrates photographer Walker Evans’s landmark solo exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1938.

The West Virginia University College of Creative Arts welcomes Mary Esposito to the staff as assistant director of development.

Esposito brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the team from her nine years of employment at the WVU Foundation, where she oversaw annual giving programs including WVU Day of Giving, Women of WVU and Gold Blue and You Faculty and Staff Campus Campaign. She also worked with units all across campus on their annual giving solicitations – including the College of Creative Arts.

The Art Museum of West Virginia University acquired 56 works of art in 2020, ranging from prints to ceramics to paintings, many of which support the museum’s mission to diversify its permanent collection.

“The Art Museum is steadfastly committed to diversifying its holdings by strategically acquiring works by women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ artists—such as Kerry James Marshall and Jaune Quick-to-See Smith—in order to tell more inclusive, varied and nuanced histories of artistic production,” said Director Todd J. Tubutis. “We also continue to build the collection in ways that support and complement teaching and research interests across campus, particularly for students in the School of Art and Design, and reflect the experiences of the region.”

The Art Museum of West Virginia University is the first venue on a national tour of an installation that celebrates photographer Walker Evans’s landmark solo exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1938. A leading figure in the history of American documentary photography, Evans is today considered one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century.

The exhibition opens Jan. 22 and runs through April 25.

The Art Museum of West Virginia University is typically a buzzing building. Open to the public on weekends and school groups during the week, the museum welcomes thousands of visitors a year to use art as a medium to better understand the world.

The Covid-19 Pandemic put an abrupt halt to the museum’s day-to-day operations. With campus closed, how does the museum reach its audiences? The staff had to get creative.