This interdisciplinary panel with artist Michael Rakowitz and scholars Magnus Bernhardsson, Alison Gruseke, and Kirsten Scheid explores the historical context and contemporary resonance of Rakowitz’s installation “The invisible enemy should not exist (Room Z, Northwest Palace of Nimrud).” This event is preceded by a gallery viewing and reception at… Continue reading »
A talk at WCMA on James Van Der Zee’s Photography by Emilie Boone, Assistant Professor of Art History in the African American Studies Department at CUNY New York City College of Technology. The talk will look at some of Van Der Zee’s lesser-known studio practices, considering them within the scope of… Continue reading »
Artist Daniel Kukla discusses his practice and the intersections of photography, landscape, and environmentalism. Conversation moderated by students Elyse Mack MA ’20, Nanase Shirokawa ’19, Perry Weber ’19, and Maggie Wu MA ’19. Thursday March 7 6PM Williams College Museum of Art … Continue reading »
Meets Monday February 18th with artist and curator Tiona Nekkia McClodden in WCMA’s Rose Study Gallery 4-6pm. All current grad students invited to attend. Continue reading »
Raise a glass to our spring exhibitions: “possible selves: queer foto vernaculars,” “James Van Der Zee: Collecting History,” “Uncovering Williams,” “New Painting,” and “Object Lab.” Remarks 5:30 PM, followed by a series of student performances responding to exhibitions. Featuring dance group CoDA, students from the Advanced Poetry Workshop, musicians Lily… Continue reading »
Jonathan D. Katz—founder of the Harvey Milk Institute and director of the visual culture studies doctoral program at the State University of New York at Buffalo—frames the Andy Warhol’s pop art through the lens of queer studies. While Andy Warhol’s queer art and his queer identity have long been… Continue reading »
Jeffrey Kapali Lyon, Associate Professor of Religion, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa This program series, presented in conjunction with “The Field is the World: Williams, Hawai’i, and Material Histories in the Making,” explores how methods of collecting and displaying material artifacts impact past and present narratives. WCMA November 15 7-8pm… Continue reading »
A conversation for students, faculty, and staff of Williams College to reckon with the histories surfaced in ““The Field is the World:” Williams, Hawaiʻi, and Material Histories in the Making.” WCMA Nov. 1 7-8pm… Continue reading »
An afternoon of music and conversation on cultural and artistic production in and out of Cuba. Featuring multimedia artist Nestor Siré, scholar Paloma Duong, and musicians Neil Leonard and Miguel Núñez. The Plonsker Family Lecture Series in Contemporary Art, established in 1994 by Madeleine Plonsker, Harvey Plonsker ’61 and… Continue reading »
WCMA’s Season Celebration Meet our new Class of 1956 Director Pamela Franks and celebrate our fall exhibitions: The Field is the World, Kay Sage: Serene Surrealist, Anicka Yi: Our Love Is Bigger Than an AIDS Quilt, Diana Al-Hadid: Delirious Matter, and Object Lab. Remarks at 5:30pm. WCMA October 18th … Continue reading »
This week’s conversation around “Dance We Must,” which has been shaped jointly by WCMA staff and students, will explore the following: What do we make of the phrases cultural appropriation vs. cultural appreciation? How do we negotiate the categories of inspiration versus exploitation in the arts? How might/should cultural institutions… Continue reading »
On Friday, May 11, the art department welcomes you to join the opening reception of It’s Not Nothing: The Senior Studio Art Exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA). The exhibition features the work of nine Williams College studio art majors: Hudson Bohr, Julia Cancio,… Continue reading »
Explore the philosophical connections to Jean-Paul Sartre’s Situations in Sam Gilliam’s work with Assistant Curator Horace Ballard. Tuesday, April 10 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Close Look: Mapping Stories Professor of Geoscience José Constantine and Artist Lordy Rodriguez discuss Rodriguez’s conceptual maps that visualize global relationships, history, and culture. Tuesday, April 3 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art–Object Lab gallery… Continue reading »
Lumi Tan is curator at The Kitchen in New York, where she organizes exhibitions and produces performances with artists across disciplines and generations. She co-curated From Minimalism into Algorithm (2016), a year-long performance and exhibition series. Recently, she has worked with installation artist Sara Magenheimer, performance artist Danh Vo, and… Continue reading »
A new program series called Getting A Read On The Body will happen at WCMA, the first installment of which will take place Thursday, Jan 11 at 5:30 PM in WCMA’s Reading Room. Come for some tea and conversation around the recent acquisition of Nude, Harlem by James Van… Continue reading »
Internationally recognized documentary photographer, Joseph Rodriguez, will speak about his life-long passion for recording the stories of people whose lives are often ignored by mainstream narratives. A recipient of the “Pictures of the Year Award” by the National Press Photographers Association, Mr. Rodriquez is the author… Continue reading »
Mixed media artist Titus Kaphar presents a free lecture, “Making Space for Black History: Amending the Landscape of American Art,” as part of Claiming Williams Day, a campus-wide program at Williams College that focuses on building and sustaining a more inclusive community. Kaphar—who demonstrates “the deliberateness of a surgeon coupled… Continue reading »
Join Professor Nicolas Howe and students from his Environmental Humanities course as they discuss how culture shapes the representation and experience of landscape. Tuesday, November 28 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Contemplate the weird, the eerie, and all the ways objects haunt us with Kevin Murphy, Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator of American Art. Tuesday, October 31 at 4:00pm WCMA … Continue reading »
What’s the difference between theatre and performance art? When do objects “act” better than actors? Why is Kendall Jenner imitating Yoko Ono? Join us for a new collaboration between the Theatre Department and Williams College Museum of Art that aims to investigate the history (and histrionics) of performance art. Continue reading »
Artists Barbara Takenaga and Tom Burckhardt discuss abstraction, painting, and geometry. Tuesday, October 17th 4pm WCMA … Continue reading »
Celebrate our fall exhibitions: “Barbara Takenaga,” “Pink Art,” “The Presence of Absence,” and “Object Lab.” Hear from artist Barbara Takenaga and guest curator Debra Bricker Balken followed by mini tours in the galleries. Thursday October 5th 5pm Williams College Museum of Art … Continue reading »
What happens when you see the museum’s collection through the lens of one color? And what happens when that color is PINK, a hue rich in history, symbolism and cultural relevance? Utilizing a series of algorithms written by Williams students, Pink Art explores the overlaps and tensions between technology and human… Continue reading »
The human form becomes a center of inquiry into notions of the ideal in this exhibition. Though typically manifested as physical perfection, the ideal can be embodied by alternative expressive means. In Russell Lee’s photograph of a homesteader, blemishes are reimagined as assets, deep furrows and the rough skin… Continue reading »
Co-curated by Kerry Bickford MA ’17 and WCMA Director Tina Olsen. Between 1960 and 1962, WCMA acquired 396 works of art, including ancient Egyptian amulets, Chinese Qing dynasty vases, William Morris Hunt’s majestic painting of Niagara Falls, and much, much more. As with all objects that enter the collection, the… Continue reading »
Curated by Anna Kate Kelley, MA ’17, State of Disobedience is an exhibition that brings together works in a range of media by Matthew Ronay, Barkley Hendricks, Mary Ellen Mark, Patty Chang, Glenn Ligon, and others. These works speak to the power of art to provoke unexpected and contradictory… Continue reading »
As contemporary as it gets, senior studio art students design and produce an exhibition of their work in the final semester of their college careers. Friday, May 12 at 7:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
In this conversation, Curator of Contemporary Art, Lisa Dorin and Artist Meleko Mokgosi discuss process and his exploration of history and allegory. Thursday, April 27 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
What does it mean to “curate the social”? Schultz’s talk will explore the role of social interaction and creative participation in contemporary museum practice. Currently an independent curator and public engagement consultant, she served as Director of Education and Curator of Public Practice at the Walker Art Center where… Continue reading »
Members of the Moroccan and Indonesian think tanks share their experiences with climate change and talk about the solutions they proposed to Ghana ThinkTank in response to our climate change problems. Reception to follow. B.Y.O.C (bring your own cup). March 13, 2017 6 pm WCMA L231 (Lawrence Hall Auditorium)… Continue reading »
Lynette Wallworth is an Australian artist known for her immersive multimedia installations, which focus on the interactivity between humans and the natural world. Her most recent work is Collisions, a virtual reality investigation into the first contact between an indigenous Australian tribe and the momentous impact of Western expansion. Wallworth’s… Continue reading »
Hear from students from the Robert Rauschenberg: Art Archives and Exhibitions course about their experience exploring the archives and developing the exhibition. Thursday, April 6 at 4:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Season Celebration at WCMA of spring exhibitions: Lex and Love, Robert Rauschenberg: Autobiography, and Accession Number. March 16, 2017 5 PM … Continue reading »
Hybrid Practice Series: Caroline Woolard Artist Caroline Woolard’s performative talk should be very engaging (and even surprising!). In particular, she will highlight the role of infrastructure– or organizational systems–in the life cycle of artistic projects. This idea is a critical part of her own transdisciplinary, feminist practice and central… Continue reading »
Accession Number February 16, 2017 – August 20, 2017 Between 1960 and 1962, 396 works of art came into the museum. As with all objects that enter the collection, ancient Egyptian amulets, Chinese Qing dynasty vases, and William Morris Hunt’s majestic painting of Niagara Falls were catalogued with an… Continue reading »
Ghana Think Tank Opening Celebration! Students from the Public Art and Climate Change winter study course take over WCMA’s rotunda with an immersive installation that responds to the climate change problems collected this past Fall. Bring your own cup to drink. And sample a meal of the future. Thursday,… Continue reading »
VaNatta Ford (Assistant Professor, Africana Studies) and Brynn Hatton (Visiting Assistant Professor, Art History) host an informal conversation on Jean-Michel Basquiat and the dynamic cultural spheres that informed his multi-disciplinary practice circa 1983, the year he made “Defacement: The Death of Michael Stewart.” Thursday, Dec. 8th 4pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Sharon Hayes’s work in performance, video, and installation draws from historical examples of activism and protest to interrogate the present political climate. She tackles issues such as gay rights, gender construction, and militarism, often performing archival documentation in new or unexpected settings. Hayes is an associate professor of fine… Continue reading »
Curator Kevin Murphy highlights several recent additions to the exhibition. Stair access only due to elevator maintenance. Thursday, Nov. 17 4pm WCMA… Continue reading »
This program brings together three Basquiat scholars to discuss why this painting matters, what it meant in 1983, and what it means in 2016. Writer and Activist Chaédria LaBouvier ’07 moderates a panel with Pérez Art Museum Director Franklin Sirmans and Professor of Visual Studies at the California College… Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with curator Elizabeth Gallerani. Hear about the objects’ origins, such as a connection to the Williams College Lyceum of Natural History, founded as a secret society in 1835. Thursday, Nov. 3 4pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Curator Anna Kelley ’MA 17 and sculptor Matthew Ronay discuss how themes of violence, debauchery, abstraction, and narrative play out in the exhibition. Thursday, Oct 27 4 pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Curator Lisa Dorin discusses David Zink Yi and Angie Keefer’s collaborative process and the development of the textual component of the installation. Thursday, Oct 13 4 pm WCMA… Continue reading »
The exhibition launches with the performance by Zink Yi based on a text developed collaboratively with artist and writer Angie Keefer. Along with four musicians, Zink Yi activates wooden sound objects in the installation. Thursday, October 6 5:00 pm WCMA… Continue reading »
We’ll open up the gallery for a half hour and invite you behind the scenes to see David Zink Yi and his fellow musicians prepare for the opening performance. Tuesday, Oct 4, 1:10 – 1:40 pm Wednesday, Oct 5, 11:00 – 11:30 am WCMA… Continue reading »
Think tanks in Indonesia and Morocco await your response. Curator Sonnet Coggins and Terence Washington MA ’17 will fire up the mobile unit to collect your climate change problems and update you on the unfolding project. Thursday, Sept 29, 2016 4:00pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Carmen Montoya and Christopher Robbins from Ghana ThinkTank share their process, launch the project, and introduce the team. Thursday, Sept 15, 2016 7:00 pm Lawrence Auditorium (L231)… Continue reading »
Join Michelle Apotsos, Assistant Professor of Art at Williams College, for a discussion about naming practices in museum collections. Continue reading »
Join Luana Maroja, Assistant Professor of Biology at Williams College, in exploring camouflage and the role that it plays in natural and sexual selection through the lens of "Not Theories but Revelations:" The Art and Science of Abbott Handerson Thayer. Continue reading »
Join Stephen Sheppard, Class of 2012 Professor of Economics at Williams College, in examining how museum exhibitions and installations impact the art market, as well as the intersections between aesthetics and economics. Continue reading »
Join Emilie Boone, Mellon Curatorial Fellow at the Williams College Museum of Art, in an exploration of the stories that photographs can tell and how these stories can expand and even change form over time. Continue reading »
Join Christina Simko, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Williams College, in thinking through the many ways that art reproduces, resists, or reformulates cultural and political narratives in the context of the exhibition African Art Against the State. Continue reading »
Join Katarzyna Pieprzak, Chair and Professor of Francophone Literature, French Language, and Comparative Literature at Williams College, for a discussion of the implications of museum classification systems and a shake-up of the WCMA taxonomies. Thursday, July 21 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Williams College Museum of Art. Continue reading »
Curator Kevin Murphy will discuss how recently discovered archival materials inspired this exhibition and publication. Continue reading »
Join David Gurçay-Morris, Assistant Professor of Theatre at Williams College, for an immersive performance about the nature of cultural evolution and the possibility for art to be democratic. Thursday, July 14, 2016 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Williams College Museum of Art. Continue reading »
Join Deborah Brothers, Costume Designer and Lecturer in Theatre at Williams College for a mini-course on artists’ renderings of texture, form, and movement and how they beckon the viewer to respond with the body. Thursday, July 7, 2016 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Williams College Museum of Art. Continue reading »
Through interactive installations, performance, and sculpture Cheryl Pope drills into relationships between language, power, identity, and expression. This WCMA at Night features a series of interactive performances, drawn from an extended pen-pal correspondence between Pope and a group of Williams students, that challenge and encourage our ability to… Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with Lisa Dorin, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Contemporary Art. Tuesday, April 19 at 12:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with Kevin Murphy, Eugénie Prendergast Curator of American Art. Thursday, Mar 15 Noon WCMA … Continue reading »
Sample some of the surprising elements of Abbott Handerson Thayer’s artistic and scientific work. Thursday, March 10 Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Both Sides Now is a first-time creative collaboration by sibling artists Lexa and Dan Walsh. Dan, a minimalist abstract painter, and Lexa, a socially engaged artist, come together to merge their practices around a shared interest in perception and encounters among objects and people. Drop by to join Lexa and Dan in… Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with Michelle Apotsos, Exhibition Curator and Assistant Professor of Art. Thursday, February 25 at 12:00pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Both Sides Now is a first-time creative collaboration by sibling artists Lexa and Dan Walsh. Dan, a minimalist abstract painter, and Lexa, a socially engaged artist, come together to merge their practices around a shared interest in perception and encounters among objects and people. Kick off the exhibition with… Continue reading »
Raise a glass with exhibition curator Michelle Apotsos and artist Fabrice Monteiro. Monteiro will speak about his photo series, The Prophecy, which explores the environmental devastation of the artist’s native Senegal. Three of the ten photographs in this series are included in the exhibition. Tuesday, February 2 at 4:00pm… Continue reading »
African Art Against the State highlights the long and extraordinary history of activism, intervention, and resistance that has characterized a great deal of African art-making from prehistory to the present. WCMA January 29-August 28… Continue reading »
Object Lab makes visible how works of art are used in courses across the curriculum. Professors deeply embed art into their teaching, students get extended access to the art, and the public gets a glimpse into liberal arts learning. Williams College Museum of Art January 22, 2016 – August… Continue reading »
The winter study class, Mapping the Museum, culminates in an evening of “petite interventions.” Curated by socially engaged artist and class leader Lexa Walsh, these student developed projects engage WCMA, its collections, and staff in unconventional ways. Thursday, January 28 5-8 pm Williams College Museum of Art … Continue reading »
Jack Whitten will present a lecture on his work entitled, “Jack Whitten: beyond Abstraction.” Jack Whitten (b. 1939) began his earliest experiments in painting during the 1960s by creating dynamic works inspired by Abstract Expressionism. His work of this period manifests emotionally complex meditations on sociopolitical events that shaped… Continue reading »
Hear from some of the students in Mark Haxthausen’s class Sol LeWitt: On the Wall talk about the new installation of LeWitt’s #1089. Thursday, Nov 12 5 pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Mark Parsons turns publicly authored content into collaboratively executed wall drawings. And At WCMA at Night, he invites you to draw it on the wall. Thursday, Oct 8 5–8 pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with Elizabeth Gallerani, Curator of Mellon Academic Programs. Tuesday, November 10th Noon WCMA… Continue reading »
Wednesday, Dec 9, 5 pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Walk through the exhibition with Kevin Murphy, Eugénie Prendergast Curator of American Art and Kathryn Price, Curator of Collections. Tuesday, November 3 Noon WCMA… Continue reading »
Tuesday, Oct 13 Noon WCMA Walk through the exhibition with Lisa Dorin, Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs and Contemporary Art Curator. Continue reading »
Tuesday, Sept 29 Noon WCMA Walk through the exhibition with Ben Rubin, Assistant Professor of Classics. Continue reading »
Nash’s talk will focus on choosing artists and curating in a space without walls or objects. Tuesday, September 29 at 7:00pm Williams College Museum of Art, Lawrence Auditorium (L231)… Continue reading »
Jon Rubin will deliver the annual Plonsker Family Lecture in Contemporary Art. Saturday, September 26th 3pm WCMA (Lawrence 231)… Continue reading »
Students meet at the Lunder Center at Stone Hill at 4 pm, then move to WCMA to view Kevin’s show of Whistler prints. Plan to bike or car-pool from Lunder Center to WCMA for the second part of the workshop, which ends at 6pm. Continue reading »
Mix eight works of art, add a group of Williams faculty and what you get is a brand new approach to the Labeltalk exhibition series. Faculty Off the Cuff, the tenth in the series, brings interdisciplinary and unexpected dialogues about art to light. Opening Celebration Thursday, Sept 10, 4… Continue reading »
Curated by Max Boersma MA '16 and Christopher Borschel MA '16, The Loosening of Time: Maurice and Charles Prendergast examines the modes of temporality active in the Pendergast brothers' hybrid approaches to early twentieth-century American art. Continue reading »
Tuesday, May 5 at 4:30pm to 6:00pm Lawrence Hall, 231 15 Lawrence Hall Dr, Williamstown, MA 01267 Matika Wilbur, one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading photographers and a member of the Swinomish and Tulalip Tribes, has exhibited extensively in regional, national, and international venues such as… Continue reading »
Thursday, June 25 at 1:00pm to 3:00pm→ more dates through August 13, 2015 Williams College Museum of Art, Rose Gallery 15 Lawrence Hall Dr, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA Get a glimpse of what we’re up to in the Rose… Continue reading »
Thursday, July 23, 2015 WCMA 4 pm Drinks and mingling on the patio to follow Nina Schleif, Terra Foundation Senior Fellow, Smithsonian American Art Museum Blake Gopnik, Warhol biographer and New York Times contributor… Continue reading »
Thursday, July 9, 2015 WCMA 4 pm Drinks and mingling on the patio to follow C. Ondine Chavoya, Professor of Art and Schumann Faculty Fellow in Democratic Studies, Williams College Thomas Crow, Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art, and Associate Provost for the Arts, New York University… Continue reading »
Tuesday, Apr 28, 6 pm–WCMA Drinks and mingling to follow Lucy Mulroney, Interim Senior Director and Curator of Special Collections at Syracuse University Libraries Christopher Cerf, Author, composer, producer, and former Warhol collaborator… Continue reading »
Cesar Garcia, Founding Director and Chief Curator of The Mistake Room in Los Angeles Monday April 20, 2015 7pm WCMA … Continue reading »
Susan Rossi-Wilcox, Culinary Historian and Darra Goldstein, Professor of Russian and Founding Editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture Talk with drinks and mingling to follow Tuesday April 7, 2015 6pm WCMA… Continue reading »
Exhibition of Wright’s early work January 3- May 24, 2015 WCMA… Continue reading »
The Williams Art Loan for Living Spaces (WALLS) collection, developed and curated by Hillary Reder MA '14 and David Sledge MA ’14, is a unique collection of 90 works of art that Williams students borrow for their dorm rooms. Continue reading »
Wednesday March 11, 2015 4:30-5:30 WCMA Rose Gallery… Continue reading »
Warhol by the Book is organized by The Andy Warhol Museum, one of four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. The first US exhibition to focus on Warhol’s book work, it features more than 400 objects including unique and unpublished materials, and highlights WCMA’s important holdings given by Richard F. Holmes ’46. Continue reading »
Thursday February 25, 2015 WCMA Rose Gallery… Continue reading »
Monday, March 9, 2015 4:00-5:30 WCMA Rose Gallery … Continue reading »
Kevin Murphy Tuesday, February 24, 2015, 12 noon Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Opening Reception Thursday, February 19, 2015, 6-8pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
Thursday, February 19, 2015 4:00-5:30pm Williams College Museum of Art, Reading Room/Rose Gallery… Continue reading »
Through close examination of the works of art assembled by Professor Scarlett Jang and WCMA curator Elizabeth Gallerani, the students in Professor Jang’s Asian Art Survey discuss a variety of topics. This exhibition ends Dec. 14, 2014. Continue reading »
This exhibition is a remixed version of Material Friction organized by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Experimental and Experiential Approaches to Curating American Vernacular Art. Wednesday, November 19, 2014 at 6 pm Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
This exhibition highlights works created by Hassan in the last five years. These works serve as allegories of the diasporic condition, spiritual journeys, and reform movements like the Arab Spring. November 22, 2014- April 26, 2015 Williams College Museum of Art… Continue reading »
