The University of Mary Washington is a unique meeting place for science and art. UMW’s physician, Dr. Tom Riley, epitomizes the two coming together in full force. Riley, who also is director of the Student Health Center, has focused on science and health since adolescence. After college, he worked at a private family practice for […]
Exhibition Opens Next Week at Ridderhof Martin Gallery

Marc Chagall, Cirque a l’Etoile, 1966, lithograph, 25 ½ x 24 ½ inches. ©2012 University of Mary Washington Galleries
The University of Mary Washington Galleries will present the exhibition “Making an Impression: Prints from the Permanent Collection” from Friday, March 16 through Friday, April 27 at Ridderhof Martin Gallery.
The opening reception for “Making an Impression” will be held Thursday, March 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Ridderhof Martin Gallery. The exhibition will highlight prints from the UMW Galleries’ permanent collection of art, which includes works by Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali and Marc Chagall. The exhibit and reception is free and open to the public.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the UMW Galleries will feature two lectures that will take place in Combs Hall, Room 139.
Eric Denker, senior lecturer in the education department at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., will present the lecture “Ink, Wood, Copper Stone: Identifying the Techniques of Prints,” on Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. The presentation will focus on the origination, duplication and originality of prints and will include techniques and tools used in printmaking.

Salvador Dali, Don Quixote, undated, etching, 9 x 5 ¾ inches. ©2012 University of Mary Washington Galleries
On Sunday, April 1 at 2 p.m., Gregory Jecmen, associate curator of old master prints and drawings at the National Gallery of Art, will present “Renaissance Innovations in Color Printing and Etching.” The talk will focus printing woodcuts in color and the intaglio technique of etching. Jecmen’s presentation is based on a future exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, “Imperial Augsburg: Renaissance Prints and Drawings, 1475-1540.” Both lectures are free and open to the public, but pre-registration is highly recommended to ensure adequate seating.
Jeffrey Allison to Present Gallery Lecture on Jasper Francis Cropsey
Join the UMW Galleries for “Jasper Francis Cropsey: The Hudson River School and a True American Landscape,” presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibition Van Gogh, Lichtenstein, Whistler: Masterpieces of World Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Jasper Francis Cropsey, Autumn in the Warwick Valley, 1883, oil on canvas, 12⅝” x 22 5/16”. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Permanent Collection, Gift of Mrs. J.H. Symington. ©2011 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The lecture will be held on Sunday, November 13 at 2 p.m. inside Combs Hall, Room 139. Admission is free. However, pre-registration is required to ensure proper seating.
Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Collection Educator at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, will explore the Hudson River School, which represents the first native school of American Art. Dating from the 1820s, it was a loosely organized group of painters who took as their subject the unique naturalness of the American continent, starting with the Hudson River region in New York, but eventually extending in time and space all the way to California and the 1870s. Jasper Francis Cropsey, a first–generation member of the Hudson River School, died in anonymity but was rediscovered by galleries and collectors in the 1960s and remembered as the American painter of Autumn.
Please call the Galleries at (540) 654-1013 or e-mail Justine Geiger, Visitor Services Coordinator, at jgeiger@umw.edu to reserve your seats.
This program has been organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and, is funded, in part, by the Jean Stafford Camp Memorial Fund.
Dr. Cliff Edwards to Present Lecture on Vincent van Gogh

Obj. No. 83.26. Vincent Willem Van Gogh (Dutch, 1853-1890), The Wheat Field behind St. Paul’s Hospital, St. Rémy, 1889. Oil on canvas. 9½” H x 13¼” W (24.1 cm x 33.7 cm). Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo: Katherine Wetzel © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Join the UMW Galleries for “Mysteries of The Night Café: Hidden Key to the Spirituality of Vincent Van Gogh,” presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibition Van Gogh, Lichtenstein, Whistler: Masterpieces of World Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The lecture will be held on Sunday, October 30 at 2 p.m. inside Combs Hall, Room 139. Admission is free. However, pre-registration is required to ensure proper seating.
Dr. Cliff Edwards, professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, explores the spirituality of one of the world’s most beloved artists, Vincent Van Gogh, through one of Western art’s most mysterious paintings, The Night Café. Enter the imagination of Van Gogh through the books he read, the art he admired, and the people with whom he identified, and arrive at startling conclusions that include a new and deeply spiritual understanding of a café after midnight and the “night prowlers” who inhabit it.
Please call the Galleries at (540) 654-1013 or e-mail Justine Geiger, Visitor Services Coordinator, at jgeiger@umw.edu to reserve your seats.
This program has been organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is supported by the Paul Mellon Endowment.
UMW Galleries to Feature Large Scale Drawings Exhibition

Patricia Bellan-Gillen, Diver/Until Human Voices Wake Us and We Drown, 2009, graphite, acrylic and oil on birch, 84 x 120 inches. © 2009, Patricia Bellan-Gillen
Join the UMW Galleries this Thursday for our exhibition SUPER-SIZED: Large Scale Drawings in the duPont Gallery, located inside duPont Hall. The exhibition will feature works of art by seven different artists, including Patricia Bellan-Gillen, Joshua Bienko, Pat Bretano, Karen Brummund, Ray DiCapua, Dennis Jones and Ben Tolman. The free opening reception will be held from 5 – 7 p.m. in the duPont Gallery. Light refreshments will be provided.
The exhibition is intended to explore ways in which artists involved in the drawing medium employ scale in their process of creating works of art and how that use of scale affects the impact of the work. The drawings in this exhibition vary greatly in the artists’ choices of materials and methods, which range from graphite, ink or charcoal to the blade of a knife. Some of the artists combine drawing with other media, such as acrylic and oil or digital printing. Some of the work is site-specific; some incorporates text. Each speaks from a unique perspective.
Free street parking is available near the duPont Gallery on College Avenue. The exhibition will be on display in duPont Gallery until December 2, 2011. Please call us at (540) 654-1013 with any questions.
Dr. Robert Hobbs to Present Lecture at UMW Galleries
The UMW Galleries are pleased to host Dr. Robert Hobbs, renowned late modern and post-modern art historian, for “The Contemporary Sublime,” the first of the Galleries’ Fall 2011 Lecture Series. The lecture, presented in conjunction with the Ridderhof Martin Gallery’s current exhibition Art & Nature: Reflections on the Sublime, will be held on Sunday, September 18, 2011 from 2 – 3 PM in the Ridderhof Martin Gallery.
Dr. Robert Hobbs has held the Rhoda Thalhimer Endowed Chair at Virginia Commonwealth University since 1991 and has been a visiting professor at Yale University since 2004. He has been published widely and has curated dozens of exhibitions, many of which have been shown at important institutions in the U.S. and abroad. For more on Dr. Hobbs’ extensive credentials, visit his website at roberthobbs.net.
“The Contemporary Sublime,” as well as the Galleries’ other lectures in the series, are free and open to the public. However, pre-registration is required to ensure sufficient seating. Please download the registration form from the Galleries’ website or contact Justine Geiger, Visitor Services Coordinator, at jgeiger@umw.edu or (540) 654-1710 to reserve seats.
UMW Galleries To Present Studio Art Faculty Show
The duPont Gallery will host UMW Studio Art Faculty Show, one of the first two exhibitions of the Fall 2011 season, from September 2 – October 7, 2011. This exhibition includes the work of three members of the University’s Art Department: Joseph DiBella, Rosemary Jesionowski, and Jonathon McMillan.
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 1, 2011 from 5 – 7 p.m. in the duPont Gallery. The opening is free and open to the public.
Free street parking is available near duPont Hall, as well as designated parking spaces for gallery visitors. Check the Galleries’ website at http://galleries.umw.edu for hours. If you have any questions, contact the Galleries at (540) 654-1013.
UMW Galleries To Present Studio Art Faculty Show
The duPont Gallery will host UMW Studio Art Faculty Show, one of the first two exhibitions of the Fall 2011 season, from September 2 – October 7, 2011. This exhibition includes the work of three members of the University’s Art Department: Joseph DiBella, Rosemary Jesionowski, and Jonathon McMillan.
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, September 1, 2011 from 5 – 7 p.m. in the duPont Gallery. The opening is free and open to the public.
Free street parking is available near duPont Hall, as well as designated parking spaces for gallery visitors. Check the Galleries’ website at http://galleries.umw.edu for hours. If you have any questions, contact the Galleries at (540) 654-1013.
Gari Melchers Painting Featured on Embassy Exhibition Catalog Cover
Gari Melchers Home and Studio Hosts New Exhibition
On Display from September 10 through November 21
“Gari Melchers’ Works on Paper: Highlights from the Collection”
Curatorial Intern and University of Mary Washington senior Davida “Vida” Austin has selected almost 20 works on paper for this temporary exhibition.
Vida’s selections represent a survey of styles and subjects that show Melchers development as an artist on paper and span nearly his entire career.
The subject matter is wide-ranging and includes everything from portraits and landscapes to figurative interiors.
Gari Melchers Home and Studio is open everyday, except Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free to the UMW community.