Current Exhibitions
The 114th Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art: The Audacity of Paint
On view October 19, 2025 – March 8, 2026
The Audacity of Paint features work by contemporary American artists whose primary medium is paint. The exhibition includes work by Sally Egbert, Julia Jo, Sue McNally, and Walter Price, celebrating the resiliency and power of paint as a medium in the context of the AI tsunami in which we live. Within this technological milieu, paint persists with its sensual qualities and malleable, human mark-making – audacious not only in its refusal to defer to digital modes, but also in its ability to express impractical joy. Audacious like Woody Guthrie’s guitar and like the artists themselves, who dare to paint “at a time like this.”
The 114th is a return to the origins of the Annual Exhibition. For the first 50 years of the series, exhibitions were made up almost entirely of paintings. Since then, exhibitions have highlighted the expanding breadth of media practiced by contemporary American artists. The Audacity of Paint is the first Annual in almost 30 years to focus exclusively on painting.
Performance and Display: The Art of Renaissance Maiolica
On view April 13 – November 15, 2025
Performance and Display, an exhibit of maiolica ceramics from the Italian Renaissance, highlights a fascinating period in Italian history marked by incredible advances in the arts and sciences which saw the creation of ceramics that blended artistic innovation with scientific experimentation.
The exhibition features objects that were made for everyday use, such as apothecary jars, to dramatic tableware which spoke to its owner’s status and taste. The maiolica’s imagery referring to Classical literature and the Bible and its relationship to monumental painting and sculpture speak to the elevated purpose of this art form that can shed light on the social history of the period. This exhibition, the first of its kind in Lynchburg, will offer visitors a rare opportunity to experience the art and culture of Renaissance Italy through its stunning ceramic works.
Performance and Display: The Art of Renaissance Maiolica is Randolph College student Jake Lofaso’s senior capstone project for his museum and heritage studies major. Lofaso curated the exhibition with guidance from Andrea Campbell, PhD, professor of art history and director of the museum and heritage studies program. The exhibition features loans from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Image: Francesco Xanto Avelli, Shallow Bowl on Low Foot with the Conversion of Saul, c.1525, tin-glazed earthenware (maiolica), Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
Selections from the Permanent Collection
Ongoing
The Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College houses an outstanding collection of American art, chiefly paintings, works on paper, and photographs dating from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Explore this chronological exhibition of artwork from the permanent collection, including works by artists such as Milton Avery, Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Georgia O’Keeffe, and more. Explore works on view >>
Image: Edward Hopper, Mrs. Scott’s House, 1932, oil on canvas. Collection of the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College.
Upcoming Exhibitions >>
Past Exhibitions >>