CALENDAR¬

Join us for a casual conversation exploring current exhibitions, led by Virginia MOCA staff and guest lecturers.

This month we will be joined by Lauren Francis, associate producer, With Good Reason, who will discuss selected works of art from our current exhibition Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick.

Engage with working artists creating on-site inspired by Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick and LaToya M. Hobbs: Flourish. Artists will have mobile studios set up in the Virginia MOCA Atrium. The residency aims to support and amplify the work of regional artists while creating another entry point for Museum visitors to engage with contemporary art and ideas in connection with the main gallery exhibitions.

This month's Artist in Residence is Nadd Harvin.

A Museum-wide activation encouraging intergenerational conversation. Explore our current exhibitions, and join us for a day of performances, activities, artist demos, community resources, food, and more.

Engage with working artists creating on-site inspired by Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick and LaToya M. Hobbs: Flourish. Artists will have mobile studios set up in the Virginia MOCA Atrium. The residency aims to support and amplify the work of regional artists while creating another entry point for Museum visitors to engage with contemporary art and ideas in connection with the main gallery exhibitions.

This month's Artist in Residence is Poetry Jackson.

Connect with your breath in this beginner-friendly guided visualization meditation.

ADULTS
One session
Instructor: Angelique Scott

CLASS FULL; please join waitlist.

Practice slab hand-building techniques to create a variety of forms, and use tools and underglaze to embellish ceramic surfaces with texture, text, symbols, and more.

AGES 13–17
Five Sessions
Instructor: Heather Beardsley

Spend spring break strengthening your art portfolio! In this week-long program for teens, you’ll work closely with a teaching artist to develop a series of artworks centered around a theme of your choice. Together, we’ll get inspired by the art in our galleries and hone our studio skills as we delve deep into the processes of research, practice, and documentation to develop a cohesive body of work perfect for building a strong portfolio.  

Join Curator Heather Hakimzadeh for a conversation with past and current Virginia MOCA exhibiting artists. Guest artists will give us a look inside their studios, share current projects, and discuss process and inspiration.

This month's guest is LaToya M. Hobbs.

ADULTS
One session
Instructor: Isa Monell

Spend the day relaxing with watercolor, journaling, and imagination as you learn introductory watercolor painting techniques and experiment with the dynamics of blending colors. Discover how journaling and process art may assist in sifting through the weight of life’s experiences, and engage with the capacity of color to influence the emotional power of a particular work of art.

Virginia MOCA welcomes Norfolk State University (NSU) students, faculty, staff, and administrators for an evening of art and conversation. Explore the interdisciplinary connections found in Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick through a panel discussion and gallery tours led by NSU faculty, topics will include psychology, sociology, womanism/Black feminism, media, African American art, and history.

All are welcome to attend.

AGES 2–5 (WITH CAREGIVER)
1 session
Instructor: Bria Tyler

CLASS FULL; Please join waitlist.

Explore the element of texture through the scratchboard art technique. Scratchboard is a drawing medium where the artist scrapes away at a dark surface layer to reveal a secret layer underneath. In this workshop, we’ll use wooden tools to mark the surface of our scratchboard, revealing a colorful first layer. We’ll also learn how to make our very own, homemade scratchboards so you can repeat the process whenever you’d like!

AGES 6–8
Five Sessions
Instructor: Renee Calway

CLASS FULL; please join waitlist.

Uncover the themes, techniques, and materials exhibited in the galleries at Virginia MOCA, and immerse yourself in the essential studio practices of a contemporary artist. Learn to create works of art from start to finish as you perform visual research in a sketchbook, and try your hand at a variety of techniques in drawing, painting, and printmaking. By the end of this experience, you’ll walk away with a final print, drawing, and painting, in addition to a sketchbook full of useful knowledge!

Children ages 3–8 and their caregivers are invited to join us each month as we look, learn, and make in response to themes from our current exhibitions. This program for families will include close-looking at artwork, reading of a storybook, and a making activity inspired by the theme.

This Something in the Water community event brings a night of conversation and celebration for Black arts and culture in the Hampton Roads community.

ADULTS
Five sessions
Instructor: Amber Pierce

Discover expanded form-building and embellishment techniques to create ceramic vessels that share a story! For centuries, artisans have used ceramic surfaces to chronicle moments, legends, and messages. See how this tradition continues in contemporary art by exploring the galleries at Virginia MOCA and practicing your own take on ceramic form and surface design in our studios.

Join us for Teaching with Art at Virginia MOCA, part of a free professional development series created for educators of all grade levels and subject areas.

This program, focusing on our current exhibitions Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick and LaToya M. Hobbs: Flourish, aims to equip teachers with helpful tools for using contemporary artwork in their curriculum and classrooms.

We will be joined by one of Virginia MOCA’s Atrium Artists in Residence, Amber Pierce, as she shares how these exhibitions have influenced her own artistic practice.

Join us for a casual conversation exploring current exhibitions, led by Virginia MOCA staff and guest lecturers.

This month we will be joined by Dr. Khadijah O. Miller, professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and dean of Robert C. Nusbaum Honors College at Norfolk State University, who will discuss selected works of art from our current exhibition Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick.

AGES 9–12
1 Session
Instructor: Renee Calway

CLASS FULL; please join waitlist.

Sgraffito, meaning 'scratched', explores the layering and removal of different colored clay slips to create bold patterns and designs. Inspired by the textured artworks of LaToya Hobbs in our galleries, students will have the chance to design and create their own ceramic objects using the sgraffito technique!

ADULTS
One session
Instructor: Auz Miles

In this day-long workshop, you’ll learn to use movement, light, and color to tell expressive stories with the human figure in acrylic paint. Inspired by a visit to our exhibitions, we’ll discuss the importance of composition, color, narrative, and more in abstract and representational figure art before moving on to create our very own figure paintings!

Join Senior Curator Heather Hakimzadeh for a conversation with Ciona Rouse, poet and co-curator for Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick.

Valerie Cassel Oliver, Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), will discuss Kara Walker, her work, and her impact on the world of contemporary art.

Join us for a guided drawing meditation workshop to calm the mind.

Race plays a critical role in understanding experiences and perspectives in our society. This workshop provides an opportunity to make meaning of how socialization, access, and experience may be shaped by our racial identities. Participants will consider critical incidents in their lives connected to identity, and they will then learn about and apply an identity development framework to better understand the impact of race.

ADULTS
Three Sessions
Instructor: Anna Freeman

Sgraffito involves carving lines and marks through layers of underglaze or slip to reveal the clay color beneath. Visit our galleries to view the intricately carved works of exhibiting artist LaToya Hobbs, and create a ceramic piece inspired by Hobbs’ processes of using subtraction to create imagery.

AGES 2–5 (WITH CAREGIVER)
1 Session
Instructor: Kim Herman

In this workshop, we’ll combine collage and paint to create multilayered, abstract works of art with a focus on texture and shape. Young artists will practice their scissor skills, as well as color mixing and painting techniques. By the end of class, they’ll walk away with a large, mixed-media artwork ready for display!

Children ages 3–8 and their caregivers are invited to join us each month as we look, learn, and make in response to themes from our current exhibitions. This program for families will include close-looking at artwork, reading of a storybook, and a making activity inspired by the theme.

Join Senior Curator Heather Hakimzadeh for a conversation with Trudy Gaba, the Cincinnati Art Museum co-curator for Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick.

Find us on Instagram @virginiamoca.

Imagine Isabella is a solo performance exploring the lives of Antony and Isabella, two of the first 20 enslaved Africans arriving at Point Comfort, Virginia in 1619, and their enslaver Captain Tucker. Performed inside the Virginia MOCA galleries, Imagine Isabella uses the artwork of Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick as a backdrop to bridge art and story.

AGES 2–5 (WITH CAREGIVER)
One session
Instructor: Bria Tyler

CLASS FULL; please join waitlist.

In this workshop, your little one will learn all about the human face as we use texture tools to animate a clay slab. After adding all the facial details, we’ll then learn how to slump our clay over a mold to create the perfect trinket dish! All artworks created during this class will be glazed, kiln-fired, and treasured for years to come. Museum staff will contact you for pickup when your final artwork is ready for pickup!

A gentle vinyasa flow to a well-curated Beyoncé playlist. First time doing yoga? No problem. All levels are welcome!