Exhibits Archive: 2018
Coal Country
Many towns in southern Appalachia were built on the back of coal. Generations of miners tunneled their way into the mountainsides of the region, digging ever deeper in search of those rich seams of shining black running through the rock. Wherever those deposits were found, communities sprang up around them, built by the companies that owned ...
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Notes on the State of Virginia
For more than 25 years, Suzanne Stryk has recorded her experiences with nature in sketchbooks that are both journals of walks near her Bristol, Virginia, home and scientific documents of the flora and fauna she observes. These pages have served as foundations for hundreds of mixed-media works that blend the natural history of a place with Stryk’...
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Touching the Sacred
Touching the Sacred focuses on imagery from two branches of Christianity – the Orthodox and the Catholic – spanning geographical regions from Russia to Ethiopia to central Mexico. These gloriously creative representations of Biblical characters began as a teaching device for the believers, many of whom were unable to read. The narratives ...
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Fred Carter: Primitive Things of Toil and Love
Born in Duffield, Virginia, in 1911, Fred Carter grew up in the rugged coal country of Wise County, moving first to Norton as a boy and later to Clintwood, where he lived out the remainder of his life. Growing up inundated by news of the Great Depression and the Harlan County Miner’s Strike had a profound ...
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Let Him Speak First
Elizabeth Alexander manipulates discarded decorative materials, such as wallpaper and porcelain tableware, to create works that address cultural perceptions of homemaking and beautification. In this exhibition, Alexander explores these themes through repetitive methods of deconstruction and reconstruction. The phrase “Let him speak first” comes from a vintage collection of etiquette instructions for new wives and addresses ...
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Intertwined: Regional Textile Traditions
This exhibition, organized by The William King Museum of Art, explores the realities of nineteenth-century home textile production in the region surrounding Abingdon, VA. These textiles were planned, produced, and passed down through families as important heirlooms. Adept skill in the processes of weaving, quilting, and sewing is evident in the complex designs of this regions’ ...
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Power & Restraint: A Feminist Perspective on Mormon Sisterhood
Roanoke, Virginia artist Page Turner collects items of deep personal meaning to painstakingly create delicate objects that honor the feminine, and the desires, experiences and roles of women. Raised as a devout Mormon, she looks to the Church and its complex history as inspiration. Her works are informed by the traditional hand-working skills that have been passed down through ...
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Earthsea Imagined
Accompany dragons and wizards through fantastical landscapes in Earthsea Imagined. This exhibition at the William King Museum of Art is an opportunity to view world-renowned artist and local favorite Charles Vess’ fifty-six original illustrations for legendary novelist Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea saga.
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Steinlen: Cats and Steinlen: Humanity
Steinlen: Cats and Steinlen: Humanity features works by turn-of-the-century Parisian printmaker and illustrator, Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen. The William King Museum of Art brings together exhibitions developed by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and University of Richmond Museums, offering an ...
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A Material World
“Cause we are living in a material world, and I am a material girl.” Madonna, 1984 The 1980s were BIG. Remembered by many as a time of excess and extremes, this was not the case for all Americans. These photographs from the Richmond Times-Dispatch document a now legendary time in history. They also help us understand today’s ...
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