December Exhibitions

Through 12/21 For its final show of 2025, Les Yeux du Monde offers “GROUNDING,” featuring new paintings continuing a decades-long exploration of light as both subject and substance by longtime gallery artist Annie Harris Massie. In an intimate turn inward, Massie’s oil paintings on canvas and panel landscapes and botanical studies represent the forests and […]

‘We R DCO’ at The Paramount Theater 11/16

Founded in 1980 by local dance studio owner Juanita Wilson, The Virginia Dance Company began as the Virginia Dance Club at UVA. Now known around Grounds as DCO, the company mounts performances each semester that feature 10–12 student-choreographed pieces. The latest, “We R DCO,” offers a high-energy showcase featuring 50 UVA student dancers performing in […]

Poet MaKshya Tolbert discusses ‘Shade is a place’

MaKshya Tolbert practices poetry and placemaking in Virginia, where her grandmother raised her. She is the 2025 Art in Library Spaces artist-in-residence at the University of Virginia and co-stewards Fernland Studios, an open-ended studio insistent on rest, rejuvenation, and reciprocity as a core compositional practice. Tolbert was the 2024 New City Arts Fellowship guest curator, […]

‘Continuity’ at Helms Theatre through 11/8

Satire, spectacle, and environmental consciousness collide in Bess Wohl’s Continuity, a dark and hilarious “play in six takes” directed by UVA faculty member Doug Grissom. The narrative centers on the making of a blockbuster—but artsy—action movie in the New Mexico desert. As the film’s exhausted cast and crew race to finish production, personalities clash, artistic […]

Acclaimed artist Wolfgang Buttress designs a community treasure

Known for his large-scale immersive installations that incorporate sculpture and technology to explore environmental themes, British artist Wolfgang Buttress’ reputation was established with 2015’s “The Hive,” a bee-centric work that won 27 awards and is now permanently installed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London. Thanks to a generous gift to University of Virginia’s […]

Kathryn Scanlan discusses the uncanny in real life

Known for her honed and exacting prose, Kathryn Scanlan is a writer of essays and novels, including Aug 9—Fog, The Dominant Animal, and Kick the Latch. From her tightly constructed short stories to novels informed by real-life stories and research, Scanlan is intensely dedicated to form and craft.  In her “Notes on Craft,” published in […]

November Exhibitions

Saturday 11/8 & Sunday 11/9 Now in its 31st year, the Artisans Studio Tour offers opportunities for the public to experience the work spaces of Central Virginia’s finest artists, craftspeople, and makers. This weekend, 47 artisans open their spaces for A Journey Through Artful Lives and Timeless Craft, providing visitors with insights and explorations of […]

Local group preserves Violet Crown by arranging building purchase

The future of the Violet Crown cinema on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall seemed bleak this past February when the Board of Architectural Review granted Heirloom Development approval to demolish the structure for a residential building.  “The prospect of losing this cultural asset for the Virginia Film Festival, the community, and for the city itself was potentially […]

Karen Hao’s new book explores the impact of artificial intelligence

Whether you embrace artificial intelligence or not, it seems almost mystical in its abilities—despite the fact that it was created by humans. It can also feel unreal that asking ChatGPT to write an email actually reflects billions of dollars, millions of gallons of water daily, and countless jobs being streamlined out of existence. Award-winning journalist […]

Monica Ong’s ‘Planetaria’ asks us to look further

Monica Ong is a visual poet and author of the new book Planetaria. With a focus on family and diaspora as well as astronomy, the poems in Planetaria are tactile—not just visual but multidimensional. The book features a poem that takes the form of a wheel that’s viewed through a View-Master toy, a poem with […]