Art in Library Spaces

UVA Library: Art in Library SpacesThe Art in Library Spaces program upholds the Library’s values through creating dynamic and welcoming artistic spaces. Our committee aims to strengthen the Library's presence as a place of belonging for all individuals at the University of Virginia and the Charlottesville community and explore possibilities for inclusive content and creative work to be displayed, engaged, or exhibited in relevant spaces in the Library buildings. We partner with institutional and community groups to create collaborative exhibitions, educational opportunities, and visual displays within Library spaces.

Exhibition Spaces: Shannon Library

Shannon Students’ Gallery Responsive Space (Fourth floor west corridor)

Art in Library Spaces invites student groups and CIOs to share their art. The Committee will review proposals for self-funded short-term exhibitions of two-dimensional art created by students/CIOs. Selections will be installed for no more than two months. Students will be responsible for arranging installation and deinstallation and will be required to sign a digital art license or art loan agreement. Contact Art in Library Spaces with questions at ails@virginia.edu.

A group of students poses in front of a long hallway featuring tall printouts hung on the walls
Staff of V Mag at UVA pose with a recent exhibition in the Shannon Students' Gallery

Community Gallery (Third floor north east corridor)

This space features art exhibited as part of the annual Art in Library Spaces Community Artist-in-Residence program. This annual program features a practicing Charlottesville area artist, situating creative work within communities of knowledge production and supporting local artists whose practices are based in research, involve primary source materials, and/or are site-specific. The application goes live each fall, and the residency commences in January of the following year.

On view through December 2025 - “Esteem Map: A Choreography” (with Kellyn Kusyk) and “An Atmosphere Akin to Freedom”

From Art in Library Spaces’ Artist-in Residence MaKshya Tolbert.

Two images: One shows a circular piece of wood bent in an organic shape on top of a soft blue cloth. The other shows many panels of cream-colored paper with splotches of rich blue paint and words written across the pages

University-partner didactic exhibition, on display from July-June annually (Third floor south corridor)

The Committee will review proposals for self-funded or emerging grant-seeking projects with substantive content and graphical display, as well as ideas for collaborative programming.

On view through June 2026 - “The Strange Story of Furcy Madeleine: 1786-1856”

This exhibition is a partnership between Art in Library Spaces, the Musée historique de Villèle in Réunion, the UVA Center for Global Inquiry and Innovation, the UVA Center for Liberal Arts, Professor Jennifer Session and Indrani Chatterjee in the UVA Department of History and Professor Sue Peabody at the University of Washington.

A long hallway with tall museum panels

UVA Arts prize space for staff or faculty, on display from January to December annually (Second floor gallery)

This space is dedicated to the Annual UVA Arts Prize. Each fall, staff and faculty are invited to submit applications for the prize, which offers $5,000 paid to the recipient’s department to fulfill the project. The selected work(s) will be on loan to the Library and will be displayed for one year (January-January).  The work will be returned to the artist at the conclusion of the term. More information and application here: https://arts.virginia.edu/art-in-library-spaces.

On view now through December 2025: “Free to Be, a Collective Virginia Landscape”

From Assistant Professor Maria Villanueva.

A group of people stand in front of a large scroll, which is stretched across the wall. The canvas scroll is a collage of organic pictures and shapes: leaves, branches, trees, with each shape layering over others.

Other Initiatives

  • Performance Art: We occasionally offer opportunities for pop-up performance installations, including scene-readings, musical performances, dance and poetry readings in event spaces.
  • Other Library Spaces for Display: If interested in displaying at The Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library, Clemons Library, or Charles L. Brown Science & Engineering Library (in Clark Hall).

Reach out to ails@virginia.edu to discuss proposal feasibility.

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