The recently opened Edgar Shannon Library is busy and bustling, and the space is also enlivened by new art throughout the building. The art is part of the Art in Library Spaces (AiLS) initiative, designed to create inclusive artistic spaces for the University and Charlottesville communities and strengthen the UVA Library’s presence as a place of belonging for all. AiLS is currently focused on Shannon Library but will bring art into all the buildings in the University Library system. The initiative is steered by the AiLS Standing Committee, co-chaired by Library Associate Dean for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Accessibility Catalina Piatt-Esguerra and Curator of Material Culture in the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Meg Kennedy, and made up not only of Library staff but also members of the arts community at UVA and in the surrounding area.
Collaboration with institutional and community partners is part of the AiLS Committee charge, and is key to the success of the project, says co-chair Kennedy. “Featuring inclusive and accessible art from a diversity of voices adds nuance and meaning to our spaces and offers opportunities for belonging,” says Kennedy. “These new exhibitions and installations will create opportunities for direct and impactful collaboration between the Library and the University and Charlottesville communities.” Partnerships in place or planned include projects with UVA Athletics, the School of Architecture, UVA Arts, and the Karsh Institute of Democracy.
For a look at the art already in the building, enjoy the photos below!
Four of the eight colorful banners that make up “Double Happiness,” by UVA Associate Professor of Studio Art Amy Chan. The banners feature encouraging phrases and greetings in languages representing UVA’s Asian, Pacific Islander, and South Asian American (APISAA) community, inspired by listening sessions with students.An installation in Memorial Hall features four large photographic murals recognizing the tenure of Edgar Shannon, the University’s fourth president and the namesake of the renovated library. The collages were created using images from the University Archives.Detail from a portrait of Karenne Wood, PhD (1960-2019) now hanging in Shannon Library. Commissioned as part of the President's Office initiative to acknowledge the work of change agents at the University, the portrait highlights Wood's role as a poet, leader, and scholar. Painted by former University of Virginia colleague and artist Esther Hi'ilani Candari with metalwork by Tyrone Whitehorse, the concept for the portrait was developed by a group of stakeholders including Wood's family, friends, and University and Monacan Nation community members.“Dark Flag,” a painting created by UVA Architecture Professor Sanda Iliescu and more than 100 members of the University community, was prompted by the question “What does the American flag and the country it represents mean to you?” and became a memorial to UVA student-athletes Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr., and D’Sean Perry after their names were added in bold lettering. “Dark Flag” hangs alongside a prayer shawl created by Knitting in Solidarity, a group of knitters responding to the violence of mass shootings by creating prayer shawls of healing for survivor communities.Artwork from the “Early Visions” project, a partnership between The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA and Boys and Girls Club of Central Virginia, in which club members are paired with a UVA student mentor to work collaboratively on creative activities.“Dragon Run” and “Field Notes” — two pieces from “Notes on the State of Virginia,” a series of place-based assemblages on US Geographical Survey topographic maps by artist Suzanne Stryk. There are 14 pieces total in the series, framed and hanging in the east and west wings on Shannon’s fifth floor.In the fifth-floor suite of John M. Unsworth, the University Librarian and Dean of Libraries, hang reproductions of the designs of Aric Lasher. Lasher was an artist and architect, as well as an art director and set designer for major motion pictures such as “Minority Report,” “Pearl Harbor,” and “What Dreams May Come.” Shown above are “Study for the Celestial Library” for “What Dreams May Come” (1998), and an alternate study for the north corner of then-Alderman Library that Asher created in 2019. As President and Director of Design for HBRA Architects, Lasher served as lead designer for the transformation of Alderman Library into The Edgar Shannon Library, his last built project before dying in June 2024 of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS. In his memory, the Aric Lasher Art Fund has been created, with an initial gift from John and Maggie Unsworth, to establish a restricted endowment to maintain art in libraries in perpetuity. Art acquired for Art in Library Spaces through the fund will be accessioned into the University’s Fine and Decorative Arts Collection, and those wishing to can support the Aric Lasher Art Fund through a secure online portal.
“Class of 1974 Reunion” hangs on the fourth floor of Shannon. Part of a series of portraits highlighting people who have broken barriers and sparked change at UVA, the photo celebrates the alumna of UVA’s first coeducational class, who celebrated their 50th reunion in 2024. Putting the massive group portrait together was quite an effort — read more about the photoshoot at UVA Today.
