A collaboration between the James River Boys & Girls Club and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Artmobile will be parked at the Scottsville Farmer’s Market from May 22-24, 2024.
Traveling throughout the state, VMFA on the Road is the museum’s 21st-century Artmobile showcasing the exhibition Love, Laughter, Tears: An Artist’s Guide to Emotions. This compilation of works from the VMFA collection examines the relationship between art and emotion across various cultures and time periods to explore human emotion as a unifying and universal factor. Visitors will experience paintings, prints, photographs, and film by artists such as Kiyoshi Saito, Stephen Shames, Gabriel Sunday Tenabe, Nell Blane, and others.
In 1953, VMFA became one of the first museums in the world to have an Artmobile. For four decades, as many as four Artmobiles toured 59 exhibitions and served more than 2.5 million Virginians. Due to conservation concerns and the fragility of traveling works of art, VMFA replaced the program in the early 1990s with a Statewide Partners program to deepen partnerships with schools, community centers, and museums around the state. Renamed VMFA on the Road, the traveling museum relaunched in October 2018 as a state-of-the-art, climate-controlled trailer equipped with Wi-Fi and interactive components that meet 21st-century expectations. In fall 2023, the museum acquired a new trailer with even more space for art and visitors.
Checkout the exhibit on Wednesday, May 22 from 2-5pm and Thursday, May 23 from 11-2pm, with a Boys & Girls Club Tour from 2-6pm. Admission is free. For more information, visit the VMFA website.