Virginia's museums offer amazing temporary exhibits in addition to their permanent collections.
Every visit is brand new!
Beautiful Art | Kids Big & Little | Fringe
Beautiful Art
Williamsburg - Michelangelo: Sacred and Profane - features masterpiece drawings from the Casa Buonarroti. Many of Michelangelo’s most renowned drawings are featured in this rich and varied selection of 26 drawings from the master’s collection that was preserved by his descendants in the family home, the Casa Buonarroti in Florence. The exhibition will include studies for paintings as well as designs and plans for churches and military fortifications. Several of the works have never been seen in the United States. February 9 through April 14, 2013.
Williamsburg - Painters and Paintings in the Early American South is an exhibition of 83 paintings, 70 portraits by 31 artists from 20 different museum and collections in one place - the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum at Colonial Williamsburg. This collection provides an insight to the rise of southern society and is called "groundbreaking," as the paintings were either created in the American South or imported to the South between 1740 and 1790. March 23 through September 7, 2014.
Kids Big & Little
Martinsville - 2012 was the 65th anniversary of Martinsville Speedway - a racing venue that predates NASCAR. The first race was held on September 7, 1947, with 6,013 paying spectators who watched Robert N. "Red" Byron drive his way to the first victory at the track. Today, the historic half-mile oval is the only track on the schedule in the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season that still hosts the series. This exhibit celebrates the history of Martinsville Speedway and the history of racing in Martinsville and Henry County. Racing memorabilia of all kinds will be on display including an infield sign from the Hanes 500 autographed by many drivers, photographs, racing gear, drivers' suits, car panels, original programs and much more. October 17, 2012 through April 17, 2013.
Hampton - Clifford the Big Red Dog has come to the Virginia Air & Space Center! Little ones will love playing at the musical marina, hunting for buried treasure at T-Bone's Beach and sliding down Clifford's tail, of course. November 17, 2012 through April 26, 2013.
Martinsville - Two new special exhibits make 2013 the year of the dinosaur at the Virginia Museum of Natural History. See Dinosaurs and Dinosaur Discovery, each offering spectacular displays from the permanent collection, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. January 12, 2013 through August 25, 2013.
Richmond - Hollywood Costume is an exhibit that will get movie fans young and old beating down the doors of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. More than 100 iconic movie costumes will be on display, including characters from The Wizard of Oz, Superman, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, The Dark Knight Rises and more! Most of these costumes have never been publicly displayed, so here's your golden opportunity to check them out. The VMFA is the only East Coast venue to host this exhibit and it's the U.S. premiere. November 2, 2013 through February 17, 2014.
Fringe
Roanoke - Hot Pink is a monumental inflated sculpture suspended in the atrium of the Taubman Museum of Art. Its creator, Anne Ferrer, stitched the piece on-site during a two month residency. October 19, 2012 through April 13, 2012.
Charlottesville - We Bury Our Own is a new body of work by Aboriginal Australian artist Christian Thompson that explores the spiritual repatriation of archival materials in the Pitts Rivers Museum at Oxford. January 22 through May 19, 2013.
Richmond - Knickknackery: Curiosities from the Museum's Vaults is an exhibit of quirky, visually interesting objects the Museum of the Confederacy happens to have in its possession. Expect to see a hoof from the horse of Turner Ashby, a jewelry box made from human hair, a letter from Pope Pius IX to Jefferson Davis and more oddities. Through December 31, 2013.
Discover more great exhibits this year.