Events
We sponsor a handful of events each semester related to our collections and temporary exhibitions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Opening Reception—Michelangelo Lovelace: Art Saved My Life
Thursday, September 17, 2026 | 5:00–6:30pm
Mahaney Arts Center, Lower Lobby and Museum
Join us for an evening of celebration as we preview our major fall exhibition focused on the art of Michelangelo Lovelace, and introduce our new Museum Director Deborah Barkun along with Middlebury’s new Associate Dean for the Arts Michole Biancosino.
Members Event—A Visit to Art at the Kent’s 2026 exhibition, Throughlines
Friday, September 18, 2026 | 12:00pm
At historic Kents’ Corners, Calais, Vermont
** UPDATE: We’ve reached capacity for this event. Waitlist only. **
The first fifteen FOAM members to register will be treated to:
– A private tour of the grounds and the exhibition given by the curators of Art at the Kent, Allyson Evans and Nel Emlen.
– A printmaking demonstration by painter and installation artist Patty Hudak whose work combines the Japanese technique of mokuhanga with a contemporary exploration of nature, the supernatural, and human imagination.
– A complementary box lunch from the Maple Corner Community Store located in the heart of historic Kents’ Corners in Calais.
Attendees who will be joining us for lunch should plan to meet at noon at the Kent site at 7 Old West Church Road, Calais. Those not needing lunch should plan to meet at 1:00pm. A final list of participants will be shared with the group so that those wanting to carpool can make arrangements. The menu options for lunch will also be available once we have our fifteen guests.
Please note that the exhibition building and the surrounding structures are not accessible. Part of our tour will be outside, so guests should dress for the weather and wear shoes that are comfortable for walking on uneven ground.
RSVP no later than Noon on Thursday, September 10 to Francisca Drexel: fdrexel@middlebury.edu or (802) 443-2369.
Museum Lecture + Lunch Series: Geographies of Race and Urban Space
Friday, October 2, 2026 | 12:00—2:00pm
Mahaney Arts Center, Room 125 and Lower Lobby
Join us for a lecture and lunch with Peter Nelson, Tamar Meyer Professor of Geography, who will explore the ways in which notions of race have shaped material constructions of urban spaces, their lived experiences, and the lasting impacts on populations of color.
This lecture sits at the confluence of constructions of race, space, and place by drawing on both historical and contemporary examples. Nelson will begin with the creation of ‘Chinatowns’ in the late 19th Century and continue through the rise of the Eugenics movement in the early 20th Century, before arriving at more recent racialized practices surrounding policing and mortgage lending. Much of the material is drawn from Urban Geography, a popular elective course in the Geography Department, so attendees will get a unique taste of a Middlebury classroom.
This event is free and open to all, but $5 donations are welcome.
Lecture—Brick by Brick: The Life and Career of Michelangelo Lovelace
Thursday, October 8, 2026 | 4:30pm
Mahaney Arts Center, Room 125
Dr. Jeffrey Katzin, Senior Curator of the Akron Art Museum, will discuss Lovelace’s intensively dedicated fusion of art and life, his simplified but powerful style, and his resonant approaches to politics and Black identity.
Film Screening and Artist Talk—Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America
** NOTE: UPDATED TIME **
Thursday, October 15, 2026 | 6:15pm (80 minutes)
Dana Auditorium
Vanish is described as a “eulogy for a rural way of life that is disappearing, but it also serves a clarion call for all of us to preserve what’s left and what matters.” The screening will be followed by Q&A and a reception with photographer Jim Westphalen.
Museum Lecture—Afterlives of South Italian Vase Painting: Restoration and Fabrication of Ancient Art in Eighteenth-Century Naples
Savannah Marquardt, PhD Candidate, History of Art, Yale University
Thursday, October 29 | 4:30pm
Mahaney Arts Center, Room 125
When the magnificent red-figure vases now recognized as “Ancient Greek” first began to be systematically removed from graves in Southern Italy in the eighteenth-century, they captivated antiquarian audiences. Wealthy collectors were struck by the desire to own—and to improve—ancient history. How were these red-figure vases “restored,” and what were the stakes of this restoration? In considering these questions Marquardt reveals that the afterlife of antiquity in the eighteenth century was predicated on remarkably modern concerns about who is considered capable of making great art and the role of “classical civilization” in the production of modern identities.
Cosponsored by the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Classics Department.
Members Event—2026 Friends of the Art Museum Purchase Party
Saturday, November 7 | 5:00pm
Kirk Alumni Center
TICKETS AVAILABLE SOON
Join the Friends for art, music, and dinner from the Arab world as we consider our next gift to the Museum’s collection. Sarah Rogers, visiting assistant professor of history of art and architecture, will present three works of art for possible purchase, and the members of the Friends will vote to determine which work gets added to the collection. The evening will also feature a buffet dinner and beer/wine bar (each event ticket will include one free drink).
If you’re not currently a member of the Friends, be sure to activate or renew your membership to guarantee you’ll be able to vote.