Lectures and Performances

Join Dr. Tim Smith, Associate Provost and Professor of Art History at Birmingham-Southern College, as he explores the significance of portrait busts and reliefs from private and public contexts in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy. After the talk, visit other portraits in the BMA’s collection in the exhibition, Ways of Seeing: Portraits, in the Bohorfoush Gallery.

Dr. Katherine Anne Paul, The Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art at the BMA, discusses her latest rotation in the Asian galleries, “Botanicals: Flora in Asian Art,” and its connection to seasonal holidays such as the Indian Holi Festival of Color and Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival that are celebrated here in […]

Darlene Negrotto, President and CEO of Vulcan Park and Museum, offers an insider’s view of Giuseppe Moretti’s colossal Vulcan monument in Birmingham.

John Manion, the Kaul Wildflower Garden Curator at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, leads a discussion on the scientific and symbolic language of plants within works of art and the ways in which gardens, like art galleries, create immersive and aesthetic experiences for visitors indoors and out.

Sara Garden Armstrong, a visual artist and founder of Ground Floor Contemporary, a cooperative art gallery in Birmingham, leads a talk on creating and cultivating space for art making and dialogue for the visual arts in Birmingham. She also discusses her work and upcoming monograph, Sara Garden Armstrong: Threads and Layers, which is the first […]

James Williams, Design Director at the Birmingham Museum of Art, leads a discussion on how we communicate beyond the art in our galleries. He will examine the language of graphic design and the ways in which inherent biases can lead to miscommunication for a global audience.

Join Anthony Bingham, a visual artist and instructor in the Department of Humanities at Miles College, on an exploration of processes, histories, and ideas that have led to transformative images and objects inspired by his life’s journey as an African American in the South.

Curator of European Art, Robert Schindler, Ph.D., speaks about his upcoming project on Rachel and Anna Ruysch, two sister painters in late 17th-century Amsterdam who specialize in flower still life paintings, and situate their work in its art historical and intellectual context.

Curator of American Art Dr. Kate Crawford and Curator of Contemporary Art Hallie Ringle discuss the legacy of Jacob Lawrence and his influence in contemporary art around the BMA’s fall featured exhibition, Jacob Lawrence: The American Struggle, organized by the Peabody Essex Museum.