The Gallery

the art Gallery walls lined with paintings

The Gallery in the Viar-Christ Center for the Arts houses one major exhibition each semester of the academic year and supports the educational goals of the Visual Art program, the Fine Arts Department, and Hampden-Sydney College. Exhibitions include work of visiting artists, faculty, and students. The Gallery is located in Brinkley Hall.
Gallery size: 370 square feet

Hours

Monday-Friday, 10 am to 4 pm and by appointment

2025-2026 Exhibitions

students showing their art in the Gallery at Hampden-Sydney

Spring Student Art Show

Reception: Monday, April 27, 2026

 

black and white image of a skiff sitting on a dirt road: by Patrice Aphrodite Helmar, "Two Skiffs," 2018

Monochrome Visions: American Photography in Black and White

Opening: March, 2026
This exhibition celebrates the ways American photographers have used black-and-white photography to generate a wide variety of aesthetic effects. It explores how they have documented, or poetically reflected upon, various aspects of the American experience. Spanning 1916 to 2018, the selection includes master prints by Margaret Bourke-White, Frank Gohlke, Brian Grogan ’73, Patrice Aphrodite Helmar, H. S. Hoyt, Dorothea Lange, Tod Papageorge, Julius Shulman, Logan Wannamaker ’02, Marion Post Wolcott, and two unknown photographers.

 

Painting of birds alight on pooling water by Allan Jones

Allan Jones: Virginia Painter 

October 15–December 10, 2025
This special exhibition celebrates the works of Allan Jones (1915–1989), whose paintings and drawings capture Virginia life with stunningly magical realism.

 

gallery filled with students observing framed images

Student Fine Arts Show

April 28-May 10, 2025 
Opening Reception: Monday, April 29

 

artistic representation of the march from Selma to the Montgomery Capitol

Michael Mergen: Recording History

March 3-April 21, 2025 
For the two series on view here, Lee’s Retreat and Selma-to-Montgomery, Michael Mergen photographed historical markets at the sites of significant events in the Civil War and the Civil Rights movement. Mergen later returned to each location with a large print of his photograph and produced a rubbing of the marker atop the image with wax crayons. The resulting large-scale prints reflect on time, memory, and how history is never static.  

Past Exhibitions