Chautauqua Visual Arts (CVA) hosts a public lecture series of profound thought leaders in the visual arts from all over the world. We are delighted to present luminaries who will share their current projects and discuss relevant topics of the day.
Each lecture and discussion occurs on the second Tuesday evening of every month from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. EST, year round. We welcome everyone to attend online and to participate by asking questions live, in conversation with our guests. All of our talks are free and open to the public and recorded for your viewing pleasure beyond the live lecture.
Additionally, CVA is meant to be a place where people can visit freely, participate, share and experience a wide variety of master and enrichment classes and workshops through our programming in our physical Arts Quad, the large Drawing Room and our Galleries. There is something for anyone who wants to embrace their creativity, even if they’re simply curious to take a peek and observe those who are professional artists living a creative life. Come join us.
To watch recordings of our past Chautauqua Visual Arts Lecture Series and other events, visit and subscribe to our YouTube playlist.
“Natural Rhythms” Opening Reception with exhibiting artists June 26, 3:00-5:00pm. Natural forms, shapes and patterns will abound in this exhibition. Soft and subtle changes, shadows and movements will be featured in paper, wood, clay, mixed media and paint. The works reference our innate love of nature, materials and beauty. The exhibition, basically devoid of color, […]
“Undercurrents” exhibition Opening Reception with exhibiting artists June 26, 3:00-5:00pm. Water, in its various forms, is captivating, healing, and expansive, but it is also a fundamental need and right for all of the earth’s inhabitants. This exhibition includes work that references the environmental and socio-political issues underlying our relationship to water. It questions who has […]
“All that Glitters” exhibition opening reception with exhibiting artists June 26, 3:00-5:00pm. This exhibition takes its cue from the aphorism “All that Glitters is not Gold”. The dazzling works in this exhibition use embellishments of glitter and gold to question notions of value. These contemporary artists celebrate what is often deemed to be of lesser […]
“The Shape of Things to Come” exhibition opening reception June 26, 3:00-5:00pm. This one-person exhibition with works by Jean Alexander Frater experiments with the materials inherent to painting and then integrates other histories, traditions and language into this form. Her colorful and complex paintings will be shown in all shapes and sizes with woven patterning […]
“Connections I: CVA School of Art Residents Exhibition” opening reception with exhibiting artists July 1, 3:00-5:00pm. One of our most popular exhibitions of the summer will once again be displayed on the second floor of Fowler- Kellogg Art Center. This year each Artist-in-Residence, who will be attending the summer program at the Chautauqua School of […]
Hosted by the Friends of CVA, Art in the Park is an open art fair with 70+ vendors held in Miller Park, showcasing art by members of the Chautauqua community, artists-in-residence from the School of Art, and artisans from the region around Chautauqua Institution. Items for sale include ceramics, paintings, prints, Chautauqua-themed trinkets, pieces made […]
Squeak Carnwath draws upon the philosophical and mundane experiences of daily life in her paintings and prints, which can be identified by lush fields of color combined with text, patterns, and identifiable images. She has received numerous awards including the Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) Award from San Francisco Museum of Modern […]
Jean Alexander Frater experiments with the materials inherent to painting and then integrates other histories, traditions and language into this form. Alexander Frater is represented by Engage Projects Gallery in Chicago. She was a 2017-2018 Chicago Artists BOLT resident, received an MFA from School of Art the Institute of Chicago, and a BA in Philosophy, […]
Hakim Bishara is an editor and writer for the online art publication Hyperallergic. He is also a co-director at Soloway Gallery, an artist-run space in Brooklyn, and a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Bishara is a recipient of the 2019 Andy Warhol Foundation and Creative Capital Arts Writers Grant and he […]
“Connections II: CVA School of Art Residents Exhibition” opening reception with exhibiting artists July 21, 3:00-5:00pm. One of our most popular exhibitions of the summer will once again be displayed on the second floor of Fowler- Kellogg Art Center. This year each Artist-in-Residence, who will be attending the summer program at the Chautauqua School of […]
“Wallflowers” exhibition opening reception July 24, 3:00-5:00pm.The elegant sculptures of Rain Harris will be featured in this one-person exhibition. They are refined, domesticated, and shaped into formalized landscapes and still lifes. Set mostly in black porcelain, Harris’s meticulously hand-formed ceramic flowers are composed in lush arrangements. This combination of delicate petals and flowers creates a […]
Shirley Wegner is a multidisciplinary artist focusing on photography. In her work, she explores photography’s dialogue with other disciplines like painting, sculpture, video and installation. Wegner was born in Tel Aviv and lived in New York for many years before returning to Israel in 2016. She holds an MFA from Yale University School of Art […]
“Squaring Up Histories” exhibition opening reception with artists July 28, 3-5pm. This group exhibition is meant to coincide with Chautauqua Institution’s week 9 theme highlighting American Folk Art. Featuring textiles as well as video and glass, the work by this eclectic array of artists features various aspects of traditional quilt-making like storytelling, piecework, and the […]
Loretta Pettway Bennett, Gee’s Bend quiltmaker and “Squaring up Histories” exhibiting artist Loretta Pettway Bennett is a fifth-generation quilter from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, and one of the youngest to continue hand-stitching quilts in the renowned Gee’s Bend style. Born December,1960, she is the second of eight children and oldest daughter of Tom O. and Qunnie […]
Executive Director, Sarasota Art Museum Virginia Shearer has devoted her 25 years in museum leadership to catalyzing meaningful connections with art and artists for people of all ages, backgrounds and experience with the arts. Virginia comes to us from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, where she most recently served as Director of Education. […]
Aaron McIntosh, Squaring Up Histories exhibiting artist, US Artist Fellow, and Associate Professor of Fibres at Concordia University Join us at the CVA School of Art in a community workshop to create a Chautauqua Community Quilt. No sewing experience necessary. Aaron McIntosh is a cross-disciplinary artist and fourth-generation quiltmaker whose work mines the intersections of […]
Each summer, the Friends of CVA hosts a ticketed event to raise funds in support of scholarships for the CVA School of Art Residency Program. The Stroll through the Arts Gala provides an opportunity to connect with fellow art lovers and to bid on original pieces of art as well as experiences, amphitheater performance tickets and more! Auctioned artwork includes […]
Hosted by the Friends of CVA, Art in the Park is an open art fair with 70+ vendors held in Miller Park, showcasing art by members of the Chautauqua community, artists-in-residence from the School of Art, and artisans from the region around Chautauqua Institution. Items for sale include ceramics, paintings, prints, Chautauqua-themed trinkets, pieces made […]
Judy Barie is an artist who creates contemporary abstract works. Inspired by the likes of Brice Marden and Elizabeth Murray, Barie combines layers of color, gestural marks and rich patterns on birch panels. For over 30 years, Barie has developed a visual vocabulary of her particular mark making that exists in both singular paintings and […]
“Thinking Green: Open CVA Members Exhibition” Opening reception with artists August 10, 3-5pm. We invite all Exhibiting Members of CVA to submit work related to this year’s theme and title – Thinking Green. The word “green,” known in Latin as “viridis,” may conjure visions of emeralds, viridescent landscapes, garden growth, and verdant hues. It may […]
James Hunter is an Award winning Design Director with the Wiseman Group, a nationally renowned interior design firm based in San Francisco, California. He earned a Masters Degree in Art Education and has completed postgraduate work in textile design and surface printing from State University College at Buffalo, NY. His body of residential client work […]
