This summer the LCVA will be packed with fun programs and engaging exhibitions.

In addition to their already popular programs, like Summer Art Studio, they’ll have new programs and events to offer.

LCVA’s galleries will be open late each Friday evening this summer from May 20 through Sept. 23 from 5-7 p.m. Unwind with friends and neighbors at a café table while enjoying complimentary appetizers and camaraderie. A cash bar is available for those who wish to enjoy a glass of wine or beer selected by a guest curator from our community. Select nights will feature live music.

A reception will be held Friday, July 8 from 5–8 p.m. for the opening of The Magical Realities of Elly MacKay exhibit. The exhibit will be held July 9 – Nov. 6, 5-8 p.m. “Chasing Shadows: The Magical Realities of Elly MacKay” showcases the artist and illustrator’s miniature shadow theatres, prints, original hand cut renderings, curiosity cabinets, and a large-scale site-specific installation created for LCVA’s Main Street gallery. These stunning, whimsical works, which have a strong narrative quality, are created using paper, pen-and-ink figures, an open-sided “theatre,” and a very old-fashioned manipulation of sunlight and lamplight. MacKay, who grew up in an old stone church in Big Bay, Ontario, Canada, finds inspiration through Victorian entertainment inventions, and is particularly drawn to tunnel books, magic lanterns, stereoscopes, paper theaters, and zoetropes. Chasing Shadows is the first in a new annual exhibition series organized around the Virginia Children’s Book Festival. Artist-led workshops will be scheduled during the exhibition.

Locally sourced will take place through June 19. Community collaboration is at the core of the LCVA — it makes us who we are and is the reason for what we do. While the role of the LCVA’s community is most often that of supportive audience for the exhibitions we present, “Locally Sourced” is comprised entirely of works selected by a wide range of our friends and neighbors. It represents our commitment to museum accessibility at all levels — not just as program participants.

LCVA invites the public to join them this summer to explore and create beautiful works of art inspired by some of your favorite children’s literature old and new. Drop in any time between 11 a.m.–2 p.m., June 6–Aug. 5, Monday–Friday at the LCVA, on the corner of Third and Main streets in historic downtown Farmville.

This program is free. No registration required, children must be accompanied by an adult. Summer Art Studio also features little artist areas for children ages 4 and younger.

The LCVA offers guided tours of both our galleries in main building and our galleries on campus. Call or email to explore all the LCVA has to offer with one of its experienced education staff members. Each guided tour will be tailored to your specific interest and are open to all ages and group sizes. Call Mindy Pierson at (434) 395.2941 or lcvatours@longwood.edu. All tours are offered free of charge. “Back East” will feature the photographic works of Longwood University alumnus Alex Grabiec, focusing on images of suburban life in America.