Barbara L. Bishop Gallery

20 February – 8 November 2026

Longwood University has collected art since the early 1900s. Several of Longwood’s early art acquisitions were funded by class gifts, such as the beloved Joan of Arc sculptures on view in the Rotunda. In the 1930s, art department professor and namesake of the University’s Bedford Hall, Virginia Bedford (1905–1983), began an organized effort to exhibit and acquire artworks, primarily portraits and landscapes. By 1949, students, alumnae, and friends established a named fund to purchase works by Virginians. The University officially codified its first named collection, the Virginia Artist Collection, in 1951.

2026 marks the 75th anniversary of the Virginia Artist Collection.  The Collection’s breadth and depth continue to grow, with a total of 1,158 works by 312 artists. It is the only formal collection of art by Virginians in existence today. To honor its history, importance, and the talent it houses, Virginians by Virginians highlights 30 portraits by 21 artists in the Collection spanning the 20th and early 21st centuries. The works represent a range of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, and sculpture, and stylistic approaches from figurative to abstract.

This exhibition highlights work by well-known Virginia artists (Harriet Fitzgerald, J.J. Lankes, Sally Mann, and Willie Anne Wright), renowned folk artists (Rev. Anderson Johnson and Clinton S. Ford, Sr.), Longwood faculty members (Maurice Sneller, Jr. and Homer Springer), and Longwood alumni (Nan Gilbert Aman [Class of 1934] and Fred H. Bradley [Class of 1996]). The exhibition also provides insights into artistic practices, their subjects, and the times in which they lived.

The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts’ Virginia Artists Collection represents a continuum of the Commonwealth’s rich artistic and cultural history. It also serves as a means to glean insights into art and lived experiences, while embodying the LCVA’s mission to inspire hope and beauty through the power of human imagination.

Pictured: Harriet Fitzgerald (Danville, Virginia, 1904–1984), Tommy, 1940. Oil on canvas, 33.75 x 33.75 in. Virginia Artists Collection, Gift of the Estate of Raymond Keith Kissee, 2023.3.16.