Join us for the latest session of Stanley Creates, where participants will work with model magic clay to create their own delicious cupcake treats!Spots are limited, register here: https://uiowa.doubleknot.com/event/stanley-creates-model-magic-cupcakes/3105241Stanley Creates is a free, family-friendly event offered twice a semester at the Stanley Museum of Art. It provides an opportunity for families to experience the museum together through an art-making activity that takes inspiration from the...

Join Summer of the Arts and the Stanley Museum of Art in not just viewing art but making it!The Stanley booth will be live on Sunday at the Ped Mall - color your very own fabric slap bracelets with paint markers! While you're there, enjoy a variety of music, performances and your favorite swing band and international sounds too.Full schedule for the 2025 Iowa Arts Festival can be found here.

Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces.Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists.Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session and...

The Iowa City Gallery Walk is back for another year! For over 25 years, this event has taken over downtown and filled your favorite businesses with wonderful works of art. Make an evening of it and grab a bite to eat, shop, and gallery walk in beautiful downtown Iowa City! The 2025 Downtown Summer Gallery Walk is Friday, June 6th from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. This FREE event is open to everyone to enjoy a self-guided tour of shops, galleries, and other locations that have curated featured artists and...

Immerse yourself in a captivating orchestral performance by the Iowa City Philharmonic Orchestra at the Stanley Museum of Art. Experience an afternoon of classical and contemporary pieces performed live in the lobby, where music meets visual art.The event is free and open to all, but seating is limited. Registration is strongly recommended to ensure a reserved seat: https://uiowa.doubleknot.com/event/iowa-city-philharmonic/3094317Program1. John Adams (b. 1947)‘Shaking and Trembling,’ ‘Shaker...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester!Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece.Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. Teen...

The Drawing Salon focuses on drawing artworks from the museum's collection. Each session will focus on a different artwork. The sessions will begin with an introduction and discussion of the selected work. Participants will be encouraged to pursue their own visions and to take inspiration from the artworks in the gallery. Pencils and sketchbooks/paper are the only artmaking materials allowed in the galleries. The museum has golf pencils with erasers and clipboards for participants to use...

Make the Stanley your study spot for finals week. We'll have free coffee, lemonade, punch, and snacks available all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (10 a.m.–4 p.m.). Stop by for a few hours to study for your exams: grab a snack, replenish your study supplies (we'll have post-its, highlighters, and more) and take a quick break — either by exploring the galleries or playing with a fidget toy.

Make the Stanley your study spot for finals week. We'll have free coffee, lemonade, punch, and snacks available all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (10 a.m.–4 p.m.). Stop by for a few hours to study for your exams: grab a snack, replenish your study supplies (we'll have post-its, highlighters, and more) and take a quick break — either by exploring the galleries or playing with a fidget toy.

Make the Stanley your study spot for finals week. We'll have free coffee, lemonade, punch, and snacks available all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (10 a.m.–4 p.m.). Stop by for a few hours to study for your exams: grab a snack, replenish your study supplies (we'll have post-its, highlighters, and more) and take a quick break — either by exploring the galleries or playing with a fidget toy.

Join us for a tour of the Stanley Museum of Art's latest exhibition, it's a fine thing. This tour is presented in conjunction with the NEA Big Read and will draw connections between the show and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved.This tour is part of the Sundays with the Docents program where Stanley docents create unique tours to share with our audiences throughout the year. Registration is strongly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome, but tours are capped at 20 participants.Reserve your spot at https...

The final discussion session of Beloved will be led by Tameka Cage Conley."In a time when dreams might feel distant, I count it 'sheer, good fortune'—a Morrisonian quote from Sula--to return to Iowa City, which remains home to me, and join DK Nnuro for the final discussion of Beloved, a novel that has been seared into my consciousness and all meaning of life for over thirty years. A homecoming of enormous import, we will step into the mercy and splendor of Morrison's language—its gifts and...

As the NEA Big Read draws to a close, immerse yourself in the powerful story of Beloved on the big screen!For one day only, FilmScene presents the critically acclaimed film based on Toni Morrison's novel, starring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, and Thandiwe Newton. This cinematic masterpiece will enrich your understanding of Morrison's novel before the final discussion of the book the following Saturday.Beloved on 35mm is free for all and is presented in partnership with the Stanley Museum of Art...

Ciraj Rassool, PhD is Senior Professor of Historical Studies at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and director of the African Programme in Museum and Heritage Studies. He has published widely on changing old museums & making new museums, race in museums, restitution, political movements and the politics of nonracialism. He served on the boards of the District Six Museum & Iziko Museums of South Africa and is a member of the South African National Advisory Board for Restitution...

Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces.Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists.Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session and...

Mellon Research staff, Dr. Peju Layiwola and Fernanda Campos will present their work and examine the questions that lie at the core of provenance research.

Join us for a thought-provoking and timely panel discussion in partnership with the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council, featuring esteemed representatives from the Stanley Museum of Art, the Pentacrest Museums, and the Office of the State Archaeologist.Together, they will explore the University of Iowa’s leadership and evolving practices in the restitution and repatriation of African and Indigenous American cultural objects. This conversation sheds light on the critical role of institutions in...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester!Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece.Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. Teen...

Join us for a special evening of film screenings and conversation with acclaimed filmmakers/artists Christopher Harris and Cameron Granger. This program is part of the Grant Wood Art Colony's 8th Biennial Symposium, Race and Regionalism: Representation in the Heartland, and is held in conjunction with the Stanley Museum of Art's exhibition, it's a fine thing.Featured FilmsChristopher HarrisDistant Shores (2016, 3min)Christopher Harris’s Distant Shores, to take one, models a necessary imaginative...

Join us for a compelling panel discussion moderated by Katherine Simóne Reynolds and featuring Kelley Lemon, Naima Green, and Alicia Olushola Ajayi. This conversation will illuminate the many ways Black artists and practitioners are engaging with ecological narratives, uncovering hidden histories, and shaping future landscapes. This event is held in conjunction with the exhibition, it's a fine thing, currently on view at the Stanley Museum of Art.Moderator:Katherine Simóne Reynolds is an artist...

Hop to it! In this fun and creative workshop, children will transform ordinary socks into adorable bunny friends. Using rice to fill their bodies and buttons for eyes and noses, kids will design and create their own unique and cuddly companions. Space is limited; please reserve your spot at https://uiowa.doubleknot.com/event/schools-out-at-the-stanley-april-18/3... Please arrive in time for children to settle in and begin the project at 2 p.m. School's Out at the Stanley is offered on days...

Join us for our last installment of Night at the Museum this academic year, a series of monthly events for UI students that occurs on Thursday nights, when the museum is open late. This month we want to celebrate our student artists! Working with student artists across the University and the Undergraduate Art History Society, we have created our very own student gallery—gallery guide and all! Student works will be displayed in the Stanley's lobby for one night, during this event. Students are...

The Drawing Salon focuses on drawing artworks from the museum's collection. Each session will focus on a different artwork. The sessions will begin with an introduction and discussion of the selected work. Participants will be encouraged to pursue their own visions and to take inspiration from the artworks in the gallery. Pencils and sketchbooks/paper are the only artmaking materials allowed in the galleries. The museum has golf pencils with erasers and clipboards for participants to use...

Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for the 2025 Bette R. Spriestersbach Endowed Lectureship, featuring Siddhartha V. Shah, PhD, and John Wieland 1958 Director at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. Our Wounds and Our Weapons: Artmaking in India as Liberatory Practice, 1947 to TodayIndependence from British rule in 1947 signaled the end of nearly 350 years of British occupation, leaving the people of India to grapple with tremendous trauma and the task of building a nation that was...

Join us for a tour of the Stanley Museum of Art's latest exhibition, it's a fine thing. This tour is presented in conjunction with the NEA Big Read and will draw connections between the show and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. . This tour is part of the Sundays with the Docents program where Stanley docents create unique tours to share with our audiences throughout the year. Registration is strongly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome, but tours are capped at 20 participants. Reserve your spot at...

The final discussion session of Beloved will be led by Tameka Cage Conley."In a time when dreams might feel distant, I count it 'sheer, good fortune'—a Morrisonian quote from Sula--to return to Iowa City, which remains home to me, and join DK Nnuro for the final discussion of Beloved, a novel that has been seared into my consciousness and all meaning of life for over thirty years. A homecoming of enormous import, we will step into the mercy and splendor of Morrison's language—its gifts and...

Join the long, rich, historical tradition of artists creating in our spaces.Professional, aspiring, and amateur artists alike, make our museum your muse. The return of this popular program series welcomes guests into the Museum of Natural History's magical gallery spaces after-hours to work on sketching or writing projects with other campus and community artists.Tell a friend, grab a notebook, and join us on the first Friday of each month. We'll provide a new inspo prompt for each session and...

Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for insightful talks by artists Sonya Clark and Taiye Idahor, followed by a conversation with Cory Gundlach, Curator of African Art.Both Clark and Idahor, whose works are included in the Stanley’s collection, explore critical themes of identity, memory, and cultural heritage through their art, with a shared interest in the visual and symbolic power of hair. Their multidisciplinary approaches, spanning sculpture, textiles, and more, create compelling...

The Museum Studies program is excited to offer the program's first "Internship Story Panel" where Museum Studies students get the chance to present the work they completed for their Museum Studies internship and learn from each others' experiences. A panel of several student presenters will each talk about and feature their work with photos and videos. Afterwards, we’ll have time for Q&A from the audience. Hear about the exciting work our students are proud of completing for their Museum Studies...

Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for an uplifting singing circle in the lobby on Sunday, March 30, from 2-4 pm . The Stanley Museum of Art is the 5th stop of the SONG*LINES Project, a series of local song circles hosted by Grant Wood Fellow Lyndsey Scott to nourish the thriving of local community-building organizations and cross-pollinate new connections. Simple songs will be taught on the spot and refreshments will be provided. All voices are welcome! Register here. Lyndsey Scott is a...

Let your imagination run wild as you create your very own zany tree in bloom! In this hands-on workshop, children will use air-dry clay, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, and other colorful materials to design and assemble unique and whimsical trees. From towering giants to tiny saplings, the possibilities are endless! Space is limited; please reserve your spot at https://uiowa.doubleknot.com/event/stanley-creates-zany-trees-in-bloom/3087875 Please arrive in time for children to settle in and begin the...

Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for a talk featuring artist and UIowa alumnus, Bruce Dorfman. Three works by Dorfman will be on view in the Visual Classroom. About the artist:  Bruce Dorfman has had 60 solo exhibitions in New York, across the U.S.and abroad. He is represented by: June Kelly Gallery, NYC; Carrie Chen Gallery, Great Barrington, MA; and Elizabeth Clement Fine Art, Boston/Miami/NYC, where he will continue to have solo exhibitions during 2025. His very first solo exhibition...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester!Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece.Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. Teen...

The Drawing Salon focuses on drawing artworks from the museum's collection. Each session will focus on a different artwork. The sessions will begin with an introduction and discussion of the selected work. Participants will be encouraged to pursue their own visions and to take inspiration from the artworks in the gallery. Pencils and sketchbooks/paper are the only artmaking materials allowed in the galleries. The museum has golf pencils with erasers and clipboards for participants to use...

Join us for a tour of the Stanley Museum of Art's latest exhibition, it's a fine thing. This tour is presented in conjunction with the NEA Big Read and will draw connections between the show and Toni Morrison's novel Beloved. . This tour is part of the Sundays with the Docents program where Stanley docents create unique tours to share with our audiences throughout the year. Registration is strongly recommended. Walk-ins are welcome, but tours are capped at 20 participants. Reserve your spot at...

Join us for another installment of Night at the Museum, a series of monthly events for students that occur on Thursday nights, when the museum is open late. In honor of Women’s History Month, we're teaming up with the Women's Resource and Action Center (WRAC) to host a collage night! We will provide copies of historical materials to pick through, along with journals to work in. If you're already an avid journaler (or junk-journaler), you are welcomed to bring your own journal or paper goods you...

The Stanley Museum of Art, Hancher Auditorium, and the University of Iowa welcome Ronni Favors, a former dancer and current rehearsal director for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre. Born and raised in Iowa City, Favors will be in conversation with assistant professor of history and African American studies Ashley Howard, about artistic expression, home and the Black Midwestern experience.

Join the UI Libraries, the Stanley Museum of Art, and the UI Museum of Natural History for the Iowa City Downtown District's annual Spring Gallery Walk! Celebrating over 25 years, the Gallery Walk is a free event that invites everyone on a self-guided tour of shops and galleries showcasing curated artwork. Be sure to get a stamp at each location you visit, 10 stamps could win you a big prize! For your first stamp, start the tour on campus at the Main Library Gallery, featuring the new...

Children are invited to build their very own tin box robots using tin boxes, bolts, and a variety of other hardware. This inventive artmaking program encourages young artists to explore their imaginations and transform everyday materials into whimsical robot sculptures. Perfect for kids of all ages and skill levels, this hands-on activity promises a day of fun, creativity, and discovery. Space is limited; please reserve your spot at https://uiowa.doubleknot.com/event/schools-out-at-the-stanley...

Join the Weaving Our Community Network (part of the Women’s Resource and Action Center) in collaboration with Stanley Museum of Art and UI Libraries Special Collections and Archives to share the stories we tell through our clothing. Come together to enjoy food and conversation as we explore traditions of handmaking, and embellishment of objects passed down through generations of artisans. Alicia Velasquez will lead a beading workshop during the event. Each participant will have the opportunity...

Write at the Stanley: A Generative Writing Workshop is back for the Spring Semester!Join us monthly to generate new creative writing inspired by works in the Stanley collection. Each session will be led by a different talented writer from our area, who will be offering a new prompt and a new approach to ekphrastic writing (writing inspired by visual art). Bring your own notebook and pencil or computer and leave with the beginning of a newly written piece.Co-sponsored by Iowa City Poetry. Teen...

Interested in learning about the ancient art practice of weaving? The Stanley has partnered with ICDD for the upcoming Free Week – a winter festival offering free programming at over 15 venues, celebrating Downtown Iowa City’s Cultural & Entertainment District from Feb. 18 to 22, 2025. Weaver and Graduate Assistant at the Stanley Museum of Art, Melanie Landsittel, will lead a workshop featuring many types of DIY looms and demonstrate the process of weaving. Visitors will be shown how to create...

The Drawing Salon focuses on drawing artworks from the museum's collection. Each session will focus on a different artwork. The sessions will begin with an introduction and discussion of the selected work. Participants will be encouraged to pursue their own visions and to take inspiration from the artworks in the gallery. Pencils and sketchbooks/paper are the only artmaking materials allowed in the galleries. The museum has golf pencils with erasers and clipboards for participants to use...

Join us at the Stanley Museum of Art for our Sundays with the Docents tour where Stanley docents create unique tours to share with our audiences throughout the year. In the Art by Indigenous Americans tour, Docent David Duer will look at some of the ways Native artists examine and express their cultural heritage. The Muscogee poet and musician (and former U.S. poet laureate) Joy Harjo, in her poem “Conflict Resolutions for Holy Beings,” offers words that serve as our tour theme: “Recognize...

Join us for another installment of Night at the Museum, a series of monthly events for UI students that occurs on Thursday nights, when the museum is open late. This month, we're celebrating Valentine's Day for a whole week! Visit the Stanley Museum of HeARTs anytime from Tuesday, Feb. 11 to Friday, Feb. 14 — we'll have paper hearts available at the front desk for guests to leave on the floor in front of their favorite artworks in the galleries.  We will also have a special Valentine's Day...

Join us for the opening of the exhibition, it's a fine thing This exhibition explores the rich and often overlooked landscape of the Black Midwest, challenging conventional narratives and celebrating the resilience and creativity of Black Midwestern artists.  Program begins at 6 p.m. with opening remarks, followed by refreshments and music. Event concludes at 8 p.m. Learn more: https://stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/its-a-fine-thing it’s a fine thing is generously supported by the Terra Foundation...

Join us for another installment of Night at the Museum, a series of monthly events for UI students that occurs on Thursday nights, when the museum is open late. This month, we're celebrating Valentine's Day for a whole week! Visit the Stanley Museum of HeARTs anytime from Tuesday, Feb. 11 to Friday, Feb. 14 — we'll have paper hearts available at the front desk for guests to leave on the floor in front of their favorite artworks in the galleries.  We will also have a special Valentine's Day...

Join us for another installment of Night at the Museum, a series of monthly events for UI students that occurs on Thursday nights, when the museum is open late. This month, we're celebrating Valentine's Day for a whole week! Visit the Stanley Museum of HeARTs anytime from Tuesday, Feb. 11 to Friday, Feb. 14 — we'll have paper hearts available at the front desk for guests to leave on the floor in front of their favorite artworks in the galleries.  We will also have a special Valentine's Day...

Join us for another installment of Night at the Museum, a series of monthly events for UI students that occurs on Thursday nights, when the museum is open late. This month, we're celebrating Valentine's Day for a whole week! Visit the Stanley Museum of HeARTs anytime from Tuesday, Feb. 11 to Friday, Feb. 14 — we'll have paper hearts available at the front desk for guests to leave on the floor in front of their favorite artworks in the galleries.  We will also have a special Valentine's Day...