The Wriston Art Galleries are closed for the summer break. Please join us in September for our Fall 2026 exhibitions.  

As of February 2, 2026, individuals wishing to access the galleries who are not current students, faculty, or staff will need to make an appointment. This is in response to a university-wide policy. Please call 920-832-6890 or email wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu to make arrangements to visit. 

Fall 2026

Friday, September 25 – Friday, November 20

Golden Age of American Illustration Exhibition

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This exhibition is curated by Zhiting Huang ’26 (English: Literature) and explores the rich history of American illustration during its so-called “Golden Age,” a period spanning the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Featuring works by prominent illustrators and drawn from the AV Art Collection, the exhibition examines how illustration shaped popular culture, publishing, advertising, and visual storytelling before the proliferation of photography and digital media.

Vintage Harper’s March cover showing a person in a long black dress holding a book, with three theatrical masks above and bold orange title text on a tan background.

Edward Penfield, Harper's March, color lithograph, 1896, AV Art Collection, 2018.03.89

Ellen Mahaffy, photography

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In her artist’s statement, photographer writes: “What is loss? What is memory? How does one live their life? I left my father. Now I am left with what he left behind.” Mahaffy’s work centers on the lives of her father and grandfather, family archives, memory, loss, and the process of reckoning with a complicated family history through photographs, artifacts, audio recordings, and text. The work combines documentary and autobiographical approaches to explore what remains after a life unravels and how personal narratives are constructed from fragmentary artifacts. Mahaffy is a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire teaching visual communication and photography for the Department of Communication and Journalism. 

Triptych of stacked stone sculptures against a black background, featuring layered rocks, minerals, and small found objects balanced into cairn-like forms.

Ellen Mahaffy, Mineral Cairns with Gold Tooth and Cuff Link, composite digital photograph in lightbox

The AV Art Collection

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This exhibition of works from the will remain on view during most of the academic year, from September to May. A new direction for the gallery schedule, this exhibition showcases the breadth and depth of the collection, built from donations by generous alumni and friends of LU, and connects it concretely to curriculum across the university. The exhibition will change slightly over the course of the year, so be sure to return often to see new objects. 

Abstract painting with white geometric shapes, colored triangles, and looping lines arranged across a soft green background.

Hilla Rebay, Cadenza, Oil, 1948, AV Art Collection, 52.002