Community Calendar

Persian/Iranian-American artist Maryam Safajoo works in oil on linen, creating intimate and vulnerable narrative paintings. Safajoo documents the stories of the Iranian Bahá’í community’s systematic persecution after the 1979 revolution—stories that are often erased, silenced, or preserved only in the memories of those who endured them.

Many of the incidents she depicts only exist in the memory of those who experienced them and have no pictorial evidence. Through conversations, interviews, and archival research, she reconstructs these histories with meticulous detail, incorporating the clothing, artifacts, and environments that were present at these events. 

Through her work, Safajoo reflects on a world free from prejudice—one where people are not judged by their beliefs, gender, identity, race, or social status.

Maryam Safajoo: The Dream of Freedom will be on view at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum from August 6 - December 12, 2026. 

Please be sure to join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum for Safajoo’s artist talk on Friday, September 18th at 6 PM in the Richard Wetherill Visual Arts Center, Room 119.

Image Credits: Maryam Safajoo, As Leaven to the World, 2024. Oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the Artist. 

Mallory Zondag, award-winning artist and educator living in New York, uses fiber arts and sculpture to explore the natural world and how it relates to the physical body and the human experience.

She explores deeply personal and connective universal stories through the meditative and hands-on practices of wet felting, weaving, sculpting, and stitching, seeking to bring the ephemeral into physical being. 

This exhibition of work includes a site-specific installation at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, which was created using hand felted wool, wax, fibers, fabrics and objects both found and recycled. 

Mallory Zondag: Transmissions from the Anthropocene, on view at the museum from July 30 - December 5, will be accompanied by an artist lecture and a series of community workshops in the Roanoke Valley.

Image Credits: Mallory Zondag, the VOID, 2026. Wood, Blackest Black in the Known Universe paint, tufted wool yarn, felted wool, wire, plastic waste, paper mache, sound. In collaboration with Peter Ossi, woodworker, and Lin Furio, sound designer.

Jake McCord, a self-taught artist from Georgia, frequently said that making art was something he did “just for fun.” He lived and worked alone and considered his art to be “company” – Once a painting was complete, McCord would install it on his front porch to share the work with the community, engaging passersby and sparking conversation.

McCord’s works are products of his imagination and his unique vision of the world. Looking at his paintings is an invitation to enter McCord’s lively and colorful world and a reminder that anyone can express themselves through creating art. "Jake McCord: Jolly Company" is on view at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum August 13 – November 14, 2026, and is on loan from Chris Ross and Traveling Art Exhibitions. Please go to Hollins.edu/Museum to find our open hours!

Please also join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum for a community workshop inspired by McCord's paintings on Friday, October 23rd from 2-4 PM on the front plaza outside the museum.

Image Credits: Jake McCord, "Untitled (Purple Dog with Ball)," 1998. House paint on found wood, 20 x 15 inches. © Private Collection.

"No Excellent Beauty: Disability Aesthetics" is a two-person show that features the work of photographers Kristen Olinger and Michael Van Huffel. Both Olinger and Van Huffel work in the medium of digital photography to engage in self-portraiture as a means to process living with late onset chronic illness and disability. Neither artist carries visible signs of their illness, which can make describing their challenges and experiences more difficult, but through their photographs they are able to make the unseen visible.

The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum has partnered with Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to provide braille printings of all text included in this exhibition, as well as Swell Touch prints of a selection of pieces for all to feel and enjoy.

Image Credits: Kristen Olinger, "Opulent Dolls," digital photograph, 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.

Throughout August, there's plenty to see at Art Works. Explore six galleries, visit 82 working artist studios, and enjoy a full lineup of exhibits, including Sacred Queerness: Nature, Spirituality, and the Queer Experience and juried group show Queer by Nature. Other solo exhibitions include T. Parker, Justin White, Heather McCoy, and Mandy Powell, the Community Bridge Project featuring Zahra Chowdhury, and our monthly All Media Show showcasing artists from across Virginia.

Visit us Tuesdays through Sundays 11am- 5pm. Admission is free and open to the public. Convenient and free parking is available. Exhibits will remain on view through September 19th, 2026 (unless otherwise noted). The Bridge Project Exhibit will continue through August 31st.

Nominations are now being accepted for the Perry F. Kendig Arts and Culture Awards program. The awards, co-sponsored by Hollins University and Roanoke College, recognize individuals, businesses and organizations in the greater Roanoke region that provide exemplary leadership and support around the arts. The deadline for nominations is Sunday, Sept. 13, 2025, at 4 p.m. The nomination form and additional information about the program can be found at kendigawards.com.

Kendig Awards are presented in each of the following categories:
• Individual Artist (selected from all disciplines, including dance, literature, music, media arts, visual arts and theater)
• Arts and/or Cultural Organization
• Individual or Business Arts Supporter

Individuals, businesses and organizations from Virginia’s Blue Ridge region (which includes the counties of Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke; the cities of Roanoke and Salem; and the town of Vinton) are eligible, as are past Kendig Award recipients from 1985-2012. Programs and individuals at Hollins and Roanoke College are eligible to be nominated. The Kendig Awards are named for the late Perry F. Kendig, who served as president of Roanoke College and was an ardent supporter and patron of the arts. Established in his honor in 1985, the program provides important advocacy for the essential role that arts and culture play in our lives and communities, including economic development and education.

The diversity of nominees and recipients through the years is illustrative of the Kendig program’s primary purpose: to celebrate and champion arts and culture in every form, and to demonstrate their vast impact in our region.

The awards presentation this year will take place at Hollins University, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA 24020, on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. More details about the event will be announced at a later date.

Mallory Zondag, award-winning artist and educator living in New York, uses fiber arts and sculpture to explore the natural world and how it relates to the physical body and the human experience.

She explores deeply personal and connective universal stories through the meditative and hands-on practices of wet felting, weaving, sculpting, and stitching, seeking to bring the ephemeral into physical being. 

This exhibition of work includes a site-specific installation at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, which was created using hand felted wool, wax, fibers, fabrics and objects both found and recycled. 

Mallory Zondag: Transmissions from the Anthropocene, on view at the museum from July 30 - December 5, will be accompanied by an artist lecture and a series of community workshops in the Roanoke Valley.

Image Credits: Mallory Zondag, the VOID, 2026. Wood, Blackest Black in the Known Universe paint, tufted wool yarn, felted wool, wire, plastic waste, paper mache, sound. In collaboration with Peter Ossi, woodworker, and Lin Furio, sound designer.

Persian/Iranian-American artist Maryam Safajoo works in oil on linen, creating intimate and vulnerable narrative paintings. Safajoo documents the stories of the Iranian Bahá’í community’s systematic persecution after the 1979 revolution—stories that are often erased, silenced, or preserved only in the memories of those who endured them.

Many of the incidents she depicts only exist in the memory of those who experienced them and have no pictorial evidence. Through conversations, interviews, and archival research, she reconstructs these histories with meticulous detail, incorporating the clothing, artifacts, and environments that were present at these events. 

Through her work, Safajoo reflects on a world free from prejudice—one where people are not judged by their beliefs, gender, identity, race, or social status.

Maryam Safajoo: The Dream of Freedom will be on view at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum from August 6 - December 12, 2026. 

Please be sure to join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum for Safajoo’s artist talk on Friday, September 18th at 6 PM in the Richard Wetherill Visual Arts Center, Room 119.

Image Credits: Maryam Safajoo, As Leaven to the World, 2024. Oil on linen, 24 x 20 inches. Courtesy of the Artist. 

Jake McCord, a self-taught artist from Georgia, frequently said that making art was something he did “just for fun.” He lived and worked alone and considered his art to be “company” – Once a painting was complete, McCord would install it on his front porch to share the work with the community, engaging passersby and sparking conversation.

McCord’s works are products of his imagination and his unique vision of the world. Looking at his paintings is an invitation to enter McCord’s lively and colorful world and a reminder that anyone can express themselves through creating art. "Jake McCord: Jolly Company" is on view at the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum August 13 – November 14, 2026, and is on loan from Chris Ross and Traveling Art Exhibitions. Please go to Hollins.edu/Museum to find our open hours!

Please also join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum for a community workshop inspired by McCord's paintings on Friday, October 23rd from 2-4 PM on the front plaza outside the museum.

Image Credits: Jake McCord, "Untitled (Purple Dog with Ball)," 1998. House paint on found wood, 20 x 15 inches. © Private Collection.

"No Excellent Beauty: Disability Aesthetics" is a two-person show that features the work of photographers Kristen Olinger and Michael Van Huffel. Both Olinger and Van Huffel work in the medium of digital photography to engage in self-portraiture as a means to process living with late onset chronic illness and disability. Neither artist carries visible signs of their illness, which can make describing their challenges and experiences more difficult, but through their photographs they are able to make the unseen visible.

The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum has partnered with Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired to provide braille printings of all text included in this exhibition, as well as Swell Touch prints of a selection of pieces for all to feel and enjoy.

Image Credits: Kristen Olinger, "Opulent Dolls," digital photograph, 2025. Image courtesy of the artist.