February 8, 2011 — Guest curator Andrea Douglas will give a tour of the University of Virginia Art Museum exhibition, "Excavating New Ground, American Art in the 1970s," on Feb. 26 from 2 to 3 p.m. 

American artists in the 1970s responded expressively and imaginatively to their tumultuous times. This exhibition of art from the 1970s presents the development of art practice on the East Coast, with work ranging from figurative realism to post-painterly abstraction, which coincided with a decade of domestic and international political upheaval. Highlighting specific works in the exhibition, Douglas will discuss the distinction between figure and figurative painting as well as the variation in abstract work labeled "post-painterly abstraction."

Douglas was curator of exhibitions at the U.Va. Art Museum from 2004 to 2010. She earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in art history from U.Va. In addition to curatorial work, she has been visiting professor of contemporary art at Tulane University, and taught African-American art and new media and identity in the U.Va. College of Arts & Sciences' McIntire Department of Art. She specializes in African-American and contemporary art, and has published articles on artists Carrie Mae Weems, Jefferson Pinder and Charles Clarence Dawson.
 
The U.Va. Art Museum offers its Saturday Special Tours on the third or fourth Saturday of every month from 2 to 3 p.m. These tours offer the opportunity to join faculty, curators and scholars as they explore a variety of focused topics related to museum collections and exhibitions.

Saturday Special Tours are free and open to the public. For information, call 434-243-2050 or e-mail museumoutreach@virginia.edu. The museum is located at 155 Rugby Road, one block from the Rotunda.