University of Richmond Museums Launches Fall Season with Immersive Multimedia Exhibit and Reopening of Lora Robins Gallery
UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND — This fall, University of Richmond Museums is showcasing newly commissioned work in the exhibit Cauleen Smith: Dusk of Dawn. UR is also celebrating the reopening of the Lora Robins Gallery, a newly curated and renovated natural history museum.
Cauleen Smith: Dusk of Dawn is on view at the Harnett Museum of Art at the University of Richmond through Dec. 6.
The exhibit is organized in collaboration with UR’s Department of Art & Art History as part of the 2025–26 Tucker–Boatwright Festival of Literature and the Arts. This year’s festival expands on the theme of “Reconstruction.”
“Dusk of Dawn is the first exhibition that University of Richmond Museums has commissioned by a living artist,” notes Orianna Cacchione notes Orianna Cacchione, deputy director and curator of exhibitions. “We are tremendously honored to be showcasing Smith’s work in this immersive exhibit, which interprets ‘Reconstruction’ through a combination of video, drawing, and installation to reflect on ways of memorializing the past.”
Cauleen Smith: Dusk of Dawn will also be woven into classes across campus.
“Dynamic contemporary installations push our comfort zones and inspire us to experience the art through all of our senses,” said Martha Wright, curator for academic initiatives. “Weaving this embodied experience with intentional dialogue that investigates the art through the lens of course readings and discussions offers students a truly unique experience to further connect to what they are learning in class.”
The Lora Robins Gallery, a natural science museum that originally opened in 1977, has reopened within the newly renovated Boatwright Memorial Library. The gallery is home to a significant collection of pieces, including dinosaur fossils, rare gems, prehistoric shells, fluorescent rocks, and coins. Many of the natural objects are from Virginia.
“The gallery has been entirely redesigned to intentionally showcase this incredible collection,” said Matthew Houle, curator of museum collections. “The space now guides visitors through the objects in a meaningful way, and allows for visitors to appreciate and learn from the best of the gallery’s collection.”
Highlights of the museum include new cases and an expanded fluorescent minerals room, which features an ultraviolet light display of the gallery’s fluorescent rock collection, one of the largest in the country. The gallery also opened a new classroom space that will make all these objects more accessible to students both at UR and at local K-12 schools.
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