Places
Williamsburg
William & Mary's Art & Art History Department gallery, showcasing current student and faculty work in ceramics, painting, drawing, printmaking, architecture, sculpture, and photography, alongside roughly a half-dozen invited-artist exhibitions each year.
Hampton
A gallery in Historic Phoebus with two sections — one showcasing owner Everna Lee Taylor's own folk art, the other featuring work from roughly 15 other local Hampton Roads artists, including photography, oil and acrylic paintings, mixed media, and woodcarving.
Elizabeth City
A 501(c)(3) regional arts council serving Pasquotank and Camden counties, operating four galleries (the Nance, Jenkins, Gutman, and Hull-Everist Galleries) showing rotating exhibitions of regional artists' work, alongside a School of the Arts offering classes, private lessons, and workshops, and a performing-arts season in the on-site Maguire Theatre.
Norfolk
Two 2,600-square-foot galleries at Old Dominion University exhibiting nationally and internationally recognized self-taught artists, contemporary artists across all media, and local/regional artists connected to ODU, alongside a permanent collection of over 1,500 works.
Norfolk
A museum at Old Dominion University presenting the Barry family's gifted collection: glass sculpture, American modernist paintings, works on paper, and historic dolls and automata.
Windsor
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit fostering the arts in Bertie County through promotion, funding, and education, operating a gallery in downtown Windsor where artist members exhibit and market their work, and organizing community public-art projects including downtown Windsor's mural program.
Hampton
A member artist cooperative gallery in downtown Hampton, established 1990, displaying work from painters, weavers, photographers, potters, and poets. Also offers venue hosting for private events and painting classes, including wine-and-paint nights.
Richmond
An art gallery and art advisory in Richmond, Virginia, known for curating and exhibiting a broad range of contemporary art. Its stated mission is to support and promote the work of living artists, introducing them to collectors and fostering a connection to the arts community at large.
Edenton
A member-supported 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1976, sponsoring and encouraging participation in the visual, literary, and performing arts in Chowan County. Its waterfront gallery (relocated to its current location adjacent to Colonial Park in 2019) sells paintings, pottery, sculpture, furniture, jewelry, and other locally- and regionally-made work, with displays changing almost weekly.
Norfolk
An encyclopedic art museum in downtown Norfolk with a collection spanning roughly 5,000 years, including an internationally recognized glass collection and the Perry Glass Studio.
Accomack County
A collective of practicing artists exhibiting work inspired by the light, texture, and coastal beauty of Wachapreague and the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Also periodically hosts multi-day paid plein-air painting workshops with visiting instructors.
Norfolk
A nonprofit community art center in Norfolk's NEON District where resident and associate artists work in on-site studios and sell original art directly to the public, alongside classes and curated exhibitions. Open since 1986.
Manteo
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to encouraging the arts in Dare County through advocacy, enrichment, and opportunity. Operates a juried gallery of over 100 local and regional artists on the first floor of the historic 1904 Dare County Courthouse in downtown Manteo, alongside classes and workshops in visual arts, music, and literature, and programs including the Artrageous Kids Art Festival, a plein-air painting event, and monthly First Friday exhibitions.
Gloucester County
A fine arts museum in Gloucester Courthouse operated in association with The Cook Foundation, presenting rotating exhibitions — its exhibition current as of this capture, 'The Art of Collecting: A Decade in Plein Air,' celebrates a decade of the Gloucester Arts Festival with over 120 paintings by more than 75 plein-air artists. Also offers its space for private event rentals.
Chesapeake
A rotating art-exhibit gallery inside the Dr. Clarence V. Cuffee Outreach & Innovation Library, part of the Chesapeake Public Library system. Open to any artist or curator through a formal application process (work samples, biography, and an exhibit statement), reviewed for artistic merit and suitability for a library setting.
York County
A volunteer-run gallery and welcome center in Historic Yorktown, a partnership between the Celebrate Yorktown Committee and York County, featuring paintings, jewelry, stained glass, pottery, quilts, and other work from more than 300 local artisans.
Gloucester County
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts center founded in 2011, operating a 4,000-square-foot gallery in Gloucester Courthouse with monthly rotating exhibits (opening receptions the first Friday of every month), alongside a regular schedule of art and art-education classes and workshops for all ages.
Hampton
Founded in 1868, the nation's oldest African American museum and one of Virginia's oldest museums overall, holding more than 9,000 objects with particular strength in African American, African, Native American, and Asian art — including the largest existing museum collection of works by John Biggers, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, and Samella Lewis. Advances its educational mission through permanent and changing exhibitions, a Children's Curiosity Room, the Center for African American History and Life, publications, lectures, and art and teacher training workshops.
Northampton County
A curated fine-art gallery and performance venue in Cape Charles, anchored by three resident artists (Clelia Cardano Sheppard, oil painter; Thelma J. Peterson, watercolorist; David Turner, bronze sculptor) alongside roughly 100 additional represented local and regional artists. Also hosts a recurring Friday-evening live-music series.
Newport News
An 83,000-square-foot non-collecting arts center at Christopher Newport University with four rotating-exhibition galleries: the Anne Noland Edwards Gallery (national/international artists), the William M. Grace Community Gallery (local/regional work), the Academic Gallery (student/alumni work), and the Microgallery (experimental projects).
Williamsburg
The art museum of William & Mary, holding nearly 8,000 objects in one of the oldest campus-based collections in the United States, spanning American and English Colonial art through modern works. Underwent a major expansion in 2023–2024 that tripled its size.
Newport News
A gallery inside the Downing-Gross Cultural Arts Center that displays exhibits throughout the year featuring the works of local, national, and international artists, and hosts multiple student exhibits.
York County
A nonprofit community gallery in Historic Yorktown, operated by the volunteer-run Yorktown Arts Foundation since 1975. Sells original paintings, pottery, jewelry, and other handmade work from local artists and offers art classes and workshops for children and adults; hosts the annual Yorktown Art Stroll, a photography show, and seasonal exhibitions.
Hertford
A nonprofit arts organization founded in 1995, operating a gallery and gift shop in Hertford's Historic District that features and sells paintings, photography, handcrafted jewelry, pottery, fiber art, glass, and woodwork from nearly 100 local artists and craftsmen, alongside workshops and community public-art grants.
Portsmouth
One of Portsmouth's five city museums, housed in the 1846 Greek Revival former Norfolk County Courthouse in Olde Towne. Two galleries of rotating exhibitions by regional and world-renowned artists, plus a Gallery Shop selling work by Hampton Roads artists and artisans in photography, glass, pottery, ceramics, and jewelry.
Manteo
An artist-owned gallery on Roanoke Island founded in 1998 by husband-and-wife jewelry artists Ben Stewart and Kathryn Holton Stewart, home to their on-site "Modern Heirloom®" hand-engraved silver, gold, and platinum jewelry studio (visible to visitors), alongside a broader collection of regional fine art and craft (woodwork, ceramics, glass, painting) and a bonsai garden.
Suffolk
A community fine-arts gallery in Suffolk's historic Lakeside neighborhood, housed in a former library, operated by the member-based nonprofit Suffolk Art League. Offers changing exhibits, youth and adult art classes, open mics, artist demonstrations, and the annual Suffolk Plein Air Festival and Bosley Artist Market.
Suffolk
An independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization housing two second-floor galleries, the BB&T and Norfolk Foundation Galleries, which together have featured more than ninety exhibits of local, regional, and national fine art, from emerging to internationally recognized artists.
Manteo
A boutique-style gallery and gift shop in downtown Manteo, owned and operated by married artists Scott Geib and Anne Burroughs, featuring their own original art, photography, and vintage remasters — Scott working primarily in photography and mixed media, Anne in drawing and painting — reproduced on cutting boards, mugs, notecards, coasters, puzzles, and wall hangings alongside original pieces.
Isle of Wight County
A nonprofit arts center in Smithfield's historic district, operated by the Isle of Wight Arts League, in a renovated hardware store co-located with the Smithfield Visitor Center. Hosts eight resident-artist working studios, rotating local/regional exhibitions, adult and youth art classes, and a member-artist gift shop.
Hampton
The City of Hampton's visual arts center, built in 1925 and formerly the city's public library. Presents seven rotating exhibitions a year of Virginia and Mid-Atlantic artists, hosts the Hampton Arts League, and offers classes and workshops across disciplines.
Norfolk
A 12-acre waterfront estate museum along the Lafayette River, featuring the Sloane Collection spanning roughly 5,000 years of Asian art, paintings, decorative arts, sculpture, and textiles, alongside historic gardens and architecture.
Ocracoke
An artist-owned craft gallery on Ocracoke Island, founded in 1970 by Philip and Julie Howard as "The Tipi Shop" and renamed Village Craftsmen in 1973. Sells locally and regionally made crafts alongside Philip Howard's own pen-and-ink and watercolor sketches of island scenes; owned by Philip Howard, with daily operations managed by his daughter Amy Howard since 2017.
Virginia Beach
A nonprofit community art center in the ViBe Creative District — known locally as "the Purple Building" — offering monthly exhibitions, art and pottery classes, and public access to over 50 resident and exhibiting artists working in their own on-site studios.
Virginia Beach
A non-collecting contemporary art museum, established 1956, presenting rotating exhibitions of living artists' work and organizing the annual Boardwalk Art Show and the Made in VA Biennial. Relocated in 2026 to a new building on the Virginia Wesleyan University campus.
Williamsburg
A volunteer-operated nonprofit gallery and educational hub, renamed from This Century Art Gallery in 2015. Shows paintings, sculpture, and crafts by member and regional/national artists, plus an annual High School Student Show, William & Mary Student Show, Juried Regional Show, and Members Show.