The Galleries are currently closed for the the term break. The Spring 2026 exhibitions will open on April 3. Please join us on Wednesday, April 15 at 4:30 pm for an Artist Talk and Dance Performance.

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. 

Exhibitions - Spring 2026

Friday, April 3 – Friday, May 15

The Minting of Divine Emperors: The Roman Imperial Cult through Coinage

Leech Gallery 

Curated by Jackson Bertman ’26, a self-designed classical studies major, this exhibition draws from the Otillia Buerger ‘38 Collection of Ancient and Byzantine Coins to explore how Roman rulers used coinage as a powerful tool of political messaging. Centered on Roman coins from the late Republic and early Empire, the exhibition connects directly to Bertman’s capstone research on the role of coins in shaping imperial ideology. Because coins circulated widely across the Roman world, they served as one of the most effective ways to spread imagery and ideas—including claims about an emperor’s divine authority. Through portraits, symbols, and inscriptions, Roman emperors gradually moved from subtly linking themselves to the gods to openly presenting themselves as divine rulers. By examining these small but influential objects, the exhibition reveals how everyday currency helped construct and disseminate the political and religious power of Rome’s emperors.

Two views of a gold ancient Roman coin on a black background. The left side shows the obverse with a laurel-crowned imperial bust in profile, surrounded by a circular Latin inscription. The right side shows the reverse with four standing figures in relief, arranged side by side, with additional Latin text around the edge and small lettering near the bottom.

Gold 5 Aurei Medallion of Maximian, 293 CE, 2001.100, Otillia Buerger ‘38 Collection of Ancient and Byzantine Coins

Andy Gambrell, Art for Humanity’s Sake 

Hoffmaster Gallery 

Andy Gambrell is an American abstract painter and educator. His painting practice was shaped by formative years spent in Miami within a community of abstract painters that included late modern masters such as Darby Bannard and Jules Olitski.  Gambrell also worked in dialogue with alumni of Black Mountain College, and he champions human experience and human expression as legacies of the historic school.

Gambrell’s contemporary work renews and extends American abstract painting through his use of a laser eye-tracking viewfinder to make digital drawings of the path of his eyes while experiencing the landscape. Whether viewing fresh winter snow at dawn in Plover or the summer moon over Stevens Point, this process of abstract painting results in a fresh, beautiful celebration of the Wisconsin landscape.

For the past several months, Susan Gingrasso has collaborated with Andy Gambrell by choreographing and Motif Notating dance performances in response to the artist’s paintings. Gingrasso is a University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point Emeritus Professor of Dance and serves as the Executive Director of the Language of Dance® Center. She was recently awarded the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Dance Education Organization. Student dancers from UWSP and Lawrence University will perform Gingrasso’s works at Gambrell’s artist talk and opening reception. The dancers are Billy Greene and Madison O. Tracy from Lawrence University and Veronica Petrach, Graceanne Rendernick, Marcella Rose, and Maddie Wallace from UW–Stevens Point. Lawrence University Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Mauriah Donegan Kraker has also supported the project as rehearsal director.

Abstract painting featuring a blue background with a large, textured orange square centered. Overlaid on the square are intersecting geometric lines in purple and white, forming various angular shapes

Andy Gambrell, Winter Dawn III, acrylic paint on canvas over wood panel, 48” x 48”, 2025

The Lawrence University Art Collection

Kohler Gallery  

This exhibition of works in the Lawrence University Art Collection 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 is organized around four themes: Light, More Light!, Displacement, the Unknown, and Empowerment, which have been conceptualized and curated by Val Muzzarelli ‘27 as a LU Research Fellow in summer 2025. Exemplary artworks by well-known historical and contemporary artists will also be on view. The exhibition will change slightly over the course of the year, so be sure to return often to see new objects. 

Collage of four artworks: abstract patterns, a Japanese scene with lava and boats, colorful modern shapes, and reflective glass objects

Details from left to right: Untitled [Blue Squiggles], late 20th Century; Hiroshige, Great Fireworks Display at Ryogoku Bridge, 1861; Frances Myers, Perils on Land and Sea, 1980s; Jeanette Pasin Sloan, Dots II, 2008